These kids don’t miss a beat.
Students and their parents took over Cabrillo Boulevard near Stearns Wharf on Saturday to demand that music, theater and the arts be saved at the Santa Barbara Unified School District.
“I am in choir, I am in theater, it changed my life,” said Austin Javanbakht, a San Marcos High School student. “The fact that they want to cut back is just insane. I don’t understand it.”
About three dozen people protested, keeping up the fight after a grueling 8-hour school board meeting on Tuesday that lasted until 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
The board voted to send layoff notices to 85 teachers. Teachers the next day received pink slips, including music and theater teachers.
The district plans to rescind some of the layoff notices once the California budget is released in April. Students on Saturday expressed frustration and anger with the district.
Kian Strenn, ASB president for San Marcos High School, spoke at the event. He waved a banner that called for the board to cut management instead of teachers.
He said even though the board on Wednesday voted to prioritize cuts other than music and theater teachers, that didn’t happen.
“Guess what, many art teachers have already received RIF (reduction in force) notices, just the same as they were originally,” he said. “They didn’t do anything. It was all for show.”
The group has created a petition that has reached more than 1,400 signatures on it. They handed out QR codes to motorists and bicyclists that showed their support and stopped at the traffic light at Stearns Wharf.
The district is looking to cut about $2.8 million in teacher salaries for the upcoming school year.
“We haven’t stopped,” said parent Michele Voigt. “We’ve mobilized just as we promised, and we’ve kept working. We will continue to advocate that they dig deeper, that they find other places to make cuts, and that they preserve the things that matter the most to the people of Santa Barbara.”
As the students rallied on the corner, they played songs such as Michael Jackson’s “They Don’t Really Care About Us” and Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” as anthems for their struggle.
The most compelling moment, however, was when a group of students huddled and sang Alexandra Olsavsky’s “What Happens When a Woman Takes Power.”
One of the singers in that group was Valentina Thomas, who started theater in the second grade. It gave her community and belonging. She is now in choir and theater at San Marcos High School.
“Without that, we are just going to deny the next generation to have a safe space in schools,” Thomas said. “Without that, I think attendance in schools will just keep going down. For me, that’s the only reason I go to school.”
Many of the students said that arts have other benefits other than the obvious. They help with brain development and academics, and also build teamwork skills and self confidence and assurance.
Also at the event was Naomi Jane Voigt, the 2025 Santa Barbara Teen Star. She said she experienced mental health challenges in middle school. She got bullied, she said, because she was a singer-songwriter and participating in music and the arts.
“I use music by writing songs and listening to music because it is therapeutic,” Naomi said. “It helped me get through those hard times. The people within the choir programs and the teachers offered me a safe space so I could do my music.
“Without those programs I really wouldn’t be doing music today, nor would I have the confidence to speak out.”
