Jerry Roberts
By Jerry Roberts of Newsmakers
Physical Education teacher Christy Lozano has mounted a conservative electoral challenge against Santa Barbara County’s incumbent Superintendent of Schools, a local microcosm of national battles over racial, LGBTQ and pandemic policies and programs in public education.
The stakes of her insurgent effort to defeat County Superintendent Susan Salcido are considerable and consequential.
As a political matter. Lozano’s message aligns with national conservative and right-wing attempts to win control of public school systems around the country.
In Santa Barbara, she is supported by a loose coalition of parents and critics who often publicly lambaste school boards and leaders with multiple agendas: foes of public health guidelines and mandates about Covid vaccines, masks and school shutdowns; opponents of “woke” instruction focused on racial identity; evangelical Christians unhappy with classroom discussions about sex and gender identification; families impatient with declining test scores; political partisans seeking to curb domination of public education policy by liberal and left-wing Democrats.
As a practical matter, Lozano is seeking to make an immense leap up the career ladder for professional educators. A teacher with no administrative experience, she is running to become the overseer of the County Education Office, a complex, $104 million-a-year bureaucracy with 550 employees and an abundance of duties — not least of which is to serve as a critical interface between state government in Sacramento, where public school funding and policy are broadly shaped, and the 20 school districts in the county, within which the day-to-day teaching of 70,000 students takes place.
In a Newsmakers interview, however, she cited her success as a soccer and track coach, among other activities, to reject the notion that her lack of administrative experience is daunting:
“I’m a coach, and I build teams and I build successful teams, I build successful programs. That’s one of my big strengths…
“Experience is one thing (but) I think there’s an ingredient that’s missing, to be able to bring people together, and to be able to bring the best out of people, to be able to position people in places, and allow people to work together, bring people together to work other on things. The quality of a good coach is somebody who can do that.
“And so, I think there’s an ingredient missing because there’s a lot of experience and there’s a lot of education at the top (of the County Education Office) and it hasn’t produced the results. And so, we have to look at that and go, ‘Something is missing.’ And I think I provide the ingredient that’s missing to the recipe of success.”
Our story to date. A longtime, outspoken critic of the superintendent, administration and Board of Trustees of the Santa Barbara Unified School District (the canidate works for the SBUSD — not to be confused with the Santa Barbara County Education Office), Lozano has a reputation for aggressive remarks during the public comment portion of school board meetings.
A Kinesiology major who graduated from Cal Poly, she holds a master’s degree in educational leadership, and a Preliminary Administrative Service credential from Cal Lutheran University, according to her LinkedIn page.. She also served in the US Air Force Air National Guard from 2002 to 2007, performing security duty at LAX after 9/11 and later deploying to Germany with the Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron of the 146th Channel Island guard unit.
During her 18 years in the SBUSD, Lozano has been assigned or transferred to six schools — McKinley and Cleveland elementary schools, La Cumbre and Santa Barbara junior highs; San Marcos, and most recently, Dos Pueblos High. After speaking out against the district’s Covid vaccine mandate for teachers, she has been on leave from teaching for several months.
In January, she carried her critique of the school district to social media, posting a YouTube video which offered viewers a glimpse at SBUSD’s “Culturally Responsive Curriculum,” one section of a website used by the district’s 600 teachers for matters both education and employment related.
Organized around holidays and celebrations of historically marginalized groups — i.e. Martin Luther King Day, Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Cesar Chavez Day, LGBTQIA+ Pride Month — the “curriculum” is a series of links to reading lists, videos and other resources curated as aids for teachers in discussing the topics with students.
Each teacher has a password to sign into the site — neither surprising nor unusual, in that the site also includes content such as information about their health benefits.
In describing the site as “password protected,” however, Lozano put a sinister cast on the cultural content, portraying it as top-secret information. She did not note that using any of the linked material is optional for teachers, while intimating that it is employed to force feed students left-wing indoctrination.
She began the video by stating that the material is “being concealed from parents,” then impugned a batch of articles about anti-Black racism, using air quotes and a scornful tone while reading titles — “What White Teachers Need to Know,” “How to be a Good White Ally” “How to Talk to White Folks about Race” as if they were self-evidently toxic.
In the same manner, she next focused on readings about LGBTQ matters — “12 LGBTQ People Who Changed History,” “LGBTQ Heritage,” “The Youth Advocate Tool Kit” — which she denounced as “grooming.”
“Some of this material is grooming,” she said, echoing language that Republican politicians across the nation, most notably Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have weaponized to attack materials and teachers that include discussion of LGBTQ and transgender issues,
“And grooming is not okay,” Lozano added.
Five minutes of Fox News fame. The video was a hit, garnering 13,000 views and, more significantly, coming to the attention of the Fox News Channel right-wing provocateur Laura Ingraham, who invited Lozano on her show in February.
Characteristically, Ingraham introduced the segment with peak hyperbole, describing the YouTube as “shocking undercover video,” stating that Lozano had “bravely brought to light this vile racializing of her school curricula,” which “the school district was trying to hide from the parents.”
At one point, Ingraham thundered that teachers were being told, “you have to teach basically woke activism” as Lozano smiled on the split screen and agreed — “Yeah, yeah” — then assailed teachers who might use the resources as “a self-selecting group of people who would want to teach this crap.”
“Yeah, they make you believe, it’s very manipulative, I call it psychological warfare and it’s hard to understand, it’s manipulation,” Lozano then said. “They’ll lie to your face, they’ll tell you it’s the right thing to do. You feel bad if you don’t do it, so people go along with it for fear of standing out for fear of being different but and there’s real fear, because there’s retaliation.”
In March, Lozano’s public profile got even higher, when Democratic political consultant Mollie Culver filed a misguided lawsuit, trying to get Lozano kicked off the June 7 ballot and arguing that, because her Cal Lutheran education administration credential had not been activated — she has not yet been hired to an administrative job — she is ineligible to become superintendent.
A Superior Court judge quickly tossed the undisguised partisan lawsuit (Nick Welsh ably documented the shaggy dog story behind it) leaving Lozano and Salcido in a two-way contest.
Doing the Lord’s work. In her viral video, Lozano also pronounced that she is an “ordained minister”; she holds a degree in ministry from The 300: A Ministry Training College.
Last month, Lozano appeared on “Liberty Station,” a Christian program produced on Rumble, an online video platform popular with right-wing figures (other programming on the platform includes debunked conspiracy promoter Alex Jones, Tulsi Gabbard, Newsmax and the Russian state-controlled international TV network RT).
In a half-hour conversation with Liberty Station host Bryce Eddy, she spoke expansively about how her religious faith is intertwined with her effort to “reform” education in Santa Barbara.
“I know I work for God, and as a teacher, He holds me highly responsible to protect kids and to be a good teacher and so I really feel a moral obligation,” she said in explaining her reasons for running.
She recounted how the reaction to her YouTube video led her to declare her candidacy.
“You know I prayed about it and had people praying for me. I’m kind of visionary and I know how to work with people,” she said,
“God is good,” she added. “I know that He is in the mix, I know I did not get in this position without the Lord bringing me to this place. and I always say, ‘all right Lord, you brought me here, you’ve got to get me through it’…Whatever happens…. I’m willing to be used by the Lord, and I trust Him.”
“God, He’s the God of the underdog,” Lozano stated. “We’ve seen it so many, many times in the Bible and He uses people.”
“I did my due diligence, kind of like Matthew 18 teaches,” she added. “Go to the people and talk to them.”
“Amen,” the host responded,
What Newsmakers asked. In our interview with Lozano, Newsmakers asked her to specify her objections to online material about racism, the LGBTQ community and transgender people.
We also sought her views — and proposed solutions — on key education policy issues and problems including: how best to teach reading and literacy; testing students for dyslexia; whether more charter schools should be certified; reasons behind the overall poor performance of county students on California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress tests.
We also asked her to outline her reasons for running; to describe her understanding of the duties and responsibilities of the County Education Office; to offer her thoughts about its $104 million budget; and to set forth her plans for a 30/60/90-day strategy to begin making change if she is elected.
“I taught six years at Cleveland and McKinley (elementary schools), those were my favorite years of my career… prior to getting moved to Dos Pueblos,” she said. “And I saw a love of learning. Kids love to learn, especially at the elementary age, it’s very foundational (to) carry the student through…. junior high and high school and into college years.
“And when I went to Dos Pueblos, instead of a love of learning and excitement, I (found) some of the most sad, discouraged, disruptive kids… And so, this transformation had happened over the course, I think, of their schooling. And so, I couldn’t stand by and watch the failing system. And I want…to bring solutions to the schools. And so, I decided to run.”
Tone and talking points. Politically, two things seemed notable about the interview.
First, Lozano’s tone and rhetoric were more moderate and measured than in her Fox News interview or her past public comments to the school board.
For example, Lozano on Fox enthusiastically agreed with Laura Ingraham when the cable news personality trashed the disputed SBUSD cultural curriculum as “woke activism” — but ducked and dodged when Newsmakers asked if she vouches for that hostile characterization.
“I am running for a nonpartisan position. I am not a Democrat, I am not a Republican, I am a teacher,” she responded. “And so, the word ‘woke,’ it’s not got a good association…So we really need to stay in our lane with regards to that.”
Also, Lozano consistently returned to campaign talking points, framing the election with a generalized set of priorities and values that she embraces – and alleges are lacking under the current administration – such as “community engagement,” “non-partisanship,” an emphasis on “student safety” and, most of all, “transparency.”
“I think the big thing for me is going back to the transparency element,” she said, as she used the word more than half-a-dozen times during the interview. “Why can parents not see what curriculum the teachers are using to teach their kids?”
Transparency differential. Although transparency for schools is a central theme of her bid to unseat Salcido, Lozano personally refuses to answer even basic questions about herself and her campaign.
Previously, she’s refused to provide the name of her campaign strategist, claiming it was “internal information” (spoiler alert: it’s Central Coast Republican and corporate consulting impresario Chris Collier – secret memo to Christy: your payments to him are contained in your campaign finance report).
She’s even refused to tell us her age — and, more significantly, the specific reason she has been absent from Dos Pueblos duties for months.
The day after the interview, Newsmakers emailed two follow-up inquiries: “Forgot to ask two questions,” the email read.. “1-your age 2-best, most accurate way to describe your current situation at work — leave of absence? sick leave? disciplinary suspension? disability? or/…?”
Her answer: “Hi Jerry – Haha, I am old enough to vote and old enough to be superintendent of schools and I am employed by SBUSD.”
Transparency for thee, but not for me.
You can see our interview with Christy Lozano via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. The audio version is here.
Images: Lozano on Laura Ingraham show (YouTube screen grab); Lozano speaks with host Bryce Eddy on “Liberty Station” (YouTube screen grab); Lozano appears in a Tracy Lehr report on KEYT during a protest against Covid vaccine mandates at SBUSD headquarters (YouTube screen grab).
Some key quotes.
On the role and responsibilities of the County Superintendent.
“So the county has a school, has its own school. It has 102 kids assigned to it, mostly special education, adjudicated youth. And they have a preschool. The 102 does not include the preschool.*
“It oversees the credentials of teachers and… making sure teachers are put into the correct positions. It oversees budgets, signs off on budgets, and facilities and things like that. And so it’s a very big role. I think it can be a very influential role. And I don’t know that it’s being as influential as it can be right now, but they’re the overseer of a lot. And I also think leading by example, they can lead by example for the 20 districts that fall underneath the county superintendent of schools.”
On the position being administrative.
“Well, I don’t know that I agree with that. I think there’s more that can be done. And leading by example is, as a coach, I’m a coach, and I build teams and I build successful teams. I build successful programs. That’s one of my big strengths. And so putting people into position that will set an example and influence, I think it’s a big position of influence. And so while there may not be some direct oversight, there’s a general oversight, and I think it’s underestimated right now. I think we underestimate the ability to affect the systems.”
On making a huge jump from teacher to County Superintendent.
“I’ve worked as a team teacher in charge over at McKinley and I had lots of experience working with parents and behavioral things with kids. I was trained in restorative approaches and dealing with behaviors. I’ve practiced doing schedules and those sorts of things. But I think there’s an ingredient that’s missing because experience is one thing, but to be able to bring people together and to be able to bring the best out of people, to be able to position people in places and allow people to work together, bring people together to work other on things. The quality of a good coach is somebody who can do that.
On her strategy for rolling out changes at the SBCEO:
“I think for starters, we need to bring transparency, curriculum that parents can see. And bringing teachers to the table and parents to the table and talking. They know their kids best. And so engaging leadership and engaging the community in solving these problems.
“Safety. Safety is an issue that needs to be addressed. And in order for kids to learn, environments have to be safe. It takes the vulnerability to learn and to make mistakes and different things like that. And so safety is paramount. And non-partisanship, we need to have kids focusing on things that are open-minded thinking, not close-minded, not this is how it is type of thinking. And so being nonpartisan in the materials that we’re focusing on is really important. And so that’s what we need to do.”
On the SBCEO budget.
“It’s hard to find the budget. I found it…and I’ve looked at it. But to understand it is not that simple. And it doesn’t really give you a lot of detail. And so I think there needs to be more detail and more transparency, because transparency builds safety, and security and trust. And when you can’t see something, it’s hard to trust it. And so I think it’s very important, if people want to see, if taxpayers want to see, if parents want to see, transparency is huge. If parents want to see curriculum, if they want to see budgets. If people want to see where that is, we need to show that. And so it’s very hard to find.”
On dealing with state government complexities.
“Well, I think that, again, if it’s hard to read and hard to understand, we need to make it readable and understandable. And so if something is coming down to me and I can’t understand it, then I need to ask for that and I need it to be explained in terms that I can understand, that the people, whatever, paying taxes, or parents, or administrators, or the people working for me understand. It’s important for it to be understandable. This is education. We’re talking about education, which is a teaching system. And so if any system should be understandable, I would think education would be understandable.
“I think that while test scores are important, the CASPP tests or any of those tests are important. They’re like a thermometer. And when you can’t read how a kid is doing and you give them a test, you’re going to get an idea of where they’re actually at. They can’t really fake their way through a test, even if they can fake their way through in class learning. And so the tests are important for that reason. Not to compare kids to each other, not to put schools against each other as far as their results or anything like that, but as a thermometer to kind of find those markers……
On teaching reading and literacy.
“I don’t think it’s a one size fits all, but there is a part of it that’s a skill of teaching. Some of it’s curriculum. And so for those teachers who are very successful, and even with a pandemic have continued to be successful, because there are a lot of teachers that have continued to be successful, regardless of the things, when life gives you lemons, you try to make lemonade.
“And there’s a lot of teachers that do that. So again it’s looking at those methods and those specific things that they’re doing and modeling them across the districts. Everybody wants to be successful. Teachers want to be successful, administrators want to be successful with their schools. And so if we can look at some of the people that are having success and just start picking up and learning from them, we’re going to get there. That’s the train forward.”
On charter schools.
“I think that charter schools provide an opportunity of doing something maybe out of the ordinary. The school districts are bigger systems. Charter schools have the opportunity to kind of branch out and try some different things. I remember with … I’m forgetting the name. One of them had the gardening program and they would bring the garden into the cafeteria. It provided an opportunity for kids, not just to practice the science of growing, but then also taking it into the kitchen. So it kind of brings things full circle. They have the opportunity to bring things full circle.
“Like Heartland Charter School, it’s sort of a homeschool/charter school model. And so it provides opportunities to try school and in different ways. I think that’s kind of ingenious, it’s kind of out of the box for parents that maybe want to be more involved in their students education, but also have teachers that are providing support. It’s really a neat thing. And so I would like to see more of that. You can kind of try some different models and maybe there’s different models that would influence the school district..”
On the Culturally Responsive Curriculum.
“Well, it’s focused on in staff meetings. It’s highly focused on professional development in the summer. It’s focused on a lot. And so when that’s taking up a majority of the time, they’re not focusing on literacy and math and these different academic skills, but they’re focusing on something like that, then there’s a pressure. Again, agoing back to transparency. If it’s on the up and up, show it to the parents. Make it available for everybody to see and let the people decide…
“I am all for learning about each other, whether it’s cultural, whether it’s, I mean, there’s people in sports, there’s people that are very strong. There’s people that are very fast. As a coach, and if I’m running the track team, which I run track teams, each kid is developmentally different. They have different skills and abilities, and so it’s about celebrating those differences. Some kids are really strong, they’ll throw that shot put. Some kids are super fast and they’ll do the sprints. Some kids are built for endurance, they’ll be really good at the 800, even though there’s not a lot of kids that like the 800 because that’s a long distance sprint. And so I think I am all for distinguishing those differences, learning about those differences. What I’m not for is something that brings division and divisiveness, and so when curriculum brings division and divisiveness.”
On LGBTQ teaching materials.
“The hypersexuality or sexuality stuff, I don’t think we need to be teaching that to the young kids. And if we want to teach it to the older kids, then we can come together and have a conversation about, bringing all the parents to the table, bringing the teachers to the table and discussing what would be appropriate and what parents would like kids to be instructed in. We used to have curriculum like that way back when, and it went to the wayside. And so I think we can go back to that space and talk about it and discuss it, and then make a majority decision on what’s best for kids.”
On kids feeling misgendered.
“I can’t really answer that question, because I don’t know at what age kids would feel that way. But again, we have to go back to the academics, the positive educational outcomes. All kids need to feel safe, so if there is behaviors going on in a classroom that are making kids feel unsafe, those have to be addressed. And that could surround all kinds of different subject matter. Again, bringing parents, engaged leadership, teachers, parents to the table to discuss all these different topics, it’s important. Because we want kids to feel included, we want them to feel part of the system. We want parents to feel included, part of the system. Teachers, all the way up. And communication and coming to the table is the best way to do that.”
On systemic racism in schools.
“I think people have always had their own experience. I have had my own experience about things, you’ve had your experience about different things, children have had their experience. And I think it’s important to focus, like I said, on safety, on bringing safety. And if there are things that need to be discussed, if there are things that need to be worked on, we can address those things. I don’t think that children are racist. I do not think that when I have seen my children interact with each other, they want friends, and they want to be together, and they want to feel good. And so working through any of those kinds of problems, I know that kids will work through them.”
“Critical race theory, I mean, it’s just a close minded way of thinking. And with schools, we need to keep an open minded view, that we’re open minded and again, we’ve had this learning loss with the pandemic, and we’ve got to get back to focusing on things that are going to provide positive educational outcomes.”
On equity.
“Well I like the word equality. I think equity, the way that I interpret it is just evening the playing field. Everybody just gets a equal amount, I guess. But equality is more like going forward and providing positive opportunities for those that would like, that are able to, that want to take advantage of them. It gives them the supports they need to achieve. And so I think equality is a better word to describe how kind of the culture that we would (want in schools). Equity, it kind of just, it doesn’t provide a lot of opportunities for people…
“I think to have equal outcomes as a goal would to be to take away from maybe somebody who has…had more invested in them…To have a goal where everything is equal would mean that nobody is really good at anything, that nobody can stand out, that nobody can be extraordinarily successful at anything. And so with kids, I think sometime, or people in general, they’re going to do different, amazing things in their life. Some of them are going to be amazing athletes, and they’re going to go to the pros in whatever sport.”
On “grooming.”
“To plant seeds in kids at too early of an age, it sets them up for a certain mindset. And I think we have to be very careful of what comes in at too early of an age, if kids are not developed mentally able to understand or process information. It goes back to when do we talk to our kids about the birds and the bees? Well, when they start asking questions. And so, with my own daughter, at the point that she started to come to me and ask questions, I would then start having those conversations. And I don’t think that you go too far into that stuff.
They’re going to come hear things at school and they’re going to want to know. And I think as a parent, we get to decide, and I understand there may be some parents that don’t do it and I think that’s what we can talk about as a school, how we support that. I think that’s important, but you take kids slowly through some of that stuff. And so if they are over-sexualizing kids at a young age in preschool, as a matter of fact, then to me, that’s grooming them for a certain, I don’t know, ideology, a way of thinking that’s not necessary.
On Covid shutdowns.
“I think that if we’re looking back, if we look at the big picture, we had to shut down, but did we have to shut for as long as we did? I mean, we want to go talk about the learning loss and that the county kept us shut down, but then there’s been this learning loss for kids. And not just learning loss, but rates of suicide and different things that have come up as a result of the shutdowns. I think we have to look at that and ask ourself if we did the right thing for as long as we were shut down.”
On vaccines.
“I’m not an anti-vaxxer. I have my vaccines. My daughter has her vaccines. When they were going to take our jobs away because of being vaccinated, I had COVID-19 and it was advised to me that getting the vaccine would be harmful to my health. My doctor wrote a medical exemption. And so, I think people should have a choice…..I think that people should have a choice because there’s exceptions to the rule. And so that was my stance on that.”
* (For the record, in response to our questions, County Education Office Communications Director Camilla Barnwell sent us this breakdown of the direct schooling the county provides).
“SBCEO directly operates 10 nationally accredited preschools serving about 250 children from low-income families. We also run a program that serves 2,500 children in subsidized childcare programs.
-
We operate 17 special education classrooms for young learners who need special education support. We serve 812 special needs students countywide.
-
In partnership with County Probation, we operate two schools for incarcerated students. The schools are Los Robles High School at the Los Prietos Boys’ Camp in Santa Barbara, and Dos Puertas School at the Santa Maria Juvenile Justice Center. We also operate Peter B. FitzGerald Community School in Santa Maria for students experiencing expulsion, chronic absenteeism, or who benefit from an individualized school setting. On average, the three schools serve 150 students annually.”
Related Articles
April 25, 2022: Seeking New Term County Schools Supe Decries “National Playbook” Fueling “Educational Divisiveness”
What a nutbag. No thank you.
This article was posted at 1:16pm, you commented at 1:17pm. You didn’t even read the article or watch the videos before commenting, clearly you have a personal bias and you’re mind was already made up. I can’t stress the importance of approaching things with an open mind, especially ideas and information that are contrary to your personal beliefs.
Ohhh Voice. You know what assumption do right? I get Jerry’s newsletter so I read it this morning. About 4 hours ago to be exact.
“I can’t stress the importance of approaching things with an open mind, especially ideas and information that are contrary to your personal beliefs.” – I just choked on my water laughing. I think some came out my nose. Absolute comedy gold there.
“This article was posted at 1:16pm, you commented at 1:17pm.” – So anyone who has already formed an opinion before reading/hearing this interview is biased? You do know, don’t you, that this woman has made her opinions and proposed policies long before this article was posted to Edhat.com at 1:16pm today? I feel like maybe you don’t understand how the internet works………
I approach most of what you say with an open mind, and usually try to understand why someone else would have an opposing view, that doesn’t mean I’ll agree with it and most disagreements here result from those MSM curated view, enjoyed from inside a bubble that’s detached from the realities most Americans are facing.
So, here’s the thing. I don’t have a strong dog in this fight, and it seems like most folks have their minds made up already. I personally don’t like either candidate (so everyone can yell at me!). My bugaboo is that we are doing so poorly with the basics.
I just found and watched the Fox News (held my nose) interview. The two things that stood out to me were — One. The screenshots show Santa Barbara Unified with BLM lessons and gender identity lessons for Pre-Schoolers. What? The? Fridge? I thought this debate was about how we talk to high school kids, maybe middle schoolers. But wow, that wasn’t quite what I was expecting. — Two. We are doing quite poorly in helping our kids grow into their brains’ core powers and potentials. We. You, me, all of us. That especially true for marginalized groups. The trends start early. Please please please let’s work on nailing the basic food groups. The current trend is moving us further from justice, and closer to a world where you need a private school and / or have a stay-at-home parent to get your basic needs met.
Christy is a far-right bigoted, evangelist hack. She just lopped up her 15 minute from Ingraham – and then started a campaign for a position she states isn’t partisan. Christy is in bed with Impact Education.
The whole education and CRT pearl-clutching is pretty rich coming from the right-wingers, whose concern for public education usually only extends as far as trying to avoid meaningful action to prevent school shootings. Or swindling low-income kids out of school lunches by shifting nutrition standards and cutting budgets so they can turn around and give tax breaks to their golf buddies or build new prisons. It’s pretty naive of people to think the GOP and dingbats like Lozano care about kids more than they care about hearing their own voice and making money.
Very well stated Chillin.
Some movies are restricted to 13 years of age, some to 17.
School subjects should go in similar ways.
In S.B. all is “fine” no matter what, no matter the age of the children
“I approach most of what you say with an open mind” – is that before or after you completely change the contents of my comments? If after, then basically you’re just arguing with yourself about something you said. Interesting…..
I am not sure how she would do running a multi-million dollar organization with hundreds of employees spread across the whole county, with her total lack of experience. Methinks she’d be in over her head. Seems like she is focusing on things the Superintendent has nothing to do with, all that culture war stuff.
TRANSPARENT – “The screenshots show Santa Barbara Unified with BLM lessons and gender identity lessons for Pre-Schoolers. ” Where did you see that? In this interview?
She thinks she is the objective but she “works for god”? Ha! Good one
Gen – X here. I don’t have kids, so I do not invest a significant amount of time on these issues. I DO often ask myself (when this type of thing comes up) why is the school teaching these kids ANYTHING about sex and gender etc? That should be the role of the parents initially and when it becomes time that a young person wants to put those hormones to action, most of them have a group of friends to talk to. Not to mention the freaking internet. Most people who need this information and understanding about gender identity are over 30 FFS. Get your feelings out of our tax $$ education system.
“I’m a coach, and I build teams and I build successful teams, I build successful programs. That’s one of my big strengths…
In sports there are winners and losers…do you really want a school system which teaches exclusion and pins winners against losers? Do we really want students feeling like they are not good enough?
What happens when people don’t believe in her god, are they excluded? She fails to recognize other religions. Does this mean if a person does not believe in her god they will be excluded? She fails to recognize that social media is the cause of depression and mental health problems. She fails to recognize students are depressed due to all the gun violence/ mass murders they have witnessed in schools around the Nation.
Opposite to her positions, when school includes all walks of life as part of education be it straight or LGBT, race, etc… it allows for inclusion. The world is made of many races, religions, believes, values etc..it would appear her direction is exclusion with winners and losers. This is not the directions schools she view education.
Regarding her strategies to rollout changes at SBCEO, she states curriculum as being something to address and calls for transparency. I hate to tell her this but SBCEO has no role in choosing other school’s curriculum. The list of acceptable adoption materials comes from the state. Then each district or charter decides on their own choice for curriculum. For example, SBUSD, just posted information about the materials they are considering for one of their courses and opening them up for public review. They post this to every single parent in the district and every single district follows this same process of public review for adopting curriculum. No one is trying to sneak things by parents as she suggests. So not only does she not understand the role of the county office in terms of curriculum, she doesn’t even understand the process districts use to choose curriculum.
Agree with Sac, that statement is intentional misinformation and there is no such curriculum for pre-schoolers.
This is untrue. Please stop spreading misinformation.
Gen Xer, I don’t think that media actually portrays what is being taught in classrooms. But, it turns out that we have been teaching a lot about sex and gender in young classrooms forever (intentionally or not) by reinforcing “traditional” norms. Turns out though, that sex and gender identity are not actually so conventional. Might it be of some value to educate kids that parents can be any mix of gender or people can like whoever they feel want? This isn’t teaching young kids anything about sex, but it may help them be more accepting of the people around them or themselves…
Fellow GenX’er here. Do you remember taking Health class? I do. I learned A LOT more than my parents would have ever told me. Health class and Sex Ed has significantly dropped teen pregnancy rates purely based on letting students have all the information and presented in a fact and science based way. We’ve seen that we cannot rely on parents to teach this stuff at home, and for some of these topics, it’s far too dangerous for kids to even discuss.
With that said, there is not a set curriculum on all that Lozano is alleging. Its misinformation meant to scare voters into voting for her.
The school district needs more transparency! Oh, but not for me, I won’t be transparent about my campaign.
Let’s get social issues out of school and leave it to the parents! Except for Christianity because that’s my faith and it will influence all of my decision making.
What a joke she is.
Lozano and the other local extreme right wingers (Hammel, Campbell, Rosenberg, et al) should form their own school where they can teach whatever the heck they want. In this great country of America, the opportunities are endless. Surround yourself with like minded individuals and praise God and/or Q or Trump or Hannity. Do it in your own private school so the rest of us aren’t subjected to it.
She’s running for a public office that our tax dollars will support and she has absolutely no experience. She’s open to criticism as are any other politicians.
And you comment could have stayed if you would have refrained from the personal attacks. In the wise sentiment of “Voice of Reason,” why does the left always have to resort to name calling and personal attacks? (I’m paraphrasing) Too bad so sad, goodbye.
SBLOCAL – I have a job and receive no benefits above what any other tax payer receives. Why do you and VOICE insist on printing these constant, blatant lies about me and what I say? Liars and lazy minds are similar, and not surprising at all they support someone who thinks racism and hate isn’t real.
DId you take in in 1st grade because that’s the issue a lot of people have with this. I’m fine with full biology and sex ed at age 12….I think us Gen Xers got it in 7th or 8th grade, but I don’t want my kindergartener getting any of this. Luckily my kid’s school has zero of the stuff that right wingers are afraid of…maybe no schools have this stuff. We had a gay teacher’s partner and all the school grieved without any talk about why a man married a man…it’s just not a thing anymore here.
GOLETAISGOOD – hit the nail on the head. Acknowledging gender issues at a simple level is not “teaching sex.”
FONDOFSB what you are saying is not true and easily proven untrue.
You left out Fenkner. All the people you mention troll social media and praise one another and then make troll comments about those who call them out on their nonsense.
El Smurfo – sexual education in 1st grade? Who is proposing that?
VOR
Never argue with true believers about their religion and its doctrines
Wow, I don’t know if you two are trying to radicalize any form of modest opposition, but my reference was extremely clear in my first comment. Watching the Fox News video (as I said), that shows screen captures (as I said) that show “Resources and Lessons” for pre-schoolers from BLM and about gender identity (as I said) It’s not my job to click around the internet to clearly cited videos for you. It took me about 12 seconds to find teh video, and I assume you could find it in as little time if you cared to.
Calling folks liars when they are apolitical and musing about clear, referenced facts will sure turn honest conversation ugly in a hurry.
I won’t respond any further, as I’m doing my best to hide how offended I am, and frankly disappointed.
Believing a Fox News video is like believing in the Tooth Fairy.
TRANSPARENT- calm down, I was just curious where you saw that so I could see for myself, nor did I call you a liar anywhere.
Goleta – not in K-3rd grade though! That can easily wait till 5th or 6th or 7th grade…
@5:00pm standard MO, anything you disagree with is a fake, lying, racists, and you and the network(s) you watch area always honest, well intentioned, and altruistic. Sure bud, enjoy your bubble.
DUKE- what, specifically, do you think they “teach” in K-3rd that would be so inappropriate? Do you think they’re discussing sex?
Wow! Amazingly unbiased Article. NOT! Leave out the adverbs and the article could be useful at reducing the namecalling and yelling.
Lots of claims are made here on both sides. We are empty of facts and full of opinions. Santa Barbara High is definitely racist. Hispanics come out of there with no ability to compete for opportunity in the real world. I suggest that the school find funding for security cameras and for the computers to save audio and video of all school venues. Cameras would be in every room, office and hallway. At the end of the year the recordings will be opened to the the media and to the public. We can review these to see if the Hispanics deserve the poor grades or if the the Teachers are the problems. The project would also have full funding to replace Truant Teachers and administrators with ‘scabs’. Take out the politics, show us the facts. Then we can have meaningful discussions of the facts rather than opinions.
@ General : So : PROVE it !
DUKE – I don’t understand, are you saying GUSD is teaching sex ed in K-3rd? When did that start? What specifically are they teaching?
If we opened up charter school money they would all go off to their own school…
What’s unfortunate and weird is that in California we call centrist ideas “extreme right”. It’s the same in Florida and Texas, just inverted to “extreme left”. The true and perplexingly difficult to solve problem is the extremism of both parties…
She’s a PE teacher. I’d be surprised if she could organize her desk, let alone manage a 300 million dollar budget.
Fond, you seem to have no understanding of how county curriculum is chosen – so conversing with you about it would be pointless.
DUKE – “Sac (and GT) saying sex ed isn’t taught or discussed, but then in the next comment are appalled that some are trying to stop it from being taught/discussed” – bummer. Looks like you’re picking up VOICE’s habit of making things up.
First of all, “Sex ed” isn’t being taught at K-3rd, nor are they proposing it is. Now, to clarify for you, again, they are not proposing to teaching sexual education (STDs, menstrual cycle, how babies are made, etc) as they do for pre-teens, to kids under 8 years old. Therefore, I cannot be “appalled” that some of you are against that, as I’m saying it’s nothing to “be against” because it’s not happening, nor is it planned.
Finally, your comment is really irrelevant. Saying it’s not being taught and then upset that others are trying to stop it, is really not a difference.
Now, for the FOURTH time, I will try again….. what do you think, SPECIFICALLY (“sex ed” isn’t an answer) is being or going to be taught in K-3rd? The answer to this question will clarify for you and for me what we are talking about. Why is this so hard for you people?
“Why would anyone want a teacher (a relative stranger) addressing/acknowledging or commenting on a 6 year olds outfit? ” – Way to completely twist words to mean something nefarious when I meant it as a simple example of how gender issues may come up and warrant discussion in a K-3rd class.
Answer the question and we can talk. Until then, this is going nowhere and turning into more VOICE-esq fabrications and lies.
SBTEJANO – please find the “door.” You seem new to this site, but your childish comments and insults are not welcome here.
Duke – not sure why you aren’t answering Sacjon’s question. It’s a good place to form a discussion. Appalled – would mean someone is upset, which I’m not. I’m trying to figure out what it is you think is going to be taught in k-3 that concerns you. You’ve already acknowledged that CRT and sex ed is not being taught.
Sac – How did I twist your words? We shouldn’t be “acknowledging” what 6 year olds are wearing in school…that’s clear and self evident. To answer your question though (again): We shouldn’t be discussing sexual themes with 6 year olds. Sexual topics, discussions, issues, etc should be like religion in K-3rd, off limits for teachers. Don’t discuss or broach it.
Sac – And of course they can say acknowledge that Johnny has two Dads, in the same way they can acknowledge a kid who only has one parent…but it’s not something that they should be bringing up or “celebrating”. Same if a kid wants to mention or say he’s Christian or Muslim or Jewish, etc. The teacher can acknowledge that…but there really shouldn’t be any discussion going any further than that.
No, don’t discuss it!!! You can acknowledge it…but don’t discuss it. There’s a big difference there…why are you completely ignoring that difference?
DUKE – so should we stop teaching about Easter and Christmas too? You compare these to religious beliefs. This is not the same as religion, these are facts of life for some kids.
Further, I’m not advocating or suggesting we should TEACH any of this. My sole point is that it is not OK to BAN and threaten teachers/schools with lawsuits if these issues are brought up in any way.
Finally, no you did not “answer” it. “Sexual themes?” What does that mean? What are you worried they are going to say to your kids?
Look, prohibiting teachers from discussing ANYTHING is usually not a good policy, but prohibiting them from discussing LGBQT issues at an age appropriate level is just WRONG, even in K-3rd.
“of course they can say acknowledge that Johnny has two Dads,” – OK, but how do they do that without acknowledging that some men love men or women love women, etc? Kids are curious. They ask questions. Why would you prohibit teachers from explaining and contextualizing this, at an age-appropriate level?
No one is saying we should “celebrate” LGBQT issues, only that we shouldn’t BAN teachers from discussing them if they arise in class.
” is that before or after you completely change the contents of my comments?” – sac nailed it on the head.
GT – As per Wikipedia “Virtually all scholars of antiquity accept that Jesus was a historical figure, although interpretations of a number of the events mentioned in the gospels (most notably his miracles and resurrection) vary and are a subject of debate.”
The big distinction here is the idea (and belief) in his teachings and “miracles”. As a historical figure, there is virtually no debate that Jesus the man existed as he is much more widely written about from a multitude of different sources than many other historical figures before and after him. So I guess you could doubt that anyone existed pre photographic evidence…but there is much more evidence of Jesus the man than King Arthur. Do you believe in King Arthur?
As much as I think the status quo (Salcido et al) have been letting our kids down, especially throughout Covid, to me Lozano isn’t a good choice. Too bad no one reasonable didn’t run against Salcido.
You can question and debate whether Jesus was the Son of God or a madman all you want, but his existence as (at least) a man is so well documented that it is considered historical fact and to question that…well…is telling.
Interesting how local hack, political bomb thrower (journalist?) Robert’s spent on this article. One would think Lozano was running for Senate or Governor. Yes, I agree with Ms. Lozano that our local schools are run by woke, liberal activists. Does one honestly believe that immigrant, Latino, Catholic families want this taught to their kids? Ironic how white, elitist liberals, who may not even have kids are behind this.
Surprisingly how some/ many students struggle with even the most basic reading and math. Why was the material in question under password protection and not in the open for parents to review? Is it because it’s vile, racist, woke garbage that has no place in the classroom and is taxpayer funded? Take a look what’s going on around the country, not just in our little bubble in SB. Folks are fed up, putting one group against another, bullying those who think different from those pushing their version of history. Get over it, parents are not going for it, ie teaching our kids white is bad and oppressive, black is good and oppressed. Men can have babies, American founding was based on slavery. What garbage!
Yep, change is on the way, November is just around the corner. May not happen here locally, but the rest of the country has had it with woke, failed policy. Parents need to decide when and what is discussed with their children concerning sex and gender identity for those kids K-3. Not teachers and their corrupt union.
Yet another argument for school vouchers so parents have a choice for their kids and NOT be subjected to activism.
Lozano for Supe!
Just another religious nutcase (JARN) who has no chance of winning anything in this part of California. Enjoy your 15 minutes of fame.
In a survey done by NPR with results released last week, it showed that more than 80% of the public support their local public schools. Close to the same number approves the curriculum in public schools. Lozano is just a tool of the extreme right who has created a bogeyman out of CRT (a grad school elective at certain universities) and other misinformation coming from Fox News to undermine public education. These yahoos could not even find a qualified candidate to run….but oh yeah, Joe Holland was not going to check for qualifications. Kind of like picking names out of a hat (see redistricting history).
Hey GC,
Religious nut case? No, you got it wrong Chico, but I will pray for you nonetheless.
I suggest you wake up and face reality, so take that and put it in your woke, atheist, narcissistic, bullying, water pipe and take a big ol’ toke!
It’s not really a race thing… at least on the teachers part. That’s an unfounded claim about institutional racism here in SB.
Most of the students mentioned don’t respect the school system or the authority of their teachers. I don’t know why you only mentioned the Hispanic students at SB. The white kids in those classes are the same way.
If what you’re zeroing in on is the difference between CP and Honors courses then yes, there are large differences in the intellect of those students and the opportunities awarded them. The Honors system is not racist though.
The world is also the stage in which we should learn about most of those things. I think we should keep schools for learning core concepts and not diversify the agenda this much just because someone cried “not fair”
The educational system pits winners v. losers every day, across the globe. Sorry, it’s not necessarily fair but that’s how it is. Unfortunately, those with the gusto and intelligence (and the means) to pursue and finish higher levels of education will have more opportunities than those who don’t get beyond a diploma or GED.
I did not see one place where she mentions “in my school it’d be winners vs losers.”
Far right politics have no place in our schools… on the flip side neither do the politics of the left. As many have said, the onus of inclusion, social responsibility and equity are more on parents than the schools, and if action is needed at the schools, then parents still need to be proactive and initiate that. Lots of people having kids nowadays thinking school will shape your mister into some perfect work machine with all the proper values instilled.
It would be great if an 8-5 daycare for older children actually existed, but really it’s on us to teach our children the values we choose to and schools should be left for teaching kids the skills they need to be successful in a range of professions or higher educational paths.
She gets my vote and eight others I know, who BTW, are SB Democratic voters…
Not really interested in trading one extreme ideology for another, or one culture warrior for another.
She’s just another culture warrior trying to impose her religion. Nope.
That isn’t a racist statement and you both should be banned for characterizing it as such.
It is true that there have been, are, and will be, Hispanics coming out of SBHS unable to compete. Some of that would be on SBHS and some due to student circumstances.
Case in point, someone(s) here graduated from High School and maybe even University without knowing the definition of racist.
There is a huge difference between a racial statement: “Whites leave SBHS unprepared” and a racist statement: “Whites leave SBHS unprepared because Whites are incapable of…”
Both of you used racist wrong. SBHS isn’t proved to be racist because some Hispanics leave unprepared, and its also not racist to say that. Its a smear and an insult, but not racist.
VOR
See what happens? You argue with them and the call you racist which probably better translates as “infidel’ or “apostate”.
Its like having a conversation with a scientologist and critiquing L. Ron Hubbard
If you don’t fall in line and agree 100%, you’re a far-right, Faux News watching fascist! There is not middle anymore Duke.
Oh I’ve been seeing it for a while. Rather than discuss the merits of the issue or information presented, they attack the source and the person, and throw out a ‘racists’, ‘extreme far-right’, or ‘Faux News misinformation’ based solely on what they heard some talking head in the MSM say. I don’t recall anyone making racists comments on EdHat or even promotion of actual far-right ideals, and the only people acting like fascist are, well, here is the definition: Fascism (/ˈfæʃɪzəm/) a form of authoritarian ultranationalism [aka wokeism], characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and the economy. —- think back of the past two years, this definition doesn’t fit the current GOP but damn near matches the ideals of the DNC. They had the Department of Homeland Security create a ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ HELLO!! Fascism anyone?
DUKE – I wouldn’t say you yourself are “far right” but much closer to “center” than others here. That’s why I enjoy discussing things here with you. Others though, cry foul when called “far right” while in the same breath supporting far right policies and agendas, such as vehemently opposing the ability of teachers to address/discuss LGBQT issues, racism and it’s affect on American History or any number of other “woke” issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DksSPZTZES0
And when it really comes down to it….. does it matter one iota whether someone on an internet board refers to you as “far right” when you’re only “regular right?” I see a lot of crying and complaining about terminology by the same people who refuse (or are unable) to answer simple questions or make any sensible argument in support of their simple “No woke issues” ideology.
What’s more important? What an anonymous stranger says about the degree of your “rightness” or the content (and ability to support it) of your comments?
If it wasn’t for the extremes of both sides trying to divide us for their own power plays it would be universally agreed discussing sensitive issues like this in early elementary school is best left to the parents. And FYI, teaching about racism, i.e. treating everyone equally is not a sensitive issue. Teaching about kids being born oppressors or oppressed is.
They have been conditioned by right wing echo chambers to believe that adult sex education is being taught in kindergarten.
School vouchers so poor people still can’t afford the schools they want their kids to go to and rich people get an entitlement payment. No thanks.
Duke – believing in the CRT boogeyman, believing sex education is being taught to kindergartners, and believing that hidden curriculums are being taught are not centrist ideas.
yep, the same old same old list of names
VOICE – I agree that certain aspects of these sensitive issues should be up to the parents, but what about when those parents don’t want to discuss it? Should those children be left feeling ostracized or even bullied by their peers because their teacher is unable to discuss why some kids might look/act a little different than others? Not all parents are keen on discussing sexual orientation or any aspect at all of LGBQT issues with even older children. Teachers are in a position to help those kids, even at the lower grade levels. I’ve seen kids in my daughters’ classes that were clearly struggling with these concerns and I’m glad the teachers taught compassion and acceptance even in 1st grade. Sorry, I just don’t believe teachers should be outright banned from discussing this stuff.
As for “born oppressors,” um…. not sure that is what’s being taught to little children. Teaching them that white people enslaved millions and built the country on the backs of those slaves is just teaching facts. If the kids feel some inherent guilt, then so be it. Our ancestors were monstrous with regards to slavery and civil rights. There’s no denying that.
Also a Gen X-er. Sex ed was in 7th grade which was too late. I knew classmates who had 2 babies by 14. These days, it starts slightly earlier…but it sure as heck ain’t before 5th grade because my 4th grader hasn’t gotten it. All this hand-wringing is a big fat nothing burger.
That’s a good example of a VOR word salad.
So why then are some so vehemently against making sure something that isn’t happening… doesn’t happen?
It was only a decade ago that President Obama believed that very same thing.
GT – I never said I believed they were being taught in school, I just agreed/stated that they shouldn’t be taught or discussed in K-3…which literally is the logical and centrist opinion here……
It’s wild how far the two parties are being pulled to their respective sides. Obama would be an unelectable moderate at this point…
Not sure what you’re asking.
GT – that’s what I’m concerned about. I think you’re right. It’s truly telling that none of them have been willing to even attempt to answer this question and I asked it yesterday as well, at least twice, with no response. They’ve been so far unable (more likely unwilling) to articulate what their fears are.
I agree SAC – I saw your question and it is simple and logical. Duke mentioned he didn’t believe it was taught now but seemed concerned CRT and Sex Ed would be in the future. The others, when confronted with a logical question – seem to have disappeared.
Why would anyone want a teacher (a relative stranger) addressing/acknowledging or commenting on a 6 year olds outfit? You keep going back and forth Sac (and GT) saying sex ed isn’t taught or discussed, but then in the next comment are appalled that some are trying to stop it from being taught/discussed. So which is it?
I agree with being against culture warriors. The ones on the far far left and far far right truly are the dominating the headlines…while decimating this country.