On Jan. 9, 2025, current Principal Fred Razo announced his plan to retire at the end of this school year. The decision comes just two years after Razo was called to fill the position in 2023 following the resignation of Dr. Elise Simmons. At the time Razo was meant to serve as interim principal until November of that same year. When the search for Simmons’s replacement fell short, Razo opted to stay in the position for the foreseeable future. 

Razo has been an educator for 37 years, and first worked at SBHS as an assistant principal from 1993 to 2004. From there, Razo worked for the Santa Barbara County Education Office as an administrator for the juvenile court community school programs for ten years. He then worked as an assistant principal for Goleta Valley Junior High and returned to the position at SBHS under principals John Becchio and Simmons, retiring in 2021. When the district called Razo to fill the principal position after Simmons’s resignation two weeks before the start of the 2023-2024 school year, “it was an easy yes.” He made the decision to leave retirement and step into the role because, “It was Santa Barbara High School. I had been here before and I think it’s a very unique and beautiful school community…I’ve been to five other districts in my career, and there isn’t anywhere that I’ve been that’s been like this…It’s a happy place for me.” While the position was meant to be temporary as the district was conducting a national search for a permanent replacement, just days before the proposed end of his time, Razo told the district, “if they didn’t find the candidate they’re looking for, I can stay on a little longer…So that’s what happened.” At the time Razo had no reservations about coming back. “If I had any reservations I would have just stayed in retirement…I looked forward to it. I thought there would be some challenges, but I do like the energy of schools and students and staff, and the working together for the goal of helping prepare and shape the future…I would say especially at Santa Barbara High School there’s a strong feeling that that’s why we’re here and that’s what we want in a school.” The biggest accomplishment for Razo during his time as principal was creating a safer and more focused learning environment. “Looking at how it seems this year…seeing when you go down the hallways now, 99% of everyone is in class where they’re supposed to be…we brought order back, or we didn’t bring it back as much as informing the students and letting them know what our expectations are, and they were fine with that…It wasn’t that way on day one certainly.” One of the newer programs created under Razo was the Aspire to Rise mentorship program, which aims to move students out of the 1.0 to 2.0 GPA level. While Razo is proud of the work he has accomplished as principal, when the district wanted to start creating a five-year plan, “I just said I couldn’t do five years. I understood and respected that they needed someone who was going to be able to stay longer, be able to create that mission and that core moving forward with that open focus for five years. I just said ‘I’ve done what I needed to do, and two will be my swan song for now.’” 

For next year, Razo hopes that whoever takes his position continues the current focus on student academic and social-emotional outcomes. According to Santa Barbara City College (SBCC), nearly 70% of SBHS students who attend SBCC end up being disqualified from the Promise Program after a year or more because they could not maintain a full class schedule along with a 2.0 GPA. “We need to better prepare and ready our students for those that go to SBCC. A lot of it is pushing students off that needle to get them to academically perform at a 2.0 or better because…we’re focusing on preparing them for the real world,” Razo said of how this could be improved by the new principal. While Razo would “come back in a heartbeat” if he was needed again, he is confident that SBHS is ready for the transition in leadership. “We have a great administrative team now and whoever comes into that position, whether it’s one of the administrators in our group now…or if it’s someone from outside, they have a great team to work with. I trust they’re going to be okay,” he said. Razo will be fully retired by June 30, and if his replacement is hired before then, he will work with them to advise them on the position. 

The principal position was posted for recruitment in January and will be accepting applications until February 23. The district is now looking for input from stakeholders and will be sending out a survey to juniors and seniors asking about the strengths of SBHS and areas for growth. The information will then be compiled and the district will look for themes in the responses, then will screen the submitted applications based on the responses. From there the applicants will go through interviews and performance tasks and input will be taken from a panel of parents, students, and staff to screen out more applicants. The finalists will be interviewed in April and the superintendent will make the final decision and selection. The board of education hopes to approve the final appointment by May of this year. Superintendent Hilda Maldonado will be holding listening sessions at SBHS on February 24 and 27 from 7:45 to 8:45 am to receive more community input. This process is similar to the one in place after Simmons’s resignation with one major difference; there will be no executive search firm hired to find Razo’s replacement. “We don’t think we’re going to. If we run into an issue where we just aren’t getting candidates we could do that later, but we don’t anticipate we’ll need to,” said Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources John Becchio, who oversees the hiring of all management positions. So far there have been about six responses to the application posting, and Becchio anticipates there being between 15 and 20 total applicants by the time the posting closes. There have been difficulties in the past with finding qualified candidates for the position, made worse by the lack of neighboring communities to draw applicants from and the cost of housing in Santa Barbara. “There’s always some concern about not finding the person that’s quite the right fit,” Becchio said. One of the most unique factors in the principal position at SBHS is the deep history that is attached to the school. “I sat in this seat for seven years, so I have a good handle of what it’s about. Santa Barbara High is unique in the sense that there’s a very strong sense of tradition. The school’s been around a long time, and so I think that is a really important factor for anyone that comes in to lead the school to really embrace that tradition,” Becchio explained. “At the same time, that’s a challenge because you don’t want to just sit back and do the same thing you’ve done for 100 years, so you have to also challenge the status quo sometimes and actually advance the school. That’s a really unique challenge here. Making change here, you have to be very conscious of the history and tradition…it’s a balancing act that’s fairly challenging.”

The end goal of the principal search is to find a candidate who can continue on the path SBHS has been on in enhancing its academic atmosphere. Becchio describes this candidate as, “Someone that can…create a real strong culture of not only belonging…Just continuing with building a really solid culture where people treat each other well and everyone feels like they have a place here and they belong. At the same time, really promoting a really strong instructional culture and academic achievement…we need someone that’s going to promote that very strongly.” If the search finds itself in the same position it was in 2023 with no appropriate candidates, the application deadline will be extended. While there are areas of improvement Becchio is looking for in the 2025-2026 school year, he hopes that the new principal will respect the culture already in place at Santa Barbara High before making any major changes. “My belief about making change is that the new person coming in first and foremost needs to come in and get to know the school community…and listen…It’s more about coming in and really learning what this school culture is…if there’s certain things they see that are in need of some kind of change, that they go ahead and take that on. Mostly I want someone that’s going to come in and listen and learn the space before they start making change,” Becchio explained. 

As of now the goal is to find next year’s principal by late April of this year and for students to meet the principal before the end of the school year. While Razo’s retirement leaves the SBHS community in uncertainty for the future of its leadership, community members have numerous opportunities to make their voices heard on what they want to see in next year’s principal. 

[The principal’s office will soon be replaced by a new occupant. Image Credit Mary Moses]