Santa Barbara Unified School District hires first Safety Coordinator

After 34 years in local law enforcement, Kelly Moore is taking over as Santa Barbara Unified School District’s first-ever district Safety Coordinator.

“We have to create a safe environment and we have to bring my experiences to an institution that doesn’t necessarily have those experiences,” Moore said.

Moore comes over from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and officially started with the school district last month. The school district has been working on creating the safety coordinator position for more than a year.

Moore will lead a team to evaluate current safety policies and make school staff more aware of how to handle emergencies situations–even something as horrific as active shooters.

“If we create a safe environment and people feel safe… not just coming to campus on an everyday basis they feel safe, but if something were to happen, they feel confident that we will respond correctly. That creates such a better environment for them to learn,” Moore said.

Local parent Ericka Dixon has a child at San Marcos High School, is a founding member of Santa Barbara Parents for High School Safety and is a member of the Task Force on School Climate and Safety.She’s excited that Moore has taken a role to local schools.

“Kelly’s role is an essential component for improving school safety across the district… i’m very hopeful Kelly will help us to create and implement emergency preparedness and response protocols.”

Moore knows that school safety is a team effort and he hopes to help students, staff, parents and administrators work together.

“It’s no one single person, one single organization’s responsibility,” Moore said. “What I’m bringing to this is the ability to bridge those gaps and bring everyone to the table.