Environmental Assessment underway at local high school in Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – An environmental assessment will begin Monday of next week at Dos Pueblos High School in Santa Barbara.

This comes after several staff members expressed concerns about the number of employees diagnosed with some form of cancer over the past several years.

School district leaders contacted the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department for guidance, and they've also been in touch with the California Department of Public Health.

Administrators said the health and safety of their students, families, faculty, and staff is their number one priority.

"My hope is we will be able to ensure our facilities are safe," said superintendent Hilda Maldonado of the Santa Barbara Unified School District.

"That's why we've been moving very quickly to get public health involved with this because they are the public health experts," said Steve Venz, chief operations officer of SBUSD.