Santa Cruz County Office of Education

Free English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are available this fall through the Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter! 📚✨

Courses offer engaging lessons to help adult learners improve their English skills and build confidence in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Classes are open to beginner and multilevel students at two locations in Santa Cruz County:

📍 Santa Cruz: Harbor High School (Room H12) | Mondays & Thursdays, 6:00–8:30 p.m. (Beginner)
📍 Watsonville/Freedom: Sequoia Schools (Room 209) | Mondays, Tuesdays, & Wednesdays, 5:00–7:00 p.m. (Multilevel)

Classes are free! Contact [email protected] or (831) 466-5680 to learn more and sign up. Register at https://sccoe.link/esl

High school students across Santa Cruz County are invited to join the free, countywide robotics club behind the 2026 MATE ROV Ranger Class World Champions!

Learn to design, build, and compete with underwater robots that tackle real-world marine challenges. No experience is needed, and there is a role for everyone, from engineering and environmental science to marketing, digital media, leadership, and more.

Attend an upcoming open house to get started:
📍 Watsonville: September 12, 2026 | 1:00–4:00 p.m. at Sequoia High School (229 Green Valley Rd, Freedom)
📍 Santa Cruz: September 13, 2026 | 1:00–4:00 p.m. at X Academy Maker Space (229 Encinal St, Santa Cruz)

Club meetings start September 26-27, 2026.

🔗 Learn more and sign up: santacruzcoe.org/robotics

Ready to lead, connect, and make an impact? Join YLLA!

The Youth Led Leadership Alliance (YLLA) brings together high school students from across Santa Cruz County to build leadership skills, connect with peers, and create positive change in their communities. YLLA is made of up 8 youth-led groups, and is free and open to all high school students enrolled in public, private, or charter schools in Santa Cruz County!

Build leadership skills. Connect with peers. Make an impact.

👉 Join YLLA for the 2026–27 school year!

🔗 sccoe.link/ylla

🎒 Welcome back to school, Santa Cruz County!

The first day of school is here for Soquel Union Elementary School District, while the 9 other districts and the COE start school over the next week. Here’s the lineup:

📘 August 5
🏫 Soquel Union Elementary

✏️ August 6
🌊 Live Oak
🌲 San Lorenzo Valley Unified
🏙️ Santa Cruz City Schools
🦅 Scotts Valley Unified
⭐ Santa Cruz COE Alternative Education

🍎 August 12
🌄 Happy Valley
⛰️ Mountain Elementary
🌊 Pacific Elementary
📚 Pajaro Valley Unified

🚌 August 13
🌲 Bonny Doon Union Elementary

Here’s to a great start for students, families, educators and school staff across Santa Cruz County!

We Stuffed the Bus! 🎒🚌

More than 300 volunteers came together Saturday at Kaiser Permanente Arena to fill over 2,800 backpacks with school supplies and resource information.

The backpacks are now being distributed through school districts, local agencies and nonprofits to students experiencing homelessness and other hardships, helping ensure they begin the school year ready to succeed.

Thank you to our partners United Way of Santa Cruz County, Santa Cruz Warriors and UPS along with the many sponsors, donors and volunteers who make this incredible drive possible. We couldn’t do it without you!

This year, Stuff the Bus is reaching some of our youngest learners. 🎒

For the first time, the campaign includes smaller backpacks designed specifically for Transitional Kindergarten and early childhood students, helping more children begin the school year with supplies that fit their needs.

The campaign ends Saturday, so there is still time to help a local student start school prepared! Every $30 donation provides one filled backpack for a student experiencing homelessness, housing insecurity or other hardships.

🔗 Support Stuff the Bus:
https://sccoe.link/stb

Math came to life last week at Summer Math Camp, where students from schools across Santa Cruz County spent five days exploring creative problem-solving, mathematical art, strategy games, computer science and hands-on challenges, including building an enormous 24-cell octahedron from pool noodles! 🔢📐🧠

Hosted at Sequoia Schools in Watsonville, the camp gave students a welcoming space to connect with fellow math enthusiasts, take on fascinating questions and build confidence in their math identities.

This week of curiosity, learning and fun was made possible through a collaboration among Pajaro Valley Unified School District Expanded Learning, X-Academy, the Santa Cruz COE and other partners.

📸 Take a look at some of the week’s activities!

Did you know nearly 2,900 students in Santa Cruz County are experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity?

For many families, back-to-school supplies are one more financial burden. Stuff the Bus helps students start the year with the tools they need to feel prepared, confident, and supported.
Just $30 provides a filled backpack for a local student in need.

🔗 Donate or learn more:
https://sccoe.link/stb

Join the 17th annual Stuff the Bus campaign! 🎒🚌

A backpack filled with school supplies can help a student start the school year feeling prepared, confident, and supported.

Every $30 donation provides one filled backpack for a local student experiencing homelessness, housing insecurity, or other hardships.

🔗 Learn more and donate today: https://sccoe.link/stb

We’re celebrating the inaugural Family Leadership Academy, a new countywide bilingual leadership series sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Office of Education and Cradle to Career Santa Cruz County.

Over the past several weeks, 11 family leaders representing 4 school districts and 7 schools came together to build relationships, strengthen their voice, and grow their leadership and advocacy skills.

We invite our community to hear directly from academy participants at the July 16 meeting of the Santa Cruz County Board of Education.

Thank you to the family leaders who made this inaugural program so meaningful, and to our partners at Cradle to Career Santa Cruz County for their collaboration and support.