
Join us for ‘School reopenings in Santa Cruz County: The experts answer your questions’ in English & Spanish

It’s been a long pandemic year for educators, students and parents. So what does the rest of it hold, and what’s on tap for 2021-22? County Office of Eduction Superintendent Faris Sabbah and COE school safety director Jennifer Buesing answer your questions in our latest Lookout event.
What safety precautions are in place in school buildings? What’s going on with sports and other extracurriculars? And, of course, what might school schedules look like in the fall?
When it comes to education post-pandemic, the number of questions one might ask about school reopenings are seemingly endless. So Lookout, in partnership with Event Santa Cruz, is giving you a chance to run yours by two top Santa Cruz County Office of Education officials: Superintendent Faris Sabbah and Director of School Safety Jennifer Buesing.
-
It’s been a long pandemic year for educators, students and parents. So what’s on tap for 2021-22? County Office of Education Superintendent Faris Sabbah and COE school safety director Jennifer Buesing answer your questions in our latest Lookout event.Tuesday, March 30, 2021 - 6:00 PM
Our free virtual event, “School reopenings in Santa Cruz County: The experts answer your questions,” is set for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 30. It will be broadcast in English, with simultaneous Spanish translation.
You can register by clicking here — and, if you like — ask a question when doing so. We’ll also take questions on Zoom chat during the event, to be hosted by Lookout Education Correspondent Nick Ibarra.
Both Sabbah and Buesing have been on the frontlines working alongside the county’s 10 school districts coordinating reopening plans. Here’s more about them and their work:
Faris Sabbah

Faris Sabbah grew up in Iraq and Ecuador before coming to the United States to study at UC Santa Cruz where he received his Bachelors in Psychology. He received his Masters in Education from San Jose State University and his Doctorate in Educational Equity from UC Berkeley. He has worked in education for almost 30 years as an instructional aide, teacher, university professor, and as a school, district and county office administrator. He was elected Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools in June 2018.
Jennifer Buesing

Jennifer Buesing spent 24 years working for the Santa Cruz County Probation Department before becoming the County Office of Education’s director of school safety in December 2019. At that time, the thinking was that her priority would be making sure that schools were prepared for responding to safety threats. When COVID-19 hit, Buesing became the COE’s liaison to the county public health department and its point person on virus response, from delivering food to families to monitoring students’ mental health. A Santa Cruz native, she attended Santa Cruz High School and UC Santa Cruz.