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Shock Over Sudden Death Of Longtime South Coast Educator

There’s shock in a South Coast community over the sudden death of a longtime school principal just two days before the school’s graduation ceremony.

Santa Barbara School District officials say La Cumbre Junior High School principal Jo Ann Carnes died Wednesday.

There’s no word on the cause of death, other than it happened unexpectedly.

Carnes had been with the school district for three decades, and principal of the school since 2005. She grew up in Santa Barbara, and eventually returned to the community as an educator. One of her accomplishments was helping to establish a program to get high school students into classes needed for college.

Plans for a memorial service are still pending.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.