Please help Wendy Whitehead with living expense

Since Wendy spoke at the Santa Barbara School Board meeting on April 9, 2024, things have gotten crazy. To give some background, Wendy has worked as a certified athletic trainer at Dos Pueblos High School for 23 years, a place she has called home until she was forced to agree to resign on April 8, 2024. This agreement included the stipulation of an “exit interview” with the Superintendent, where she could communicate all of the unethical things that have been occurring at Dos Pueblos High School. Wendy tried to schedule time with the superintendent as was agreed upon per her resignation but was given the runaround, “sorry she is busy this week, sorry she is busy that week, sorry she is busy for the foreseeable future”. Wendy felt the only way she could get the superintendent to keep her word was to speak at the Santa Barbara Unified School District Board Meeting on April 9th. The next morning assistant superintendent John called, and they spoke later that week for about 30 minutes. Wendy has been trying for years to get someone to listen to her about the administration at the school, with no luck. Two weeks later, on April 23rd the superintendent Hilda Maldonado’s assistant called and offered Wendy a 5 min meeting for the following day but Wendy let her know, she was too busy.  

Now Wendy plans on returning to the school board to ask those important questions that have been ignored in the past few months. Today she asks:  “How is it ok for the administrators at her school to hire an uncertified individual for the position of a certified athletic trainer?” According to Wendy, who has firsthand knowledge, this person has not completed any true college curriculum athletic training courses. That she is currently finishing prerequisites to start an athletic training college program.  Wendy absolutely acknowledges she is the whistleblower of this situation and is exposing the school. Wendy has been trying to mitigate this issue out of the public eye for months. She did not want to do this publicly but feels no one in charge is listening to her. She has told multiple people, multiple times, with no success.  Specifically, she had let the district and the school know, in person with witnesses ,last September and December that this action is unethical and illegal because the position must be held by a certified athletic trainer. An individual cannot be referred to as an athletic trainer until they have completed the necessary education and certification requirements from a recognized institution as well as passing a certification exam administered by the Board of Certification for Athletic Trainers. Wendy told Tara Wise, human resource manager and Ian Perry, vice principal of Dos Pueblos and had been ignored. In addition, two different people contacted the individual impersonating an athletic trainer to communicate the issue, but she has chosen to ignore those warnings and continue to work.  

Some may argue that it is better to have someone help the athletes than not to have anyone, which is understandable. However, an inexperienced and uneducated individual acting as if they have that knowledge and experience can be quite dangerous. We have no knowledge of information going out to Dos Pueblos parents of athletes or opposing schools to let them know this individual has been taking on the responsibility of a certified athletic trainer, with no college curriculum courses in athletic training. 

Most recently, one situation upset Wendy was last month. One Sunday she called me crying and crying and crying because the individual acting as a trainer had covered a large boys volleyball tournament at UCSB.  The individual worked as the “athletic trainer” for the tournament. As an employee of Dos Pueblos, coaches know Dos Pueblos requires their trainers to be certified, all coaches, parents, athletes would assume this girl was a certified athletic trainer but they are being misled. Please, I ask you all to take a minute and think about your profession of 23 years like her. Would you not also be protective of your profession, if you too believed it was being misrepresented? Especially, in the medical field where children’s lives are at stake. Wendys job has been to protect the kids of the school and she feels the kids and parents are being misled and deceived by the administration of the school she loves.

Are you a parent of a current athlete???? Are you the coach or principal from another school who played Dos Pueblos this year??? Did you know the person they introduced as the “athletic trainer” was not certified or college course educated yet??? Yes, Wendy says she has years of volunteering, but has never taken the certification exam, because she does not have the correct college course work.  Is it ok that you were not told?? Is it ok to cut corners on your children’s safety??

If you know Wendy as an athletic trainer, you know she is a stickler when it comes to following all of the CIF rules regarding concussions.  With this person, not having the correct knowledge, experience, and certification, she should not clear any child for concussions this year. Though a doctor has the last word, this person has no certification to be monitoring their concussion rehabilitation.  Wendy is truly concerned the community and other schools have been severely misled. It is not just about rules, it is about safety. Again, Wendy is just the whistleblower. Wendy has been told by the athletic trainers association that the school is violating their rules.

For some background to who Wendy Whitehead is, she is my crazy, zany, holiday loving, sports loving, family oriented, game show playing, school spirited, deeply passionate sister. For those of you who do know her, I thank you for loving her for who she is. She is loud, she is bold, and she tells it how it is, but she also loves you deeply from the bottom of her heart.  She has picked the correct profession in taking care of people and I could not be more proud of her.  After graduating top in her class in high school she went to Fresno State in 1990. She was recruited there on an Air Force ROTC scholarship.  The very first time, in her freshman year, she was exposed to a certified athletic trainer, she changed her entire life and coursework to become Certified Athletic Trainer.

Over the next 10 years she got a double bachelors and a masters degree, before getting certified.  Even though she could have worked at any college or university, Wendy wanted to get real life experience before heading to the college level.  She felt 2 to 3 years at Dos Pueblos would be good before moving on. She quickly realized she was not leaving; she had found a home.  Coaches, Colleagues, Parents, Athletes and the Community all started to embrace her.  Everyone could quickly see her love of the job and her love of the kids.  She so fondly talks about all the coaches and colleagues who truly made her feel like a part of their family.  Especially one football coach from the beginning with 4 kids and the boys basketball coach, thank you for being so incredibly kind to Wendy for 23 years. Also, a big hug to all the students she had as student trainers over the years. She completely felt like you were family, especially the twins at the beginning and her assistants over the years.  Crystal and Aly you have always been by her side. I know she still keeps in close contact with several of you and wishes you the best in all your endeavors.  

During Wendy’s 23 years at Dos Pueblos, she has experienced some incredible injuries.  She has called me a few times over the years, to tell me of her life saving stories.  Her first story was years ago, at a football game when a player got a  brain injury.  Wendy and the Coach went to the hospital almost daily for months. It really impacted her; she says that is what made her so strict on concussion issues. A few years later Wendy saved a girl while chaperoning a dance, she chaperoned all 22 proms and 21 homecoming dances, when a girl had a seizure and stopped breathing.  Even though she was in formal dress, she gave this girl lifesaving breaths until the ambulance arrived. And finally, the story she spoke of often when it occurred, a junior varsity football player at a home game, had the same heart injury as a recent NFL player. There were not a bunch of doctors to help her, just her and one other coach who used their life saving skills. He gave chest compressions while she gave breathes. After the ambulance and AED were hooked up, and it showed a flatline, 2 shocks were given then the boy was revived.  But it all began with her quick response.  She was honored once as “employee of the year” for her excellent work at the school.  She often spoke at career day and was just proud to be there and be Trainer Wendy. 

The thing that shocked me the most was her office.  The first time I saw her office, It was incredible, I had never seen any office like it.  She had well, I mean well, over 1,000 photos up on her walls. She said from year 1 she wanted to make it all about the kids and have her office be a home, a place where kids want to come into when they need help, a place where they can feel safe.  Over the years had grown into just that, from athletes, non-athletes, teams, families, coaches, friends, and most of all the student trainers.  They were everywhere, she documented all the activities the students did and then gave them the photos so they could remember all the wonderful times and things they did in high school.  This was very important to her.  Her office was epic, she would often call to tell me how cool it was at work that day, a former athlete stopped by her office with their spouse or family. Having former athletes being able to show their pictures posted in the office when they were in high school to their kids brought so much joy to Wendy.  You could see how much she loves that school when she talked about them as a contestant on Wheel of Fortune  (December 2006) and Let’s Make A Deal (January 2023). She was quite funny when speaking about the school.  A little FYI, she gave over $3,000 to the family of the football player with the brain injury and also held a fundraiser for the family.  She has gone over and above for many students in the community over the years.

I am hoping to show her that all her kindness has not gone unseen.  As she plans to move forward, a new job in this field would probably mean leaving Santa Barbara.  I know this thought has sent her to tears many nights over the past few months. If you know her, you know she has A LOT of stuff. With a U-haul, a deposit, and basic moving costs, and no job or income for a few months now, things are finically getting tight. In addition to all of these stresses, she has been the caretaker of our Dad in Santa Barbara. We hope that she does not have to move very far, our Dad is not a fan of moving.

Finally, the most shocking point of information I have ever gotten from her, was her annual salary.  Wow what a joke, after 23 years, she made $56,500 last year.  With a masters degree and over two decades of employment. Let alone the cost of living in Santa Barbara, I can only imagine what she truly walks away with.  She often waitressed for years on the weekends until she sustained a workers compensation injury trying to get to an athlete, that caused her to hang those shoes up.  She then turned to working extra athletic training assignments on the weekends. That is my sister, a hard worker, a go getter, someone who truly cares.  I know that she and the other 2 athletic trainers applied for a pay increase in winter of 2022 and were denied. They appealed but were denied by assistant superintendent John, stating they were earning what they should be as stated in their 6 job duties.  I know Wendy did a lot more than 6 things at Dos Pueblos High School

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Please, let’s work together and go fund her

Thank you

Her Sister Melissa