History
The Starr King Parent-Child Workshop was founded in 1949. A minister of the Santa Barbara Unitarian Church, Dr. Berkeley Blake, wanted to establish a school keyed to child development and parent education. He arranged for use of the vacant lot next to the church and rooms for housing the school. Sarah Foot, an experienced nursery school and parent-education teacher, was the first director. Selmer O. Wake, director of the Santa Barbara Adult Education Program, was also instrumental in getting the school started. It was incorporated and organized as a nonsectarian, nonpartisan, nonprofit, interracial group. The school was named after Thomas Starr King, a Unitarian minister from Boston who was instrumental in keeping California from seceding from the Union during the Civil War.
The school's format has not changed significantly since the beginning when it started out with eight or ten children. The most noticeable change has been that in the early days "parent" was almost synonymous with "mother". These days, many fathers participate as well.