by Joshua Molina, Noozhawk South County Editor August 7, 2023 | 6:53 pm August 7, 2023 | 9:21 pm
Hilda Maldonado will lead the Santa Barbara Unified School District through at least 2026, after the district’s board of trustees voted 4-0 at its July 18 meeting to extend her contract.
Board member Virginia Alvarez was absent from the two meetings where the board discussed and approved her new agreement.
Board President Wendy Sims-Moten told Noozhawk that the board was “proud” to extend Maldonado’s contract.
“She did not quit amid some of the most challenging times,” Sims-Moten said. “Instead, she stayed the course and learned, listened and persevered, and is working hard to change the lived experience of every child, every chance, every day.”
Maldonado earns about $260,000 annually, and will get a 2% pay increase next year, in line with the amount the teachers’ union employees will receive this fiscal year.
In approving Maldonado’s new contract, the board members made no mention of the massive exodus of employees under Maldonado’s tenure, or a teacher survey that heavily criticized her in 2021.
Ex-employees have circulated a document that shows 32 employees, including about a dozen high-level cabinet members, who have departed since Maldonado was hired.
The most recent employee to resign is Elise Simmons, who left her job as principal at Santa Barbara High School to work at the Santa Barbara County Office of Education.
The only remaining member of the cabinet left who served under previous superintendent Cary Matsuoka is Human Resources Director John Becchio.
Frann Wageneck, longtime assistant superintendent of student services, said she is concerned about the staff and students at Santa Barbara Unified.
“With the exodus of 30-plus district leaders and high numbers of certificated and classified staff moving on as well, I am gravely concerned about the well-being of the adults, and therefore the students,” Wageneck said.
“I can only hope that the Santa Barbara Unified board of trustees are making decisions based on all the information available to them.”
Wageneck, who is a trustee for the Hope School District, said she relies heavily on superintendents to report on nearly every aspect of school and district functioning. But trustees, she said, should not stop there.
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Trustees, she said, must also walk school sites, talk to the diversity of the staff, students and families, and examine data from surveys and interviews.
“Only after doing that can we make decisions that are based in truth and reflect the values, beliefs, and priorities of our community, which is precisely what school board trustees are elected to do,” Wageneck said. “We work for the people, not the leadership of the district.”
Board members have been largely silent in response to any criticisms of Maldonado. They did a year ago hire an executive coach to help her develop leadership skills, at a cost of $13,000.
Alvarez told Noozhawk that she could not comment on whether Maldonado’s contract should have been renewed, because she was not at either meeting that discussed her performance.
Alvarez said she had missed the meetings due to personal family-related issues.
Board member Gabe Escobedo, who has served on the board for less than a year, spoke effusively about Maldonado.
He said that he is a good judge of people’s character, ability and leadership, and that it took him a single weekend at the California School Boards Association conference to make up his mind about Maldonado.
“I knew that you were the right leader and you are the right leader of this district,” Escobedo said at the board meeting. “Nothing in the last eight months has changed my mind about that.”
Escobedo said “I am excited about your vision, your cabinet and the progress you have made.”
Maldonado thanked her cabinet, who “stand with me and continues to do the work.”
“I am extremely committed to staying in Santa Barbara, to being the leader I was hired to be,” Maldonado said.
— Noozhawk South County editor Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
