News

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Tom Guajardo Selected to Serve As the Santa Barbara School Districts’ Executive Director of Special Education

At a special meeting yesterday evening of the Santa Barbara School Districts’ Board of Education, the four board members present voted unanimously (Robert Noel, Susan Deacon, Annette Cordero, and Kate Parker; Ed Heron was absent) to appoint Tom Guajardo to the position of executive director of special education.

Tom Guajardo

Mr. Guajardo has a teaching credential from San Jose State and a bachelor’s degree from UCLA. He has been working in education since 1979, the vast majority of those years in Monterey County. Most recently he was director of equity/magnets in Santa Clara County and has served as superintendent of small school districts in Greenfield and Hollister, where he was directly responsible for special education. He was director of special education in Monterey County and superintendent of an American School in Mexico. Prior to those positions he worked as a principal, assistant principal, and teacher/coach.

“Despite the issues that may be surrounding us at this point, our standardized test scores show that students are learning and staff is to be congratulated for that as well,” said Mr. Guajardo. He continued, “I was pleased to see the thorough FCMAT report and suggestions that were made. I look forward to working with staff, parents, and community, to implement those strategies.”

“I believe we have found the right person for the job,” stated Superintendent Brian Sarvis. “Tom is recognized for his strong leadership skills, interpersonal skills, child-centered focus on learning, the delivery of instruction and differentiated instruction, strong working relationships with parents and staff, a keen understanding of parent needs, and effective communication in English and Spanish.” He added, “Tom has a broad grasp of the educational issues we are dealing with, experience in working on closing the achievement gap for all groups of students, and working with budgets.”

Mr. Guajardo’s salary will be $133,398 with a three-year offer of employment, subject to a positive annual evaluation. Mr. Guajardo will start work on Monday, August 24, 2009.