Denise Alvarado resigns as Santa Barbara Unified Executive Director of Elementary Education

Denise Alvarado, the Santa Barbara Unified School District’s executive director of Elementary Education, has resigned her position. Alvarado left on Oct. 30 to become the senior executive director of Specialty Programs at the Westminster School District in Orange County. She joined Santa Barbara Unified in July 2022 as the executive director of Curriculum and Instruction. Before Santa Barbara Unified, Alvarado worked in Orange County school districts for 19 years. Alvarado’s departure comes amid changing district leadership ever since Maldonado announced her retirement on Oct. 30. Arturo Valentin, a parent at Santa Barbara Community Academy who worked with Alvarado on a multilingual learner committee, said she was very active and doing a really good job. Valentin said he was unaware why Alvarado was leaving, but suspected it was due to increased pressure from district superintendent Hilda Maldonado to raise test scores. During Maldonado’s six-year tenure, the