Two weeks before she started work last summer, then newly-appointed Santa Barbara Unified School District Superintendent Hilda Maldonado struck a buoyant tone, arguing that, for schools, the pandemic represented a great chance for positive change.
“It’s a perfect storm for us to be innovative and think about education as a way to prepare our country to continue to lead the world,” she told Newsmakers at the time. “I do see it as an opportunity.”
No wonder colleagues from her teaching days dubbed her “Pollyanna.”