SBUnified
Santa Barbara Unified School District Board Trustee, Virginia Alvarez has resigned, effective Monday, November 27th.
“Ms. Alvarez has been a strong voice for our students and families and will be very much missed,” said Board President Wendy Sims-Moten.
Alvarez was elected in December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and served on the Board of Trustees for three years. She was elected as an at-large representative prior to the District converting to Trustee Area elections in February 2022. Alvarez’s seat will become Trustee Area 5, which is up for election in November 2024.
The Board of Trustees has 60 days to appoint a replacement to complete the rest of the term. As the seat is still at-large until the next election, a replacement would be allowed to reside from anywhere within the District’s boundaries (At-Large). The replacement trustee shall serve only until the end of the term of the position which he/she was elected to fill. If the Board decides not to appoint a replacement, then the seat will be vacant until the board elections in November 2024, according to Education Codes 5091 and 5093.
The Board will discuss and decide on the next steps for filling the vacancy at the December 13th meeting.
I read in a different post that she’s leaving to take care of an ill family member. People forget this is a volunteer position that is largely thankless and takes up a lot of time. Hoping another intelligent and capable person will take her spot, and not another extremist ding-dong funded by Fenker’s Russian money.
What a loss for SBUSD, for teachers and vulnerable students especially. Sad to see Boardmember Virginia Alvarez step down though understandable. I appreciate her efforts for greater financial transparency. I also personally witnessed how much she cares for students well being and closing the achievement gap. As Josh writes..”During her time on the school board, she pushed for greater transparency and financial accountability, and was the board’s most vocal critic of Superintendent Hilda Maldonado.” She will be missed. Who will speak out for teachers needs, like she recently did regarding the Superintendents attempt to retire experienced teachers early despite a shortage to save the district money.. Boardmember Alvarez shows common sense and sensitivity to what teachers needs are. And was not afraid to challenge our Superintendent on the Superintendent’s sometimes skewed priorities. Our Superintendent managed to underpay teachers by over 6 million on top of being underpaid compared to neighboring districts. Thank you Virginia for all you work for our district. I will miss your ideas and kindness on the board and your ability to be a free thinker..
Very unfortunate! I wish her well. She seemed the only one to stand up to the Supe. I voted for her because she was not a Dem. Party lackey, as the others seem to be. Although I have voted for Democrats for most races, school committee is or should be non-partisan —- and Ms. Alvaraz stood up for teachers and students and quality education and not for the local Party and its wokeness. She will be very much missed.
(It is a volunteer post — do they not get any payments for being on the (often thankless) board?)
I think it’s a few thousand dollars a year. Like maybe $4800 according to Transparent California. Nothing compared to the supes’ day jobs.