Susan Salcido is Santa Barbara County’s top education official, the superintendent of Santa Barbara County Schools.
With a stellar reputation for communication and working well with others, she leads a countywide effort to make sure the 20 public school districts in the county are running smoothly.
That’s never been easy, but her job is even more important in the age of the pandemic.
“We knew at the time, as school leaders, that closing schools was absolutely devastating, but opening schools was going to be really, really challenging,” Salcido said.
In this exclusive podcast, Salcido walks us through the role of the Santa Barbara County Education Office and its important work in the community.
She also shares her story as the daughter of Korean immigrant parents who grew up in Santa Maria
As a child, she worked in the family hotel business and learned the value of hard work.
“If you were staying in room 6, and called and needed more towels, you might get Susan Salcido at 6 years old bringing you towels because that’s the work life that we had,” Salcido said.
Salcido has a bachelor’s degree in English from UC Santa Barbara, a master’s degree in education from UCSB and a doctorate of education from USC.
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