A Santa Barbara County native and educator serving as a superintendent in Gaviota has been hired to lead the Guadalupe schools.
Emilio Handall, from Vista Del Mar Union School District in Gaviota, has been selected from a field of 21 applicants, with the Guadalupe Union School District board voting to hire him Wednesday night.
He will replace Superintendent Ed Cora, who announced in March that he would be leaving this summer for a job leading the Santa Paula School District.
“It is with incredible excitement and honor that I have been selected to serve as the new superintendent of the Guadalupe Union School District,” Handall said. “The Guadalupe community is a close-knit and growing community with a bright future and I look forward to building strong relationships and working collaboratively with the GUSD Board of Trustees, dedicated staff, supportive parents and committed community members to ensuring that every Guadalupe student receives the highest-quality education we can create.”
Vista Del Mar has one campus, Vista de Las Cruces School, while Guadalupe has two campuses, Mary Buren Elementary School and Kermit McKenzie Junior High School.
From the original applicants, school board members narrowed the field to four finalists who were interviewed.
During a site visit to Handall’s current district, Guadalupe board members said they received “tremendous positive feedback” on the candidate.
“Dr. Handall’s experience and credentials are a great match for our community,” said Diana Arriola, president of the Guadalupe school board. “He is known for his outreach to the community, his desire to accelerate student achievement while creating a strong team, with the focus always on student performance.
He also will bring extensive experience and oversight in the areas of human resources, facilities, finances, and special programs, with special recognition of the importance of technology in education, Arriola said.
“We look forward to working with him to continue to promote safe schools with top-quality education,” she added.
Prior to joining the Vista Del Mar district in September 2016, Handall was a principal and then assistant superintendent of elementary education services in the Santa Barbara Unified School District.
After receiving his associate’s degree from Santa Barbara City College, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA.
Handall went on to earn master’s degrees from the University of LaVerne and Azusa Pacific University, and ultimately earned his doctoral degree in educational leadership from Concordia University, Chicago.
The 1988 graduate of Carpinteria High School will start his new job July 1.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.