San Benito High School District has hired a former principal to
serve as the district’s director of educational services, filling a
vacancy in one of the high school’s top leadership positions,
officials said.
Hollister – San Benito High School District has hired a former principal to serve as the district’s director of educational services, filling a vacancy in one of the high school’s top leadership positions, officials said.
Cindy Cordova, a former principal at both Rancho San Justo Middle School and Sunnyslope Elementary, will take over as the school’s education director Oct. 10, filling a vacancy left by Mary Ann Boylan. Boylan left the district in August to take a similar position at Gilroy Unified School District.
“We had a good pool of candidates, so it was a tough decision,” SBHS Human Resources Director Don Balfour said. “We are really exited about our choice. Ms. Cordova will do a great job.”
Although she has spent more than two decades working in Hollister’s public schools, Cordova’s most recent post was at Pajaro Valley Unified School District, were she served as director of federal and state programs. Her new position will be slightly different, but Cordova said she is excited about her new job.
“Curriculum and instruction has been an interest of mine throughout my career,” she said. “In fact, it’s more than an interest, it’s a passion. Also, I really wanted to return to work with the Hollister community.”
She is particularly excited about being able to interact and work with students on a daily basis, something she wasn’t able to do at Pajaro Valley. As director of educational services, Cordova will work with teachers and staff to make sure the school’s curriculum matches California State Standards.
Part of her job will also be to review textbooks and literature selections and make recommendations to the district’s board of trustees regarding curriculum decisions.
In addition to her passion for curriculum development and a strong commitment to the community, Cordova believes her fluency in Spanish will also be beneficial to San Benito High School District.
“It’s really helpful to work with people in the language that they are the strongest with,” she said.
About 54 percent of San Benito High School students are Hispanic or Latino. Last year all of the school’s 168 English-language learners spoke Spanish as their native language, according to the California Department of Education.
District Superintendent Jean Burns Slater said in a press release that Cordova would be a good match for the district.
“Ms. Cordova knows and lives in the community of Hollister and San Benito County,” Slater said. “Her rich background in curriculum and instruction and experience at the district office level, match exceptionally well with the responsibilities of the Director of Educational Services.”
