David Bautista Named Principal at Adelante

“Adelante is a pearl in the Santa Barbara community,” said David Bautista, who began his new post as the school’s executive director and principal on Monday. Selected by the school’s Board of Directors, Bautista comes to Adelante Charter School, a public elementary school that teaches in Spanish and English, from the Oregon Department of Education, where he was assistant superintendent.

Bautista has a bachelor’s from University of Guadalajara, Mexico, and his master’s from University of Arizona. His expertise in multi-lingual learning includes overseeing Oregon’s English-learner programs, establishing dual-language programs there, and contributing to research in many publications on language education. He hopes to make Adelante a “model charter school in California and in the nation.”

Leading the school through tremendous growth for about seven years, outgoing principal Juanita Hernandez left Adelante to be closer to her family in San Diego, according to board president Dominic Paszkeicz.