SANTA PAULA : Principal Named for Blanchard School
Santa Paula Elementary School District trustees Thursday appointed a new principal for Blanchard Elementary School, officials said.
Barbara Ybarra, staff development program coordinator for the Oxnard Elementary School District, will replace district Supt. David Philips in late October as head of Blanchard. Philips became acting principal in August when former Blanchard principal Wilma Purchik retired after 32 years with the district.
In Oxnard, Ybarra was a teacher for second to sixth grades from 1969 to 1978 and then served as the director of a reading lab before taking the staff development post, Philips said. She has not worked as a principal, he said. Blanchard has about 400 students in kindergarten through fifth grades.
Philips’ duties as an acting principal will not end when Ybarra takes the post, he said. He will become acting principal at McKevett Elementary, whose principal, Martha Hernandez, is on leave for personal reasons.
Philips said he has enjoyed serving as a principal again but is eager to get back to being a full-time superintendent.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
