(Editor's note: Hilda Maldonado's first day of work as Superintendent of the Santa Barbara Unified School District was July 1, 2020, in the depth of the pandemic, As Covid now recedes as a day-to-day emergency issue, she at last has the chance to deliver her first, in-person, annual "State of Our Schools" address, after focusing intensely for nearly two years on discerning, navigating and managing the fallout of a global public health crisis for the district's 13,000 students, 600 teachers and 900 staff members.