Outgoing Santa Barbara school district trustee Bob Pohl, an educational consultant, was recently hired as executive director of the foundation. Santa Barbara school board members say they support the direction the group is headed, although they have not yet formally endorsed or approved the group's plans in a public vote. I definitely do like their cause. Members of the foundation have broken up into committees, each assigned a goal. The work will require traveling to schools throughout the nation where programs are in place and successful.
Parents serving on the foundation include business leaders, physicians, attorneys and others.
Many have young children, and have considered sending them to private schools, saying they lack faith in the public school system. As part of the plan, a committee will be formed to help attract more parents into Santa Barbara High by dispelling any myths that exist about how well the campus is preparing its students. But the committee will also report to the school staff problems they have identified. Tom Mullaney, who makes a living out of salvaging struggling companies, said a top concern has to be rescuing the 10 to 15 percent of students who now enter high school barely reading. As one of the group's six focus areas, the Reading Enrichment Program would build on efforts already in place at the high schools to improve reading abilities.