Homecoming King

Let the Dr. David Cash era begin anew. After casting a nationwide net in its search for a replacement for retiring Santa Barbara School District Superintendent Brian Sarvis, the district’s Board of Education unanimously approved the hiring of a rather familiar face this week, announcing in a special board meeting Wednesday morning that Dr. David Cash, the once upon a time principal at Dos Pueblos High and Goleta Valley Junior High, will replace Sarvis when the latter steps down on June 30. “This is really a homecoming for me” beamed Cash during the meeting. “I am thrilled beyond measure to be back in Santa Barbara.”

In what Board President Annette Cordero characterized as a “lengthy and very competitive” search process, the district vetted some 58 applicants from across the country before deciding upon Cash. Most immediately, Cash — who worked as a lawyer and a classroom teacher before joining the various ranks of administration — has been the superintendent of the Clovis Unified School District since 2009 and, before that, superintendent of the Claremont Unified School District. A two-time Santa Barbara County Crystal Apple Administrator of the Year, Cash was last employed locally as the principal at Dos Pueblos High School from 1999 through 2004 — a tenure that prompted Boardmember Susan Deacon, whose children had Cash as their principal during his DP years, to opine, “I know firsthand how much the kids really loved you.”

Before DP, Cash was Goleta Valley Junior High’s leader from 1995 to 1999, Buellton Union’s top administrator from 1992 to 1995, and a teacher at Peabody Charter School for two years before that. No doubt with all of this local experience in mind, Boardmember Kate Parker, who was virtually present at the meeting from a location in Great Britain thanks to the wonders of an iPad and a speaker system, called Cash a “great match for our district and our board.” The new superintendent will officially assume his duties on July 1 with an annual base salary of $209,000.