AN EMBATTLED EDUCATION official has made a hasty exit from a West Valley school district, following months of community strife that left parents and students feeling unheard.
Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District Superintendent Bill W. Sanderson will resign June 30, 2025, for “personal reasons,” following lengthy community unrest over his leadership style, according to a districtwide letter Oct. 22 from Board President Misty Davies. Sanderson, who did not respond to requests for comment, is on paid leave for the rest of the school year. Heath Rocha, assistant superintendent of student services, will fill in while the district searches for a permanent replacement.
Sanderson’s swift resignation happened after parents said he and other district leaders stripped important programs during a transitional period while the district was reviewing and changing longstanding school programs and policies. The situation reached a boiling point in late September when the board of trustees unanimously approved Sanderson’s new three-year contract through 2027. It included an 8% raise, hiking his annual salary to $308,440 — an extension community members said broke the trust of hundreds of students and parents who had voiced concerns about his management for months.
The board of trustees did not respond to requests for comment.
A sense of relief
Amy Williams, Saratoga High Sports Boosters executive vice president and mom of two daughters in the district, said the superintendent’s resignation brings relief, especially as someone who received limited response to her concerns. Williams said examples of Sanderson and the district’s controversial actions include canceling Saratoga High School’s annual concerto competition, which students used for their college portfolios, and removing the physical education exemption for ninth-grade athletes and marching band students.
“There has been an erosion in programs, but more importantly, a lack of communication and clarity around any changes that needed to take place,” she told San José Spotlight. “Then (there’s been) an increasing amount of combativeness and sort of disregard and a feeling that the students and teachers and parents at large were not respected or heard.”
The board selected Sanderson for the role in 2022. He has an administrative service credential but not an active teaching credential. The community has been questioning Sanderson’s leadership over roughly the past year, when Williams said parents noticed a lack of communication and program changes. Numerous petitions calling out the district’s actions circulated in the community, with some gaining more than 1,000 signatures.
Diane Siri, who is employed at the headhunter firm who found Sanderson, said state education code allows boards to waive credential requirements. Siri said many superintendents don’t have teaching credentials, adding Sanderson met all of the needed requirements and experience.
A Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District spokesperson said the district has outlined a plan to improve communication with residents and is taking this transitionary period to reset.
Rebuilding trust
Rocha, who has been with the district about nine years, said his goal as acting superintendent is to rebuild trust with students and parents.
“I have always taken the approach of listening first and finding ways to collaboratively solve issues where we can stay in compliance and best serve the needs of our students and staff,” he told San José Spotlight.
Alicia de Fuentes, Saratoga Music Boosters president and mother, said she began noting red flags in Sanderson’s leadership early in his tenure. The district informed Saratoga High School parents it wouldn’t host the 2024 California Music Educators Association Bay Section’s annual band and orchestra festival, which it’s hosted for more than a decade.
De Fuentes said the school board wasn’t listening to what families had to say about Sanderson.
“When you have leaders in education, the first thing you have to think about is your students and teachers. Otherwise, you’re in the wrong business,” she told San José Spotlight. “If you’re doing anything that’s detrimental to our students, you don’t belong in the school system. If you’re doing anything that’s detrimental to our teachers, you do not belong in the school system.”
“When you have leaders in education, the first thing you have to think about is your students and teachers. Otherwise, you’re in the wrong business.”
Alicia de Fuentes, Saratoga Music Boosters president and mother
In her districtwide letter, Davies said the district will seek community input in searching for the next superintendent.
Williams said she’s optimistic about the future, but wants the district to acknowledge the situation in a more comprehensive way than a short community letter. The letter does not contain an apology.
“That would go a long way in regaining trust, because everyone understands there are likely things that require change, as there are in any business or in any environment,” she said.
Contact Annalise Freimarck at annalise@sanjosespotlight.com or follow @annalise_ellen on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.
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