After just three weeks as interim superintendent, Heath Rocha has already made strides to repair the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District’s (LGSUHSD) relationship with the community. Since Bill Sanderson’s resignation announcement on Oct. 22 following weeks of controversy, The Falcon interviewed Rocha on his plans for the district’s future and his approach to addressing the community’s concerns as LGSUHSD enters a new era of leadership. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and slightly condensed.
On improving communication between the district and community
The Falcon: We wanted to talk about the “us” versus “them” sentiment that you’ve been hearing a lot about — the “us” being the school sites and the “them” being the district. What are you doing to try and improve that?
Rocha: I think being here nine years, if you ask staff and parents, they know that they can email me. I’ll come meet with them, and while we might not agree, they’ll feel heard, respected and I’ll never stop communicating to find a solution.
The Falcon: We have also heard that you’ve been meeting and plan to meet with various departments at both school sites. What prompted this decision? What departments have you met with so far? Who are you planning to meet with and what do you hope to take away?
Rocha: On Nov. 8, the district leadership team and I met with the Los Gatos electives department. On Nov. 22, we will meet with the Saratoga social studies teachers.
I’ve had this idea for a while to be honest. So, there’s been a lot of turnover at the district office. Two years ago, the only people who remained were myself and director of technology Julie Grenier. While there have been many changes — the parcel tax, strategic plan, new website and board policies — one of the things that I think that was missed was really building those relationships and that trust so that when you deal with something hard, you know the person and you know the intent.
And so my idea is that while I know most of the staff, I can always know them better. My colleagues and I are going to visit every classroom all morning. We could stay 15 to 20 minutes; it all depends on the size of the department, and then we’re going to host lunch. It’s not an agenda, but just break bread and get to know them.
My goal is to do this once a month and not even with just teachers. In December, I’m going to go to our food services and join them at 5 in the morning to see what their mornings feel like and help out.
And I believe that when you do that, you’re sending a message that you want to understand, and you care. Again, it’s a leadership style that I think is important and I’ve done it for nine years, so I need to set up a system where my colleagues at the district office can build that.
In a follow-up interview with Rocha, he said his December schedule will also include meeting with the front office at both schools, as well as the English department at SHS.
The Falcon: To clarify, will you be meeting with each department at both schools once a month?
Rocha: Most likely, one department, per month, per school. I think in a full calendar year, we know we could get through all departments. But at the end of this school year, we would probably meet five departments or six departments and continue this in the Fall. But my goal and plan, even if I’m not in the superintendent role, is to continue advocating for keeping this in place.
The Falcon: How do you continue to work on the relationship between school and the SHS programs? Specifically, the music program?
Rocha: We’re looking at having a town hall in January because I know there’s concerns about 9th grade PE, waivers and exemption, so that will be the next one happening.
In terms of music, Dr. Deepa Mukherjee, the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, and I had dinner with music directors Mr. Michael Boitz and Mr. Jason Shiuan for over three hours on Oct. 28. It was great to learn about each other. We now have each other’s cell phones. We’ve talked on the phone, emailed and so they know that line of communication is open.
On decreasing enrollment concerns and reevaluating FTE
The Falcon: In the strategic plan, there wasn’t a lot of information about decreasing enrollment. We wanted to ask if there is a plan set in place, and if so, what will it entail?
Rocha: That’s actually such a great observation. It wasn’t the focus of the strategic plan. Focus area One is about student voice, focus area Two is on instruction and learning, Three is district accountability and financial responsibility and then you have community input.
So I think it’s going to be crucial for us to work with all stakeholders as we balance maintaining our programs with declining enrollment and then board support. Luckily in Saratoga, the last demographic study showed enrollment was kind of flattening here. Los Gatos is going to see some decline in the coming years.
I think it’s a really good observation because there probably should have been something specific to that, but I think it’s kind of inherent to everything in those focus areas.
The Falcon: According to guidance counselor Mr. Brian Safine, about three out of four seniors at SHS applied early action and a lot of the teachers have been worried about an adequate number of guidance counselors. Do you have any plans for giving guidance counseling the appropriate resources?
Rocha: Yeah, that’s definitely on my list. I actually was with the counselors on Oct. 31 at Los Gatos and on the Nov. 1 morning with Mr. Safine and he talked about all the letters they wrote. It is something that I’ll be looking into and I have a good relationship with the counselors here. I’ll be meeting with them as a group and individually to look at that.
The Falcon: Additionally, connecting to that, is there any plan to revisit the formula for [full time equivalent] (FTE) for employees.
Rocha: I think so. That formula has been used for ten years and I think it’s important to have a formula for equity between the SHS and LGHS sites; there also is built in flexible FTE. So while there’s a very specific formula that’s been used, it is going to be a topic at a future board meeting — but FTE is not clean, you know.
You’ll have classes at 37 students, some at 20, but if you look at class loads per section, it’s been literally within two students for the last five years.
But, I think it’s worth looking at, and we do monitor those classes that exceed our mutual goal with the teacher’s union.
The Falcon: What is the goal for the student to teacher ratio?
Rocha: It’s in the contract [with the teacher’s union]. Off the top of my head, there’s two things: One’s student contact (the student limit in a teacher’s classes across all periods taught is 165), but then there are also programs that exceed the limit. So, for instance, music is an exception. But I can tell you the student to teacher ratio is a mutual goal and the last couple of years I’ve been in negotiations, we’ve met that goal 95% of the time.
On finding balance between two district leadership roles
The Falcon: There have been concerns of “burnout,” as you are taking on both the interim superintendent position and continuing your role overseeing special education and services. How would you alleviate this concern for the community?
Rocha: I slowly have been delegating things. I don’t know what the future holds, so it’s possible I will slide back into my role next fall. I am keeping in contact with our program specialists and teachers related to the big ticket items, but I’ve delegated some of these smaller projects that I’ve started — for instance, assistant principal Mr. Matt Torrens has taken on special ed transportation.
He works with that a lot on SHS’s campus, but now he’s helping out districtwide. So, I’ve been delegating projects to the administrators and staff.
My mentor, Leslie Codianne, actually might come out of retirement and help two days a week. While it’s not a full-time position, […] I think all these things together will help maintain the level of programs that we have had for the last several years and give me some help.
The Falcon conducted this interview on Nov. 1. All information is current as of Nov. 12, after a follow-up interview with Rocha.
