After weeks of tension between parents and the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District, Superintendent Bill W. Sanderson announced he’ll step down, effective immediately.
The news was announced by Board of Trustees President Misty Davies in an email as the school day wrapped up on Tuesday afternoon.
“Superintendent Bill W. Sanderson will be on leave for the remainder of this school year, resigning from his position on June 30,” Davies said. “The Board of Trustees thanks him for all he has accomplished.”
This update followed a contentious meeting where the supervisor secured an 8% raise, despite questions emerging about his credentials and a widening rift between Sanderson and Saratoga High School’s music department.
Davies said Assistant Student of Services Heath Rocha has been appointed interim superintendent.
“Heath has been a valued leader of the LGSUHSD community for the past nine years, overseeing special education and student services,” she said. “Additionally, we will begin a comprehensive search this year to find the next permanent Superintendent. Community input will be vital during this process; more details will be shared in the future as we weigh this important decision.”
Earlier this month, a Los Gatan investigation revealed Sanderson was supposed to have both a teaching and administration credential, but only had the latter.
The Board of Trustees is allowed to waive this requirement but apparently didn’t.
Clause 31—the part of Sanderson’s contract addressing this—was quietly altered and then not mentioned by staff during the Sept. 24 board meeting, where his new base salary of $308,448 was approved ($28,448 more than the annual rate he started at in 2022).
When the Los Gatan asked Sanderson why his teaching credential was temporarily suspended back in 2005, he stated, “I’m an openly gay man, and being openly gay in education leadership has not always been easy—especially in the Deep South.”
Documents obtained by the Los Gatan reveal that back when he was employed as a principal at Inman High School, in the Atlanta Public Schools district, Sanderson was accused of behaving in a way that made staff members feel uncomfortable, including discussing issues of a personal and sexual nature.
One of the allegations involved a conversation Sanderson is said to have had with a teacher about his plans for the weekend—with the teacher stating he’d be performing at a nightclub called Hoedowns, a mainstay bar in the Atlanta LGBTQ+ scene that’s since closed.
“You can’t keep a good whore down,” Sanderson replied, which the teacher later reported embarrassed him, since there were other staff members present, according to the accusation in the document released Tuesday by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission.
At the time Sanderson denied the allegations and argued there there’d been leadership problems—and cliquish factions amongst staff—predating his tenure as principal.
When the Los Gatan reached out for comment on Tuesday, an LGSUHSD spokesperson said she no longer had a way to contact Sanderson.
On Oct. 8, when the Los Gatan asked the superintendent if he believed any of the negativity currently aimed his way falls into a similar category as the animosity he experienced back in 2005, he replied, “Homophobia is homophobia.”
After that article was published, multiple Saratoga community members reached out to the newspaper to say it wasn’t Sanderson’s identity as a gay man they have a problem with, but rather his top-down leadership style.
The Saratoga Music Boosters nonprofit had become particularly estranged from the superintendent.
Its leaders bristled at changes to the music program at Saratoga High, one of the state’s most elite public schools.
Parent frustrations were aired on Oct. 14 during a packed town hall at the school’s library.
The District says it’s just been implementing new government rules and dealing with increasing insurance costs.
Some District officials have suggested some Saratoga High teachers have had a harder time adjusting to the changes than those at Los Gatos High School.
Saratoga parents and music program officials say the changes have led to the cancellation of trips, competitions and fundraisers. They say the superintendent refused to meet with school staff to seek solutions.
Sanderson’s resignation was announced just minutes after a concerned parent sent the District the documents about his 2005 suspension.
That’s not homophobia. That’s just being crass. And I say this as a member of the community.