Dear Saratoga Community,

The following information is not coming entirely from documented sources but you can be certain it will be claimed as ‘false and inaccurate’. Nevertheless:

What are we learning from the Investigation?

We know that the investigation is focused around the making public of the resignation letter and this we could see from the only email sent by Sanderson. In his letter he states: ‘False and inaccurate statements have been leaked and shared ……’. ‘……any issues that may disrupt the learning environment are taken very seriously and investigated immediately.’

Why is this the wrong scope?

Said quite simply, it does not resolve the toxic systemic issue that continues to ‘disrupt the learning environment for our teachers and staff. Choosing to ignore the real problem nullifies the claim that ‘LGSUHSD employees are our most important asset’. If your employees felt the need to tender their resignations then clearly there are deep underlying issues that need a leader who is set to have them resolved.

It is our opinion the district is looking to put into place methods and procedures to penalize whistleblowing showing zero comprehension of the real problems and zero interest to solve them. This strategy shows negligence on the part of the district and the only outcome will be the implementation of policies that will shield abusive behaviors. This does not lead to the betterment of our schools and places the district in direct opposition to the asks of the community. Board members, we trust you will not support this.

The whistleblower and the ability to do so should not be targets. They are positives and the information revealed in the resignation letter highlights exactly the scope of the investigation.

What does the community expect of an Independent Investigator?

This person must be impartial and unbiased, attributes that the superintendent did not guarantee in the mentioned email. We have reason to believe the person hired by the superintendent has none of these attributes, and has been invalidating the investigation itself by using choice words to label the parent community, for example, we are being referred to as ‘crazy’.

Apart from investigating the area around the ‘leak’, what else is the investigator probing?

Clearly not the Senior Administrator. The focus of the investigation is solely centered around the music directors. This is not helping to alleviate tensions between employees, it is just widening the void.

What about the mentioned possible end of January timeline?

No update yet on this. As the investigation drags on so does the tension. This truly hinders any desire to remain in a school regardless of the outcome. There is pain in this whole charade.

What is next and what have we been doing?

Naturally, the open letter discussing our expectations and parameters has remained unanswered. 

Our next step is to have one of our parent representatives request guidance on how to file an open records request with the district around the independent investigation and its findings.

Community representatives have met with the three new board members in compliance with the Brown Act. The only member who has refused to see community representatives is Theresa Bond. The meeting with Katherine Tseng has been scheduled. Finally, Sanderson has agreed to meet and this meeting has been scheduled. To date the meetings have been positive, we trust the board members are walking away with an understanding of the issues and hope our recommendations are taken seriously.

We had mentioned in the last update that we would outline the reasons why Sanderson was unfit to lead our schools. However, we were compelled to offer updates regarding the Independent Investigation. This issue alone is a great indicator of Sanderson’s inability to problem solve in a de-escalatory manner.

 

As always, thank you for your attention,

Los Gatos-Saratoga Community Members

Timeline of community action: 

12/06/2022 Requested an in-person audience with District Leadership. Still waiting to secure a meeting time/date.

12/09/2022 Petition was launched.

12/13/2022 Community members attended the LGSUHSD Board Meeting.

12/15/2022 Community members attended the SHS School Site Council

12/16/2022 Community members attended the SHS Friday Family Time Meeting with SHS Principal

12/18/2022 Released first petition update.

01/09/2023 Sent update with email notifying Sanderson (cced Board of Trustees) of our expectations and parameters around the independent investigation.

01/20/2023 Released update titled ‘Superintendent Sanderson Resign’