Acting superintendent Heath Rocha outlines reforms as parents and staff urge board to appoint him permanently

Heath Rocha, the acting superintendent for the Los Gatos‑Saratoga Union High School District, used a special public meeting to summarize nine years of district work and his priorities if appointed permanent superintendent, and dozens of parents, staff and former board members offered public comment in strong support.

Rocha opened with his personal and professional background and said he wants to build trust through in‑person engagement, transparency and improved student supports. "I am the acting superintendent," Rocha told the board, and he framed his record around special education, safety and student mental‑health initiatives he said produced measurable changes.

Rocha described efforts to reduce special‑education legal costs through earlier interventions, home‑based services and alternative dispute resolution; he said those measures helped the district avoid what had been growing legal fees and "saved the district a million dollars" over six years. He also told the board the district reduced out‑of‑school suspensions from about 82 per year to about 21 per year by expanding restorative practices and in‑school interventions.

On safety, Rocha said the district trained site threat‑assessment teams using a model developed after Columbine with the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education and opened that training to feeder schools. He described an anonymous, confidential tip line (reported in his remarks as 247365) that administration monitors and said administrators can respond rapidly to reported bullying.

Rocha addressed allegations of harassment that surfaced on social media at Los Gatos High School and cited results from the California Healthy Kids Survey: reported harassment at Los Gatos declined from 17% to 9% in the period he described, and students who believed the district would not take reports seriously moved from roughly 25% to about 8% at Los Gatos. He said the district has a Title IX coordinator to handle such reports.

Rocha said the district now operates wellness centers to address student mental health; he reported post‑COVID declines in students saying they felt so sad or hopeless that they stopped usual activities and noted district partnerships — including the Los Gatos Lions Club and the Saratoga High Foundation — that support wellness programming.

In outlining his first 90 days as acting superintendent, Rocha said he had visited dozens of classrooms, reinstated board office hours, increased communications about pending legislation and Ed Code changes from Sacramento, formed a superintendent student advisory and worked on a Project SERVE grant to fund transportation improvements on Mountain Charlie Road and other safety measures such as cameras and alert systems.

After Rocha’s presentation, the meeting moved to a public‑comment period with about a dozen speakers in support. Residents and staff cited personal experiences working with Rocha: Marika Sayok said she was "here to just vocally support, Heath Rocha for superintendent," and retired board member Cynthia praised Rocha’s integrity and fiscal stewardship. Parents and special‑education advocates gave specific examples of Rocha intervening on behalf of students and reducing the need for outside litigation. Victor (online) said Rocha won "the hearts of the teachers," and Josh Rupert urged the board not to lose him.

The board held no vote to appoint Rocha during the special meeting. The transcript records an early procedural motion to adopt the special meeting agenda that was moved, seconded and approved, but it does not record any formal action on a permanent superintendent appointment. The chair closed the meeting by reiterating that this was a special meeting "with no topics" and adjourned.

What happens next: the transcript does not record any board decision on appointment. The public comments and Rocha’s presentation are now a matter of record for the board’s ongoing superintendent search and future meetings where personnel decisions may be considered.