Dr. Stanley Rose is no stranger to the Santa Clara Unified School District. As a child, he attended the district’s Patrick Henry Middle School. So, it makes perfect sense that Rose would return to the district he had once been a student at as the new superintendent.
Rose is enthusiastic about playing an active role in Santa Clara’s educational arena. As superintendent, he intends to look for guidance from a variety of sources.
“I’m going to try to be a good listener and learn what I can from a variety of sources, which includes community members, students, parents, and community-based organizations,” Rose says. “This is a community I’ve been a part of for a good portion of my life. I love living in a community that is as diverse as this one. There are so many different perspectives.”
According to Rose, something that the school district’s Board of Education wants him to work on is closing the achievement and opportunity gap.
“For me, that means connecting the dots to create access for [at-risk] students to have courses and curriculum they need to be successful,” Rose says. “If you’re reaching out to help students at risk, at the same time, you also need to create opportunities for students who excel. You need to give them access to courses they’re not getting right now, help them get deeper understanding and connections to courses they are taking, and help them get the most out of the A.P. and honors courses.”
When asked about how he plans to help the Santa Clara Unified School District retain valued employees, Rose responds, “One of the first things I’d like to do with my cabinet and our top-level administrators is to build community and establish good relationships among ourselves. There’s an old community organizing phrase that comes to mind and that is, ‘The power is in the relationship.’ It implies having good one-to-one relationships throughout the management team.”
As superintendent, Rose plans to attend all the school board meetings.
“[At the school board meetings I’ve attended so far], I observe a lot of passion, which says to me that people care; we have passionate people who stand up and advocate for what they believe in,” Rose says. “What I want to focus on, and this is what I think we need to do, is to put in the room each student that we’re supposed to serve, and to keep them in mind as we discuss our passions. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing and that is the success of our students.”
Prior to becoming superintendent of the Santa Clara Unified School District, Rose served as superintendent for seven years at the San Benito High School District in Hollister. He holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from University of California, Berkeley, an M.P.A from Notre Dame de Namur University, and a B.A. in Social Science and Business from the University of Portland.