Los Gatos High School principal to retire after 3 years
Kevin Buchanan to leave at end of term
After three years at the helm, Kevin Buchanan is stepping down as principal of Los Gatos High School.
Headed to retirement in his hometown of Cheshire, England, Buchanan will remain at Los Gatos High until the end of the 2023-24 academic year and will shepherd in his replacement once they are selected by March or April. Buchanan first arrived at the school during the summer of 2021, and throughout his time steering the ship has focused on transitioning the school back to pre-pandemic norms.
“I think even in my short time we managed to move the needle on a few things, and that's what I'm proud of,” he said in an interview.
Buchanan said the district
has contracted with Learning Associates to conduct the search for his replacement. The firm is in the process of meeting with students,
parents and staff to determine what core values an ideal candidate for principal should possess, he said.
“It's not customary for the outgoing principal to be involved in the selection, but they might be involved in providing feedback as to what are some of the things that it might be helpful to know that the principal will be coming up against,” Buchanan said.
After several rounds of interviews and possibly a visit to the candidates' current schools, district officials could have a replacement identified as soon as March or April of this year, he added.
Though he has worked for decades as a school administrator, Buchanan first got his start in the hospitality industry, which he said has many parallels to the public school system. “If you walk into a really nice hotel, as soon as you walk in the flowers are fresh, everyone's nicely attired, the place is clean. The idea is to create a welcoming environment where people can come and feel comfortable, and I feel the same way for schools.”
Fostering that sense of comfort and community has been top of mind for Buchanan as he came to the school during a time that
“Teenagers are still a challenge regardless, and they will always be by their very nature.” Los Gatos High School principal Kevin Buchanan
was wrought with uncertainty and tragedy, including a student fentanyl overdose and the ongoing impact of the pandemic.
Buchanan helped develop a program called MOSAIC, which stands for “Making Our Schools an Inclusive Community,” to work on addressing the most pressing issues facing students at the school. The program includes a curriculum separate from students' required classes and electives that gives them tools to navigate bullying, harassment or substance abuse issues.
He also steered the school through its accreditation process in 2022. Conducted by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the process consisted of a “complete self-study” of the school including surveys and data collection to assess the school's achievement levels since its last accreditation and where it can improve in the future.
Buchanan said officials knew the pandemic had contributed to a decline in academic achievement, but they found through the accreditation process that already disadvantaged students faced a more serious decline.
“So we needed to set a course and a plan to address those areas that we needed to grow in,” he said.
The new principal, Buchanan said, will likely be tasked with implementing the six-year action plan that came out of the accreditation process and navigating the long-term impact of the pandemic.
“We still need to lean in on understanding and supporting the mental, physical and social health of our kids; that's still a challenge,” he said. “Teenagers are still a challenge regardless, and they will always be by their very nature.”
For the retiring principal, however, his days are soon to be free of these responsibilities. Headed back to the United Kingdom after this semester, Buchanan said he'll miss the students and staff that he's grown so accustomed to seeing every day.
“I'm used to having a lot of social interaction with a lot of different people,” he said. “I'm just hoping I can somehow find a way to maintain that in retirement.”