Santa Rosa students protest violence on campuses, claim administrator inaction
SANTA ROSA -- High school students in Santa Rosa walked out of classes Friday afternoon to protest failures by officials that they say led to a deadly stabbing inside a classroom earlier this week.
Students claim school administrators are not doing enough to address ongoing problems with violence and bullying on campuses.
Two 16-year-old boys were injured -- one of them fatally -- after being stabbed in Wednesday's fight in an art classroom at a Santa Rosa high school.
Update: Santa Rosa police chief to place officers at school where deadly stabbing happened
Students from several schools staged the walkout, gathering at Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa. They are calling out administrators for what they say is a failure to address issues on campus after the fatal stabbing at Montgomery High School Wednesday.
Before they marched, the students rallied on campus to demand better security and communication from administrators.
"For God sake, change the alarm tone. Why is the sound the exact same for a lock down and a fire?" asked one student. "I'm sorry, my response is going to be very different if there's somebody dangerous on campus or if there's a fire."
A 16-year-old boy was arrested for bringing an unloaded firearm to Maria Carrillo on Wednesday. Last week, Santa Rosa police arrested a 16-year-old student for allegedly setting a fire at the school on Thursday.
"I do not currently feel safe coming to school," said Maria Carrillo High School junior Myiah Lucio. "That there was a gun on campus and we weren't educated of that – and in light of recent events – I don't feel safe at school."
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Demonstrators said the stabbing was just the most glaring example of a worsening problem.
Among those who came to speak at the rally was Olivia Cruz, a junior from Montgomery High. She witnessed the stabbing that killed her best friend Pienta.
"Why does it take my best friend to die to be an eye opener for them to do better?" she asked the crowd at the rally.
Cruz told KPIX she holds administrators at her school responsible for the incident.
"My school absolutely failed him, 100%," she said. "I was the one who called 911. I was the one who walked him into the office saying he was stabbed."
She said the school needed to do more to intervene before the conflict between the students escalated.
"These three young boys had a history," she explained. "The school knew about it. Two parents called the school multiple times about the beef, all their drama. And nothing was done."
Some parents said they are also growing more alarmed after hearing stories from their kids about what sometimes happens at school.
"My daughters come home almost daily and tell me, 'Oh my God mom, there was another fight today. It was really bad.' Almost on a daily basis," said Montgomery High parent Christina Tupper.
Parents say there is a history of bullying within Santa Rosa schools that has never been addressed.
On Thursday, the mother of one of the teens injured in the deadly classroom stabbing said officials at Montgomery High could -- and should -- have done more to prevent it.
KPIX reached out to Santa Rosa city school administrators to see if they have a response to the allegations, but have not yet heard back.
The district removed school resource officers or SRO's in the summer of 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. Montgomery High students also claimed they don't have security guards on campus.
"We weren't aware of issues between those students," said Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Chris Mahurin.
The police department wants to bring SRO's back. They believe it would have made a difference.
"We've never had anything like what we saw on Wednesday before," said Mahurin. "It doesn't mean you won't have campus violence with SRO's. But it'll make them think twice that there's a cop there."
Many students like Cruz agree. They want the officers to return to campus to prevent another tragedy.
"I'm on two hours of sleep," she said "I can't sleep because every time I sleep, I dream of him, I relive everything that I saw and I don't want to."
Da Lin contributed to this story.