Student arrested in Montgomery High ‘serious assault,’ officials say

A Montgomery High School student was injured Tuesday during a “serious assault” at the school that took place in a girls’ restroom, according to campus officials.

The fight occurred at about 1 p.m. and may have been witnessed by or involved multiple students who fled when authorities arrived, Principal April Santos wrote Tuesday in a letter to parents.

It was issued at about 4:30 p.m. and a copy was obtained by The Press Democrat.

The letter details the latest incident at Montgomery High School, where fights have been prevalent over the past year. Most notably, a student was fatally stabbed last year during an altercation in an art class.

Santa Rosa police Sgt. Patricia Seffens said at about 5:30 p.m. that a suspect had been identified in Tuesday’s restroom fight but no arrests have been made.

Shortly before 9 p.m., the sergeant told The Press Democrat a 14-year-old girl has been arrested and booked into Sonoma County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of assault and robbery.

Seffens said there’s no indication the fight involved a weapon and the matter is still being investigated.

According to Santos’ letter, officials found the victim in the restroom and escorted her to the school’s front office.

Her parents were notified and they took her to a hospital for treatment.

Staff followed students they saw leaving the restroom and acquired video footage filmed by one of them, according to Santos.

Officials are in the process of contacting those involved and trying to identify witnesses.

Santos said students and parents are encouraged to use the STOP!t app to report school safety concerns.

Discussions about school safety have been ongoing since the March 1 fatal stabbing and officials with the Santa Rosa City Schools district have proposed plans they hope will improve campus security.

A student was arrested in the fatal stabbing. Months later, though, a juvenile court judge ruled that the teen was not responsible for the killing, which involved self-defense.

As the fears of Montgomery High parents, teachers, staff and students increased in the aftermath of the student’s death, questions about on-campus safety spread to other schools as fights among students and incidents of students caught with weapons began to happen more frequently on those campuses.

Last month, for example, armed students were arrested following incidents at Herbert Slater Middle School on two occasions.

Over the past year, attention has focused on whether the school district should bring back school resource officers. A partnership between the district and the Santa Rosa Police Department ended in 2020.

Last month, at the urging of Santa Rosa City Manager Maraskeshia Smith, district Superintendent Anna Trunnell announced that Santa Rosa police officers would be temporarily stationed at high schools through the end of the year.

Days after that, district board members voted in favor of launching a pilot program to reintroduce police officers onto campuses.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi