Santa Rosa City Schools holds listening session in wake of student’s fatal stabbing

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7:40 p.m. The listening session has ended.

7:28 p.m. Superintendent Anna Trunnell says she plans to visit all school campuses and gauge needs at each campus. She also says there will be more opportunities for dialogue.

7:20 p.m. Superintendent Anna Trunnell wraps up the session by saying, “I feel your words. As you can see, we’ve been taking notes. We take every word that we’ve heard here seriously.” Sheets of notes line a wall of the room.

6:46 p.m. More students are talking, including a 15-year-old Montgomery High School freshman who tears up as they tell the crowd they fear for their lives “every single day.“

“I should not have to think about that in a learning environment.”

6:36 p.m. “It’s easier to build children than repair adults,” a former teacher says. The teacher calls for parents and community members to volunteer to mentor students.

6:31 p.m. “The fact that my kids don’t even feel safe going to the bathroom at Monty is disgusting to me,” a mother of 2 Montgomery High School students says.

6:29 p.m. A parent, speaking in Spanish, advocates for the state to become involved in school safety.

6:24 p.m. “The root of all these issues we are dealing with start at home,” says a parent of a Maria Carrillo High School student.

6:20 p.m. Teachers are asking school administrators to look at options for helping students who “are struggling the most.“

6:08 p.m. Parents of students, teachers and other members of the community are beginning to speak. “It should never had happened, we shouldn’t be here right now,” one parent says of the March 1 stabbing.

Students who spoke receive a standing ovation from the crowd.

6:02 p.m. “It makes me so sad to see what this has come to; students begging their administration to do something,” a Santa Rosa Middle School student says.

5:52 p.m. More students relate stories of campus lockdowns and the Feb. 23 fire on Maria Carrillo campus, and make calls for change.

5:45 p.m. “The rumor mill has kept me safer than the school administrators,“ says a student about campus violence. ”We need...real profound change.“

5:43 p.m. A student suggests using funds from COVID-19 relief funds to address school violence, which the student says stems from the pandemic.

5:39 p.m. A Maria Carrillo High School student calls for group counseling for students who get in fights.

5:33 p.m. A student calls for “transparency from the district” in regard to communications about campus threats.

5: 29 p.m. “We are not protected, we are not safe, we demand better,” a Maria Carrillo High School student says.

5:24 p.m. The crowd applauds as a Maria Carrillo High School student is calling for more access to counselors.

“I don’t want anyone to feel that fear,” the student later says describing a lockdown experience at the school.

5:20 p.m. “It’s the last thing I want to see,“ a Montgomery High School student said about police officers on campus.

5:17 p.m. “It’s a really tough time right now. Going to school is tough. It feels surreal,” Montgomery High School student Joey Bowser said.

5:12 p.m. Students are beginning to speak. The first group of students are from Maria Carrillo High School.

5:10 p.m. Internet service in the room is spotty. We are attempting to stream the session.

4:53 p.m. Superintendent Anna Trunnell begins the session and introduces board president Stephanie Manieri and developmental-behavioral pediatrician Dr. David Schoenfeld.

4:30 p.m. A crowd gathers for a listening session hosted by Santa Rosa City Schools Tuesday night at Friedman Event Center, following the March 1 fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Montgomery High School student Jayden Pienta.

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Original story

Santa Rosa City Schools is holding a listening session Tuesday night following the March 1 fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Montgomery High School student Jayden Pienta.

A news release from the school district Tuesday morning said the listening session will be in-person, with no live stream option and is “designed to hear what the community wants to share” while administration takes notes. (The Press Democrat will stream the session via Facebook Live on its Facebook page and website, pressdemocrat.com. We will also be tweeting live from our Twitter page.)

Superintendent Anna Trunnell, board president Stephanie Manieri and developmental-behavioral pediatrician Dr. David Schoenfeld will share brief thoughts before opening the session to community input.

“As this is a listening session, answers to questions will not be a part of the program,” Santa Rosa City Schools spokesperson Vanessa Wedderburn said in the release.

“There will be a structured space to center student voices, staff voices, parent voices and community voices.”

Chairs will be arranged in a circle with a microphone in the middle for people to take turns speaking, Wedderburn told The Press Democrat.

There will also be moderators “providing structure” for community members to voice their input, she said.

Pienta was fatally stabbed by a fellow student, police said, after a fight broke out between the two and another student inside at art classroom at the high school.

The suspect, Daniel Jesus Pulido, was arrested 40 minutes after the stabbing and is currently being held at the Sonoma County Juvenile Justice Center. He will appear in court Friday for a detention hearing.

Students, parents and community members have expressed frustration with school officials over the last week. Students at Montgomery and Maria Carrillo high schools have held two walkouts so far demanding answers. A third, countywide walkout is being held Wednesday afternoon.

The listening session will begin at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Friedman Event Center, located at 4676 Mayette Ave. in Santa Rosa.