Santa Rosa teens angry after fatal campus stabbing

Hundreds of Santa Rosa high school students gathered outside of the school’s administrative office Monday afternoon to voice their collective mourning and anger toward school officials whose inability to intervene in a long-simmering conflict between two boys, they said, ended in a tragic loss of life.

The protest originally began in Montgomery High School’s cafeteria, where a smattering of students paid their respects at a bouquet-lined memorial to 16-year-old Jayden Pienta, who died after being stabbed multiple times during a confrontation that escalated in an art classroom last week, according to police.

The 15-year-old suspect in the case, who is not being named because The Chronicle does not publish the names of children accused of committing crimes, faces two felony counts of voluntary manslaughter and bringing a knife onto school grounds. He also is accused of stabbing another teenager — Jayden’s friend — in the hand.

A hearing that will decide whether the boy will be released was scheduled for Friday. The teenager had yet to record an admission of guilt or a denial by Monday.

If found guilty, the teenager could face up to seven years, eight months in custody in a secure youth treatment program, said Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Ken Gnoss.

By lunchtime Monday, hundreds of students had marched over to a flagpole near the school’s main offices, where the crowd multiplied and turned into a mass assembly that included parents and community members, many of whom had LLJ (“Long Live Jayden”) written on their hands.

Students chanted “F--Montgomery” in unison after a bell announcing class rang, and collectively held up their middle fingers both to the sky and the drone that was hovering above them, collecting footage for a news organization. They also expressed anger toward the press, whom they said have painted Jayden as a bully.

Montgomery High School officials declined to comment on the protest.

“Jayden’s blood is on this school’s hands,” said student Olivia Cruz, who identified herself as Jayden’s best friend and said she held him as he bled out in the school nurse’s office. “My best friend hated school. He hated this place, and this is the place he died at?”

Throughout the assembly, students overwhelmingly expressed the need for metal detectors, which they said would have prevented weapons like a knife from being brought on campus, and stronger disciplinary measures taken against students who repeatedly engage in violence on campus, which they say is a widespread problem, with multiple fights breaking out daily.

“I’m so lost and broken,” said Jayden Pienta’s mother, who identified herself as Misty and lifted up her sweatshirt to cover her face as she sobbed. “I never get to see him graduate. I don’t get to touch him, I don’t get to hold him, I don’t get to tell him I love him, and now he’s sitting in a morgue by himself.”

She was embraced by Maria Cervantes, the mother of Jayden’s childhood friend who was also stabbed during the attack. Cervantes said for weeks she had begged school officials to let her son enter a “home study program,” as she feared the violence between the boys would intensify.

But they said the waiting list for such a program was too long, she said.

“This school is entirely responsible for Jayden’s death,” Cervantes yelled into the loudspeaker. “This … school did nothing. They did absolutely nothing to protect our boys.”

Montgomery faculty members and school administrators stayed silent and kept their distance from students during the protest, which lasted for more than an hour.

Many students also said they are planning to speak out at an upcoming school board meeting this Wednesday at City Hall.

“We’re too young to understand issues that you say are too adult for us,” one student added. “Too young to die.”