8th grader rapes 7th grader during school

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Miramonti

Miramonti

Lifer
Aug 26, 2000
28,651
100
91
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_13995565

District officials suspended an El Cerrito middle school principal Monday morning while investigating how a student managed to corner and rape a 12-year-old classmate last week during school hours.

"We're taking this very seriously," said Marin Trujillo, spokesman for the West Contra Costa school district. "We're shocked and dismayed that a sexual assault could happen on our campus during school time."

The district placed Portola Middle School Principal Denise Van Hook and Vice Principal Matthew Burnham on paid leave for at least a week while it investigates Thursday's breach of campus safety, Trujillo said.

The Contra Costa District Attorney's Office, meanwhile, charged the 14-year-old suspect with felony sexual assault in Juvenile Court, El Cerrito police said.

Police declined to name the suspect, an eighth-grader, because of his age. They say he cornered the victim, a seventh-grader, shortly before 2:45 p.m., during the last period of the school day, police said.

The two knew each other, but not romantically. Detectives say the suspect forced a sex act upon the victim in a stairwell. At least two students witnessed the assault while passing by; one found an adult, while another physically interceded to stop the attack.

Police arrested the suspect at his home just a few hours after the attack. But how the rape happened — and what it says about school security — has rekindled fear and frustration in a community long concerned about a campus with a rough reputation.

"What's making the kids do what they're doing? What can we do to get them to know that this is not acceptable?" said Michelle Jawad, longtime school safety activist in El Cerrito. "I don't think it's going to be fixed unless everybody takes it from the middle of the list of things to be done and puts it to the top."

On Monday morning, district Superintendent Bruce Harter attended an emergency staff meeting at Portola where teachers were told that all students had to be escorted when out of class for bathroom breaks or similar reasons.

"How could this occur? Is it safe at Portola? Those are the kinds of questions we're hearing," El Cerrito police Chief Scott Kirkland said. "It is interesting, the criminal mind. When a situation like this occurs, to actually do something like this ... you have to be a little sick."

Van Hook notified parents about the assault via e-mail about 11:45 p.m. Friday: "Our investigation is ongoing. All of us at Portola are committed to making sure our school is a safe place for all our students," her note read in part.

Van Hook could not be reached for comment Monday.

Portola is being run this week by former El Cerrito High School administrator Mike Aaronian and Brenda King Randle. Students will be on break for two weeks starting next week.

The assault left the victim otherwise uninjured, police said. Both students attended school Thursday, but each was out of class for reasons still under investigation, Kirkland said.

The rape, Portola's second high-profile safety breach in eight months, came just a few weeks after the group sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl outside the homecoming dance at neighboring Richmond High School. Police say that attack continued for about two hours before anyone reported it to authorities.

Jawad said she was "very encouraged" that students reported Thursday's assault immediately.

"Maybe one of the good things that came out of (the Richmond High School rape) is that someone was brave enough to speak up," she said. "Some of the students are seeing this and thinking, 'Maybe this is not OK, and I need to report that.'"

But an upswell of campus violence last spring in El Cerrito prompted the district to sign a contract with the city police department to place an officer at Portola full time this school year, supplementing the campus's four site supervisors. It already placed two city police at El Cerrito High School, beyond its own in-house security.

That deal came after a large group of students knocked down a teacher and threw rocks at her during a lunch period in May. Police arrested five students in connection with that attack.

"It's like night and day," Kirkland said of the improvement to campus safety brought about by the daily presence of a police officer. "This is very unusual."

Last week, the school board got a lengthy presentation from district staff, county officials, police and community activists about improving safety throughout the district following the rape at Richmond High School in October. The board received various recommendations, and the district will work to prioritize and implement them in the coming months.
Click to expand...

Wow. Just wow.
 
G

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
21,593
6,039
136
This is what happens when children have no upbringing, they run wild. I'm sure little Dasanchase has plenty of self esteem, and no moral compass.
 
V

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
21,503
9
0
suspended an El Cerrito middle school principal ???

Most principals were idiots when i grew up but how are they supposed to know where EVERY student is and stop something like this. They supposed to have super powers... "I must go, little jimmy is going to give Jane a purple nurkle and I must stop it..."!@!!
 
D

drebo

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2006
7,034
1
81
Marlin1975 said:
suspended an El Cerrito middle school principal ???

Most principals were idiots when i grew up but how are they supposed to know where EVERY student is and stop something like this. They supposed to have super powers... "I must go, little jimmy is going to give Jane a purple nurkle and I must stop it..."!@!!
Click to expand...

He's on paid leave. Basically, free vacation.

As far as the kids' races go, I think anyone can infer them.
 
clamum

clamum

Lifer
Feb 13, 2003
26,252
403
126
Why the f did they suspend the principal? Standard procedure I guess, but unless you have officers in every hallway or security cameras everywhere and a team to watch them, how would you catch something like this?

And as for the kids' race? Who fucking cares.
 
P

Parasitic

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2002
4,000
2
0
drebo said:
He's on paid leave. Basically, free vacation.

As far as the kids' races go, I think anyone can infer them.
Click to expand...

So, they're white by probability? El Cerritos is like 55% white.

El Cerritos and Richmond have been pretty run down in recent years though.
 
Miramonti

Miramonti

Lifer
Aug 26, 2000
28,651
100
91
edro said:
The girl could have cried rape after they were caught.
Click to expand...

And the boy could have raped her before after watching monkey sex porn on his mobile phone but not gotten caught...the article isn't clear about that.
 
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