Santa Rosa grieves, grapples with school violence following stabbing

SANTA ROSA — On Friday members of the Santa Rosa community stopped by a memorial to remember the life of 16-year-old Jayden Pienta, who was fatally stabbed at Montgomery High School on Wednesday

A relative of Jayden Pienta didn’t want to be on camera but she told KPIX that not only is the Pienta family dealing with grief, they are also trying to cope with a lot of negative community reaction because it was Jayden who instigated the fight that resulted in his demise.

She said the whole story hasn’t come out yet.

Meanwhile, this incident has rattled the sense of safety for many, leaving them unsure how to move on.

“I feel disappointed that our school system has failed our children,” said Robert Brown, father of a student at Montgomery High. 

He brought his daughters to the memorial.

“It should’ve never escalated to what it did. There’s been constant violence at this school with fights all year long last year and the kids that are causing these fights aren’t reprimanded in a way where they’re fearful of their actions,” he added.

Chaplains with therapy dogs were brought in to sit with mourners. They say their job right now is just to listen. As so many grieve, many are concerned Jayden’s death won’t be the end to the violence.

“What fight is going to erupt in the hallway again? Is there going to be more knives? Is there going to be retaliation?” Brown asked.

The Santa Rosa police department will be working with the school to ensure students can safely return to class next week. Some parents like Robert Brown are looking to pull their children out of school altogether.

“She needs to learn in an environment that is safe. If she doesn’t feel safe, she’s not going to learn to her fullest capacity,” Brown said.

As a shattered Montgomery High community tries to heal, the biggest regret is that preventive action wasn’t taken.

“I don’t think it should’ve taken the death of a young man for the school … to make it a more of a safe environment for everybody,” Brown said.

There will be a community meeting next week to discuss next steps. One of the possibilities that will be debated is whether to bring back school resource officers in some form.

According to the Santa Rosa police department, it’s going to be a listening session to determine what the community wants moving forward.