A female assistant principal was physically assaulted by a 16-year-old boy last Saturday during California High’s homecoming dance, police said.

The boy, who was not a Cal student, was arrested and taken into custody the same evening, San Ramon police Lt. Mike Pistello said. The injuries that the assistant principal sustained were severe enough for the boy to be arrested on suspicion of felony battery causing serious bodily injury and kidnapping, Pistello said.

“There was hair pulled out and bruising,” Pistello said.

The boy was accompanied by a 16-year-old girl, who is not suspected of being involved in the attack, Pistello said. The boy and girl are both students at a different high school in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District.

Pistello said the attack took place in the parking lot in front of the school’s administration building shortly before 9 p.m. The assistant principal followed the students to the front of the school because another staff member radioed her that they were leaving the dance early, Pistello said. Students were supposed to stay at the dance, which was held in the school quad, until at least 9 p.m.

Pistello said once the assistant principal caught up with the students and confronted them about leaving early, the boy attacked her and dragged her by her hair across the parking lot. The boy was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping because “he held on to the assistant principal and moved her”, which qualifies as kidnapping, Pistello said.

After the attack, the two students got in the boy’s car and drove off.

Pistello said the assistant principal called the police to report the attack at 8:46 p.m. and provided the license plate of the car to the officers, who were then able to locate the boy’s address and phone number.

The boy was later arrested at his house and booked into Juvenile Hall in Martinez.

“The San Ramon Police Department (SRPD) responded quickly, and later that night, a juvenile was taken into custody,” Superintendent CJ Cammack wrote in an email sent to school staff and district families Monday evening.

Students began entering the annual homecoming dance around 7 p.m. through the gates near the main building. About 1,900 tickets were purchased beforehand and all students were supposed to show their Cal IDs in order to enter the dance. Students from other schools were not allowed to attend.

While it is not known how the boy got into the dance, many students were seen entering the dance by climbing the fences near the world language building. Principal Demetrius Ball declined to comment when asked if it was known how the two students from another school were able to enter the dance.

Leadership adviser Troy Bristol, whose class helped organize the homecoming dance, said Events to a Tee! was hired to plan the event, which included hiring a DJ and 20 security guards. Numerous staff members were also present to help supervise the dance.

Bristol said four guards were stationed at the dance entrance and some were at the other 10 gates surrounding the campus. Some guards were also stationed near the stage and around campus at what Bristol described as “soft spots” where students could potentially enter the dance.

He said the security guards were responsible for not allowing students to enter through any gates other than the main entrance or let them leave before 9 p.m., an hour before the dance was scheduled to end. Students also were not allowed to enter the dance after 8 p.m.

Bristol said there was a guard stationed at the gate in the front of the school at the time of the attack on the assistant principal.

“There was a security guard there at that time,” Bristol said, “but it seems as though they weren’t doing what they were supposed to be doing.”

Bristol said Cal and other schools in the district have worked with Events to the Tee! in the past and they’ve never had an issue like this before. He said has been in contact with the owner of Events to a Tee! about the incident.

“He’s very, very concerned about what happened and he’s in contact with the security company to try and figure out what happened,” said Bristol, who does not know the name of the security company that was hired.

Ball addressed the incident in a two-minute video emailed to students Friday morning. Teachers were asked to play the video for students or allow them time to watch it during student support period.

“One of our assistant principals was injured by a student that had no business being here, was not a Grizzly, and resorted to violence for no justified reason,” Ball said in the video. “There’s really no justification for using violence.

“The bottom line is one of ours was injured and hurt. We can’t accept that type of behavior,” Ball continued. “Just overall, it’s something difficult to process because we come to school to learn and have a good time and grow and get better, and us as adults come here to support you as students”

Campus monitor Tim Ford, who wasn’t present at the dance, expressed his frustration about the situation.

“I was really mad,” Ford said. “Anybody who hits a woman is wrong. First off, you should be taught better.”

Many students who attended homecoming didn’t notice any problems during the dance.

“I was surprised because during homecoming I didn’t hear anything about it and everything seemed fine,” junior Tyler Trieu said.

Junior Kayla Lam, who was at the dance, also was surprised to hear about the incident.

“I was shocked because my friend told me that it was somebody that didn’t go here, ” Lam said. “I didn’t hear anything about it during hoco.”

Cal’s School Resource Officer Stephen Akacsos said the assistant principal is currently recovering. She has been off campus all week. There are conflicting reports from Bay Area news agencies if the assistant principal was hospitalized.

“We want to be clear that, in no uncertain terms, we take the safety of our students and our staff as a top priority,” Cammack wrote in his email to staff and families. “Unsafe conduct will not be tolerated at Cal High or at any school in SRVUSD.”

This story was originally published on The Californian on October 25, 2024.