Memorial Planned For Aptos High Student Killed On Campus

WATSONVILLE, CA — A public memorial will be held Sunday in honor of the 17-year-old boy fatally stabbed in an on-campus attack Tuesday at Aptos High School.

The ceremony will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at Romo Park, 335 Main St., across from the city plaza in Watsonville, Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo announced. The event is organized by the Watsonville Peace and Unity Coalition, Community Action Board and Barrios Unidos, he said.

The service will come five days after the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office announced the boy succumbed to multiple stab wounds after he was flown to a trauma center.

Deputies were called to the campus at 2:20 p.m. Tuesday and held students on an hourslong lockdown as they searched for the person responsible. Two students were arrested, and deputies are asking anyone with video of or information related to the incident to contact 831-454-7702.

The stabbing comes just over a year after the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees voted to ax its school resource officer program and get deputies off of school campuses. Critics argued deputies can intimidate students, and the money would be better spent hiring much-needed counselors and investing in programs that emphasize a child's social and emotional well-being.

The attack has reignited the debate and caused some families to call on the school district to reinstate school resource officers.

As Aptos High students headed back to school Friday for the first time since the attack, school board President Jennifer Holm and Vice President Jennifer Schacher said in a joint statement that the board will hold a special meeting Sept. 15 as "a crisis like this highlights the need to reflect and re-evaluate past decisions" on school resource officers.

To lose a student under "circumstances [that] include violence in a place that should be a haven for safety and learning highlights the fragility and vulnerability of our community," they said.

The public was encouraged to contact the school board to share its views on the matter.

See also: No More Cops On Campus At PVUSD