Parent tells board Rivera Middle staff failed to keep daughter safe after alleged campus assault, urges expulsion

During the public-comment portion of the Merced City School District board meeting, Dr. Melissa Perez said her seventh-grade daughter — a GATE student at Rivera Middle School — was assaulted on campus on March 30 at about 1:00 p.m. Perez told trustees the assailant had earlier violated a no-contact order and was supposed to be under staff supervision in an office; she said the other student eluded staff and then assaulted her daughter.

Perez said she was not notified about the incident until she arrived to pick up her child at about 4:00 p.m., when a staff member informed her there had been an incident. In the remarks she delivered to the board, Perez characterized both the failure to keep her daughter safe and the delay in notifying parents as unacceptable. She said the principal had verified aspects of her account and that the other student had been recommended for expulsion.

Perez asked trustees to "do the right thing" by expelling the assailant and directed the board to review Rivera Middle School’s procedures so a similar failure does not happen again. The board did not make a decision at the meeting; public comment on closed-session items and discipline matters was limited to three minutes per person and the board noted it could not act on matters raised during public comment except as permitted by law.

The comment was recorded during the public comment period and was entered into the meeting record. The district’s recorded minutes and any subsequent personnel or disciplinary actions would provide the formal outcomes; the board did not announce further action on this item at the meeting.