A Santa Ynez High School freshman girl, 15, was charged in juvenile court on April 7 with one felony count of assault, following an April 4 fight on the high school campus, according to a press release from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.
The fight in question was “particularly brutal,” according to an open letter from Santa Ynez High School Principal Mark Swanitz. It occurred between two freshman girls, and in the end, one was arrested. The other was sent to the emergency room, where she was released with no injuries.
The Sun reached out to Swanitz for comment, but received no response as of press time.
In days following the fight, Santa Ynez High School students planned to “choose sides” by wearing either black or white clothes, Swanitz wrote in his letter. In response, the school prohibited the wearing of predominantly black or white clothing and instead encouraged students to wear “orange for unity.”
“That decision, while successful in practice on Friday, caused a buzz on social media and a flurry of text messages Thursday night leading to rumors that both sides were bringing knives to campus,” Swanitz wrote. “There was even a rumor that one student was planning to bring a gun.”
The school responded with law enforcement presence from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office on campus on Friday, April 7. Officers found no weapons on campus, and there were no altercations.
A student captured the fight on video and posted it to Instagram, Swanitz’s letter said. In response to the video, community members “began demanding to know what was going to be done to send a strong message that fighting is not tolerated at SYHS” before district administrators had a chance to investigate the incident, Swanitz wrote.
He added that investigations into these types of incidents are complicated.
“It involves many interviews with many witnesses, lots of adrenaline, which affects the recall of events, loyalties, perceptions, and many other factors,” Swanitz wrote. “It requires a lot of time to get it right, and it’s important to get it right.”
But because one of the students involved is in custody and unable to provide testimony to administrators, the incident is particularly difficult to investigate, he wrote.
“There is the obvious evidence of the video footage; however, we need to know the complete story, including what led up to the altercation in the first place and how the fight actually started,” Swanitz wrote.
The student charged with assault is scheduled to next appear in court on April 21.
This article appears in Apr 13-20, 2017.