Wednesday is the first day of the school year for the Santa Rosa City Schools district. The district is coming off a controversial past few years, with numerous fights on campuses, highlighted by a fight that led to a student’s stabbing death at Montgomery High School in March of 2023. Student gang involvement has also been an issue on several campuses. The district has a new superintendent, Doctor Daisy Morales, who was hired in June. The hire has faced some backlash, after Morales resigned from her job leading a much smaller school district in Santa Cruz earlier this year. That was after the district received formal notice of bad fiscal standing from the local county office of education and union representatives cast a no-confidence vote in her leadership.
On top of that, Santa Rosa High School and Montgomery High School will be getting tougher on student cellphone use when school starts this week. Santa Rosa High School will be requiring students to turn off their phones before each class period. Montgomery High School is doing the same, but taking it a step further. The school says if a student is caught using their phone during academic time, a teacher will take it and lock it in a secure pouch with a passcode only the teacher knows. The pouch will then be unlocked at the end of the school day. District officials say Santa Rosa Middle School is also considering a zero-tolerance policy for cellphones.