Copyright Santa Rosa Press Democrat
A broken skylight, torn stage curtains, dented trash cans and a damaged TV were among the destruction discovered Sunday at a shuttered Santa Rosa school, police said. Around 10:40 a.m., a Santa Rosa City Schools athletic department employee found nearly $5,000 worth of damage at Slater Middle School on Sonoma Avenue and called police, Sgt. Patricia Seffens said. The vandalized areas included the gym, boys’ and girls’ locker rooms, weight room, wrestling room and the stage. Slater Middle School closed in June after the 2024-25 school year. The campus was one of four schools — two middle and two elementary — shuttered by the Santa Rosa City Schools Board of Trustees to address a projected $20 million budget shortfall. Two more campuses, Hilliard Comstock Middle and Steele Lane Elementary, will close in June. While junior high and high school students now share campuses, their athletic programs remain separate, district spokesperson Patrick Gannon said. Instruction is no longer conducted at Slater or Santa Rosa middle schools, but the district continues to use those facilities for junior high sports practices and games. “We’re just trying to use the property that we have available to us until we can make sure that everything is running smoothly,” Gannon said. “We are trying to minimize the impact to students and families.” The vandalism has not affected athletic programming, and the broken skylight has been boarded up, he said. Police are still investigating and reviewing security footage to determine when the damage occurred and how the vandal entered. Gannon said it appears the person may have come in through the skylight. The district’s insurance typically covers these types of damages, Gannon said, but officials are more concerned about the break-in itself.
