Vallejo City Unified School Dist. v. Superior Court

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Therese started the sixth grade in the fall of 2022 at a school operated by the District. Early in the semester, Therese got into a verbal altercation with another student, resulting in a “restorative justice reconciliation meeting” in which “[a]pologies were accepted.” Two weeks later, however, another student physically assaulted Therese on campus. School staff contacted Therese’s mother — though her mother later testified that she recalled being informed it was a “verbal fight” — and sent Therese home; the other student was suspended. The night of the physical altercation, Therese emailed her teacher, Rudolph Taylor, asking to talk about the bullying by her “ex best friend” and others. She said she was “scared” and sad and had “wanted to kill [herself] ever since elementary [school].” Taylor responded the next day, telling Therese that he was on her side and inviting her to talk to him the following school day. He further told her that “[s]uicide is not something I take lightly” and encouraged her to talk to her “parents or someone close” about her struggles. Taylor then forwarded the email exchange to the school’s principal and vice…