Santa Rosa City Schools will pay a record $6.25 million to settle civil lawsuits stemming from the 2023 stabbing death of 16-year-old Jayden Pienta at Montgomery High School — the largest single-event legal payout in Sonoma County public agency history, surpassing the previous record of $3.8 million.
Pienta was stabbed three times in an art class on March 1, 2023, including a fatal chest wound, by classmate Daniel Pulido, who was 15 at the time. Pienta died that afternoon at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Pulido fled campus before being arrested, but a Sonoma County juvenile court judge ruled in November 2023 that he was not criminally responsible, finding that Pienta had been the aggressor and that Pulido acted in self-defense.
Two separate civil suits brought the district to the settlement table. The Pienta family alleged that school officials had prior knowledge of tensions between rival student groups, failed to separate the two boys despite seeing both of them on campus that morning, and gave paramedics an incorrect age for Jayden — telling responders he was 15 rather than 16, which the lawsuit claimed may have affected the level of care he received, according to the Press Democrat. The Pulido family argued the district failed to act after Pulido reported being threatened and requested a transfer to independent study. Under the settlement, Pienta’s family will receive $3.5 million and the Pulido family $2.75 million.
The district said in a statement that settlement costs are covered by self-insurance reserves and will not draw from the operating budget. “No legal resolution can ease the profound trauma and loss experienced by Jayden and Daniel’s family,” the statement read. But the timing draws attention: Santa Rosa City Schools is simultaneously navigating one of the deepest financial crises in its history, with a restructuring plan calling for the closure of six campuses, elimination of more than 270 positions, and cuts to special education services — all aimed at closing a budget gap of more than $30 million. Self-insurance reserves are still public funds, and the $6.25 million settlement is larger than many of the individual cost-saving measures in that plan.
The case has forced an uncomfortable reckoning for families and staff across the district about what obligations schools have when they know students are at odds — and whether those obligations were met on the morning Jayden Pienta walked into his art class.
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