In the wake of the stabbing of Jayden Pienta, a Montgomery High School junior, several hundred Maria Carrillo High School students took matters into their own hands, walking out of their fourth-period classes to take a stand for schools around Santa Rosa. In response to the recent increase of threats and other concerning incidents in Santa Rosa City Schools, students in association with the organization Value Life SRCS, arranged a protest demanding change that included a walkout from fourth period classes and a march down Montecito Avenue toward Middle Rincon Road and back.

A fire alarm was pulled in the women’s locker room at Maria Carrillo High School at approximately 10:15 a.m. on March 1. Once students were evacuated to the football field and attendance was taken, students went to their third period classes without a break. But that was not the only threat to student safety at Carrillo on Wednesday.

As thick smoke billowed through and above the J building at Maria Carrillo High School, an evacuation alarm sounded and students in their fifth period classes evacuated to the football field at 2:33 p.m. on Thursday Feb. 23. By 2:40 p.m., Principal Monique Luke sent an email through ParentSquare to MCHS parents, teachers, and students that there was a fire in the yard of the scene shop at the back of the theater building. 

Online sports betting is currently illegal in California, but winning real money by playing fantasy sports is currently legal for anyone over 18 in the state. Many students at Maria Carrillo High School have taken advantage of this more accessible way to bet on sports directly from their devices–sometimes even in class.Despite the fact that California voters overwhelmingly shot down Proposition 27 in Nov. 2022, a bill that would have legalized online sports betting in the state, a company called PrizePicks has found a way around this by labeling themselves as a fantasy app with cash rewards for winners.