On May 28, the morning after Memorial Day, a message from Aptos High School Principal Alison Hanks-Sloan about her office on campus being vandalized was posted on the Aptosia Facebook page, getting supportive comments, “This is really unfortunate. She is a great principal.”
The principal told Aptos Times the incident occurred at 3 a.m. and that her office is “out of use.” She added, “It’s an active investigation.” Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies are on the scene.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Ashley Keehn provided an update via email: “We are investigating a vandalism/break-in that occurred overnight at Aptos High School where an office was vandalized. No arrests have been made yet. This is an active investigation and anyone with information is encouraged to call our detectives at 831-454-7640.”
She added, “Yesterday afternoon (5/27), in an unrelated incident, deputies were dispatched to a physical fight on Freedom Blvd and Mariner Way in Aptos. California Highway Patrol was in the area and contacted two individuals. They were both juveniles and were found in possession of two guns. We arrived shortly after CHP and took over the case. Both juveniles were arrested and taken to Juvenile Hall. No further information on them will be released due to their age.”
A video tweeted on X (formerly Twitter) on April 5 from State Senate candidate Michael Oxford saying it was filmed at Aptos High catching a teacher admonishing her students, “You privileged white boys always want to push it,” got 200,000 views including a comment from X founder Elon Musk saying the teacher should be fired.
A commenter said the video was recorded illegally, the first-year teacher had been bullied and harassed by the boys in question, and asked him to remove the video. The content is no longer available.
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The following message was posted on Aptosia:
Greetings, Mariner Families.
The following message was shared with our students and staff …
There were supposed to only be a few extra sheriffs today after an unsubstantiated threat.
However, we arrived today to find my office had been vandalized, including broken glass and spray paint. The extra sheriffs were here to investigate. If you know anything, please use STOPIT to help us solve the crime or call the Sheriff’s Office.
Thanks for SAILing together!
Dr. AHS
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To report information to help find who’s responsible, use this app: www.pvusd.net/StudentsFamilies/Students/STOPit–Stop-Bullying/index.html