A 14-year-old boy is under arrest, accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in a stairwell at an East Bay middle school.
It happened Thursday afternoon while class was in session at Portola Middle School in El Cerrito, police say. Both students had reasons to be out of class. Another student entered the stairwell during the alleged attack and reported it to school officials.
The principal and vice principal have been placed on administrative leave while West Contra Costa Unified School district officials figure out where the breakdown in supervision happened -- a rule enacted after the Richmond gang rape case. Portola Middle School is in the same school district as Richmond High.
The district will be reviewing this latest incident to see why the students were not in class, what the school's plans were to supervise them and where that supervision broke down. They will also try to figure out what kinds of new security measures should be put into place.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
