Years of alleged bullying at several Patterson schools culminated in a violent incident on September 18, when Creekside Middle School seventh-grader Calaya Hawkins was physically assaulted by another student during lunch. Both students were initially suspended following the altercation.
According to Calaya, the incident began when another student poured water on her and followed her while yelling. A friend of the other student filmed the encounter and encouraged violence, which escalated as a crowd gathered. Video footage reviewed by The Bee shows Calaya being pushed to the ground using her backpack’s weight, then struck multiple times in the head, stomped on her torso, and spat on. The assault lasted about 30 seconds before someone intervened.
Calaya’s family reported that she suffered a rib contusion from the attack. The video of the assault circulated among students on social media but was not published by The Bee due to concerns over privacy and consent.
The day before the incident, school staff had reprimanded at least three students for following Calaya around campus. “They saw me, and they was like, ‘You want to fight?’ I told her no, and they would just follow me around,” Calaya said. “But the security guard had stopped it.”
Creekside Middle School Assistant Principal Aaron Howard informed Calaya’s mother via voicemail: “Calaya was involved in a fight today. Apparently, from what we understand, she made statements threatening towards the other student yesterday, and the other student approached her and fought her today.” Based on this assessment that both students participated in a fight rather than an assault, both were suspended.
After Jazhun Brown—Calaya’s adult brother—sent video evidence of the incident to Patterson Joint Unified School District Superintendent Reyes Gauna, an investigation led Gauna to lift Calaya’s suspension. Gauna stated: “[The school] had told me there was a fight… I didn’t know that there was a video … we have student altercations all the time… but when a specific family member emails me that they’re very concerned… it does prompt a concern.” He added: “I found out that she was suspended. And I said, why? The response that was given to me did not justify a suspension. So as superintendent I removed the suspension.”
The Hawkins family described this event as part of at least three years of ongoing bullying across Northmead Elementary School, Apricot Valley Elementary School and Creekside Middle School within Patterson Joint Unified School District.
Clarence Hawkins said: “I never seen so much racism and hatred and discrimination in my life… But here it’s just—I go in the office a couple times to pick her up from school, and they treat me like ‘Who are you? What do you want?’ They don’t treat me as if I’m a parent coming here to pick my child up.”
Lanisha Hawkins decided to withdraw Calaya from district schools after losing confidence in their ability to ensure safety for her daughter. According to Lanisha Hawkins and Calaya herself, some bullies followed her through multiple schools within Patterson district over three years; incidents included racist slurs targeting both race and disability status.
Calaya recounted being called various slurs including racial epithets; one bully reportedly told her: “Why are you Black? You should be in Africa…” Another reportedly said she should “go back to India” or called her “a monkey.” Despite these claims from family members regarding racially motivated harassment over time—including threats against Calaya’s life—the superintendent stated there is no current evidence indicating racial motivation behind this particular assault.
Earlier this month prior to this latest attack at Creekside Middle School—a different student who has regularly bullied Calaya kicked her in the genitals; another told her “just die and go to hell.” Her parents felt previous responses by district staff—such as separating children into different classrooms—were insufficient interventions.
Brown wrote after one such episode: “When she was kicked two weeks ago… I went from being her third line of defense advocate…to making sure that I fight for her with my voice…” He received no reply until resending his email after this most recent assault.
Calaya reported difficulty concentrating academically due to ongoing stress related to bullying incidents.
In November 2023 while attending Northmead Elementary School—a note containing offensive language about bodily functions along with an unflattering drawing labeled “furry” was placed anonymously into Calaya’s backpack; following notification about this incident Lanisha requested transfer for safety reasons but reports continued bullying even after moving schools—including death threats allegedly made by another student at Apricot Valley Elementary.
Her mother described confronting administration about these threats only for them respond bureaucratically: “‘You have set up meeting.’”
Last week Clarence & Lanisha Hawkins met with Superintendent Gauna—their first direct meeting despite prior communications with other district officials—to discuss both past assaults/bullying history & adequacy (or lack thereof) regarding school responses thus far; Gauna confirmed he became familiar only recently with extent/frequency/seriousness of situation & pledged further investigation into how reports were handled:
“I couldn’t speak [previously] … because I just became familiar with case…. We are definitely looking into it.”
