Bay Area

School District Sued by Family of 11-Year-Old Girl Who Died by Suicide After Alleged Bullying

In a time when many pre-teen antics are uploaded to TikTok and Instagram, a video out of Vallejo shared on social media last year holds something disturbing. In it, a sixth-grade girl stands in a school yard with her back to the camera, her long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and her bright pink backpack on her shoulders. Suddenly, an arm shoots out, reaches for the girl’s hair and yanks her down very hard, sending the child sprawling to the ground. The 11-year-old girl in the pink backpack was Maria “Therese” Caguin and she took her own life on Jan. 2 because she was repeatedly bullied at her school, her parents said. Now they are suing the school district for allegedly allowing their daughter to be subjected to physical, cyber and verbal bullying.

Published

3 years ago

March 14, 2023

Oakland Post

Therese's death shocked and horrified not only her parents, but the greater community. Parents are calling for something to be done about bullying at Hogan Middle School in Vallejo.

By Katy St. Clair
Bay City News

In a time when many pre-teen antics are uploaded to TikTok and Instagram, a video out of Vallejo shared on social media last year holds something disturbing.

In it, a sixth-grade girl stands in a school yard with her back to the camera, her long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and her bright pink backpack on her shoulders. Suddenly, an arm shoots out, reaches for the girl’s hair and yanks her down very hard, sending the child sprawling to the ground.

The 11-year-old girl in the pink backpack was Maria “Therese” Caguin and she took her own life on Jan. 2 because she was repeatedly bullied at her school, her parents said. Now they are suing the school district for allegedly allowing their daughter to be subjected to physical, cyber and verbal bullying.

Therese’s death shocked and horrified not only her parents, but the greater community. Parents are calling for something to be done about bullying at Hogan Middle School in Vallejo.

Therese’s sister set up a GoFundMe the day after her death to raise funds for her funeral.

“Yesterday my little sister Therese took her own life. My dad found her in her room. She was only 11 years old,” reads the post. “This has been the most unexpected and saddest thing we’ve had to endure as a family.”

The principal of Hogan Middle School, Rosalind Hines, referred all questions about Therese’s alleged bullying and death to the Vallejo City Unified School District, which did not comment on the girl’s death. Hines did send out a message to parents on Jan. 6 in the wake of Therese’s death.

“With a heavy heart, I share the news of the passing of one of our own,” she wrote. “This sudden loss will surely raise many emotions, concerns, and questions for our entire school, especially our students.”

Hines went on to say that mental health support staff would be made available.

The reaction on Facebook was a mixture of sadness and anger, with one poster saying, “Maybe they should have stated that this poor child committed suicide due to bullying at that school. Why sugar coat it? Those bullies should suffer consequences.”

Therese’s mother Vionalyn Caguin, a single mom who also has a 3-year-old son, said she has been “completely broken” by her daughter’s death, saying she had no idea how much she had been going through.

“She just kept it to herself,” said Caguin, who said she knew her daughter wasn’t thriving at school but she didn’t know the extent of her trauma.

Caguin said she felt her daughter was trying to protect her from concern because she knew life wasn’t easy for her single mother.

“She didn’t want me to worry, but I was always saying, ‘Mama’s here.’ I made sure I was always there for her,” she said.

Caguin repeatedly asked her daughter how she was doing at her new school. Therese began at Hogan in August and was having difficulty making friends. She was obedient, quiet and sweet, her mother said.

Still, after a few months at Hogan, her mom knew something was wrong and began trying to find a different school for her daughter, she said, though other schools had waiting lists.

Caguin said that she didn’t fully understand the scope of the bullying until after her daughter’s death and she saw the video of her being assaulted in the school yard.

“When I saw that video, I said, oh my God, it’s breaking my heart, because I didn’t know that it’s that bad,” she said through tears during a visit to her daughter’s grave in a Vallejo cemetery.

Caguin said the school had told her last fall that there was an “incident” involving her daughter and that the kids would “face consequences,” but that the school never told her the extent of what happened, and neither did her daughter.

According to the claim filed Thursday, the school allegedly assured Therese’s parents that they would “take reasonable and appropriate measures to stop the bullying endured by” their daughter.

“Hogan Middle School did nothing to intervene and stop the harassment and bullying and did not follow the policies and procedures to make sure that Decedent and other students on campus were not continually harassed and bullied,” reads the claim.

Though Therese didn’t confide in her mother, she did reach out to a teacher. On or about October or November, she emailed a teacher to say that she “wanted to die,” the family’s claim alleges.

The suit alleges that the school then “did nothing to intervene.”

“In cases such as this, it requires the maximum amount of attention to bring about change,” said attorney for the family Bryan Harrison. “You have a situation in which the parents have entrusted the faculty and administration with trust to care for and protect, what is most meaningful to us as parents — our children.”

He said, “For the staff and faculty to ignore repeated instances of bullying, and in this particular case, ignore actual notice from a child directly that the child was thinking about hurting herself as a result of bullying, it’s not just negligent, it’s grossly negligent.”

A spokesperson for the school district provided their approach to the problem of bullying.

“We have multiple ways to respond to bullying at Hogan Middle School and across the district,” said district spokesperson Celina Baguiao.

Baguiao said all campuses have mental health support providers, academic support providers, and a way to report bullying either directly or anonymously. She also said Vallejo schools contract with outside agencies about bullying, including governmental agencies and nonprofits. There is a care team at Hogan that meets weekly to discuss concerns and an “end of day huddle” with staff to check in with each other about occurrences throughout the day.

Another mother of a child at Hogan said that abuse her daughter faced at the hands of kids there and even a teacher ramped up after Therese’s suicide.

“My daughter’s depressed,” Lauren Keltz, mother of a 13-year-old girl currently at Hogan, said she told a school administrator. “She told me that she is feeling worthless and stupid and suicidal. And I said to the school, ‘I’m telling you right now … because of your guys’ lack of intervention, I’m going to hold you personally accountable.'”

Keltz said no one ever pulled her daughter aside to ask how she was doing.

She said initially the bullying at the school allegedly came from a teacher, who called her daughter “stupid” and “retarded.”

The teacher did not respond to a request for comment and the school district also declined to comment.

Keltz said the news of Therese’s death after her own daughter’s experience at the school horrified her and made her more determined to speak out about what she says is happening at Hogan.

Lawsuits against school districts for bullying are not that uncommon. Last August, the El Segundo Unified School District in Los Angeles County was ordered to pay $1 million in a suit filed on behalf of a 13-year-old girl who was bullied, with students going as far as creating a petition to end her life.

This February in Ocean County, New Jersey, a 14-year-old girl who was bullied took her own life and her alleged attackers have been charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. The superintendent of schools in the community has also resigned as a result. The district is currently being sued for another case of alleged bullying as well.

For Therese’s family, suing the Vallejo district is a way to try to foster change.

“I don’t want my daughter’s life to be erased,” said Caguin. “I want something different from the school. Don’t ignore those things that are happening. Even if my daughter’s not coming back, they have to change.”

Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

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KatyStClair1639p03/03/23

CONTACT: Bryan Harrison, attorney for Caguin family bryan@h-klaw.com

Celina Baguiao, spokesperson for the Vallejo City Unified School District cbaguiao@vcusd.org

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: Images related to this story can be obtained from the following Bay City News Service web links:

https://www.baycitynews.com/images/BCN-20230210-SUICIDE-01.jpg

Vionalyn Caguin sits at the grave of her 11-year-old daughter, Maria ‘Therese’ Caguin, at All Souls Cemetery in Vallejo, Calif., on Feb. 10, 2023. Maria took her life on Jan. 2, after being repeatedly bullied at Hogan Middle School in Vallejo. The family is suing the school district. (Ray Saint Germain/Bay City News)

https://www.baycitynews.com/images/BCN-20230210-SUICIDE-02.jpg

Vionalyn Caguin wipes away tears as she speaks about her 11-year-old daughter, Maria ‘Therese’ Caguin, at All Souls Cemetery in Vallejo, Calif., on Feb. 10, 2023. Maria took her life on Jan. 2, after being repeatedly bullied at Hogan Middle School in Vallejo. The family is suing the school district. (Ray Saint Germain/Bay City News)

https://www.baycitynews.com/images/BCN-20230210-SUICIDE-04.jpg

Vionalyn Caguin holds a photo album of photos of her 11-year-old daughter, Maria ‘Therese’ Caguin, at All Souls Cemetery in Vallejo, Calif., on Feb. 10, 2023. Maria took her life on Jan. 2, after being repeatedly bullied at Hogan Middle School in Vallejo. The family is suing the school district. (Ray Saint Germain/Bay City News)

https://www.baycitynews.com/images/BCN-20230210-SUICIDE-05.jpg

https://www.baycitynews.com/images/BCN-20230210-SUICIDE-06.jpg

The grave of 11-year-old Maria ‘Therese’ Caguin at All Souls Cemetery in Vallejo, Calif., on Feb. 10, 2023. Maria took her life on Jan. 2, after being repeatedly bullied at Hogan Middle School in Vallejo. The family is suing the school district. (Ray Saint Germain/Bay City News)

https://www.baycitynews.com/images/BCN-20230210-SUICIDE-07.jpg

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Activism

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses. The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Toks Omishakin, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, was one of the speakers at the event. Photo by Shellee Fisher Photography and Design.

By Calvin Naito, Special to The Post

On June 4, a national nonprofit named the Equity in Infrastructure Project (EIP) – which aims to increase public construction contracting opportunities for small and historically underutilized businesses – held a day-long event in downtown San Francisco to rally supporters and build momentum to its cause.

It was attended by more than 100 individuals from public agencies, private firms, and other organizations committed to increasing contracting opportunities with governmental agencies, thereby creating more competition and lowering public costs.

The EIP event was held the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in conjunction with BuildIT, which aims to increase contracting opportunities for LGBT-owned businesses.

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses.

The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Following the workshop, BuildIT hosted a VIP evening reception honoring EIP, whose principals – Phil Washington, John Procari, and Rick Jacobs – accepted the award.

The event also set in motion the coalition’s efforts to implement recommendations from EIP’s “Procurement for Prosperity: A Playbook.”

The Playbook is a practical guide for public agency leaders and procurement and contracting practitioners to grow the capacity of small and first-time contractors, strengthen competition, and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), a long-time EIP supporter, also told attendees, “This is about commitment. This has been a life’s work. This is a tailwind moment.”

The event’s presenting sponsor was Hub International, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the nation, which was joined by partners Travelers Insurance and the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

After the pledge-signing ceremony, attendees participated in a workshop in which they examined the policies, practices, and programs needed to meet EIP goals, learned from practitioners, and identified next steps toward utilizing the Playbook.

Ingrid Meriwether, formerly of Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services (MWIS) and current president of Hub International’s Aligned Risk Management, MWIS, described the hard-fought lessons she and her MWIS team have learned over the last three decades administering contractor development programs (CDPs) for the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, City of Los Angeles, LA Metro, and other municipalities.

The CDPs help small and local construction firms win public infrastructure contracts with these government agencies. The program provides bonding assistance, contract financing, technical support, training, and other services to underrepresented businesses funded by public agencies who seek greater contracting participation with these firms.

Merriwether said programs like these “break down systemic barriers, create greater fairness, and save taxpayers money by enabling more competition. The contractor development programs have, cumulatively, over two decades, helped contractors access over $1 billion in bonding, supporting over $380 million in awarded contracts, and maintaining a loss ratio 250 times lower than the industry average – while saving participating municipalities more than $27 million in contracting costs as a result of enabling more competition.”

Rick Jacobs, EIP co-founder and co-chair urged attendees make plans to meet again in the near future “to continue building on this work, share progress on organizational commitments, and discuss how we can collectively advance the goals of the EIP pledge.”

For more information on the EIP and to access a copy of the Playbook, go online to https://equityininfrastructure.org/

Calvin Naito is communications manager for Equity in Infrastructure Project.

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Oakland Museum Presents Landmark Retrospective Celebrating Beloved Bay Area Artist Mildred Howard

“Poetics of Memory” coincides with a year of major recognition for Howard. In 2026, she received the California Arts Council’s 50th Anniversary Award, honoring artists whose work has shaped California’s cultural and civic life, as well as the Museum of the African Diaspora’s Artist Impact Award. In 2025, she was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in recognition of her transformative contributions to American cultural life.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Mildred Howard. Photo by Christine Cueto for the Oakland Museum of California, 2025.

Special to The Post

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) opened “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory,” the first major museum survey of Bay Area artist Mildred Howard, on June 12.

The exhibition spans five decades of Howard’s influential work, bringing together immersive installations, found-object sculptures, archival materials, and new commissions that explore memory, identity, and power in American life.

Howard was born in San Francisco in 1945 and raised in the East Bay, where she went on to study Afro-Haitian dance, make and sell clothing, and experiment with collage and sculpture.

Her multimedia art practice emerged from these experiences, later becoming associated with West Coast conceptual art, San Francisco funk, and a vibrant community of artists like Oliver Jackson, Betye Saar, and Raymond Saunders. Since the 1970s, she has used found materials and family stories to explore memory—both individual and collective.

At OMCA, visitors enter “Poetics of Memory” through a series of intimate galleries featuring Howard’s early mixed-media pieces and sculptures, along with a large video projection of a number of her public artworks.

Together, they emphasize Howard’s interest in everyday objects as powerful carriers of individual and shared stories. Highlights include collages that remix images of the artist herself; found-object sculptures like The History of the United States with a few Parts Missing (2007) that address omissions in dominant narratives; and public works like “Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges” (2001) that transform urban space into a meditation on access and labor.

This culminates in a richly detailed “studio” environment, where works in progress, archival exhibition flyers, historic photographs of Howard and her community, postcards from fellow artists, and other materials offer insight into her creative process and daily life.

The exhibition then opens into a high-ceilinged, dramatically lit space that brings together Howard’s signature immersive installations. On one end, “Crossings” (1997/2026) – a field of hundreds of ceramic eggs leading to an ornate mirror – suggests cycles of birth, motherhood, and transition, while drawing on the emotional echoes of the Middle Passage. On the other end, “Blackbird in a Red Sky” (a.k.a. “Fall of the Blood House”) (2002) – a red glass shack bordered by a pond – also uses reflection and transparency to draw viewers into the work and prompt consideration of themes of identity and home.

Howard’s newest video installation, “Moving Stills” (2026), repurposes never-before-seen family footage she took as a teenager on a train trip to the American South. Projected onto cascading layers of translucent fabric that stretch across an entire gallery wall, the piece immerses viewers in a layered meditation on memory, migration, and time.

The “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory” exhibit will be on display through Oct. 11 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94612. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Fridays to 9 p.m.

This story is sourced from the Oakland Museum of California press office.

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Alameda County

Ferry Fares to Increase July 1 as Ridership Hits Record Highs

The Oakland and Alameda routes will increase from $4.90 to $5.10, the South San Francisco route will go up from $7.40 to $7.60, and the Vallejo route will increase from $9.90 to $10.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Courtesy photo.

By Mike Aldax, The Richmond Standard

Starting July 1, the standard adult fare for the San Francisco Bay Ferry route between Richmond and San Francisco will increase to $5.20, up from the current $4.90.

Discounted fares for eligible passengers, including youth, seniors, people with disabilities, and Clipper START users, will rise to $2.60 from the current $2.40. Children under 5 will continue to ride for free.

The Oakland and Alameda routes will increase from $4.90 to $5.10, the South San Francisco route will go up from $7.40 to $7.60, and the Vallejo route will increase from $9.90 to $10.

The adjustments are part of a systemwide fare update approved by the agency’s Board of Directors, which is moving away from a flat 3% annual increase to route-specific pricing for the 2027 and 2028 fiscal years.

This fare update arrives as San Francisco Bay Ferry celebrates a historic May, transporting 301,270 passengers. The record-breaking figure represents an 8% increase over May 2025 and marks the third consecutive month of record-setting ridership.

Furthermore, it is the sixth month in a row that passenger numbers have exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Weekend travel has been a primary driver of this growth, with average weekend ridership seeing a 56% increase compared to pre-pandemic trends.

The agency states that the fare adjustments are necessary to ensure the long-term fiscal sustainability of public ferry services. By shifting to route-specific adjustments, the agency aims to offset rising operating costs while maintaining the high levels of service frequency and reliability.