Attack on O.C. Teacher Probed

Police are investigating an assault against a teacher at a Garden Grove high school that has been rocked by more than 30 threats of violence in the last two months.

In the May 18 attack, a teacher alone in her classroom at Santiago High School during lunch was struck in the head with a blunt object by an unknown assailant who approached her from behind, police said.

The teacher, whom authorities declined to name, was not seriously injured. The assailant fled the classroom after the attack and the teacher did not see his or her face, police said.

Police said they have no idea who was behind the attack, or whether it was linked to the threats that began arriving at the campus soon after the March 5 school shooting in San Diego County.

“The investigation is wide open,” said Garden Grove Police Lt. John Woods. “We have no reason to suspect it’s an adult or a student because we didn’t get a whole lot of information.”

The threats against the school come via U.S. mail or turn up in the office, Woods said.

He declined to describe the letters in detail but said some of them have been bomb threats.

After one such threat earlier this spring, police evacuated the school. In another instance, they searched classrooms before the morning bell rang. So far they have made no arrests.

“We are concerned,” Woods said. “We take any act of violence that occurs to anyone on a school campus very seriously, especially if it is a faculty member.”

School officials did not tell parents of the attack on the teacher because it did not disrupt instruction, said Alan Trudell, spokesman for the Garden Grove Unified School District.

Letters were sent home to notify parents after the school was evacuated, Trudell said.

He declined to discuss what measures, if any, school officials are taking to boost security.

“We don’t want to tip our hands,” he said. “The safety of our staff and students is a paramount concern and always will be.”

Despite the incident, “learning is going on,” Trudell said, adding that the Stanford 9 tests were administered recently without incident.

Several teachers at the school declined to discuss the incident, as did Principal Virginia Lombardi.

Teachers union officials could not be reached for comment.