Santa Rosa ISD administration, police looking into student’s alleged abusive behavior toward FFA hog
A video showing a Santa Rosa High student repeatedly hitting a hog is now leading to both an administrative and police response.
The short clip, originally shared on Instagram, has since been deleted, but displayed a high school boy “whipping” the hog with an object in one hand, and swinging what appears to be a garden hose at the animal with the other.
“It’s heartbreaking to see something like that,” said Maribel Salinas-Rojas, the parent who takes care of the hog named “Spot” along with her high school son.
The exact date of the incident was not made clear, but it did take place at the district’s ag farm.
Santa Rosa ISD Superintendent Yolanda Chapa said she got a phone call about the matter Monday.
“We called our chief of police so that he could start investigating this situation along with our principal who already knew about it,” Chapa said. “They too, (had) gotten a call, and the video was out on social media. From that, we moved on it immediately.”
Chapa said it is possible the district’s Student Code of Conduct was broken.
“In addition to that, we also go by the law,” she said. “Once a police officer within the school district has a report, and if an incident violates a law above the Student Code of Conduct, then we work with the county. We work with the DA’s office to make sure that we’re doing the right thing too.”
Having seen the video, Chapa calls the action seen in the video “hurtful.”
“You see cruelty,” Chapa said. “It’s my own opinion, but it’s not going to take my opinion as to what we do — it’s going to take the legal opinion and the school district code of conduct into consideration.”
Channel 5 News tried contacting the parent of the student who allegedly abused the hog, but did not hear back.