Page One

A Berkeley teenager pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of oral copulation with a 12-year-old girl and will testify against fellow classmates facing similar charges. 

The 13-year-old boy is scheduled to be sentenced next month. He and eight others are accused of sexually assaulting their classmate at Willard Middle School. 

The case shook the Berkeley community in late October after the assault because the same girl and her 12-year-old friend were allegedly attacked five days later after the first attack at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.  

Berkeley Unified School District officials knew of the second attack but did not immediately alert parents who were trying to understand the situation’s impact on their own children.  

After the second attack was reported, district officials handed out fliers to students explaining why the media was at the school.  

At the time, police advised the school district not to allow the girl back in school for fear of her own safety.  

Some people criticized the school district for not protecting the girl who was allegedly attacked twice in 14 days at two different schools. 

District Superintendent Jack McLaughlin said student safety is a top priority and that school employees were being questioned about the two incidents to see if the school system can do anything to better protect all students. 

Parents of some of the boys accused in the first attack are angry and say the sexual relations were consensual.