Parents sue Bay Area boarding school over death of 15-year-old student

A private Christian boarding school outside of Healdsburg is being sued by the parents of a 15-year-old student who died in August during a campus-organized activity.

Rio Lindo Adventist Academy is named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed Dec. 15 in Sonoma County Superior Court by Yuzhong Kang and Guiqing Wang. Their son, Gengshun Kang, died Aug. 28 while using a makeshift water slide installed “down a steep hillside” on school property, according to their complaint.

“It was a school-sanctioned event. It was not kids going off and doing something they were not supposed to be doing,” their attorney, Jack Sanford, told The Press Democrat.

The complaint also names the Northern California Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists (NCCSDA), which is based in Roseville and owns the local campus. Officials had confirmed in September the student died during a school activity but declined to comment this week on the allegations in the complaint.

“Our priority remains student safety and the continued support of our students, staff, and school community through the healing process,” said Laurie Trujillo, the NCCSDA’s director of communications and development.

According to Sanford, Gengshun was from China and in his second year at the school. He suffered abrasions across his face and died during an event kicking off the 2025-26 school year.

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office were called to the campus on Aug. 28 and said Gengshun’s death appeared to involve a medical matter. According to a coroner report obtained by The Press Democrat last week, however, he was pronounced dead after “life-saving efforts were exhausted by first responders” and his cause of death was ruled “undetermined.”

His parents nonetheless allege wrongful death and liability in their complaint.

“(School officials) owned, leased, occupied, controlled, maintained and managed the property where (Gengshun’s) injuries occurred,” the complaint states. “Defendants were negligent in their use or maintenance of the property by failing to use reasonable care to keep the property in a reasonably safe condition.”

Founded in 1962, the campus is on 360 acres east of Healdsburg at the end of a curvy road that runs parallel to the Russian River. Students come from around the world and there have been more than 4,500 graduates over several decades, according to the campus’ website.

The school is part of a network “dedicated to transforming people through the good news of Jesus Christ and preparing them for his soon return,” according to the NCCSDA website. The network includes 31 schools, 168 churches, companies or groups, and 41,588 baptized members.

In the aftermath of Gengshun’s death, the campus announced classes had been cancelled and support officials and organizations would be called in for students and staff. Specific details about the incident were not released out of respect for Gengshun’s family and school community, officials said in a statement issued Sept. 3.

“As a conference family, we grieve with our staff, students and their parents,” NCCSDA President Marc Woodson said at the time. “We are committed to walking beside our community in compassion and prayer, trusting God to bring comfort, strength, and healing. We ask continued prayers.”

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com.