CONCORD â€" Some Contra Costa County students are hastily regrouping after hiring an event planner who has a number of former clients accusing her of not following through after taking money to help high schools organize proms.

"We paid her $3,500 last May to secure a date at the Exploratorium," said Ayla Magee, senior class president at Ygnacio Valley High. "But she didn't ever secure the date."

Students say they paid Cassandra Grill $6,500 before realizing she was not doing what they were paying her for. At an emergency meeting Feb. 4, they decided to start over, so they set up another dance date and have been rushing to make the arrangements themselves.

Concord police will file a report to the District Attorney's Office, said Greg Rolen, general counsel for the Mt. Diablo school district. Rolen said he wrote twice to Grill â€" last month and again Monday â€" but has not heard back.

Grill responded Tuesday on Facebook to one of many Times requests for an interview, saying she planned to speak to a lawyer and to police before communicating with the media.

"I will call u soon," she wrote at 4:04 p.m. "I have been out of the country and this is seriously crazy. There is no way I 'stole their money.' I literally landed in usa 5 Min ago... This is ludicruis (sic)."

Just minutes before sending that message, Grill e-mailed Alicia Kite, general manager of James Standfield Catering in South San Francisco, who said

Grill owes $75,000 for proms the company provided services for in 2009.

"She sent me an e-mail saying that she did not take their money and run, that they're just trying to cancel her contract because they found someone else," Kite said of the 3:57 p.m. message.

"I'd love to get paid. She has e-mailed me about half a dozen times saying, 'I promise I'm going to start paying you back. Just give me a month.' "

Rolen said the Fremont and Dublin school districts also contacted him regarding problems with Grill. Dublin High School parent Lucia Miller told the Times she had to hound Grill every other day for four months to get her to follow through with prom arrangements last year.

The school paid Grill $10,000, then did not hear from her for months, Miller said.

"She needs to be stopped," Miller said.

Dublin was forced to use Grill because she had secured prime event dates at the San Francisco Design Center, the venue students chose for their location, Miller said. To get the date and location, they had to agree to a contract with Grill, she said.

Ygnacio Valley High students said they used Grill for last year's prom and it was wonderful. This year, they feel betrayed.

Their plight has drawn offers of aid. Wells Fargo said it would pay a $3,000 matching grant to help fund their prom. A disc jockey and a couple of event planners have also said they would be willing to provide free services.

Grill's online presence includes a MySpace page that says she graduated from Northgate High School in 1997 and lists three companies with which she's affiliated: Infrared Music Group, Innovative Events and Virago Public Relations and Marketing.

A Twitter account established under Virago says Grill was headed to Washington, D.C., on Feb. 19.

About 2 p.m. Tuesday, her next tweet states: "Just landed in charlotte, NC; No, I'm not missing. Lol. The blackberry didn't work in Aruba "..."