State schools superintendent Tom Horne says Cartwright Elementary School District Board members Lydia and Cassandra Hernandez should immediately resign their positions after deliberately causing a security disruption at Maryvale High School on Tuesday.
According to the Phoenix Union High School District, the two women were “attempting to circumvent our safety systems and unknowingly bringing an unauthorized weapon onto campus.” The Phoenix Union district reported the weapon in question is a box cutter.
The women were testing the school’s security one week after one student stabbed and killed another at the school, according to a press release from the Phoenix Union High School District.
“This was an outrageous and indefensible stunt. For two school board members, one who is also a state legislator, to deliberately provoke a security disruption at a school is unconscionable,” Horne stated. “To do it at Maryvale High School where a student was tragically murdered in a classroom just a week earlier is unbelievably insensitive to the trauma that was inflicted on the students, teachers and staff of that school. These two board members should resign immediately.”
Horne added, “The safety of our campuses is an absolute priority. Security personnel and safety officers need to do their jobs, and they cannot be diverted from protecting the campus by a juvenile and unnecessary act such as this. The actions of these board members show they do not appreciate the seriousness of ensuring campuses are safe places and the Cartwright Board must include members who are committed to school safety.”
Lydia Hernandez is also a member of the Arizona House of Representatives.