By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne weighed in on the scandal involving Cartwright Elementary School District board members Lydia and Cassandra Hernandez. The mother-daughter duo allegedly tried to smuggle a box-cutter style knife into Maryvale High School just days after a fatal stabbing there claimed the life of a 16-year-old student. Horne called for both women to resign their public offices immediately.
As reported by Fox10, Officials with the Phoenix Union High School District (PXU) told the outlet that on August 25th, Arizona State Rep. Lydia Hernandez (D-LD24) and her daughter, Cassandra Hernandez, created a disturbance at Maryvale High School by “knowingly bringing an unauthorized weapon onto campus.” Lydia Hernandez denied the school district’s accusation in response to an inquiry from Fox10 but declined to comment further.
PXU confirmed in a statement that the two women were “attempting to circumvent our safety systems and knowingly bringing an unauthorized weapon onto campus.”
The district stated in its announcement, “We will pursue all legal options, including pressing charges and trespassing the individuals from coming back to our campuses.”
Both women were recording the incident on their phones. At that point, “Lydia told the staff that she was video recording the interaction and that she was testing the weapon detection systems,” PXU said in a news release. Both women were then escorted from the premises.
Arizona SPI Horne released a statement condemning the women for the incident, saying, “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. 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 continued, “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.”
Phoenix City Councilmembers Betty Guardado and Anna Hernandez released a joint statement similarly calling for both women to resign, according to KTAR.
“Their actions disrupted the fragile environment at Maryvale High School, were a blatant disregard for safety and school protocol, and were gravely insensitive to the students, families, and school staff still mourning the Maryvale student who died last week,” Guardado and Hernandez said. “The choice to target a school still reeling from trauma speaks volumes about their judgment and priorities as leaders. Such actions jeopardize the safety of students and staff alike, showing an alarming lack of responsibility and failure as public officials.”
Arizona House Democrat Leaders reacted with a statement saying, “The incident spelled out in the School District’s statement is serious and shocking.” The Democrat leaders noted that while they have “not yet had an opportunity to speak with Rep. Hernandez to get an explanation from her perspective…it should go without saying that nobody — elected official or otherwise — should engage in such reckless and potentially criminal behavior on a school campus.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
