Police were called to a school in Arizona after three adults threatened to use plastic zip ties to make a citizen’s arrest on its principal because of a disagreement over COVID-19 quarantine policies.
According to Vail Unified School District, the incident occurred after there was a positive test for COVID-19 at the Mesquite Elementary School.
The result meant that a number of students had to go into quarantine, as per guidelines from the Pima County Health Department, meaning one student had to miss a school trip, reported KGUN.
Under state policy, all schools must report a case of COVID and close contacts of the person who has tested positive to its local county health department, who will then determine which people will need to quarantine.
Upon hearing that the child must isolate, the student involved, their parents, and one other adult drove to the school to protest the decision on Thursday morning.
The group demanded to speak to the principal, Diane Vargo, and claimed that the school was breaking the law by not letting the child on the field trip.
The third adult, a local coffee shop owner, livestreamed the confrontation on his businesses’ Instagram account.
In the footage, the group showed that they were carrying what they called “law enforcement-grade” zip ties and that they were going to make a citizen’s arrest of Vargo.
Vargo eventually invited the group into her office to hear their concerns, before asking them to leave school grounds.
At first the group refused and Vargo left her office without incident.
The Tucson Police Department was called, but the group left before officers arrived at the scene, reported KVOA.
Vargo was not harmed and the Vail Unified School District has yet to decide if they will press charges.
Tucson Police said the incident was reported as a fight brewing, but no arrests have been made.
The Vail Unified School District said they will be writing a letter to the parents of Mesquite Elementary students to further explain the incident.
The Tucson Police Department and the Vail Unified School District have been contacted for further comment.
The incident occurred as schools across Arizona are seeing a rise of new COVID-19 cases in children.
On August 30, Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, medical director for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, warned that the most populous county in Arizona is currently experiencing three times the number of school outbreaks than it did during the peak in February.
Sunenshine told the county Board of Supervisors that one in four COVID-19 cases in Maricopa County is now among children, and 6 percent of all COVID hospitalizations are children.
Despite the rise of COVID cases in children, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, is prohibiting schools from imposing mandates and has threatened to withdraw funding to any school that defies the state law, which is due to go into effect on September 29.
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