Tucson police arrest parent after school encounter over COVID-19 rule

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TUCSON – At least one person was arrested after a Tucson elementary school principal clashed with several people because a student was quarantined for possible exposure to the coronavirus and missed an excursion, officials said Friday.

At least one of the people waved zip ties and threatened to arrest the headmaster, who called the police after meeting the people, said Vail Unified School District superintendent John Carruth.

“The headmistress, through her education and her own personality, has done an excellent job ensuring tensions don’t escalate,” Carruth told the Associated Press.

The arrest is the latest in a series of confrontations and other encounters that have taken place in school facilities across the country over virus-related rules.

Tucson police went to Mesquite Elementary School Thursday after “a report of a brewing battle” and a 40-year-old man was later arrested and trespassed, said Officer Roman Acosta, a police spokesman.

School officials said the 40-year-old man was the father of the student who was quarantined and missed the field trip. Court records did not contain a lawyer for the man who could speak on his behalf.

Another man among those who attended school and posted a video of the headmaster’s encounter on social media did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

School district officials said three men with the student went to the school office to protest the school’s enforcement of orders from Pima County health officials to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

The principal met with people in her office for about 20 minutes before asking them to leave, which they refused, Carruth said.

The director then left the office and called the police. The people left before the officers arrived, Carruth said.

Carruth said the decision to call the police was appropriate in the circumstances as tensions over the pandemic have flared up.

Still, despite frustrated by the ongoing effects of the pandemic, most people support each other and the school system, he said.

“Tactics are escalating, but I wouldn’t say there is a broader reason to raise concerns,” he said. “The solution and the lesson and the silver lining in this (incident) is for us to point out that we must all try to listen, to understand, with the intention of listening.”

This was not the first virus-inspired exposure to the Vail borough, which serves an area on the southeastern outskirts of Tucson.

In April, the district board ended a study session and then canceled a regular meeting after dozens of parents protested the district’s refusal to lift its mask mandate to curb the spread of COVID-19. The sheriff’s deputies were called in to maintain order after protesting parents, many of whom were not wearing masks, rushed into the boardroom.

Acosta, the police spokesman, declined to provide additional information on the incident Thursday, saying details could be obtained through a request for public records. The police did not immediately respond to a file request from the AP.

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