Horne, Cota Demand Armed School Officers after Second Knife Incident

On Monday, September 15, 2025, two female Carl Hayden High School students were involved in a fight that left one of them injured, according to Phoenix Police. During the fight, one of the students struck the other with the handle of a closed pocket knife. The student was not stabbed, unlike the August 19, 2025, incident at Maryvale High School, where 16-year-old Chris Aguilar fatally stabbed fellow student Michael Montoya II, who was also 16 at the time. The Arizona Globe previously reported on Sen. Shawnna Bolick’s call for increased school safety measures in the aftermath of Montoya’s death.

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said the Carl Hayden fight shows that the school district’s board made a significant mistake by rejecting earlier requests for armed resource officers.

“The safety of students, teachers, and staff members at schools is not negotiable, and a knife fight on the Carl Hayden campus Monday shows the dangers are increasing. This needs to stop immediately. The Phoenix Union governing board needs to reverse a terrible decision they made earlier this year when they rejected requests from the leadership of both Carl Hayden and Betty Fairfax high schools for armed officers on campus,” Horne stated.**

He added that the incident demonstrated “the utter lack of concern by the members of the Phoenix Union governing board who rejected the request for officers that had been endorsed by the two schools and district administration,” calling the board’s earlier decision “an outrageous dereliction of responsibility.”

Phoenix Union Governing Board member Jeremiah Cota told the Globe that he continues to press the district to add armed security, stating, “Parents should never have to wonder if their children are safe at school. Armed school resource officers are a proven deterrent, and Phoenix Union should act now.”

On August 21, Cota formally requested reconsideration of the district board’s earlier vote, filing the measure for inclusion on a future agenda. The Phoenix Union board voted 5–2 earlier this year to deny requests for state-funded officers, despite support from Carl Hayden and Betty Fairfax school staff and the district’s administration. Critics of armed school resource officers argued that adding armed officers could lead to “over-policing” of students. But with two knife incidents in a month, pressure on the board to reconsider is mounting.

There will be NO school resource officers agenda item at the @PhoenixUnion next board meeting.

The Board President has refused my calls for improving school safety once again.

Shameful for this district to put anti law enforcement politics before student and staff safety. pic.twitter.com/AgBddrV0Vc

— Jeremiah Cota ✝️🇺🇸 (@jeremiahcota) August 29, 2025