On Thursday, the Phoenix Union High School District held its first board meeting since one of its football players drowned at a team summer camp.
Cesar Chavez High School Principal Robert Grant, the school’s head football coach, coaching assistants, and the athletic director were all placed on leave after 15-year-old Christopher Hampton was found dead in Show Low Lake.
Now parents are urging the district to reinstate the school’s principal.
Crystal Sosa is the parent of another student at the school and started a petition to get Grant back on campus.
“He is a pillar in our community," Sosa said. "He is a pillar at the school. My son doesn’t trust very easily and he adores Mr. Grant, and I’m really worried about starting school on the first day without him.”
Her petition has more than 600 signatures on it.
The football team was at a camp in the White Mountains on July 17. About an hour after everyone had left the lake, the team realized Hampton was missing. He was later found by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Dive Team.
Phoenix Union High School students return to class on Monday, Aug. 7.
