Maryvale High box cutter incident: District apologizes to board member, still seeking culprit

Earlier this year, two Cartwright school board members were accused of trying to sneak a box cutter into Maryvale High School, just after a fatal stabbing there.

Now the Phoenix Union High School District is apologizing to one of the women.

The district issued a press release in August accusing state Rep. Lydia Hernandez of being involved in the incident. It also said she was “accompanied by who is believed to be her daughter, Cassandra Hernandez.”

Cassandra said she was at work when the incident took place.

Now, the district says it can’t verify the identity of the accompanying individual, and is apologizing to Cassandra for including her name in the original statement.

Phoenix Union is asking the community to help identify the person who joined Lydia that morning.

More from the statement: "An additional claim from the initial statement centered around Ms. Lydia Hernandez filming the incident, which she has publicly denied. ... The two women trigger the advanced weapon detection system multiple times while recording their interactions with campus safety staff. It is extremely disappointing that they chose to do this with seemingly no outcome beyond capturing a safety failure on camera. This was done with no regard to our students’ emotional safety, who were returning to school following a tragedy is inappropriate and inexcusable."

The district said the investigation remains active and ongoing. It is releasing surveillance video in hopes that the community can help identify the young woman accompanying Lydia on Aug. 25.