When a threat is made to a school, how does the Sierra Vista Unified School District address the issue?

Officials at SVUSD and the Sierra Vista Police Department talked about how both organizations collaborate to handle such cases.

In December, SVUSD received two threats to Buena High School, one on Dec. 9 and another on Dec. 13. Both threats were in the form of a note left inside the school’s bathroom.

“Both of these incidents were handwritten notes left in bathrooms regarding a bomb,” said Sierra Vista Police Sgt. Tim Wachtel in an email. “Immediate investigations were completed with both of them and on the Dec. 13th one, we were able to identify the student who left the note.”

But when does a school activate a shelter-in-place order or a lockdown order? How does the district collaborate with police on addressing these threats? Answer these questions and more in our coverage HERE.

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On Monday, the Sierra Vista Unified School District updated its COVID-19 mitigation plan — reducing the quarantine period from eight days to five — to align with new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that was released on Dec. 27.

SVUSD Superintendent Dr. Eric Holmes said the administration met on Monday to update its plan to mirror the CDC guidelines and sent the information to SVUSD families yesterday afternoon.

“Our goal this year is to keep schools open — which we have done — and to keep our kids safe to reduce the opportunity that this disease has to have a negative impact on us,” said Holmes during Tuesday’s governing board meeting. 

What is the quarantine protocol if someone tests positive for COVID-19, or is exposed? How do these policies factor in asymptomatic cases? Answer these questions and more in our coverage HERE.

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In a year silhouetted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we spoke to superintendents, principals and heads of schools about the enrollment numbers of public, private and charter schools in the county from 2018-2019 school year to the 2020-2021 school year. 

Overall, public school enrollment numbers are beginning to increase, rebounding from a state-wide decline of more than 38,000 students from the 2019-2020 school year through the 2020-2021 school year according to the Arizona Department of Education (ADE). On Oct. 13, ADE reported a 3.5% increase in enrollment in all Arizona public schools from September 2020- September 2021.

Charter and private schools are continuing to ride on a wave of booming enrollment since the pandemic's wake.

But many questions remain: why are private and charter schools seeing an increase in enrollment? Why are public schools seeing a decrease? What factors played a part? 

To answer these questions and for more information, check out our full county-wide coverage on the topic HERE.

What are your thoughts on this? Why did you choose to enroll your children in a public, private or charter school? Share your thoughts with us below!