SAN ANTONIO — Sarah Peterson was excited for her son Jack to start kindergarten, but then she received an email about a COVID-19 case the first week of class.

“So we reached out to the principal, 'Hey, I’m concerned, and I’m a little frustrated with how this email went out on a 5 o’clock on a Friday. Is my child in close contact?' The principal was really helpful and she emailed me back,” Peterson said.

Her son’s elementary school, Ladera, is a part of Medina Valley ISD, which doesn’t have a mask mandate, but Peterson says she suggested to the principal to have plexiglass and not have students cross-contaminate with other classes.  

“Now that you know there is COVID in your school, what mitigation measures are you going to take? And she (the principal) said that she would love to see more, but that it was out of her hands - it was the superintendent and the school board,” Peterson said.

Peterson said she’s been having trouble getting a public official to accept responsibility because of the blurred jurisdictions.

Her son’s school sits in Bexar County where public school’s can require a mask mandate, but the district’s main offices sit in the next county over, in Castroville, Texas.

Peterson’s next-door neighbor, Natalie Arredondo, is feeling the same frustrations.  

“Bexar County is like ‘Well, your headquarter's in Castroville, and Castroville is like your school is in Bexar County,’” Arredondo said. “I just feel like who is going to take ownership? Who is going to own it?”

Arredondo’s son Dominick, who battles with anxiety and depression, was one of the Ladera students who got COVID during the first week of school.

The rest of household, including Arredondo, contracted the disease, but she says the district doesn’t do contact tracing anymore.

While Arredondo was awaiting the test results of her first grade son, she says the school asked if he was going to attend school despite being exposed to Dominic. 

“And she said, if you don’t have a positive result, the child can still be in school,” Arredondo explained. “And I was very taken back by that because I’m thinking what about all of the families that would be affected?”

Medina ISD officials refused to do an on-camera interview, but they did send Spectrum News 1 a statement saying:

“MVISD remains committed to providing rigorous, TEKS-based instruction to all students for the 2021-2022 school year while ensuring that COVID mitigation strategies are in place. In order to help curb the spread of COVID-19, the following protocols are effective for the 2021- 2022 school year, and were developed in accordance with the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Governor Abbott's executive orders and guidance from the Department of State Health Services, as well as the local health authority. This protocol may change during the school year, as guidance from the state and health authorities changes.”

Despite the constant communication with district officials, Peterson says she’s withdrawing her son from Ladera to homeschool him.

“I’m fortunate to be in a position where we can do that but not every family can,” Peterson said. 

Peterson says she doesn’t take that luxury for granted and will continue to speak up for families in this district. 

“I’m a big believer that you put on your own oxygen mask first, you don’t wait until the plane is safely landed to help your neighbor,” Peterson said. “You make sure your immediate needs are taken care of and then you help the people around you.”