History
Cienega High School opened its doors in 2001 as the first comprehensive high school in the Vail Unified School District. It is the largest high school in Vail. [4]
Softball hazing incident
In 2016, eight students on Cienega High School's softball team were suspended after attempting to haze new varsity members at an away game. They purportedly filled a trash can with ice, water, and urine as the team was staying at a motel in February 2016 and placed it near a door with the expectation that it would drench the new members. Once the incident was reported, the principal at the time suspended the four students who were directly involved for five days and the other four for two days for being aware of the prank but not reporting it. He was quoted as saying, "We will not tolerate pranks. We will not tolerate bullying. We will not tolerate hazing or any kind of harassment." [5]
Sexual misconduct
In 2018, Senecca Turner, an assistant basketball coach and member of the security staff at the high school, was arrested on suspicion of sexual misconduct with a teen. School officials had been informed that Turner has been sending explicit messages to a 17-year-old female student. [6] He was sentenced the following year to serve 10 years probation, 12 weekends in the Pima County Jail, one thousand hours of community service, and must register as a sex offender. [7]
LDS Seminary
In the spring of 2025, the Vail School Board unanimously approved the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to construct a seminary on school grounds. When questioned on the purpose and legality of the construction of this building, Vail School District’s Director of Communications and Public Affairs clarified that no property tax money was going into the building. “At all of our campuses we have clubs for the Fellowship of Christian Students. Now that’s completely legal because first of all, it’s the students choice to participate right? And we’re not forcing anyone to participate. It’s just being made available to students with those beliefs and that’s the same thing we’re doing here," Mentone explained when questioned about the separation of church and state. Construction was estimated to be completed by January 1, 2026. [8]
The seminary faced mixed reactions during construction. [9] In April 2025, the construction of the seminary was canceled. [10] The nonprofit advocacy group Secular AZ took legal action against the district due to a concern of blurring the lines between church and state. In response, Legal Director for Secular said "This is a public high school, not a platform for religious proselytizing. We had to act ― and we did." The Vail School District informed the public via Facebook that the Mormon church had issued a formal written notice to exercise their contractual right to terminate the agreement between the school and the church. [11]
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