OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Schools nationwide are on high alert Friday over another frustrating social media threat that may not even be real.
Several Oklahoma school districts sent emails to parents, stating a TikTok post referred to a threat to school safety for every school in the USA, even elementary schools, Thursday afternoon.
Though there were no *specific threats to any Oklahoma schools, several parents kept their children home today.
“It’s not a risk I’m willing to take,” said Midwest City parent Sadie Niehoff.
Putnam City School District, Yukon School District, Mid-Del School District, and Edmond Public Schools were all on high alert after a school threat allegedly created on tiktok.
“I’ve actually lost another child,” said Niehoff. “And so we’re losing another child makes me more aware.”
Niehoff removed her son from school Friday.
One Edmond student sent messages to her mom, saying, “our doors are locked after the bell rings” and “we are not allowed to leave our classroom because of the threat thing.”
“We take every threat very seriously. We never say, Oh, it’s just a threat,” said Edmond Public Schools Superintendent Angela Grunewald.
“But it is concerning, obviously, from a safety standpoint, and for parents, we understand why they’re concerned about it,” said Del City Police Department Brad Cowden
But even with increased police presence, some parents kept their kids at home to ease their fears. Others, not so concerned.
“My children are going. My children are going to school. I refuse to live in fear,” said Yukon parent Rachel Segoviano
“We need to get back to that comforting of letting our kids know it’s okay to be in challenging times.”
Tiktok released this statement on Twitter:
“We handle [ever] rumored threats with utmost seriousness, which is why we’re working with law enforcement to look into warnings about potential violence at schools even though we have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok.”
But reacting to a threat of any kind is understandable. There have been forty school shootings in the USA since 2020.
“You don’t know if it’s real or not, and our kids are the most important thing and our teachers,” said Niehoff.
“But we’re always going to err on the side of caution,” said Cpt. Cowden.
“We investigate every one of them and do so thoroughly with the help of our police department,” said Supt. Grunewald.