Deer Creek parents frustrated over school district communication following ‘non-credible’ threat

Several Deer Creek School parents were upset after a student made a verbal threat at school. The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office said there was no credible threat or risk to school safety. The school district said it followed its protocol.  

News 9 spoke with the parents who disagreed. Robert Redden and Kaycia Justice said they don’t believe their children's school leaders listened to their concerns after a student threatened to shoot one of their children. 

“It just seemed like a mess,” Justice said. “It’s sad that parents have to worry about this kind of thing.” 

Deer Creek School Superintendent Jason Perez said a student made a verbal threat last week to a group of students. The district worked with the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office to investigate, and investigators determined the threat was uncredible. 

“Law enforcement did their analysis of the situations,” Perez said. "They’re the experts on that.” 

Redden said the district did not answer his emails and calls promptly.

"Definitely not swift and immediate as it sounds,” Redden said. 

Justice said her daughter received additional threats following Wednesday’s initial incident. 

“The additional intimidation that was made it wasn’t shared with the proper channels,” Justice said. 

Perez said the district notified the families of the students who were impacted and was handling disciplinary action with the student.  

“This was not a major schoolwide threat,” Perez said. “We’re not trying to cause panic in anybody. We’re following our protocols in making those determinations.” 

Justice said she empathized with the child in question. 

“What we want more than anything is for the child to get the guidance and the love that he needs to hopefully understand the severity of his words and his actions,” Justice said. 

Justice said she wanted more open conversations to reassure her about her child’s safety. 

“It was conflicting information from all parties,” Justice said. “I think transparent communication would have put my heart at ease.”

Justice said she wanted to be heard. 

“I continue to feel like that is not happening,” Justice said. 

An Oklahoma County Sheriff spokesperson told News 9 the student who made the threat does not have access to firearms. They maintained that there was no credible safety threat to Deer Creek students. The district said no weapon was found at the school. The school said it will continue to evaluate its communication policies.