Broken Arrow Superintendent: Threat Was Not Viable

The Broken Arrow Superintendent of Schools held a news conference on Thursday after a high school student was suspended for alleged threats and social media erupted in “chaos.”

Dr. Jerod Mendenhall started out by saying that students don't use best judgment in what they say, “and it leads to unnecessary panic, like now.”

“At no time during this investigation did we believe our campus was unsafe,” Mendenhall said.

Mendenhall said the threat originated as a text message earlier in the week, but he declined to share the content, although police told News On 6 it was a threat to harm two students. Mendenhall cited FERPA privacy laws when asked information about the student who was involved in sending the threat.

1/29/2016 Related Story: Police: Broken Arrow Student Suspended For Making Threat

He said the student who made the threat wasn’t even in the state at the time the threat was made, and once the school found out, officials contacted the student’s parents and the Broken Arrow police.

Mendenhall said that before dawn on Thursday, the school obtained additional information and again immediately alerted police.

He says he made the decision to wait until about 8 a.m. to send out notification through the school website and official social media accounts, because with a high school campus of 3,700, caution had to be taken not to put out inaccurate, panicked information.

He said when the community was notified on Thursday, students were given option to stay home and be excused. A reported 700 students missed classes today.

Mendenhall went on to say that his own daughter, a junior at BAHS, attended school and he felt safe sending her, but he wanted to be sympathetic to other parents who may have had reservations.

Mendenhall said police were on campus this morning and additional security officers were also, but it was out of precaution, not worry.

“The safety of our students is most important,” he said.

Earlier in the day, BAPD Cpl. Leon Calhoun told News On 6, "We had already been investigating and had the situation under the control."

BAPD said the student is with his parents and has no access to weapons.

Appropriate disciplinary action has been taken against the student who reportedly made the threats, because of the disruption caused to the campus and community, Mendenhall said. Sources say the student has been suspended indefinitely.

BAPD also is investigating to see if further action needs to be taken from a criminal standpoint, he said.

Mendenhall repeated several times that with the information he knew and police knew, “at no time did we believe our students were in any danger."

Unfortunately, he said, “we can’t control what students say,” or the power of social media.

Mendenhall said another student is who brought the threat to the attention of administrators, who were then able to communicate with law enforcement.

He commended the student for being aware and for doing “the right thing.”