NewsLocal NewsMichigan

Actions

'I'm nervous' says 6th grade Oxford Middle student after district closes schools after threat

School image
Posted

OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — “My heart is racing to be honest," said Mariana Rivera.

Unfortunately like many parents in metro Detroit, this has been Rivera's reality for two weeks.

“It’s just scary that a parent has to go through this every day," she adds.

Early Tuesday evening she received a phone call and email from her daughter's school about a social media threat at Oxford Middle.

“It saddens me because she is all I got and all I have," adds Rivera.

Her 11-year-old daughter Iris is in the 6th grade at Oxford Middle. She tells 7 Action News reporter Nana-Sentuo Bonsu that these threats are weighing on her.

“Nervous, scared, stressed," said Iris.

The district says:

Today we received an image from social media that included a specific threat directed at our middle school. We immediately notified law enforcement, who are investigating. Out of an abundance of caution, we are cancelling school in all our buildings on Tuesday, Dec. 14. We plan to do a full security check of all our buildings while our security experts and law enforcement conduct their investigation.

Rivera's daughter, Iris says when school reopens she doesn't want to go back.

"I don’t till everything gets fixed," the 6th grader tells us.

Rivera stands with her daughter's choice.

“How everything is turning up. I rather have her home…I rather have her home," she adds.

She believes school is the best place for children to be but not until school leaders can figure out how to keep students safe.

As administrators work to figure out what the future looks like for students, Iris has a message for them.

“I want them to think about keeping kids at home; until everything gets solved and fixed and back to how it was normally," she adds.