TSA Investigating Boarding Pass Incident Involving Bixby Student

A Bixby mother and father are outraged after they say two school employees told their daughter to go through airport security and get on a plane using a boarding pass with another student’s name on it. The Transportation Security Agency is now investigating the incident.

Caprice and Robert Berryhill say their 16-year-old daughter’s cheer trip to Orlando ended before it got started last month.

“They handed her a boarding pass with another athlete’s name on it and instructed her to use that,” said Caprice.

The Berryhills say their daughter ended up without a ticket, and a girl who wasn’t set to go on the trip did have one. They say the Bixby cheer coach told their daughter to use the other girl’s pass.

TSA does not require people under 18 to show an ID, and Berryhill's daughter made it through. They say she called them because she was worried about it.

“Our issue wasn’t that there was a mistake made, but compounding it and having our daughter do an illegal action is totally not right,” said Robert.

The Berryhills picked up their daughter and ultimately removed her from the team. They say they met with the superintendent but don’t feel they received any answers.

The district confirms two employees are under TSA investigation, and the head cheer coach has resigned, effective at the end of the school year. Bixby Schools says, “We have advised those employees to cooperate fully with any inquiry” and that it is “conducting an internal review based on parent concerns.”

The district says it will take appropriate action after the investigation.

The Berryhills say both students could have been affected if something had gone wrong that day. They are proud of their daughter for speaking up.

“She’s a 16-year-old kid that had more knowledge of what they were doing was wrong than two adults,” said Robert.

The district wouldn’t say if the cheer coach’s resignation is related to this incident but says that employee can keep teaching. The Berryhills hope their daughter can now rejoin the cheer team for her senior year.