EDMOND, OKLA. (KOKH) — A school district in Oklahoma is doing damage control after a video sent to KOKH showed young students licking other people's toes as part of a fundraising event.

"It was surprising," an anonymous student told KOKH. "I didn't think they were going to do all that. I was just shocked. I didn't really have like a feeling. I was kind of disgusted, and then kind of glad I wasn't over there."

The controversial moment came as part of the school's 'Wonderful Week of Fundraising,' which was dedicated to raising money for Not Your Average Joe Coffee (NYAJ). The local business employs people with intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities.

However, one of the events in this 'Wonderful Week' revolved around students licking peanut butter off other people's toes.

Whenever she told me yesterday that was happening, I had to ask her, 'Wait, what? They're licking peanut butter off of toes," an anonymous parent said. "What?

"I am all for fundraising and all for really fun and silly things, but that right there just seems a little excessive," the parent added.

The Deer Creek School District released a statement Friday night, after the video began circulating, that aimed to establish the context of the event and discuss some of the details of the week's programming. The district stressed that the students signed up for events ahead of time and that no official staff or teachers had a role in the Thursday afternoon activity during which the licking occured.

"On Thursday, February 29, 2024, Deer Creek High School hosted an assembly called the Clash of Classes for students who paid to attend," the statement, sent to KOKH, reads in part. "During this assembly, ninth through twelfth grade students volunteered to participate in various student-organized class competitions, in the spirit of raising money for NYAJ."

All participants in the assembly were students who signed up for the game(s) they played ahead of time. No Deer Creek faculty or staff participated in any of the games during this Clash of Classes assembly. Many dedicated students gave generously of their personal," the statement added.

The district said $152,830.38 was raised for Not Your Average Joe Coffee during the week's events.

While observers to the controversy applaud the student's philanthropic drive and generosity, they still argue that the optics spawned from the viral video are counter-productive for the district.

"It's really great that they raised a lot of money," The parent said.

I feel like maybe they could've done a little bit more accountability and ownership in that statement for, 'Hey, you know, maybe we didn't fully think this thing through here'.

After the clip was shared by the controversial, conservative media watchdog Libs of TikTok, Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters responded in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying his agency is investigating.

"This is disgusting," he added. "We are cleaning up this filth in Oklahoma schools."

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