Oxford parents call for firing of school district employees, legislative changes ahead of anniversary of shooting
OXFORD, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - When it comes to most parents in Oxford, not only are they calling for new changes, but they are also calling for the firing of school district employees.
On Monday, several parents, who are part of a group called Community Catalysts, held a press conference demanding change at Oxford Community Schools.
"I would like to see a clean slate of people on the school board," said former Oxford teacher and counselor Shirley Tomczak.
The meeting comes just two weeks shy of the second anniversary of the Oxford High School shooting. It also comes on the same day the parents of the shooter were granted separate trials.
Mark Gillim, whose daughter was a freshman at the time of the shooting, says he could care less about how the shooter's parents are tried. He just wants to see them convicted.
"Related to the shooter's parents, I did see the notification that they are going to allow them to have separate trials, it doesn't matter as long as they get tried for their crimes against this community but today is about our students and about the survivors of November 30th who have been ignored and not have been heard the way they should have been heard," Gillim says.
And for school district officials whose action or inaction led to the Oxford High School shooting, parents say they want them to hear that they want them fired.
"We have had enough. We've been patient for two years, and now that the cat is out of the bag, it's time to take care of business," Gillim says.
Earlier this month, Guidepoint Solutions, an independent private investigative agency hired by Oxford Community School, released a nearly 600-page report on the shooting.
According to the agency, it cost the district nearly $2 million for the investigation, which only saw 35% of school employees cooperate and/or come forward as eyewitnesses.
Tomczak says it is that kind of money that could have gone to providing what parents are demanding now, full mental health resources for students and staff.
"They could have used that money for mental health facilities, for hiring more counselors, for caring for our students. Instead, they chose to spend it for caring for their backsides," Tomczak says.
Other demands include the changing of some laws that would allow for not only the shooter or his parents to be held accountable, but for school employees whose actions or inactions contributed to events leading up to the shooting on Nov. 30, 2021.
"We have teachers on board. We have the union on board. We have the law enforcement communities on board. We have therapists and emergency care people on board. But these teams have been locked out of the school, and it's time to let them come around the school, and come around the children, and work together and the first step in doing that is removing the board members so we are going to do that tomorrow," Gillim says.
Moving forward, parents are expected to show up at an Oxford Community School Board meeting on Tuesday.
The Community Catalysts group is also calling on students all across the state to stay home on Tuesday, Nov. 21, in protest ahead of the two-year anniversary of the shooting.
