Ex-Oxford school board leaders say district didn't follow own safety rules

Oxford — Oxford Community Schools did not follow its own threat assessment policies to prevent school violence before the Nov. 30 mass shooting at its high school, two former board members alleged Monday.

The school district failed to fully implement the training of district officials or activate a threat assessment team to address a troubled student who showed warning signs a day earlier, and the results of that lack of action were fatal, according to former Oxford board President Tom Donnelly and former Treasurer Korey Bailey.

"I believe if they had, the situation would have ended on Nov. 29, and Nov. 30 would just be another day in Oxford," Bailey said.

Donnelly and Bailey said they both began to research school safety measures in the months after the shooting and concluded the district didn't follow threat assessment policies they argue would have removed the student from school and prevented the attack that killed four students: Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling. Seven others were injured.

Most Michigan school districts put threat assessment policies in place to address school crime and violence, though they are not legally required to do so. Often found under a "school safety information" tab on school websites, the policies usually outline plans and strategies for evaluating problems or threats, promoting school safety and minimizing the likelihood of school crime and violence.

"We found there was training (done at Oakland Schools) outside the district, but no evidence teams were created and policies practiced," said Donnelly of Oxford's schools.

Donnelly said there was "never a thought of putting a team together" on Nov. 29 or Nov. 30 to conduct a threat assessment.

"We didn't know what we didn't know," Donnelly said. "We never activated the team; we never did drills."

Attorneys for the Oxford school district responded to allegations late Monday by saying they "show a misunderstanding of the facts."

"We are aware of the allegations made by former Oxford Community School Board members during today’s press conference," according to the statement by the Giarmarco, Mullins and Horton law firm. "Mr. Donnelly is correct in acknowledging that the district had appropriate safety policies in place since 2004. He also confirmed that multiple staff members received threat assessment training before the November 30 tragedy. Many of the former board members’ allegations show a misunderstanding of the facts.

"The details regarding the training and use of threat assessment procedures in advance of the November 30 tragedy will be discussed at length by members of the staff who implemented the policies prior to November 30, 2021. As in previous depositions, the district will fully disclose all relevant facts and procedures in the forthcoming legal proceedings."

In civil litigation, the district has contended it has government immunity against claims of negligence and other charges.

Board President Dan D’Alessandro also issued a statement in response to the allegations, saying a third-party review of the events leading up to, during and following Nov. 30 has since seen increased participation by key stakeholders.

"The review will help us all understand the facts and have the transparency and accountability we all deserve. We ask the public to allow this important review process to take place so the facts can be brought to light in a clear, accurate and impartial manner," D'Alessandro said in the statement.

The allegations made on Monday, the day after Donnelly and Bailey shared the same contentions with the victims of the Nov. 30 attack and their families, are the most specific accusations made to date against the school district.

Donnelly and Bailey said when they earlier raised their concerns to the rest of the board, they were told by a non-district person, whom they declined to identify, that "this would bankrupt the district and tear this community apart."

"We could either go along and stay silent, (or) move along and be a voice for change," Bailey said.

Attorney William Seikaly also declined to identify the non-district person but said "insurance companies take over the messaging" in cases like this.

Both Donnelly and Bailey told The Detroit News in September that they began to research the district's threat assessment plans and policies over the spring and summer and learned that policies adopted in 2004 and 2011 were being introduced as new to the public after the Nov. 30 shooting.

The school district has a threat assessment policy modeled after a U.S. Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security guide for preventing school violence. It requires that:

• Employees, volunteers and other school community members must immediately report to the superintendent or principal any expression of intent to harm another person or other statements or behaviors that suggest a student may intend to commit an act of violence.
• A threat assessment team must meet when the principal learns a student has: made a threat of violence, or engages in concerning communications or behaviors that suggest the likelihood of a threatening situation.
• The threat assessment team includes: the principal, school counselor, school psychologist, instructional personnel and SRO (student resource officer). The threat assessment team may also include others, such as a third-party mental health provider or family school liaison.

The policy also notes the following warning signs:

• Expression of violence in writings and drawings
• Uncontrolled anger
• Inappropriate access to, possession of, and use of firearms
• Threats of violence
• Serious physical fighting with peers or family members
• Severe destruction of property
• Severe rage for seemingly minor reasons
• Detailed threats of lethal violence
• Possession and/or use of firearms and other weapons
• Other self-injurious behaviors or threats of suicide

Bailey said at the Monday press conference that he had found eight district staffers who completed a threat assessment training in 2018 and that most of them remained employed in the district the week of the attack.

Bailey said the board has been told that since early days after the shooting that "it had all the right policies and staff in place, but a bad thing still happened."

"We got a report saying they praised our teams and we did a wonderful job with our security plans," Bailey said. "If all of this were true, how would the shooting happen?"

Donnelly and Bailey have previously alleged that the gunman was given a screening test at school to identify students who are at risk for social-emotional behavior problems. They questioned Monday whether the district looked at those results and could have acted on them.

The test is known as SAEBRS and stands for Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener. Had a threat assessment team been convened, it could have discussed the test results and decided whether to take action, the former board members said.

"The threshold for pulling a team together should be low. It's the team's job to decide whether you have a low-, medium- or high-risk factor based on the team's work. The district certainly didn't use it as designed in the month leading up to the shooting," Donnelly said.

"There is no evidence we have ever used it as designed."

Seikaly said the information was obtained by the former board members as part of their investigation into the school shooting and was not part of closed sessions on board business.

Warning signs

Oxford High School dean of students Nicholas Ejak and school counselor Shawn Hopkins met with student Ethan Crumbley hours before he opened fire inside the school.

The day before the shooting, Ethan was seen searching for ammunition on his phone, according to prosecutors. On Nov. 30, a teacher saw a piece of paper in front of Ethan with the words, "the thoughts won't stop, help me," a drawing of a bullet, the phrase "blood everywhere," a sketch of a person shot twice and bleeding, a laughing emoji, "my life is useless" and "the world is dead."

Ethan was called to the school office and his backpack was taken while he was questioned by school staff. He was allowed to leave the school office, return to class with the backpack and the shooting followed. School officials told Ethan's parents they wanted him to go home, but the parents refused.

In late October, Crumbley pleaded guilty to 24 criminal charges including first-degree murder and is scheduled for a Feb. 9 hearing to decide whether he should be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The district has previously said it followed proper policy in dealing with Crumbley, including calling his parents in for a conference.

Donnelly also alleged that board directives, including their desire for a third-party investigation, were undercut by district counsel and that "things were done against the board's interest" by "non-district voices being paid by the insurance company."

"I would repeatedly ask the question: What do you know that I don't know? I was told I had all the information, but I didn't," Donnelly said. "All I needed was (attorney) Ven Johnson to do a press conference and reveal the fact he could report things I did not know, things that the district had, things the district knew but I did not know."

Third-party review obstacles

District officials have three times declined a review of its actions by state Attorney General Dana Nessel.

"Our intent was not to cast blame on the school administrators and staff, but merely to discover what had occurred so that we could help understand how to prevent future school shootings and make recommendations which could be applied statewide," Nessel tweeted Monday.

So Donnelly said the board began a third-party review process with Guidepost Solutions in May, against the recommendation of district counsel, which is led by attorney Tim Mullins. Guidepost is an investigations, regulatory compliance, monitoring and security consulting firm that is performing a full review of what happened at the high school on the day of the shooting and in the days leading up to it.

"Immediately, Guidepost began to face obstacles. Roadblocks were put in their path; (it was) slow to get information; (they were) struggling to get interviews set up," Donnelly said.

Bradley Dizik, executive vice president with Guidepost Solutions, said Monday that a review of the district’s security and threat assessment practices prior to, on and after Nov. 30 and other related considerations shared by Donnelly and Bailey are included in the scope of its independent investigation.

The board also hired Varnum Attorneys at Law in Grand Rapids to represent the district in investigations, reviews and litigation connected to the shooting.

In July, the district's legal counsel met with lawyers for the teacher’s union and administrator's union, and, according to Donnelly, "convinced them not to participate in the third-party review process."

"This independent review process was clearly directed by a vote by the board and undercut by counsel. So as I said earlier, who works for who? Who is the client?" Donnelly said.

jchambers@detroitnews.com