Parents react to Oxford's new safety policies after school shooting
(CBS DETROIT) - Students at Oxford High School return to school Thursday for their first day of school since last year's deadly shooting.
The district discussed new safety policies that are getting mixed reviews from parents. Two parents, whom we spoke to, still have concerns about school safety despite new policies. They also said it's going to be eerie for their kids to walk through the school doors again.
Mark Gillim has a 15-year-old who attends Oxford High.
"The people I talked to, the students, my students, they know they're not safe coming to school," said Gillim.
He said his biggest concern is that he still thinks school staff and officials will ignore the red flags of a troubled and potentially dangerous student.
"Because we had all the red flags. And if the adults in the room didn't act like adults, then it doesn't matter what other layers we put in place. If we don't fix the policy problems and the leadership and the culture in this administration team that allowed this to happen, then we should expect it to happen again," said Gillim.
At the time of the shooting, the Oxford School Board already had a board policy called 8400, which required "reporting to the superintendent or principal specific types of threats depending on the severity."
Administrative guideline 8410b would trigger a "threat assessment" for things such as:
"Fighting, Severe destruction of property, Rage, Detailed threat of lethal violence" and more.
But now, the school board unveiled Administrative Guideline 8410a, which is aimed at looking for early warning signs that will now trigger a "threat assessment" for things that would have previously gone overlooked such as:
"Expression of violence in writing and drawings, uncontrolled anger, inappropriate access to/possession of firearms, and threat of violence."
Officials with the school said it's to "cast a wider net."
Andrea Jones is the parent of an Oxford senior and she has a freshman who will be entering as a student at the school for the very first time. She is concerned about the ongoing trauma attending will have on her both of her children.
"How could you walk into this building and not think about what took place here? I don't think anybody could do that. And so that's going to be a challenge," said Jones. "We also haven't reached the point where it's become real that he has to become here.
