OXFORD, Mich. – There’s concern in Oxford about finding accountability after a mass shooting at Oxford High School that left four people dead and others injured.
A promised blue-ribbon panel has yet to appear and some parents worry it never will. Many still want to know what transpired in the events leading up to the shooting and how they can prevent it going forward.
Read: Prosecutor: Don’t use name of accused Oxford High School shooter
In December, then-Oxford schools superintendent Tim Throne recommended to the school board that they look at a third-party independent review.
George Stoffan is the parent of two Oxford High School students and he’s been asking questions of the school board about the review and safety issues. He wanted to know why the school declined the attorney general’s offer to investigate.
“Would allow us to do this, basically for free using the resources of the attorney general’s office and yet they pursued a third-party investigation that is going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Stoffan said.
Now there’s a new school superintendent and the internal investigation the district promises keeps coming up at school board meetings, and yet all the district is willing to say about its so-called blue-ribbon panel is “the school board is working on this and determining a timeline.”
“I think they fear lawsuits based on some of the information that might come of this and I think it’s a way to manage the narrative, I think that’s been their concern at the beginning,” Stoffan said.
Stoffan believes the district is concerned the probe would bankrupt the district.
“That is concerning because the longer this drags out, the memories change,” Stoffan said.
These questions will be coming up at the next school board meeting on April 12.