OXFORD, Mich. – The superintendent of Oxford Community Schools got an earful Thursday during a listening session about the independent report into the November 2021 shooting.
Superintendent Vickie Markavitch, who was hired after the shooting, served as the moderator of the listening session and will take the questions and suggestions to the Board of Education.
Parents of three of the four students killed in the shooting sat in the front row at the meeting, expressing their frustrations and concerns about the report’s findings and the district and board’s response.
“We need to address the heart of the issue: our four dead children,” said Justin Shilling’s mom, Jill Soave.
The 572-page report by Guidepost Solutions found that the school and some of its officials did not do enough to prevent the shooting from happening.
Soave said she wanted a response to the timeline laid out in the report as the shooting was happening.
“Once the shooting started, kids could have been saved, kids could have been spared,” Soave said. “They need to address that the cameras weren’t functioning and no one was monitoring them.”
Tate Myre’s father, Buck Myre, questioned the superintendent about the number of staff members who lawyered up, making it difficult for independent investigators to get first-person interviews.
“Four kids are murdered, and they’re not speaking up, like how, I don’t get it,” said Myre.
Some in the room grew frustrated with Markavitch’s responses, including Renee Upham, a former Oxford Middle School teacher and parent who left the district over its handling of the shooting.
“The fact (Markavitch) couldn’t say yes, these families have fought too hard, and yes, the families have waited too long,” said Upham. “The fact she couldn’t say that just reminds me of how public schools are just this machine and this system.”
Other vital questions from parents included why certain staff members have not been fired over their role in the shooting and why the district and board haven’t apologized.
Markavitch will take the questions and suggestions from the meeting to the school board as it works to prepare a response to the independent investigation report.