State school board calls for independent review of Oxford HS shooting

The Michigan State Board of Education has voted to ask the Michigan Legislature to require and fund an independent review of the 2021 Oxford High School shooting.

The vote, which took place Tuesday, followed requests from the parents of Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana, Madisyn Baldwin and Justin Shilling – the four slain students.

Watch: Craig Shilling, father of Justin Shilling, explains why he wanted to create a foundation in his son's memory

Craig Shilling explains why he wanted to create a foundation in Justin's memory

As part of the vote, board members also asked the Legislature to make previously approved funding for children's mental health and school safety recurrent. This includes requiring that suicide and threat assessments be part of every school emergency operation plan and making threat assessment training available.

The parents of the four teens shared their thoughts at a board work session May 21 after being invited by State Superintendent Dr. Michael F. Rice.

“The parents of the Oxford students who died in this terrible tragedy have made it clear that they want an independent state review of the shooting and the events before and after it,” said State Board of Education Chairwoman Dr. Dr. Pamela Pugh, in a statement. “I am very grateful and grateful to have been able to hear from the parents of the Oxford victims. We owe it to parents to do what we can to ensure the mass shooting is thoroughly examined so that schools can learn from what happened and Oxford parents can get more answers.

“Much has been done over the past two and a half years to improve school safety and the mental health of children in the state,” Rice said in a statement. “More needs to be done. Big increases in funding for school safety and children's mental health, more than 1,000 additional professionals in schools statewide, new gun safety laws and increased focus on mental health children make schools safer and healthier for students and staff. That said, much remains to be done, and the state board's resolution is in the spirit of continuing to improve the safety and security of our schools.

The November 2021 shooting killed all four students and injured six others and a teacher. The shooter pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were each convicted of four counts of manslaughter in the case this year.

They were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison following their convictions.

James and Jennifer Crumbley sentenced to 10-15 years in prison for Oxford high school shooting