Oxford Community Schools

Good afternoon, Wildcat Families,

We are looking forward to welcoming your children back to school next week. We value your partnership in education and need your help to ensure a successful school year. As we prepare our buildings and staff for a safe return to school, we ask that you please review with your students our threat assessment policies and appropriate school behavior. As a reminder, our threat assessment policies and protocols can be found on the district website under our FAQ page.

Some key points to remember are:

1.      Safety is our number one priority in Oxford Community Schools.

2.      Any concerning or violent content or behavior displayed by students in word, deed, drawing, or on social media will be investigated as an imminent threat and initiate our threat assessment procedures.

3.      In addition, all imminent warning signs included in 8410b enter into our threat assessment process. These signs include:

a.      Serious physical fighting with peers or family members.

b.      Severe destruction of property.

c.      Severe rage for seemingly minor reasons.

d.      Detailed threats of lethal violence.

e.      Possession and/or use of firearms and other weapons.

f.       Other self-injurious behaviors or threats of suicide.

4.      In accordance with best practices, all threat assessments are performed by a well-trained team of professionals with varying backgrounds and lenses through which to analyze the concerning content or activity. This team includes a building administrator, law enforcement, instructional staff, and a mental health expert. This team may include district administration, as necessary.

What safety procedures are followed when a student makes a threat or presents concerning behavior/and or content?

We have many procedures in place to ensure student safety. In specific, here are our current safety policies regarding threat assessment:

• Policy 8400, also known as “School Safety Information.”
• Policy 8410 A, which lists our early warning signs of possible school violence.
• Policy 8410 B, which is “Identifying and Responding to Imminent Warning Signs.”
• Form 8400, which is “Documentation Pertaining to Threat Assessment and Intervention.”

For more details on our policies, please reference the school board’s January 25 Meetings agenda which includes a Safety Update identifying the District’s administrative guidelines pertaining to safety and applicable laws. These will be presented again at the August 23 school board meeting.

How do we report concerning behavior or other safety information?

We thank our students, families, and staff for your continued partnership in reporting any witnessed threatening behavior.  We encourage the Oxford Community to report their concerns by telling a trusted adult at the School District or by using the state of Michigan’s OK2SAY tip line at 8-555-OK2SAY or [email protected].  A link to OK2SAY is also on the front of each of our school websites.

The OK2SAY tip line can be used to confidentially report criminal activities or potential harm directed at students, school employees, or our school buildings. Anonymous tips can be submitted to OK2SAY 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and are received by specially trained technicians who filter the information to the appropriate agency to provide a timely and effective investigation. We strongly encourage all students to download the OK2SAY app, available for both Apple and Android devices for quick access. 

It is the diligence and partnership of our whole community that strengthens our security. 

How will I know the outcome of a threat assessment?

We will continue to communicate as much as we can and give our families the most information possible regarding assessment outcomes and resolutions. The Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) limits what discipline and other student information we may share with the public. Additionally, cooperation in law enforcement investigations can present communication restrictions in the event a criminal act is reported.

When will you communicate about safety situations?

Our administration is committed to transparency. As we balance our parent needs with federal and state laws on student privacy, we have created a set of guidelines for expectations of district safety communications. We will be eliciting parent feedback and will adjust accordingly moving forward. For the 2022-2023 school year, we will communicate with our parent community in the following scenarios:

•  A direct, specific, plausible threat is made
•  A situation interrupts the school day for a significant number of students
•  A situation arises that requires emergency vehicles to report to the school
•  A realistic image of a personal firearm is discovered

Where can I find the district’s policies?

All district Policies can be found on the Oxford Community Schools website under District >  Board of Education > Board policies.

The direct link is: https://go.boarddocs.com/mi/oxf/Board.nsf/Public?open&id=policies

Our current policies and administrative guidelines expressly address student safety in accordance with state and federal law. These policies address student safety in an effective and comprehensive manner, while providing administrators with the necessary discretion to appropriately respond to a varying degree of situations potentially impacting student safety.

To view our current policies relating to student safety, please click the links below:

Administrative Guideline 8410 - Characteristics of a school that is safe and responsive to all children

Administrative Guideline 8420 - Emergency situations at schools

Please note, that we will continue to respond to reported concerns involving student safety in accordance with the above policies.