By Sesa Graham
School is supposed to be the one place that makes students feel safe. Their friends, teachers, sports, and academics keep them busy and separate them from their home life. It is the one place where a student can feel like they belong. But recent activities have made those same students feel frightened and stressed to step foot into their school without knowing how their days will pan out.
On Nov. 30, the Oxford community changed forever. Four students were killed and at least eight others injured in a mass shooting at the suburban high school. The news traveled to other cities in Michigan and other states affecting everyone who saw the videos taken during the violent school day and the victims that died.
The incident in Oxford created a domino effect at other schools in Michigan, creating more than 35 schools to shut down the next day because of copycat threats. Some of these schools shut down for more than a day.
The drills that take place at schools are different now. The students and faculty in Michigan aren’t just practicing fire and tornado drills anymore. They practice active-shooter drills at least once a year so that everyone knows what they need to do to stay safe in case a situation like this occurs.
Lily Hennessy, a kindergarten teacher, says that a light in her room flashes, so they know the active-shooter drill is happening. When asked if there was anything she wishes she could change about the drill, Hennessy said, “Our classroom doors are made up of mostly glass with nothing to pull over it, and I wish there were that way there wasn’t visibility to our room.”
There have been 81 shootings at K-12 schools in Michigan since 1970, according to the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security.
Every Town for Gun Safety, a gun safety group, also tracks school shootings across the United States. According to Every Town, before the shooting at Oxford high school, Michigan had gunfire on school property 22 times since 2013, which resulted in five deaths and 16 injuries.
Brynne Wyckoff, an 11th grader, says that she doesn’t think the drill is effective for many reasons. She wishes the school would prepare better and have this drill more often during the school year. Wyckoff said, “Our school system always says they do what’s best for their students, but when it comes to the real issues like this, they are unprepared.”
The question everyone wants an answer to is, “How does something like this happen?” While no one can answer this other than the perpetrators themselves, there are ways to keep the students and faculty safe in schools. Recognize the patterns beforehand, keep firearms secure from minors, provide mental health support, and develop better safety drills.
Lita Buesing, a fourth-grader, shared her thoughts about active shooter drills. Buesing said, “I hide in one of those little cupboards that don’t have doors, and I use the bouncy ball while I’m hiding.” She says that the drill doesn’t scare her at all. She just tries to be brave.
The Lake Orion High School students are now required to wear clear backpacks since the shooting in Oxford for safety measures.
There cannot be any more bandaging symptoms, and things need to be addressed. There needs to be more funding for mental health resources, an increase in bullying prevention efforts, and stricter gun control.
When something like this happens, it doesn’t only affect the students and faculty of the school. It affects their families, friends, community, other school districts, and people who have been in similar situations.
Mass shootings are a community issue, and everyone plays a part in this, but it is preventable. Call and write your legislatures, start a petition, and fundraise. We need to fix this as a society to prevent this Public Health issue and make the schools safe again. The violence needs to end.
Those killed at Oxford High School are listed:
- Justin Shilling, 17, senior
- Hana St. Juliana, 14, freshman
- Tate Myre, 16, junior
- Madisyn Baldwin, 17, senior
