(OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich.) — Michigan’s Oxford school district is reopening for the first time since last week’s deadly shooting at Oxford High School.
Four students were killed and seven people were hurt in the Nov. 30 shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford Township. The suspected gunman and his parents have been charged.
The high school has yet to reopen, but students in eighth grade and younger are returning to classrooms for a half-day on Friday, with several changes in place.
No backpacks are allowed in school through at least next week, Superintendent Tim Throne said in a statement Thursday.
Every building will have law enforcement, private security, trained trauma specialists and additional staff on-site, he said, and staff will undergo trauma-response training.
Every school will also have trained therapy dogs through the rest of the school year, he said.
Thorne also said that the district has software in place on school-provided accounts to manage “all outgoing content from students and staff” and immediately raise “any concerning images, links to websites and shared items from Google Drive for our technology safety and security team.”
Thorne said the schools “will be acknowledging, in an age/grade-appropriate way based on recommendations from trained mental health counselors and crisis response experts, why we have been closed for the last seven days.”
“If you and/or your child is struggling with the return to school, please contact your child’s principal so we can work to help them move forward,” he said.
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