AG Nessel slams Oxford Schools for rejecting investigation offer

(The Center Square) – Attorney General Dana Nessel criticized the Oxford Community School Board of Education for declining her second offer to investigate the fatal Nov. 30 school shooting that killed four kids and injured others.

In December, Oxford Schools declined Nessel’s initial offer to investigate.

Nessel said the second rejection “deeply disappointed” her and accused the school of prioritizing limiting its own liability rather than attempting to find answers about what happened before alleged shooter Ethan Crumbley’s five-minute-rampage.

“My goal is not to assign blame but to help identify ways to improve school safety for Oxford and all schools in Michigan,” Nessel said in a statement. “The school board’s unwillingness to partner with my department on this effort flies in the face of transparency. The rejection sends a message that the board is more focused on limiting liability than responding to the loud outcry from the Oxford community to deliver greater peace of mind to the students, parents and educators that lived through this traumatic event.”

Families of the school shooting victims have sued Oxford Schools officials and the alleged shooter’s family for $100 million, claiming they “failed at every turn.” Others have also sued the school in state and federal court.

Oxford school board President Tom Donnelly, Jr. said an independent review would be delayed until after the completion of civil litigation and criminal cases.

“Given the nature and the breadth of the current criminal and civil proceedings, the review of the tragedy and associative events of Nov. 30, 2021, will not occur until the criminal and civil litigations are complete,” Donnelly said in a Tuesday school board meeting. “Once the litigation process is completed and all information has risen to the surface, a team of experts will conduct a third-party review. Our subcommittee has begun the process of vetting.”

Buck Myre, the father of deceased 16-year-old Tate Myer, said in a Wednesday news conference that the investigation delay angered him.

“It still angers us. To me this is an admission of guilt,” Myre said, the Detroit News reported. “They know things didn’t go right that day and they don’t want to stand up and fix it. They are going to hide behind government immunity, insurance and lawyers. What does this teach the kids?

Nessel said her agency can only review the shooting with the “full cooperation” of the school and its board.

“Absent that partnership, I am restricted to the publicly available information we have all read and reviewed. Despite this outcome, I will return to Oxford in the coming weeks and continue my work to be a resource to the community. This latest setback does not deter my efforts to share best practices across our state in order to help all schools improve the safety and security of their learning environments.”

In April after a community session focused on the shooting, Nessel urged the Board provide parents answers.

“To put it plainly, the families you serve want transparency and – as board members – you have an obligation to provide it,” the letter said.

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