Oxford High students walk out of school to demand trauma services and a 'real' memorial

A group of Oxford High School students walked out of class on Tuesday to demand trauma recovery services and a memorial at the school in the wake of the 2021 school massacre that killed four classmates.

About 35 students participated in the walkout, Oxford Community Schools Superintendent Vickie Markavitch confirmed on Tuesday. Students left around 10:20 a.m. and stayed outside for up to 30 minutes, she said.

"It was orderly and safe, and everyone was appropriate," Markavitch said.

Prior to the walkout, students organized as the group "We Will Be Heard" and issued a document listing their demands, including the addition of "critical incident trauma recovery services."

They also asked for a memorial with images of the four students slain in the Nov. 30, 2021 attack: Hana St. Juliana, Madisyn Baldwin, Justin Shilling and Tate Myre.

"We want a memorial. A real one. At the school, placed where we want it. Without the interference of administration, the board, or anyone involved/responsible for Nov. 30th. With the images of Hana, Tate, Madisyn, and Justin. Their faces are not our triggers. They will always be remembered," a student post read.

The students also asked for the individuals named in the independent Guidepost investigation blamed for failures which resulted in death and trauma to be terminated or removed. They specifically requested the resignation of school board members Erin Reis and Colleen Schultz, board president Heather Shafer and treasurer Mary Hanser; as well as district employees Steven Wolf, the former high school principal, and Shawn Hopkins, a former counselor. Wolf is currently assistant superintendent of secondary instruction. Hopkins' current job in the district is not clear.

"Their presence is causing extreme duress and they must be removed," a student post says.

The walkout came nine days ahead of the two-year anniversary of the attack, which was Michigan's worst school shooting.

A long awaited independent report released Oct. 30 found missteps and failures by Oxford Community School's former superintendent and two former members of his cabinet snowballed to allow the Oxford High School shooter to slip through the school's threat assessment and suicide intervention systems.

After the shooting, the district embarked on a three-year recovery plan that included increased mental health services for students and security changes.

On Tuesday, Markavitch said she was not clear what trauma services the students were requesting and said she could not comment on a request for resignations, citing privacy around personnel issues.

The call by students for some board members and staff to resign echoed earlier requests made by parents who said failures related to the shooting require them to step down.

Meanwhile, plans for a permanent outdoor memorial for the 2021 Oxford High School attack remain under discussion nearly two years after the incident, as siblings of the victims have graduated and moved on to college and younger siblings make their way to and through the high school.

The district, which received $500,000 from the state of Michigan to devote to the project, is taking ideas from all four families and plans to set up a committee to make decisions with the families.

The district has established a relationship with the Four County Community Foundation and is in the process of transferring $80,000 in donations for a permanent memorial to the foundation along with the state funds.

A student-designed remembrance of the four victims of the 2021 Oxford High School shooting has been hanging inside the Oakland County high school since mid-September. It consists of four images painted to look like Polaroids of four different drawings, each with its own set of initials. Family and friends know the eponymous images as Hana's tree, Madisyn's gum wrapper drawing, Justin's wings and Tate's fishing boat.

A "transition" memorial of the four victims with a history of controversy was placed in the high school's Performing Arts Center in August. The 6-by-3-foot acrylic sign memorializing the four victims contains photographs, names and a short remembrance from each of the families. Raised mounted letters read "Always in our Hearts."

jchambers@detroitnews.com