MEA on the Oxford Tragedy

In the wake of gun violence erupting at Michigan State University, with news of student casualties just 15 months after the devastating Oxford school shooting, MEA members across the state are again faced with difficult conversations among students and family members while navigating their own grief. Many educators are understandably reeling from sadness, anger and frustration on the heels of…

Stories by Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor In the months after a troubled student opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon in the hallways of Oxford High School one year ago, destroying lives and devastating the community, the long process of grieving and healing began. It will continue over many years ahead. Read the stories below of educators and students attempting…

The firsthand accounts of survivors of school shootings are gut-wrenching, heartbreaking and becoming far too common. As preventable acts of violence continue to take the lives of students and educators across the country, recent polling shows MEA members stand firm in their support of common-sense laws to improve gun safety and prevent school shootings. A poll conducted in January by…

By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association MEA member Leah Ramirez is sick and tired. Elizabeth Renato and Leah Ramirez Sick of conducting practice lock downs to prepare against potential violence with her kindergarten students in Northview Public Schools in Grand Rapids. Tired of trying to reassure them they are safe despite the grim reason behind the drills.…

EAST LANSING — The Michigan Education Association and local educators Friday praised Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for signing legislation that provides much-needed financial relief to Oxford Community Schools in the aftermath of last fall’s tragic shooting at Oxford High School. House Bill 6012 provides Oxford with $9.8 million to help the district recover from the Nov. 30 attack, which claimed the…

 Dear MEA Family, There aren’t words to convey adequate emotions – heartbreak, rage, fear, frustration – after yesterday’s senseless shooting deaths of 19 children and 2 teachers in a Texas elementary school. After what happened just six months ago in Oxford, yesterday’s events are resurfacing many of the same feelings for all of us — especially the anger that…

EAST LANSING — The Michigan Education Association is calling on the state House to immediately take action on legislation providing bureaucratic relief to students and educators affected by last fall’s Oxford school shooting. The state Senate on March 24 unanimously approved Senate Bills 940 and 941, sponsored by Sen. Rosemary Bayer, D-Keego Harbor. These bills would provide relief from days…

By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association MEA member Jake Trotter says he’s the type of person who likes having structure to his days teaching mostly upper-level world history classes and the second-year history course in the Diploma Programme (DP) at Oxford High School, an International Baccalaureate (IB) School. Jake Trotter Trotter’s sense of order was shattered on…

By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association Memorial photos by C.J. Carnacchio It was late on Monday, January 10, the night before Oxford High School students and staff would come back together in a school setting for the first time since a horrific shooting six weeks earlier that killed four students and injured seven, including a teacher. Oxford Education…

By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association The words are displayed everywhere in the Oxford community, waving in makeshift yard signs, scrolling on digital displays along major thoroughfares, written on signs lining windows and  sidewalks downtown: Oxford Strong. But what does it mean? Dr. Jim Henry Dr. Jim Henry, a nationally recognized expert on the effects of trauma, offers a…