The morning Ethan Crumbley drew a picture of a gun and blood on his math homework sheet, and scrawled the words "The thoughts won't stop, help me," he should have been sent home under the Oxford school district's own threat assessment policy — only it was never used and no one was ever trained for it, two whistleblowers allege.
Instead, they say, school officials caved to Ethans' parents' demands that their son be returned to class that morning — when officials had the authority to remove him — and bloodshed followed: The teenager shot and killed four classmates and injured six other students and a teacher at Oxford High.
According to the whistleblowers, it was the second time in 24 hours that school officials mishandled Crumbley, alleging the teen also should have been sent home the day before the shooting, when he was caught researching bullets on his cellphone in class.
Nearly one year after the deadly Oxford school shooting, two former school board members spoke out Monday about what they allege are key missteps by the district before Crumbley carried out the Nov.
The whistleblowers are former school board President Tom Donnelly and Treasurer Korey Bailey — both of whom resigned two months ago out of frustration over the district's handling of the shooting investigation.
Standing before reporters Monday, getting emotional at times, the two former board members leveled fresh allegations against the district, saying they couldn't stay quiet any longer, especially after discovering a years-old threat assessment policy that they believe could have thwarted the tragedy had it been followed.
“I pray that every parent in Michigan is watching this today and will go back to their school boards and demand that their schools dust off policy 8400,” said Bailey, stressing that he is speaking out now because he couldn't tolerate the false narrative anymore — that everything was done correctly by school officials.
If that were true, how could a shooting have happened?" asked Bailey, who said he dug into the 8400 policy to see what, if any, school safety protocols were missed.
In a statement Monday to the Free Press, Guidepost Solutions Executive Vice President Bradley Dizik said: "Guidepost is aware of the allegations made today by the former Oxford school board members.
Donnelly and Bailey contend the district has not been transparent thus far, leaving many unanswered questions about the school's actions before the shooting.
More:Ethan Crumbley pleads guilty to Oxford school shooting: Here's what comes next.
In the end, Bailey said, he would discover that the school district had a threat assessment policies and safety procedures, but didn't put them into practice when Ethan Crumbley raised red flags before he shot up his school.
On its website, the school district lists a threat assessment policy that is modeled after a U.S.
30 mass shooting, the threat assessment team was much smaller than what the policy called for
They say Crumbley convinced both school officials that the drawing was for a video game
Critics believe the reason the threat assessment team was never assembled is simple: Oxford schools never thought this could happen to them
Perhaps most troubling for the whistleblowers is how school officials handled Ethan Crumbley after he was seen researching ammunition on his cellphone on Nov
30 would just be another day in Oxford," Bailey said
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