OXFORD (WWJ) -- On the anniversary of the tragic Oxford shooting that took the lives of four students and terrorized the close-knit community, the legal team representing 19 families -- known as Oxford4Change -- filed a motion to expand their current lawsuit to a class-action suit, covering nearly 5,800 parents and students in the entire Oxford school district.
The class action was filed in federal court and is based on the constitutional right to a public education. Instead of seeking monetary damages, the class action's goal is to force the school district to make the necessary changes to ensure safety plans are properly implemented and enforced.
This move toward a class action is especially timely in light of former school board members' recent revelations that the school district not only failed to enact their own safety procedures with regard to Ethan Crumbley, but also resisted parents' demands for an impartial investigation after the shooting.
"These were members of the Oxford School Board, who just admitted that these things were never done," Change4Oxford Attorney Scott Weidenfellar," said. "That's a little frightening, and it just validates what all the lawyers have been saying to the public and these families."
Weidenfellar works for Grewal Law in Okemos, one of many legal firms representing parents in both state and federal cases against the Oxford school district. He spoke with WWJ's Mike Campbell on Tuesday after the class-action motion was filed.
According to Weidenfellar, after the original lawsuit was filed, numerous other families wanted to join the case to hold the school district accountable.
The more interest shown in the case, the more it became clear that the need for reliable safety procedures was not just an issue at Oxford High School, but a concern for all schools in the district.
Weidenfellar stated that safety at school is in the common interest of all children. "There is a constitutional right to a public education," he said, "and of course, if you're going to exercise that constitutional right, to have a safe learning environment... that obviously is a very crucial piece."
Should class-action status be approved, the Oxford4Change legal team will ask the court to examine the Oxford school district's actions before and after the shooting and issue an order requiring district officials to enforce and enact policies and procedures to prevent future violent tragedies, including providing necessary training for faculty and staff.
While the class action would only include families from the Oxford school district, Weidenfellar reiterated the need for change in schools across the nation.
Weidenfellar continued, saying that since Colombine, schools have developed and enacted myriad policies to limit the risk of a shooting or other violent incident -- policies that have been studied and revised by experts.
So, there really is a right way to do this and a wrong way to do it," said Weidenfellar. "As we saw from the Oxford school district board members... we know that even the procedures that were in place at Oxford were not being enforced."
It is Weidenfellar's hope -- and the hope of the Change4Oxford families -- that their lawsuit will be a starting point for far-reaching change, including legislation creating standard safety policies and procedures for all schools.
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