On November 29, a day after former Oxford School Board members Tom Donnelly and Korey Bailey told the community the Nov. 30, 2021 could have been avoided had the district implemented their threats assessment policy, the Grewal Law firm filed a motion to amend Change4Oxford’s lawsuit into a class action complaint against the Oxford School District. If the class action amendment is allowed, the group of plaintiffs involved would expand to include every single child in the Oxford School District.
According to a release by the law firm, Change4Oxford is a student-parent group created after the Oxford High School shooting tragedy of Nov. 30, 2021. The group announced their original lawsuit against the district this past April. In April, the group held a press conference at the American Legion Walter Fraser Post 108 to announced their initial suit. They said then they wanted the district to “immediately” hire an independent third party to investigate the shooting and what lead up to it. They also wanted the district to review its current safety plan, with parent and student input and they want the district to update and implement their new safety plan prior to the 2022-2023 school year.

The group includes Oxford parents Lori Bourgeau, Andrea Jones, April Ventline, Alicia Feltz, Mike Aldred and many more. They are seeking a detailed safety plan from the district. The original suit, filed in the Eastern District of U.S. District Court on June 17, included 19 student plaintiffs. The suit does not ask for money for individual class members.

According to the release, if the motion to certify class action status is approved by the court, all students in the Oxford School District would become part of the suit. “The class action request is based upon the constitutionally protected right of children to receive a public education, which includes the right to a safe learning environment,” the release stated.
Should the class action motion be approved, the suit would seek a federal court order requiring the Oxford School District to enforce and to update safety procedures and protocols for the benefit of not only the students at Oxford High School, but for all students within the entire Oxford Community School District.
“With new accusations this week by former school authorities that virtually no effective safety efforts had been implemented by the district, we are even more confident that our lawsuit seeking court-ordered violence prevention plans is vital to the future protection of every student in the district,” Grewal Law attorney Scott Weidenfeller said. — Don Rush