Bullying down in Oxford schools

By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
OXFORD TWP. – During the regular meeting on Feb. 13, Oxford schools Superintendent Dr. Vicki Markavitch gave an update on the ongoing recovery plan, which included data on bullying, staff training, and other measures that were implemented.
“After the last recovery plan update, the board wanted to have a data update,” said Markavitch. “Typically we bring the data at the end of the year, but we pulled together some data.”
She indicated that instances of bullying are down across the district.
“I remember last year at this time we brought you a report on bullying instances, and we were in the teens, and so far this year we had six reports of bullying across the district,” she said. “Which is significantly less than we’ve ever had before. Five investigations were completed where it was determined it was not bullying in the end, and one investigation determined it was bullying.”
For the recovery plan, AED drills have been scheduled throughout the year with the Oxford Fire Department. In addition, all campuses are in compliance with the MIHEARTSafe School Certification through the end of the school year.
Ninety-three percent of Campus Crisis teams have received PREPaRE training, and 88% of the District Crisis team have received PREPaRE training, totaling 105 staff members across the district. The next session will be offered in June.
As far as restorative practices, a total of 187 staff members have gotten restorative practice training, and all district-level leadership will be going through the two-day training in June. The plan moving forward is to train all OCS staff, and the current restorative practices coordinator is working on a schedule for all OMS staff.