Oxford Community Schools is a school district headquartered in
Oxford, Michigan
Oxford is a village in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,436 at the 2010 census. The village is located within Oxford Township. Located about north of Detroit, it is a northern suburb of the Metro Detroit r ...
.
The district serves portions of northeastern
Oakland County
Oakland County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the metropolitan Detroit area, located northwest of the city. As of the 2020 Census, its population was 1,274,395, making it the second-most populous county in Michigan, b ...
and southwestern
Lapeer County
Lapeer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 88,619. The county seat is Lapeer. The county was created on September 18, 1822, and was fully organized on February 2, 1835. The name ...
. In Oakland County, it serves Oxford,
Leonard
Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname.
The given name and surname originate from the Old High German ''Leonhard'' containing the prefix ''levon'' ("lion") from the Greek Λέων ("lion") through the Latin '' L ...
, most of
Oxford Township, and portions of
Addison
Addison may refer to:
Places Canada
* Addison, Ontario
United States
*Addison, Alabama
*Addison, Illinois
*Addison Street in Chicago, Illinois which runs by Wrigley Field
* Addison, Kentucky
*Addison, Maine
*Addison, Michigan
*Addison, New York
...
and
Brandon
Brandon may refer to:
Names and people
*Brandon (given name), a male given name
*Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins
Places
Australia
*Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales
*Brandon, Q ...
townships. In Lapeer County, the district serves sections of
Dryden
''
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.
He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
and
Metamora townships.
History
Chinese international student program
In 2010, the district established a program so that international students from China could pay tuition and study at Oxford Community Schools. The school district placed some students with American host families, while the majority of the students who came as part of the Weiming Education Group lived in a residence hall at
Rochester College
Rochester University (formerly Rochester College) is a private Christian college in Rochester Hills, Michigan. It was founded by members of the Churches of Christ in 1959.
Rochester University is primarily undergraduate (though it offers so ...
. At one point, the district had 80 Chinese national international students. The district had a
Confucius Institute
Confucius Institutes (CI; ) are public educational and cultural promotion programs funded and arranged currently by the , a government-organized non-governmental organization (GONGO) under the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic o ...
-related program, and in 2013 the operator of the program, the
Hanban
Hanban (), also known as Confucius Institute Headquarters, is the colloquial abbreviation for the Office of Chinese Language Council International (). It was originally called the China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language ( ...
ranked the district "Confucius Classroom of the Year". At first, the presence of Chinese students had no controversy in the district community. The district had Chinese students for two years, with Chinese students required to take university courses so they could stay for the second year, with courses taking place at
Oxford High School.
William Skilling, then the superintendent, supported a proposal to establish a 200-student dormitory so the district could educate international students from China as part of a partnership with Weiming. The dormitory was to be in size.
The condition was that Oxford schools had to attract at least 100 Chinese students, which by 2017 the district maintained. A group of area residents opposed the proposal, which surfaced in October 2014. Skilling approved the proposal because it could generate income for the district.
[
In December 2014, Skilling said he planned to retire on August 31, 2015. On February 11, 2015, the school board approved the dormitory deal, which was in a 20-year contract. Five members voted for it, and one voted against it. In May 2015, the school board immediately designated Tim Throne as the superintendent and canceled Skilling's contract.][ By November 2015, the ]Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...
said Oxford Schools could from this point forward only house each Chinese international student for one year, with remaining two-year program students grandfathered in and taking their university courses at Rochester University.[
]
COVID-19 pandemic
In November 2021, the school board considered refusing to follow the statewide mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.
2021 shooting
On November 30, 2021, a mass shooting
There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 20 ...
occurred at Oxford High School. Four students were killed, and seven other people were injured. The suspected shooter is 15-year-old sophomore student Ethan Crumbley, who was taken into custody at the scene on the same day. Crumbley, who is being charged as an adult, faces both murder and terrorism charges. Crumbley's parents had met with school personnel regarding his behavior just three hours before the shooting. Crumbley's cell phone contained a video about the shooting plans that he made the night before the shooting. He was arraign
Arraignment is a formal reading of a criminal charging document in the presence of the defendant, to inform them of the charges against them. In response to arraignment, the accused is expected to enter a plea. Acceptable pleas vary among juri ...
ed on December 1 on charges including terrorism and four counts of premeditated murder. Crumbley's parents were charged on December 3 with involuntary manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...
for failing to secure the handgun used in the shooting. Both were arraigned on December 4 on their charges.
Following public scrutiny of the school's handling of reports about Crumbley's behavior, Throne announced that a third-party investigation of the incident would be conducted. He also said he would recommend a review of the district's "entire system" to school board members. On December 9, multiple survivors of the shooting filed two $100 million lawsuits against the district and its employees. At least one lawsuit alleges that school officials failed to stop the shooting and ignored several warning signs, such as threats posted to social media that had been brought to the school's attention.
Programs
As of 2017, the tuition for the Weiming program was $30,500 U.S. per student, a decline from the previous $40,000 per student. In turn, the district received $10,000 per student per year from Weiming.[
]
Schools
;Secondary schools
* Oxford High School
* Oxford Middle School
;Elementary schools
* Daniel Axford
* Clear Lake
* Lakeville
* Leonard
* Oxford
;Preschool
* Oxford Early Learning Center
;Alternative
* Oxford Bridges High School
* Oxford Crossroads Day School
References
{{reflist
External links
Oxford Community School District
School districts in Michigan
Education in Lapeer County, Michigan
Education in Oakland County, Michigan