12/5/2022 3:06:52 PM | less than a minute read

School Had a Plan, but Didn’t Implement It Before Fatal Shooting

Taylor Duma

We constantly advise clients that the only thing worse than not having a plan is having a plan that you don’t follow. The Oxford High School in Michigan, the scene of a terrible school shooting last year, is the latest tragic example of that truth. Former school board members have told reporters that the school district had adopted a threat assessment policy, but never actually implemented it.

It is very easy after tragedies to point fingers and to list all sorts of things that might have made a difference. We do know, however, that one policy that helps is to have a team in place with set responsibilities. The policy also needs to include frequent training and practice. Without those essential components, a policy is just useless paper sitting on a shelf.

A new year is a good time to start implementing new policies. As you plan your training schedule, be sure to include your child protection and safety policies.

“When you don’t want kids to die in a fire you create processes and procedures … and you’re making them go through training,” he said. “We never did that with this (threat assessment) policy and guideline,” Donnelly said. “We never ever did it, and hence when we needed to implement it, it wasn’t there. Someone may have had some training about it, but we never created a team. We never had the team activated. We never practiced the team. We never did drills.”

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