I am indebted to my friend, Dr. Cindy Veenstra, Ph. D for sending to me local reporting from Michigan. Some of this material is not being reported nationally.
The trauma of the deadly shooting inside Oxford High School is increasing stress levels for students, parents, and educators across the country. Tuesday’s tragedy is the latest in an epidemic of school mass shootings in the United States in recent years. According to Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit newspaper, “school shutdowns, social media anger and bomb threats have followed a deadly school shooting in Oxford and are heightening stress for students across much of Michigan.”
The number of dead and wounded could have been higher if the school had not conducted Active Shooter Drills. Students and staff knew to lock and barricade doors. A police officer assigned to the school helped apprehend the suspected shooter minutes after the first shots were fired.
The frequency of school shootings is occurring so frequently that the national media no longer reports on it unless multiple students are either shot or killed.
Children have always lived with anxiety, stress, and trauma. The frequency of school violence as well as Covid19 has merely exacerbated it. Children see a shooting on television or on social media and say, “This could be my school or my cousin’s school.” Parents see the violence and say, “This could be my child’s school.” Educators see the violence and say, “This could be my school.” Children who have survived a school shooting may suffer flashbacks, nightmares and some will withdraw completely and socially, because they don’t get a sense of closure. Others may have problems sleeping, eating, focusing or suffer from headaches, stomach aches or other pains. There may be a heightened sense of worry about another shooting. There may a fear that they have lost control over their lives and suffer from anxiety, agitation, and numbness where they don’t feel anything.
There have been bomb threats as a multiple of schools in Michigan –“at least 60 in all” Schools have been closed due to what is believed to be “copycat threats.” While some of these threats may have been jokes, all of them needed to be investigated. The media does not wish to inflame the situation and further ignite the fears of parents, students, teachers, and the community.
Adding to this tension is the stress caused by the pandemic, social isolation, and the limitations of a lack of in-person learning.
Tuesday’s shooting at Oxford High is the 7th major shooting in Michigan since 1978 and the worst since 1927 when the treasurer of Bath schools in Clinton County, (north of Lansing) bombed the elementary school killing 38 students, six adults and wounding 58 others. in Michigan’s history.
Nationwide, according to data compiled by Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, there have been 140 school shooting attacks nationwide in which at least one person as killed or wounded at K-12 schools since 2013.
Meanwhile in Brooklyn, NY an unannounced metal detector check at a Brooklyn high school campus turned up 21 weapons a day after a student was caught with a gun and $30,000. There has been a “nearly 30% increase in weapons seizure at school since the beginning of July through October 24 compared to the same periods in 2018 and 2019. Along with the increase in guns seized are the number of Tasers has increased from 12 a year in 2018 and 2019 to 84 this year. (Source: NY Daily News, December 2, 2021)
My book, Preventing School Violence: A User’s Guide to be published in January 2022 addresses the issues of school violence and child anxiety, stress, and trauma.