On Tuesday morning, students at Oxford High School had their world turned upside down in a matter of minutes. Two days later, it is still hard to know where to begin with the aftermath.
"What really is most important at this time is making sure that the community knows, you know, that we are all in this together, to make space for children to process their feelings, to make space for parents and families to process their feelings," said Darienne Driver Hudson, president and CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan.
The events at Oxford High follow an apparent pattern of violence within schools that has seemingly worsened since students have returned to in-person learning. Marc Zimmerman is the director of the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center and is among some experts who say that the pandemic could be partially responsible for an uptick in school violence.
“I think that the pandemic has created isolation, has created stress in families and in kids, and it's all just coming to a head when school reopened, mostly across the United States,” said Zimmerman, who is also a professor of public health, psychology, and education at the University of Michigan. “We're talking about lots of violence more broadly, not just firearm violence, but lots of incidents of bullying and fighting. And I think partly, you know, the youth did not have the chance to kind of practice social skills.”
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