January 18, Cancelation of Community Open House

Dear Wildcat Nation,

After yesterday’s open house schedule was sent out to our District families, we have received concerns from our high school parents and students regarding the Sunday open house for our community. Please know, we were asked to consider having an open house for our school community (beyond OHS) to give them a chance to heal, to feel safe once more in our high school, and to aid in their journey to peace as well.  This was designed for our parents of younger students who will someday walk those halls, our former students, our volunteers and substitute teachers who are not technically OCS staff but may have been present that day and will be there to serve our students in the days to come. It was never intended for community outside of Oxford or for media. Security precautions were also set up to control entry by our community.

Right now, our first and foremost priority is the emotional well-being, safety and healing of our Oxford High School students.  The cries of worry and concern from our high school families over hosting the community open house take precedence over the requests we have received to hold it.  At this time, we must prioritize our high school students' needs with the utmost compassion. Therefore, we have decided this is not the right time to open our high school academic halls beyond our current OHS families and staff and are canceling Sunday’s invitation to our other school community members. We will consider a similar event in the future, once our students have taken back their home building.

The safety, emotional health and well-being of our students is always our first priority.  We never intended to cause our students and families to feel otherwise and we sincerely apologize for the anxiety this has caused. Our constant desire, that we are working tirelessly to achieve, is for the healing of our school community.

Oxford Strong,

Tim Throne
Superintendent