The morning Ethan Crumbley drew a picture of a gun and blood on his math homework sheet, and scrawled the words "The thoughts won't stop, help me," he should have been sent home under the Oxford school district's own threat assessment policy — only it was never used and no one was ever trained for it, two whistleblowers allege.
Instead, they say, school officials caved to the parents' demands that their son be returned to class that morning — when they had the power and authority to remove him — and bloodshed followed: The teenager shot and killed four classmates and injured seven others at Oxford High.
According to the whistleblowers, it was the second time in 24 hours that school officials mishandled Crumbley, alleging the teen also should have been sent home on the day before the shooting, when he was caught researching bullets on his cellphone in class. Under the district's policy, they say, such activity is grounds for removal.
But the policy was ignored that day, too, they allege, stressing the district has thus far tried to keep this information secret.
And they can't take it anymore.
Nearly one year after the deadly Oxford school shooting, two former school board members are speaking out about what they allege are key missteps by the district before Crumbley carried out the Nov. 30 shooting using a gun his parents bought him as an early Christmas present.
Crumbley pleaded guilty to all counts last...
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