DETROIT — The Oxford Community Schools Board of Education passed a resolution Tuesday night calling on the Legislature to mandate and fund a comprehensive, independent review of the emergency response to the 2021 Oxford High School attack.

Earlier Tuesday, an Oakland County spokesman said the county would issue a request for a proposal by mid-September to identify firms capable of conducting an independent review of the emergency response to the attack.

The developments come after The Detroit News reported earlier this month on questions over potential dispatch delays to the mass shooting on Nov. 30, 2021, that killed four students and injured seven others.

Board Vice President Amanda McDonough read the resolution after it passed in a 6-0 vote. President Erin Reis wasn't present. The resolution said the independent review of the emergency response should include but not be limited to "relevant events and agencies during, before and after the tragedy."

The board also recommended that any time "a student has died or multiple students die as a result of a significant safety-related event" in Michigan, the Legislature mandate an independent investigation. It would be conducted by "a coordinated team of appropriate and diverse state agencies, subject matter experts and local community members that will collaborate and coordinate with one another," according to the resolution. The team or commission should be granted subpoena powers, the board said.

Meanwhile, Oakland County spokesman William Mullan said in a statement earlier Tuesday that the county has initiated the process to "hire an independent firm to conduct a comprehensive After Action Review (AAR) of the response to the tragic Oxford High School shooting."

"County Executive Dave Coulter, Board of Commissioners Chairman David T. Woodward and Sheriff Mike Bouchard are working together to ensure this critical review takes place," Mullan said.

He said the county Board of Commissioners is scheduled to consider the funding Sept. 5.

"This AAR will involve full participation from all county departments and will be conducted transparently, with close collaboration and input from the families, the community and local first responders,” Mullan said.

Steve Huber, spokesman for Bouchard, confirmed the sheriff's participation Tuesday and added "as we have said numerous times we will participate in any and all after action reviews."

The News reported that Bouchard's office declined to participate in such a review as requested by Coulter's office in January, according to Coulter's spokesperson and a contemporaneous email from a county homeland security official. The Sheriff's Office denied declining to participate in the third-party review.

The review, typically undertaken by an outside agency to learn from the actions taken by the coordinating police agency and its partners during a mass shooting incident, was sought and supported by Coulter.

Maj. Christopher Wundrach, an executive commander for Bouchard, previously told The News the office and staff fully participated in the independent investigation undertaken by Guidepost Solutions. That review and its report, however, were limited to investigating the school district's role and response to the attack — not emergency responders.

The News reported this month that two area fire chiefs claimed that Oakland County Sheriff's Office dispatchers took too long to call them to the scene of the shooting. Although the concerns became public only this month, one chief privately called for a review of the possible delays in the days immediately following the shooting and the sheriff's department found the concerns to be unfounded.

The Oxford school board's resolution Tuesday said three recent articles in The News "exhibit the alarming discrepancy between the agencies in response to" the tragedy, and it quoted the articles.

Woodward, D-Royal Oak, said he would seek funding to complete the review in light of the Detroit News report.

Woodward said he plans to ask for $500,000 to the fund the review and hopes to begin the process for a request for proposals once the full board approves a measure for it. He said it was not clear what the full cost of an AAR would be yet.

Woodward said he continues to draft a formal policy that would require after-action reviews for all mass shooting incidents in Oakland County. He has said he wants all mass shooting events to be independently reviewed, including the June 15 mass shooting at a Rochester Hills splash pad that wounded nine people.

"We just want to make sure we do this right and get all the information necessary to improve response and how we respond to these tragic events when they occur," he said.

In separate allegations, Oxford Fire Chief Matthew Majestic and Addison Fire Chief Jerry Morawski told The News that they self-dispatched their crews on Nov. 30, 2021, when the high school came under attack. Their concerns prompted victims' families to renew calls for a so-called after-action review, as has been done with other school shootings nationwide.

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