“They’re Hiding the Truth” Oxford Dad Blasts Districts as School Boards Object to State Oversight

School leaders claim the mandate threatens attorney client privilege, complicates crisis response, and needs major clarification.

LANSING, Mich. Michigan has 321 million dollars available for school safety improvements, but dozens of districts are refusing to accept the money because it requires them to cooperate with state investigations after a mass casualty event. For one Oxford father whose daughter was killed in the 2021 school shooting, the pushback is not just disappointing. It is infuriating.

Steve St. Juliana, whose 14 year old daughter Hana was shot and killed at Oxford High School, said he cannot believe districts would turn down money meant for safety simply to avoid outside scrutiny.

“It all comes down to money. That is what my dad always told me,” he said when we spoke, clearly frustrated by the resistance from school leaders.

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The requirement in the state budget ties millions in school safety and mental health grants to an agreement that districts must waive certain legal privileges and allow a state led investigation if a mass casualty event occurs. At least 30 districts have filed lawsuits to stop the rule.

St. Juliana has spent nearly four years fighting for transparency and accountability for what happened at Oxford. He said watching districts fight to keep investigations out has been painful and enraging.

He said he became involved after learning school organizations were lobbying against transparency. “I had heard that the Michigan Association of School Boards along with several other organizations sent a letter to the Legislature arguing against this budget rule,” he said.

For him, that pushback feels like a repeat of what happened in Oxford, when the school board refused multiple offers from Attorney General Dana Nessel to conduct an independent investigation. “Dana Nessel actually offered three separate times to come in and do an investigation, and the school board at the time said no all three times,” he said.

“That is why we are here now,” he said, visibly upset. “This is exactly what allowed the truth to stay hidden.”

Districts say the rule goes too far

Several education organizations, including the Michigan Association of School Boards, say the waiver requirement is too broad and legally dangerous. In a detailed statement, they said:

“Our organizations share the Legislature’s commitment to strengthening school safety and transparency. We appreciate the intent behind the 2025-26 amendments to Section 31aa of the State School Aid Act, which seek to ensure accountability following school tragedies.

However, the new investigation language in MCL 388.1631aa(9) raises significant legal and operational challenges that could unintentionally discourage full participation in the program and complicate school responses to emergencies. We respectfully urge the Legislature to consider a technical amendment to clarify these provisions while maintaining their original purpose.

The requirement that districts waive any privilege in the event of a mass casualty event could extend to attorney client, investigator client, and work product protections. This broad, preemptive waiver has no time limit and could expose past or unrelated communications, reducing candor in legal and safety discussions. As written, the term mass casualty event could also encompass routine but serious incidents such as multiple injuries at athletic events or bus accidents. Additionally, the waiver could prevent districts from entering closed sessions under the Open Meetings Act or shielding sensitive records under FOIA, creating confusion about what can be discussed or disclosed during a crisis response.

We recommend narrowly tailoring the statute to limit investigations to catastrophic school safety incidents defined by scale and severity, require districts to cooperate fully while preserving legal privileges, and maintain compliance with existing privacy and transparency laws, including FERPA, FOIA, and OMA.

Michigan’s education community remains committed to working with policymakers to ensure safe, transparent, and accountable schools. We urge prompt legislative clarification to protect both the public’s right to know and the districts’ ability to respond effectively and lawfully when tragedy strikes.”

St. Juliana says privilege has been abused

St. Juliana said the very privileges districts want to protect are what kept Oxford families from ever learning the full truth.

“They use the privilege to have these discussions about what happened, and then they hide those details because they have immunity,” he said. “None of this information comes out to the public.”

He said the third party investigation Oxford commissioned for roughly three million dollars has gone nowhere. “They spent about three million dollars to have the investigation done, and then it pretty much sits on the shelf because nothing is being really done with it,” he said.

He calls districts’ refusal “nonsensical”

When asked about districts rejecting funds, St. Juliana said it shows where priorities lie.

“It does not make much sense,” he said. “They say the chances of something like that happening are minuscule, but their lawyers tell them not to cooperate. It is the insurance company, because it is the insurance company that is going to have to pay out.”

He said watching districts argue against outside investigations is not just frustrating. It is heartbreaking.

“If you are really interested in transparency and getting the truth out to the public and trying to fix things, you would not be worried about trying to hide behind closed sessions,” he said.

“I cannot do anything for her, but I can try to wake people up.”

The grief remains raw, he told me. But seeing districts fight over transparency only strengthens his resolve.

“Hana is gone. I cannot do anything for her, but I can try to wake people up so that when this happens again they do not have to go through what we went through,” he said.

A federal court hearing on the school districts’ lawsuits against the state is scheduled for Friday.