By William Meiners
Herald Staff Writer
[private] Ten months after a mass shooting at Oxford High School in Oakland County, where a 15-year-old boy now faces four counts of murder and a terrorism charge, the Alma community may have narrowly missed what many parents, as well as students, teachers, and staff, consider their worst nightmare.
According to a press release issued by the Gratiot County Prosecutor’s Office last Tuesday evening, on September 22, “an officer from the Alma Department of Public Safety raced to Alma High School in response to an anonymous tip from OK2SAY, a student safety program that allows for confidential reports of suspicious or criminal activities within schools. An investigation revealed that three students had been conversing regarding a proposed act of violence within the school, and that proposed act of violence had been communicated to other students through both verbal and electronic communication. A search warrant was immediately obtained, and multiple firearms and ammunition was [sic] seized from a local residence.”
Kory Austin Woolsey, 45, was arrested and subsequently arraigned on two felony counts of felon in possession of a firearm and felon in possession of ammunition.
After juvenile delinquency reports were filed, the three students were apprehended and placed at a juvenile detention center.
The Prosecutor’s Office, which had yet to respond to further inquires by Herald presstime, stated through their press release that “Michigan law does not allow the juveniles to be identified or release specific contents of their delinquency petitions.”
Stacey Criner, superintendent of Alma Public Schools, provided a few more details about the events.
“After the tips came in from OK2SAY, Alma Public Schools activated their Threat Assessment Team, including the Alma Police Department and Gratiot County Sheriff’s Department,” she said. “Alma Public Schools’ administration completed a MOSAIC Threat Assessment in conjunction with an investigation. Once completed, the school district determinded that there was no active imminent threat.”
On September 23, a message posted on the Alma Public Schools website, alongside an “APS Alert” notification said, “Alma Public Schools would like to thank the Alma Police Department, Gratiot County Police Department, OK2Say and our MOSAIC threat assessment tool which were all utilized to determine that Alma High School is safe after a recent tipster provided concerning information. Although still an open investigation, it was determined that there was no threat to the high school student and staff safety.”
OK2SAY success
In a nation where numerous examples of school mass shootings are followed by an exhaustive search to learn what could have prevented them, the anonymous tip may have led to a crisis averted in Alma.
“OK2SAY has been promoted through Alma Public Schools since 2015,” said Kendra Overla, Alma chief of police. “The information has been readily available on their website and posted in various locations throughout the schools.”
Officer Casey Mueller, who continued to promote OK2Say through the MyMichigan Health and Safety and the Gratiot County Fair For Youth last summer, knows the importance of the tipline.
“Almost every investigation started by law enforcement is from an outside caller or a tip,” he said. “After studying active threats from previous incidents someone along the way knew something and failed to report it.”
Mueller hopes OK2Say will stop that cycle. “Even if the tipster might not believe it is a credible threat at the time, it is important to report any suspicious behavior so it may be investigated,” he said. “OK2SAY uses the proper resources to investigate all tips they receive. Without the call to OK2SAY the outcome of this incident might have been very different.”
Overla believes that one lesson learned from the frightening ordeal is that the tipline, as well as processes in place between police agencies and the school, worked.
“It is imperative that our kids know how important it is to share information when it involves the safety of another person,” she said. “OK2SAY is a great way for kids to anonymously report incidents if they aren’t comfortable talking to an adult directly. As a parent, I applaud the administration, teachers, and staff. Nothing about working through an incident like this is easy and they showed up every single day and provided for our kids.”
The Prosecutor’s Office commended the school administrators, including the superintendent and the high school principal, for their collaboration with the Alma Department of Public Safety and the Gratiot County Sheriff’s Office and their “swift action in neutralizing the threat to students and staff.”
According to Overla, those collaborative efforts stem from training and an open-communication plan.
“Our close working relationship with Alma Public Schools and surrounding law enforcement agencies is amplified during incidents like this,” she said. “Officers work daily with administrators and staff at APS and having those relationships in place certainly allows for a straightforward approach. Law enforcement agencies in Gratiot County as a whole work very well together. We train together, offer support, and communicate regularly. This incident specifically proved just how seamless an investigation can go when everyone involved is working together.”
Communication concerns
In the week to follow the APS announcement on September 23, news, as well as misinformation, about the incident seemed to spread quickly across social media. On September 28, the APS website released another alert, which read, “This is an important message in response to the inaccurate rumors being circulated regarding school safety. School safety is a top priority for APS. As announced on September 23rd, a cross department investigation has been completed. There are no student or building concerns.”
On September 30, approximately 100 people gathered for a morning informational meeting, from 8:30 to 11:10 a.m. According to a follow-up from APS, the meeting provided a platform for “parents, families, and community members” to discuss the events.
The expressed concerns included lack of detail in the APS communication on September 23; the reliance on “passive communication” on a website as opposed to how COVID-19 announcements were provided over the last two years; and too little information about the safety protocols put into place.
Additionally, parents wanted school officials to separate facts from social media rumors, expressed concerns about the three students being allowed to return to school, and asked about ways to reduce anxiety surrounding the events.
In response to the concerns, APS “administrators made three points during student conversations,” according to the follow up message. They reported that APS buildings are safe; they will continue to educate students and staff about the safety protocols in place; and students “should go to adults with concerns or utilize tools designed to collect the information such as OK2SAY.”
For their part, the September 30 meeting allowed both an open discussion and a chance for school administrators to provide parents with accurate information.
“Social media posts from the previous two days had snowballed into a combination of false statements and inaccurate conclusions,” Criner said. “In partnership, Alma Police Department and Alma Public Schools wished to restore safety and confidence in the school and to ensure the situation was handled. During the meeting, parents expressed their desire to have had an emergency communication push similar to how the school district communicated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, Alma Public Schools utilized five school websites, Facebook pages, and the APS app notification system. Furthermore, parents wanted more detail within the message.”
In the end, the rapid response of the school and the police likely avoided those worst-case scenarios. And there can be lessons learned in all of it.
“We understand that parents want more information,” Overla said. “We also know what we can and cannot provide and quite often this is the biggest point of frustration. I think the biggest takeaway that we would like everyone to know is that we are all in this to keep our kids, staff members and our schools safe. The training we’ve collectively had, the plans we have in place and the amount of collaboration has proven to work and for that I am grateful.” [private]