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More Than 10K Sign Petition Pushing For Oakland County Schools To Go Virtual Amid Increase In Threats

OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (CBS Detroit) -- A petition started by a group of Oakland County students is calling for an end to in-person learning and a switch to virtual learning for the rest of the semester due to an increase in copycat school threats.

The petition on Change.org has garnered more than 10,000 signatures as of Monday evening in wake of the deadly shooting at Oxford High School.

Students cite the increasing threats that have already canceled classes at several schools over the last few weeks and the toll it's taking on their mental health.

The petition also calls for district administrators to release "detailed and concrete plans or keeping students safe in district buildings prior to the return to in-person school."

Days following the Nov. 30 shooting that killed four students and injured six others and a teacher, multiple schools in Michigan have closed down due to the flood of threats.

On Monday, West Bloomfield students were sent home from school after a threatening social media post led to a heavy presence of police officers patrolling the schools.

The district announced the closure of the schools in an email, in which they said they could not "confirm or deny the credibility of the threat."

Last week, the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park was on lockdown as authorities investigate a "potential threat."

Wayne County officials say more than 20 students have been charged in connection with school threats or bringing a weapon to school. Officials in Oakland and Macomb counties have also arrested students — from elementary to high school — in relation to threats.

"Much has been written about these types of cases lately yet still these serious events continue to happen," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said last week. "Quelling school threats is going to take the work of all of us. It is also going to take facing head on the access our children have for guns and their fascination with them."

Meanwhile, students at Oxford High School stepped back into the building Monday for the first time since the shooting. Oxford Community Schools district is allowing the students to pick up their belongings this week that were left when the shooting happened.

Students in kindergarten through eighth grade returned to the classroom Friday.

The school district announced a "soft reopening" to return students and staff back to school following the shooting.

School officials said extra security and therapy dogs will be on-site through the end of the fall semester.

Oxford High School will remain closed until at least January.

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