DETROIT — A proposal to distribute $1.7 million in donations to the victims of the Oxford High School mass shooting would limit payments for psychological trauma to students who were in or near a hallway, restroom and one classroom where the shootings occurred.
The plan — obtained by The Detroit News from the National Compassion Fund, which is managing money donated to the Oxford Community Memorial and Victims Fund — is not final and is subject to public feedback at a March 21 town hall at the high school.
The proposal would potentially exclude hundreds of students, staff and others who fled the building the day of the Nov. 30 shooting in which four students were killed and seven others, including a teacher, wounded.
Jeff Dion, executive director of the National Compassion Fund and the Oxford fund manager, said determining the formula to distribute donations to mass shooting victims is complex.
"We ask three questions: Is it the right thing to do? Is it fair? Can we practically pull it off?" Dion said.
Dion's organization has a track record for managing funds after mass shootings at schools, theaters and nightclubs. It has managed funds for victims of mass shootings at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and Santa Fe High School. It has distributed $95.8 million in funds since 2014.
In Oxford, it is working with an 11-member volunteer steering committee comprised of Oxford area parents, civic and business leaders, mental health professionals and others to collect public feedback, approve a distribution plan, process victim applications and distribute the donations. A law firm provides pro bono services to review applications and validate victims through health records.
On Tuesday, the steering committee approved a draft plan that will govern the distribution of the funds, which came through a GoFundMe campaign. The plan includes a map of the high school that shows the areas in which students who suffered psychological trauma would have to have been present to be compensated.
"Here in Oxford, we draw a circle on the map. If you are in the circle you are covered, if are outside, you are not," Dion said of the proposed areas of eligibility under consideration by the fund's local steering committee. "We are trying to strike a balance and help those most impacted."
Oxford parent April Ventline was upset after reading the plan this week and fears it will further divide the community where tempers continue to flare about the shooting.
"I think this is going to light the match by pitting family against family. This child's trauma has value and your child's does not," said Ventline, who has a senior at Oxford High School who was in school the day of the shooting but not in the area defined in the proposal.
"My son was in room 304. He heard the gunshots, the stampede," Ventline said. "He had to hide and had his notebook to defend himself. He is just as traumatized as the kids at the end of that hallway.
"How can they pick and choose who is traumatized?"
'Now we get feedback'
Four categories of victims have been proposed so far: legal heirs of those who were killed as a direct result of the shooting, those who were physically injured by gunshot or shrapnel, those who suffered some other type of physical injury during the incident and those who meet the eligibility requirements designated for psychological trauma.
According to the draft document, any individuals who were within the designated area of the school at the time of the shooting and "who experienced psychological trauma which led them to seek, no later than March 30 ongoing mental health treatment with multiple sessions," are eligible to receive payment under the proposal.
In this group, Dion said a higher level of benefit may be provided to students and faculty who were in close physical proximity to the accused gunman and at "imminent risk of death" or who rendered direct assistance to the victims.
The school had about 1,650 students in classes the day of the shooting with about 100 teachers and staff, according to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.
Dion, who is an attorney by trade and has championed crime victims’ rights for more than two decades — his 23-year-old sister, Paulette, was murdered by a serial killer — said the proposal is a suggestion on how the process should work in Oxford.
"Now we get feedback. Anybody can tell us what they think," Dion said. "This is great or it's stupid. We will listen to what everybody says. We will do a town hall meeting at the end. In my experience sometimes people just want to share their experience."
Dion said in some mass shootings, schools often did not have a record of who was in the building or in which room at the time of a shooting. Some have decided that everyone on a campus was eligible for psychological benefits and people inside an affected building were eligible for a higher level of benefit.
This happened in the Parkland shooting where everyone on campus was eligible, Dion said, but people in the 1200 building, where the shooting took place, were in a higher tier of payment.
At Stoneman Douglas, a $10.5 million fund was dispersed to families of the 17 killed, 18 wounded and 1,500 individuals who were validated for psychological trauma, Dion said.
"There were 3,500 on campus that day, so half did not apply for benefits," Dion said. "There are a lot people who look at this and say, 'This isn't for me. I don’t need it, other people need it more.'"
The distribution plan for the $1.28 million fund created for victims of the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting paid families of the 10 killed, 14 wounded by gunshot and 23 individuals who were validated for psychological trauma, Dion said.
"At Santa Fe, they limited psychological benefits to people who were in classrooms only," Dion said.
'They are guiding us'
Joe Farrell is chair of the steering committee. His son was inside Oxford High School when the shooting happened.
Farrell said Oxford is a close-knit community where everybody knows everybody.
Farrell and three others started a GoFundMe campaign for the families of the students killed in the shooting: Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; and Justin Shilling, 17.
"Close friends of ours lost their son. My neighbors lost their daughter," Farrell said. "The whole thing is pretty painful. A few friends and I started a GoFundMe campaign for the families who lost their kids."
Farrell, who works in IT, said he volunteered to chair the steering committee to make sure the fund goes to the families, but he is still learning about the process of distributing and determining victims.
"They are guiding us with every step," Farrell said of Dion and the National Compassion Fund. "My understanding as chair is to be the point person in case there are questions. We are local. We will have a town hall."
Farrell said money should be given to people who need it the most. The money distributed by the fund is a gift and will not be based on any economic loss to victims, officials said.
"It is super complex. We want to make sure there are no expenses tied to it," said Farrell, referring to money being deducted for fees or other expenses. "Some funds don’t seem trustworthy and you don’t know where it's going.
"I did a little research on the foundation itself to try to find out how they are funded. They are contributing a lot of time to this. Everything seems to be great," Farrell added. "They know how all this works and there appears to be no costs, which is what I am hoping."
Asked how his own son is coping after the shooting, Farrell said he is doing OK.
"He is sad like everybody else. He ran like everybody else did. I think the kids are all doing as good as possible," Farrell said.
Oxford Community School officials did not respond to a request for comment on the proposal. Farrell said the district has been sending out regular updates on the fund and the steering committee's work.
From Orlando to Oxford
Tiara Parker has no ties to the Oxford community. But Parker, 26, is a member of the steering committee because she was a victim in the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. She was with her 18-year-old cousin, Akyra Monet Murray, who was killed by the gunman in a bathroom stall.
Parker cautioned that the work of distributing funds and decision-making around identifying who is and who isn't a victim can cause an uproar in a community.
"Some people get upset. Some people feel entitled," Parker said. "There is a very strict vetting process to make sure that the people truly involved are getting the money. But we have to make sure who's accounted for are those who were killed and injured. Those are the things we focus on."
Parker said other groups that distribute money to shooting victims typically do not have an actual victim or survivor as part of the decision-making process. She applauded the NCF for doing so.
"Everybody grieves different. Victims have different ways of dealing. Somebody can jump back in and some people cannot," Parker said. "At least they know they are not by themselves. Being a part of this committee is to make sure everyone is getting the funds they need and the support they need."
Feedback being accepted
The committee is accepting feedback on the proposal through March 20 and the town hall is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 21 at Oxford High School Auditorium.
Feedback on the plan can be emailed to Oxford@NationalCompassion.org by March 20 or by attending the Town Hall on March 21 at Oxford High School Auditorium, 745 N. Oxford Road.
The application to apply for funds is expected to be available online by April 4 and end on April 29. The fund closes to donations in May. The steering committee approves the distribution plan on June 8 and distribution begins June 13 on a rolling basis, according to the draft plan.
Access to the application online will be available at https://nationalcompassion.org/fund/oxford-hs-survivors-fund around April 4. Applicants who lack access to the internet may call (855) 484-2846.
Three weeks after the end of the month in which all disbursements are completed, Dion said an independent auditing firm will conduct an examination of the fund.
"We recognize we are going to leave and go help another community. Our steering committees are there and want to be proud of their service. We are sensitive to that," Dion said.
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