The majority of candidates running for the Oxford school board opted not to appear at a forum held by the League of Women Voters.

Five of the eight candidates running for four-year and two-year terms were not present at the Oxford Township Hall on Thursday night.

Mike Aldred, Sara Beth Campagiorni, Angela Euashka and Christopher Zitny, all running for the three four-year team seats, were not at the forum.

Rich Schneider, who is running against Ann Acheson for the lone two-year term, also skipped the forum.

Only Zitny and Campagiorni sent statements to be read by moderator Christine Allen.

Shane Gibson, Randall Kreger, Acheson and write-in candidate and current board President Erin Reis were on hand to take questions from the audience.

Reis said recent changes in her employment allowed her to change her mind and run for another four-year term as a write-in candidate.

“Now that I have the ability to stay four years I am hoping that the community will write me in and keep me for four more years,” said Reis.

The four candidates were asked questions covering safety concerns, social and emotional learning curriculum, student diversity and if any of them supported reopening the investigation into the November 2021 shooting at Oxford High School.

In a resolution unanimously passed 6-0 in August, the board asked for a state funded review of how emergency responders and the district responded on the day of the shooting. They also asked for investigators to have subpoena power, additional funding for student and mental health safety and to enact House Bill 5549, which requires suicide and threat assessment to be a part of every emergency operations plan and threat assessment training.

The four were unanimous in their feeling that reopening the investigation or having the district spend any more money on it would be fruitless.

“I’ve spoken with a lot of people within the district, folks that work within the schools and they really stressed the trauma that it would cause to go through another investigation and rehash a lot of the information,” said Gibson.

“A lot of people have already given their depositions and to have them go through this again would be more negative than positive because the information that is already out there is open to us,” said Kreger.

“If the state were to come in and form a commission to look into the emergency response, that would be beneficial,” said Acheson. “As to spending any school dollars, absolutely not. I don’t think it is appropriate for the district to take on any more of that cost.”

There are no more forums scheduled for the candidates before the Nov. 5 election.