If your child attends an elementary school in Oxford County, you may need to be buzzed in before you can enter the building come September. The Thames Valley District School Board has applied to the Ministry of Education for $415,000 in funding to ensure each of their 134 elementary schools are safe. Thames Valley Superintendent of Safe Schools Barb Sonier says following the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut last year which killed 26 people, the Premier introduced the Safe Welcome Program which would see all elementary schools locking their front doors starting in September 2013. "What they did do is offer funding to put in place security system that monitors the arrival of guests to the main doors of the school, and allows them to enter the school on the permission of a staff member. So, it is partial funding; they've offered $3,100 per elementary school." Sonier adds that the board has taken it upon themselves to mandate any student walking to or from a portable to the main building be accompanied by another student. A memo was going out to schools Monday afternoon and the policy would take effect immediately.

Woodstock Cadets Need New Home
CASS Students Protest OSAP Cuts
WPS Briefs - Mar. 11th, 2026
PJHL Playoff Recap - March 10th
Early Bird Tickets Available for Gems and Java
Flood Watch Issued by UTRCA
UPDATE: Yellow Rainfall Warning Issued for Oxford
Oxford OPP Lay Charges after Collision
Two Arrested in Drug Investigation
Province Backs Straw Boss Expansion in Mount Elgin
United Way Oxford Shares Period Promise Results
Tillsonburg Driver Charged by OPP
WITAAR Reports Home Sale Decline in February
Team King Represents Well at Brier
WFD: No Ice is Safe Ice!
PJHL Playoff Recap - March 6th to March 8th
20 in 20 for 20 for BBBS Oxford
WPS Presents Budget to City Council
R.I.D.E. Check in Tillsonburg Leads to Charges
City Lowers Flags for Local Dispatcher