Gun course set for pupils
Program to teach firearm safety is part of health curriculum; No weapons in classrooms; Committee of county teachers, gun victims, police created plan
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By Sheridan Lyons
Sun Staff
Beginning this school year, Carroll County public schools will experiment with a gun-safety program that will be taught as part of the health program to students from kindergarten through high school.
The program will be a mixture of the National Rifle Association's Eddie Eagle cartoon character program - minus the cartoon character - and the STAR program, Straight Talk About Risks, run by the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence.
A Carroll committee also added elements.
"The message is very, very plain and noncontroversial," said William J. Piercy, assistant supervisor of health and staff development for Carroll schools, who has been working with the committee of educators, victims of gun violence and a Maryland State Police officer.
"It just makes common sense as far as personal safety and risk, and that's what our health curriculum tries to do," Piercy said.
He and others compared the health-course approach to driving, alcohol or drug programs.
"We're one of the first in the state. I don't think anybody else has anything from K through 12, as far as health education," Piercy said.
"Kids are exposed to firearms and guns," he said, although "I don't think any more so here than anywhere else."
The school board will evaluate the program in November. Some teachers were afraid gun safety meant they would have weapons in class, Piercy said. They won't.
In elementary grades, children will be visited by police officers and shown videos. They will also discuss what to do if they find a gun and how to ask whether guns are in their playmates' homes. Middle school children will act out situations involving guns. High schoolers, who must complete a health course to graduate, will see more graphic videos and hear a 911 tape.
The 911 tape comes from Carroll, where two youths called after their friend was accidentally shot to death. The parents of the dead girl agreed to let the tape be used if it might help others.
John Price of Manchester, whose 13-year-old son was shot and killed by a 9-year-old wielding a handgun, agreed to serve on the committee and help find instructional materials, Piercy said.
"They asked me knowing, because of our involvement, we might be able to find some materials," Price said. "My resources were gun issues, their resources were more how to present it properly to different ages."
In addition to Price, another man who lost a family member to gun violence and a representative from the Maryland State Police served with the educators on a committee that has been meeting for several months.
Lt. Terry Katz, commander of the Westminster barrack, said the Carroll handgun-safety program "uses some curriculum developed elsewhere and some developed here. It's a curriculum that does not have an ideology other than tively rural area, a lot of people safety. Obviously we have a relahave guns, and children need to know how dangerous this is."
Although the NRA's Eddie Eagle wasn't used, the idea appears to have originated with Carroll County State's Attorney Jerry F. Barnes, who has been pitching and presenting the NRA program since last year.
Program to teach firearm safety is part of health curriculum; No weapons in classrooms; Committee of county teachers, gun victims, police created plan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Sheridan Lyons
Sun Staff
Beginning this school year, Carroll County public schools will experiment with a gun-safety program that will be taught as part of the health program to students from kindergarten through high school.
The program will be a mixture of the National Rifle Association's Eddie Eagle cartoon character program - minus the cartoon character - and the STAR program, Straight Talk About Risks, run by the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence.
A Carroll committee also added elements.
"The message is very, very plain and noncontroversial," said William J. Piercy, assistant supervisor of health and staff development for Carroll schools, who has been working with the committee of educators, victims of gun violence and a Maryland State Police officer.
"It just makes common sense as far as personal safety and risk, and that's what our health curriculum tries to do," Piercy said.
He and others compared the health-course approach to driving, alcohol or drug programs.
"We're one of the first in the state. I don't think anybody else has anything from K through 12, as far as health education," Piercy said.
"Kids are exposed to firearms and guns," he said, although "I don't think any more so here than anywhere else."
The school board will evaluate the program in November. Some teachers were afraid gun safety meant they would have weapons in class, Piercy said. They won't.
In elementary grades, children will be visited by police officers and shown videos. They will also discuss what to do if they find a gun and how to ask whether guns are in their playmates' homes. Middle school children will act out situations involving guns. High schoolers, who must complete a health course to graduate, will see more graphic videos and hear a 911 tape.
The 911 tape comes from Carroll, where two youths called after their friend was accidentally shot to death. The parents of the dead girl agreed to let the tape be used if it might help others.
John Price of Manchester, whose 13-year-old son was shot and killed by a 9-year-old wielding a handgun, agreed to serve on the committee and help find instructional materials, Piercy said.
"They asked me knowing, because of our involvement, we might be able to find some materials," Price said. "My resources were gun issues, their resources were more how to present it properly to different ages."
In addition to Price, another man who lost a family member to gun violence and a representative from the Maryland State Police served with the educators on a committee that has been meeting for several months.
Lt. Terry Katz, commander of the Westminster barrack, said the Carroll handgun-safety program "uses some curriculum developed elsewhere and some developed here. It's a curriculum that does not have an ideology other than tively rural area, a lot of people safety. Obviously we have a relahave guns, and children need to know how dangerous this is."
Although the NRA's Eddie Eagle wasn't used, the idea appears to have originated with Carroll County State's Attorney Jerry F. Barnes, who has been pitching and presenting the NRA program since last year.