COUNTYWIDE : Educators Preview Gun-Safety Course

A handgun safety group on Tuesday gave Ventura County educators a preview of a new curriculum that beginning this spring will teach students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade about the dangers of guns.

Initially, 10 school districts in the county plan to teach handgun safety in their classrooms using the curriculum developed by the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, called Straight Talk About Risks or STAR.

“STAR is purely an effort to save lives and reduce injuries,” center spokeswoman Nancy Gannon told representatives from the 10 school districts at a workshop Tuesday. “The material has been approved and recommended by the County Health Department.”

The materials, which include a 17-minute video and workbooks in English and Spanish, one set for students in preschool through fifth grade, another for students in the sixth to 12th grades.

Anne Frankl, a teacher at Sinaloa Junior High in Simi Valley, said she was very impressed with the materials. Frankl said she will use the material in a project called Interaction, a social studies and science class for about 100 students at the school. “We want this at our school,” she said.

The handgun safety curriculum is being underwritten by the Ventura County League of Women Voters, Gannon said.

The curriculum was first developed in Dade County, Fla., in 1989 after a wave of handgun deaths among students prompted officials to take action.

From 1979 to 1988, the deaths of 65 children in Ventura County were attributed to firearms, according to the “Source Book on Gun Violence and Youth” prepared by the center.