ST. LOUIS — Leaders from Saint Louis Public Schools and several city charter schools are teaming up to combat gun violence.
At 11 a.m. Thursday at the St. Louis Public Library, educational leaders will hold a news conference to launch Educators for Gun Safety, a long-term effort to stop the gun-related killings that continue taking the lives of children and destroying families.
School leaders will detail the launch elements of the initiative, including a series of events over the coming month to distribute gun locks and educate parents and students alike on the safe handling of weapons.
"We have become a gun-inundated society," said St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams in a Wednesday press release. "One consequence of that is that our children are dying in increasingly frequent and completely preventable shootings. Ideally, we would like to remove guns from the equation altogether, but that's not the reality we live in."
Dr. Candice Carter-Oliver, CEO of Confluence Academies, said, "Children need supervision to keep them safe. As educators, we can help parents in our city know how to safely lock and store guns, and how to talk to their kids about guns. We can help parents understand what questions to ask their kids about guns, what questions to ask about gun safety when their kids visit friends and other places. We all have to stand up. Our kids' lives are on the line."
For more information or to join the initiative, visit its website.