Duval schools superintendent to review gun safety programs after mother's concern

Duval County Public Schools superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti has agreed to review other options for a gun safety program in schools after a local mother raised concerns.

Action News Jax first reported Wednesday that a local mother contacted Vitti after her son was taught about gun safety without her permission.

The district acknowledged that the school didn’t send out an “opt out” letter like it’s supposed to. Now, that mother is pushing for a new program altogether because of its affiliation with the National Rifle Association.

It all started after her son brought home a pamphlet promoting gun safety. Not only was she caught off-guard, but she questioned the program’s NRA affiliation.

The NRA's Eddie Eagle program teaches kids what to do if they find a gun, similar to stop, drop and roll for a fire. Eddie Eagle says stop, don't touch, run away and tell a grown up.

But a Mandarin Oaks Elementary mother, who doesn’t want to be identified, thinks gun safety shouldn’t be taught by an organization with what she calls "special interests," and she emailed that concern to Dr. Vitti.

“It sends a message that Duval is NRA-affiliated,” she said.

The superintendent wrote that “he is willing to review other options” in regards to the gun safety program. He also wrote that he does think the current connection to the NRA could be misleading to parents.

Dr. Vitti’s full statement is below:

"As I stated in my earlier response to your questions and concerns, I appreciate your advocacy and concerns regarding this matter. I agreed that the opt-out letter should have been provided to you regarding the program. The district is reviewing the extent to which the letter was provided at other schools. With that said, at this point, I have no evidence that Ms. Carson or anyone principal, teacher, SRO, or district administrator willfully and strategically decided not to provide parents with an opt-out letter. With that being the case, “disciplinary action” would be limited to a direct and clear discussion between the employee and supervisor that stronger systems need to be implemented to ensure that the letter is distributed in the future.

"I also believe that it is important to note that relying on my memory only, I have never received a complaint from a parent, teacher, SRO, or principal about this program or its expansion since being superintendent (four years). This means that thousands of students each year have been exposed to the program with no issues being raised at my level.

"I deeply respect your opinion and concern for this issue. This is why the opt-out letter should have been used so you could have exercised your right as a parent to remove your student from the activity. However, guns and gun violence, however unfortunate, is a reality in too many of our children’s lives. I have received too many calls notifying me that one of our students has been shot and killed on purpose or by accident. I have received too many calls about our students being shot in their homes because they were 'playing with a gun as if it were toy gun' or that the gun was shot on accident and killed one of our students. I did not begin the implementation of the program in the district but I did expand it to ensure that as many of our children as possible would hear a proactive, apolitical, and engaging message about gun safety. A message, frankly, that could save their lives.

"With all of that said, I am willing to review other options regarding the programming or activities that could be used to promote gun safety because I do believe that its current connection to the NRA could mislead parents. However, to be clear, you are the first parent without digging into the matter who has raised this issue to my level."

Cox Media Group