Lindsey Loucks is unambiguous about her goals on firearm safety.
The Riverside School District 96 parent would like the district to join her in embracing the Be SMART initiative that focuses on secure gun storage.
Be SMART is an acronym that stands for securing all firearms in homes and vehicles; modeling responsible behavior around firearms; asking about the presence of unsecured firearms in other homes; recognizing the role of firearms in suicide; and telling your peers to be S-M-A-R-T.
“Some schools have a concussion policy, and I’d like to see a firearms policy,” Loucks said. “This has been enough of a factor in our lives that this has been a public safety issue, and I think the district needs to jump on this.”
Loucks was inspired to become an advocate of Be SMART after the August mass-shooting incident at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.
“I started to dig around and look for something [where] I could be proactive and what I could do personally,” Loucks said. “I became aware of the Be SMART program. Why couldn’t this be something I could share with the district?”
In addition to a firearm policy that would also include information about intruder drills in which District 96 schools participate, Loucks would like to see the district share Be SMART messaging on the district website and through its communication channels.
She launched a petition and is planning on making a presentation to the District 96 school board at its meeting Dec. 17. As of Sunday, the petition had nearly 200 signees.
According to Board President Wesley Muirheid, any presentation would have to fit within the five minutes of the meeting’s public comment portion.
“There will be no dialog at the board, at least on the 17th,” Muirheid said, adding he had no official comment from a board perspective.
District 96 Superintendent Dr. Martha Ryan-Toye had no comment either, referring a reporter to the Riverside village’s director of public safety, Matthew Buckley. On Monday, Deputy Chief of Police Leo Kotor said that once Loucks is trained in the Be SMART program, there is a possibility the department would partner with her to slate a class for adults on firearm safety.
Loucks has support from other district parents, including Caroline Woods.
“I think that, for one, it raises awareness for the need to secure your firearms,” Woods said. “The things we want to prevent are mass shootings and self-harm.”
“If this prevents one weapon from falling into the hands of one person who could cause harm, it’s worth it,” she said, adding she is planning to speak at the Dec. 17 board meeting.
“There are a lot of parents who feel strongly about this,” she said.
Jill Novak has three children in District 96, and while she’s not expecting a gun-related incident to occur, she admitted, “I think it’s a scary time to be a parent.
“I think Be SMART is something proactive the district can do to make the district safe,” Novak said. “Gun safety is one of the top public safety issues they should be addressing.
“We have a great community and great schools, but when you hear things like this happening, you hear parents say, ‘We never thought this could happen in our community.’”
On Nov. 5, residents gathered at Riverside Public Library for a presentation by Be SMART advocate Jenna Leving Jacobson. She is an Oak Park trustee and successfully petitioned for similar gun storage policies in Oak Park School District 97 and Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200.
“Schools are a trusted source of information about guns and safety,” Jacobson said. “We get a lot of safety information from our schools, in terms (of), they are an effective messenger.”
