Stacy Crinks moderated a gun safety panel featuring Mayor Miller, Chief Sullivan, OUSD Superintendent Glimme and Miramonte Principal Campopiano at Miramonte High School on Sept. 18.
Orinda’s enduring commitment to gun safety was on display at Miramonte High School on Sept.18. Parents, with students in grades TK-12, learned how city and school leaders are working together to ensure our children and community are safe from gun violence and also how parents can support this effort.
Mayor Inga Miller explained the city’s 2018 safe gun storage law and statistics demonstrating safe storage prevents youth gun suicides and unintentional deaths.
Police Chief Ryan Sullivan said his department provides free gun locks, safely disposes unwanted weapons and ammunition and works closely with Orinda’s schools on safety protocols and drills. He demonstrated how to use the locks and also how to ensure guns stored in safes are accessible only to their registered owners and kept away from those at risk to themselves or others.
Orinda Unified School District (OUSD) Superintendent Aida Glimme and Miramonte Principal Ben Campopiano spoke about safety plans, age-appropriate drills, communication systems and protocols, physical barriers and police coordination designed to keep students safe at school.
They spoke about the many preventive measures employed across Orinda’s elementary and high school districts, including counseling and wellness center mental health support, initiatives to reduce student stress and improve belonging, anonymous tip lines and parent education and especially the importance of safe gun storage.
Acalanes Union High School District (AUHSD) Superintendent Dr. John Nickerson was instrumental in bringing this event to Miramonte and to similar campuses in Lafayette, Moraga and Walnut Creek last month.
For more information about gun violence prevention in Orinda, plus links to a 2018 Miramonte event video and slide deck, visit www.cityoforinda.org/388/Gun-Safety.
Stacy Crinks can be reached at stacy@contentbureau.com.
