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Vernon Hills resident urges Stevenson board to share firearm safe-storage information with parents
Summary
Elise Hauptman, an alumna and parent, told the board the district should regularly provide parents with safe-storage guidance for firearms, saying one contact point is insufficient and citing suicide and school-shooter statistics.
Elise Hauptman, a Vernon Hills resident and alumna who identified herself to the board as the parent of three Stevenson graduates now working in education, urged the Adlai E. Stevenson HSD 125 Board of Education to provide parents with repeated information about firearm safe storage.
Hauptman told the board she supports the district’s work on emotional well-being and mental health but said school safety around firearms remains "in the shadows." She asked the district to treat firearm safe-storage information like other routine school safety communications — for example by sending an annual letter or maintaining resources on a safety tab of the school website.
Hauptman cited statistics she said supported the request: "Suicide by firearm is successful over 90 percent of the time. 78 percent of school shooters obtain the firearms at their homes or at the homes of close friends or family," she said, and asked the board to take steps to reduce access to unsecured firearms.
She also asked the board to consider that students who brought guns into schools in November 2024 obtained firearms from home and urged the district to follow feeder districts and other local high schools that already distribute safe-storage information. "Small actions can have a major impact on safety," Hauptman said, and offered to help the district with follow-up work.
The board did not reply during the public comment period; a board member asked for her village of residence and the meeting moved on. Hauptman said she would be willing to collaborate and expected follow-up.
Ending: The public comment was recorded in the meeting minutes; the board did not announce any immediate policy or communication change on the record during the meeting.
