Two Iowa School Districts to Offer Hunter Safety Course as Part of PE Curriculum
OutdoorHub Reporters 12.18.18
Starting next Spring, students in two Iowa school districts will be enrolled in a mandatory hunter’s safety course as part of their PE curriculum.
The course will be taught by Butler County Conservation to 7th and 8th grade students in both the North Butler and Clarksville Community School Districts. Students in grades 9-12 will be offered a voluntary, closed class for anyone else who wants to participate.
“What we do best is educate our kids,” superintendent Joel Foster said, according to Radio Iowa. “We feel if we educate our kids in how to use weapons responsibly, how to respect them, understand it’s not a video game and those sort of things, that maybe we’ll cut down on our chances of having a severe incident.”
Parents who object having their kids participate in the training can simply opt out of the class.
Foster went on to say he is aware not every student will partake in hunting when they get older, but the main purpose is to expose the students to some type of firearm safety course – whether it’s for hunting purposes or for real life situations later in life.
Besides a hearty hunter’s education program – which is required by law before purchasing a hunting license for anyone born after January 1, 1972 – the Iowa Department of Natural Resources also supports a number of mentor based hunting programs along with numerous initiatives in schools to adopt target shooting as a sport. Included in these initiatives are: the Iowa Scholastic Action Shooting Program and the Iowa Scholastic Clay Target Program. IDNR also reports there are over 12 collegiate shooting programs in the state of Iowa.
