Parent disappointed with Oro Valley school's Veterans Day event

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – An Oro Valley private school recently hosted an event honoring military personnel ahead of Veterans Day. They invited members of the Air Force to give children weapons instruction, rides in military vehicles and more, and for some parents it went too far.

13 News spoke with Jonna Alley, a parent of one of the students who attended the event. She was upset because she said the event was going ahead Casas Christian School put fake assault rifles in the hands of students. She only found out about it thanks to a popular app used by teachers and parents to share photos of school events.

She tells 13 News Guns, fake or not, that there is no place for schools and shared photos taken at the event. She adds that the school informed parents that there would be a “weapon instruction” but did not know that this meant students would have to get their hands on fake guns.

“If the past two Veterans Day celebrations included these types of activities, when I saw this email I probably would have absolutely said, yeah, this is probably not appropriate for a second grader,” Alley said.

She says in the past they only had military vehicles with fake assault rifles and this year new stretchers were added. But real weapons were also brought in, which students did not touch.

13 News reached out to Casas Christian School, which sent a statement saying:

“Casas Christian School would like to apologize regarding our Veterans Day event. It was not received by some as it was intended. Our intent was to celebrate the dedication of our nation’s military personnel and honor the sacrifices our military makes every day to ensure our safety. This looks like the sacrifices of our first responders who help our community and keep us safe. We apologize that the intent to recognize, honor and commemorate our veterans was not clearly felt by some parents through the optional activities we offered to our students outside of the meeting.

We believe it is important for students to participate in optional educational activities that enhance their learning and age-appropriate engagement with the world around them. Students received a hands-on learning opportunity from active members of the military. The intention was to recognize and experience the efforts and dedication of the military in the service of our country. This was in no way intended to train or coach students to join the military, nor was it a celebration of weapons.

Students gained a new sense of appreciation for what the military does for our country after experiencing age-appropriate engagement with the tools the military uses. Students are also never forced to participate in optional activities. These optional educational activities took place outside the actual meeting and parents and/or guardians were aware of the range of optional activities on offer before the day itself. Each station of optional educational activities was supervised by a member of the Casas Christian School staff and facilitated by an active-duty member of the military. These active-duty members of the military planned the optional education activities in detail with Casas Christian School staff and the security team.

Student safety is always a top priority for Casas Christian School and plans have been carefully developed and reviewed. Parents and/or guardians were encouraged to opt out of the optional educational activities by contacting their student’s core or home teacher if necessary. The email below details the options available to parents and/or guardians if they prefer to have their student ‘opt out’.

Photos of students participating in these optional educational activities were sent through a secure app called Bloomz. This is a private app that only students, parents and guardians can use and it is not a public platform. Parental permission is required to make photos public. Bloomz complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and information shared through the app cannot be used for any other purpose. Bloomz also adheres to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Casas Christian School apologizes that this day was not received as intended by some parents and will do its utmost to ensure that any future optional educational activities are more clearly communicated.

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