BATAVIA, Ohio — In an effort to improve safety in the district, West Clermont Schools is partnering with Union Township police and fire departments for a joint incident response training.
The exercise will take place at West Clermont High School on Friday, the first day of the district's spring break. There will be a heavy first responder presence at the school from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
"We all felt it was important to hold an event at our largest building, one of the largest buildings probably in Clermont County to practice, just in case an event like this happens in our area," said Mike Overbey, chief operating officer for West Clermont.
Overbey said while academics are important to parents, for the past year the district worked with its Citizens Advisory Commission — which is made up of parents, administrators, teachers and staff — to hold a series of town halls gauging parents' top interests.
"Our community shared that school safety and well-being is at the top of the list," Overbey said.
With that feedback, the school board charged the CAC to study school safety. Overbey said in August they started listening to experts from Cincinnati Children's Hospital, the Cincinnati Jewish Federation, school architects, local law enforcement and other first responders to compile a report.
It was shared with the district last week including recommendations on school safety measures moving forward. Friday's planned active shooter training is one of those results.
Overbey said the exercise comes at a crucial time.
"The timing of this is unfortunately very good when it comes to what happened in Nashville," he said. "(It brings) it closer to home."
On Monday morning, a shooter walked into a Nashville private school and opened fire, killing six people. Three of the victims were children, each 9 years old.
It marked the country's 129th mass shooting this year and the 13th school shooting.
Overbey said the district wants Friday's training to feel as real as possible, so not only will there be a fake shooter, they'll also have medical on standby and are also bringing in the UCMC helicopter.
West Clermont has four school resource officers. Two are assigned to the high school. One is assigned to the middle school and the other covers the district's elementary schools.
Overbey said the Union Township Police Department will be providing a K9 to the high school starting after spring break.
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