SCIOTOVILLE, Ohio — Four local agencies will converge on East Portsmouth Elementary School on Wednesday for an annual training exercise that simulates the response to an active threat, the Portsmouth Police Department said in a social media post.
The drill, scheduled for Oct. 28, will bring together the Portsmouth Police Department, the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office, the Portsmouth Fire Department and the New Boston Police Department at the school, which sits on Harding Avenue in the Sciotoville area of Portsmouth, according to the post. The exercise is meant to prepare East Portsmouth Elementary staff for how to respond if an active threat entered the building.
No students will be present for the training, and the exercise is limited to school staff, police said. Public roadways leading to and around the school will remain open throughout the day, but the school itself will be closed to all outside traffic except for those taking part in the drill.
Police asked residents not to be alarmed if they see multiple first responders at the school Wednesday. The department said the training will be finished before parent-teacher conferences at the school begin at 2 p.m.
East Portsmouth Elementary is part of the Portsmouth City School District and serves students in prekindergarten through sixth grade. Active-threat drills that pair school staff with local police and fire agencies have become a routine part of school safety planning for districts across the region.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Portsmouth Police Department.
