The Greenwood Police Department will practice its emergency response in the city’s public schools in the coming weeks.
During Tuesday’s monthly Greenwood School Board meeting, Board President George Ellis said he had spoken with Police Chief Henry Purnell about scheduling the drills.
Ellis said after the meeting that the purpose of the drill was to familiarize Greenwood police officers and school resource officers with the plans of each school.
“In case of an emergency, they need to be familiar with all of the entrances and exits and everything,” said Ellis.
Ellis said the drills were in direct response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings last month in Newtown, Conn., which left 20 children and six adults dead. He said he thought the drills would help to make the schools safer.
He said he did not know how long the drills would be carried out.
“I left it to the superintendent and the chief to work out the logistics,” he said.
Purnell said today that the police department would train school resource officers to communicate with police in case of an emergency. He said he also requested permission to enact the drills in the Leflore County Schools.
“It’s so that they’ll be more familiar with the schools in case there’s an incident like Sandy Hook, a school shooting or another emergency,” said Purnell.
He added that the training would be scheduled for a time when students were out of the building for spring break or another holiday.
Also Tuesday, the board:
nRe-elected Ellis as board president and Kathy Whicker as secretary.
nAnnounced Davis Elementary’s receipt of a 2013 National Title I Distinguished Schools Award. Davis was one of two schools in the state to receive the honor.
nApproved a Davenport Property bid to lease 16th Section land owned by the district.
• Contact Jeanie Riess at 581-7235 or jriess@gwcommonwealth.com.
