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CCSD Emergency Plan Update

Nicole Jordan

Members of the Clarke County Board of Education got an update from school district officials about the district’s emergency plan.

The aftermath of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, has brought a renewed focus on school safety throughout the country. CCSD Police Chief Terry Reid directly addressed the Uvalde tragedy at a board work session on Thursday.

"I can say this," Reid told board members. "If the code goes out - and what you saw on the news in Texas, those officers and all, that's what not to do. We're committed. We go towards the threat and eliminate and kill the threat, hands down."

Reid told board members that school district police officers had participated in a recent active shooter training with the Athens-Clarke County Police, UGA Police, and Oconee County Sheriff’s Department. In response to a question from Superintendent Xernona Thomas, Reid clarified the chain of command in the case of a shooting incident at a Clarke County School.

"Initially you are the incident command, but then once a CCPD arrives it is clear that they become incident command at that point right?" Thomas asked.

"Yes, ma'am. Absolutely," replied Reid.

ACC authorities will also be working closely with the school district during some of the 360 safety drills, including lockdown drills, scheduled for this year, according to District Safety Director Patrick Dyer.

"We'll have a law enforcement presence during that drill, so that our first responders are familiar with our buildings and they'll actually walk the schools with us during those drills," Dyer said.

Clarke County students went back to school for the new school year on Wednesday.

Martin Matheny is WUGA's Program Director and a host and producer of our local news program 'Athens News Matters.' He started at WUGA in 2012 as a part-time classical music host and still hosts WUGA's longest-running local program 'Night Music' which is heard on WUGA and GPB Classical. He lives in Normaltown with his wife, Shaye and dog, Murphy.
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