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Chesapeake high school holds active threat exercise ahead of new school year

Posted at 5:23 PM, Aug 15, 2019
and last updated 2019-08-15 17:23:45-04

CHESAPEAKE, Va. - Local schools are taking safety concerns very seriously.

Ahead of the new school year, staff at Hickory High School in Chesapeake got hands-on training at responding to an active threat.

News 3 Photojournalist Michael Woodward was there Thursday when multiple agencies joined forces for the exercise.

Officer Leo Kosinski with the Chesapeake Police Department told us the purpose behind the exercise was to practice police and fire response in the case of an emergency.

Related: Preparing for the worst just in case, Suffolk hosts active shooter training

"The idea is we all train together, we all know each other's roles and we can more effectively cooperate if something like this were to occur," Kosinski said.

Jared Cotton, the superintendent for Chesapeake Public Schools, said the training shows that safety is a priority.

"We take the safety of our students and staff very seriously and that we spend time behind the scenes working to ensure that we have consistent practices in place and that we do everything we can to keep our students and staff safe each and every day," Cotton told us.

The Chesapeake Police Department, Chesapeake Fire Department, SWAT team and the Department of Health all participated in the training.