By LAURA HAMMACK, guest columnist
A few weeks ago, one of our emergency weather procedures was tested during the school day. In the early afternoon of March 14, Brown County was placed under a tornado warning. When this alert is issued, our emergency response procedures are deployed.
I am happy to report that our procedures worked exactly as we practice, no tornado touched down, and our students and staff were unharmed.
We were very pleased with the quality of the deployment of this procedure. There is no question that because of frequent practice, our students and staff knew exactly what to do. And that’s important because when we are responding to severe weather such as a tornado, we know that seconds matter.
We practice a variety of drills during the school year for emergency events including fire, tornado, earthquake and active shooter. When students enter preschool, they are taught how to respond during these drills. With frequent practice that is sustained over the school year, our students and staff don’t have to think when an alert is issued. They know exactly what to do, and this was evidenced during the most recent warning.
The timing of this event correlated well with the fact that March is severe weather awareness month. In Brown County, we can be witness to pretty much every severe weather experience. Because of this, our emergency operations plans are written and drilled to cover responses for all potential threats to students and staff safety.
During the recent tornado warning event, we were fortunate to have all systems for communication in place. I was able to issue several Skylert messages by telephone and email to all of the contacts we have in our student data management system. Additionally, because cell service was still in place, I was able to post updates to my social media pages on Facebook and Twitter. Because of this ability to connect so easily, parents/caregivers felt empowered with the information and knew that their children were safe.
We understand that there may be an occasion where our ability to communicate is hindered by a power outage and/or a loss of cell service connection. During these occasions, we ask that the public trust that our emergency procedures are being deployed with fidelity. We understand that occasions where information is hindered translate into highly stressful situations. Know that we will issue information as soon as it is safe to do so.
Brown County Schools boasts a large number of school administrators and directors trained and certified as school safety specialists. In order to maintain our certification, we must attend annual certification seminars where we are instructed on best practices for emergency response. Effective response strategies for severe weather events take up a large portion of our training time.
On days when there is a potential for severe weather, we are intentional with “weather aware” behavior. District leadership, school principals and athletic directors are all connected with a variety of apps that give us access to weather warnings. Additionally, we are in contact with our local emergency management resources who keep us up to date regarding any changes to incoming systems. We appreciate the way in which our county works together when severe weather strikes.
While the month of March is specially indicated as severe weather preparedness month, we also understand that severe weather can happen at any time in Indiana. I assure you that our school district takes severe weather very seriously and promise that our efforts are mobilized with the sole intention of keeping the lives that are entrusted to us safe.
Laura Hammack is superintendent of Brown County schools. She can be reached at 812-988-6601 or [email protected].
