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National Weather Service and local ECC certify Sumner County Schools as StormReady; signage and radios to be installed
Summary
Representatives from the National Weather Service told the board the school district met the StormReady criteria — including shelter site identification, NOAA radios, drills and liaison participation — and the certification is valid for five years.
Bob Carter and Caleb Cravens of the National Weather Service briefed the Sumner County School Board on April 22 about the district's StormReady certification, a voluntary National Weather Service program that the presenters said strengthens severe-weather preparedness.
Caleb Cravens, incident meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Nashville, said the program requires local plans, identification of sheltering locations, NOAA weather radios at facilities, two tornado drills yearly and two-way warning and campus-wide relay systems. "Each facility has to have a NOAA weather radio," Cravens said, adding that the district must also hold a weather preparedness activity and host a site visit from the NWS and local emergency coordinators.
Why it matters: Cravens told the board Sumner County is tied as the largest district yet certified through the StormReady program and that certification is valid for five years. He said meeting the program's 12 criteria helps protect lives and property by improving communication, education and planning for severe weather.
District staff said the project included site-by-site shelter identification and signage so visitors and after-hours users can find sheltering locations when no school staff are present. The district named coordinators who will maintain compliance and oversee periodic recertification.
Board members and staff emphasized the benefit for after-hours users: "We have a lot of parents, a lot of kids, a lot of family members in schools after hours on weekends participating events. And so having signage ... allows these individuals to know where to go when maybe we don't have a full school staff on-site," a board member said during discussion.
Ending: Cravens said the certification helps communities "increase their preparedness" and that Sumner County Schools now has an "excellent severe weather safety plan," subject to recertification every five years.
