(Regulation)
- a. Students in portables should be moved to permanent buildings.
b. The best protection is near inner walls on the lower floors away from windows. Some classroom windows opposite the storm should be open to equalize atmospheric pressure. Auditoriums and multipurpose rooms should be avoided.
c. In the event that no adequate security can be provided on the school campus, principals may work out evacuation plans which use other nearby facilities.
d. Authority for early dismissal of school must come from the superintendent's office.
2. Building personnel should monitor radio or television reports regarding a possible severe thunderstorm or tornado watch if a storm appears imminent.
3. The parent-teacher association safety chairman or other key person may be instructed to call the building if either event occurs. Others should be discouraged from calling the building.
4. A severe thunderstorm or tornado watch does not require evacuation of classrooms or mass movement of students. It is intended to alert personnel to a possible need for emergency action.
5. A tornado warning indicates that an actual sighting of a tornado funnel has occurred. Principals must respond to a tornado warning by taking immediate steps to move students and staff members to places of shelter.
6. In the event of a tornado warning, students are to remain in the building unless called for by an authorized adult. In cases such as this, the principal should encourage the adult to remain with the student in the school shelter area until the "all clear" is announced.
7. If a tornado warning is in effect, persons in places of shelter must remain until an all-clear signal is received. The all-clear message may consist of a news media announcement or telephone notification in the event that the dispatcher at plant facilities is informed.
8. In the event students are on school buses during a tornado warning, bus drivers have been advised by the transportation department that the following steps are to be taken:
a. If a tornado warning has been given prior to the departure of a bus from school premises, driver may not leave the school with the students. Instead the driver will escort the students back into the school or a designated shelter area.
b. If warning sirens are sounded while a bus is transporting students, the driver will stop the bus at the nearest shelter and escort the students to shelter.
c. In the event a driver escorts students to a shelter area, the driver will be responsible for notifying the principal or secretary of the school who in turn will notify key parents regarding the students'whereabouts.
Guidelines concerning students safety during inclement weather conditions
a. Students will be allowed entry into the building ten minutes before classes convene when outside temperature at the school site is less that 15 degrees/F and/or conditions of precipitation are present. Wind currents must also be considered under other conditions.
b. With temperature less that 15 degrees/F and/or conditions of precipitation present, elementary students will be permitted to remain indoors during recess and lunch periods. Wind currents must also be considered under other conditions.
c. Parental requests for students to remain indoors for health reasons during school hours will be honored.
d. The principal is responsible for prudent decision making for conditions not presented in these guidelines.
e. These guidelines are to be published in elementary school parent handbooks.
Approved January 1988
Revised April 1998