White County Schools District receives StormReady distinction

During the September board meeting, the White County School system received the StormReady distinction. StormReady is a program that encourages communities to take a proactive approach to improve hazardous weather operations. White County is the ninth district in Tennessee to be recognized.

Bryan Haley, safety coordinator for the White County School system, worked toward earning this distinction in a joint effort with the National Weather Service and Kyle Winnett and Matt McBride, of White County Office of Emergency Management.

“Being one of only nine districts in the state to hold this distinction is pretty impressive,” Haley said. “Our administrators and safety teams worked hard to provide our students, faculty, and staff the safest environment to learn and work in.”

According to the NWS, the StormReady program helps communities with communication and safety skills needed to save lives and property - before, during, and after the event. StormReady helps leaders and emergency managers strengthen local safety programs.

“You’ll see that White County is only the ninth district in Tennessee to be recognized, which is fantastic,” Brittney Whitehead, NWS meteorologist said. “The main steps to StormReady for schools are to ensure that students, staff, and faculty are sheltering in the best possible locations in each school and to create a detailed severe weather plan for when warnings are issued. In addition, all of the White County Schools have working weather radios in their front offices, and a representative from each school has attended a weather safety class hosted by the National Weather Service office, in Nashville. The entire transportation department has also attended a weather safety class tailored specifically for them.”

For more information on StormReady visit https://www.weather.gov/StormReady.