The Tuscaloosa County School System has several employees that are trained National Weather Service Storm Spotters.  Members of the Emergency Response Team have over 30-years in combined experience in not only severe weather spotting, but Emergency Management and Red Cross response training as well as Amateur Radio Communications experience.

Information is gathered by a host of resources prior and during any significant weather event, including the use of Amateur Radio, Southern Linc, and in-house radar equipment.

Members of the Emergency Response Team are included in all EMA briefings.  All information is conveyed to the appropriate administrative personnel and each school principal via phone, email or Southern Linc radios.

During an event, Southern Linc communications are established directly with the Tuscaloosa EMA.  Amateur Radio serves as a backup to EMA and Storm Spotters.

Members of the Emergency Response Team communicate either with phone, Southern Linc, or all report to the Emergency Operations Center during an event.

Members of the Emergency Response Team remain on-post until all students have been released from their schools, and buses are no longer in danger.

There are procedures in place to prepare the sytem for severe weather. 

Several members of the Emergency Response Team monitor weather forecasts throughout the year.  This process could be as simple as watching local weather forecasts, or as complex as participating in online weather forecasting blogs and review of scientific weather models. 

They also monitor products from the  Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama and the Tuscaloosa County Emergency Management Agency

By law, each school in the Tuscaloosa County School System has developed a Safe School Plan.  The details of this plan outline each schools response during a severe weather event. 

Tuscaloosa County Board of Education Policies also provide guidelines for each school's reaction to a severe weather event.

Each school within the Tuscaloosa County School System has an Emergency Alert Radio that is part of the Tuscaloosa County, State of Alabama and National Emergency Alert Radio Network.  All advisories issued from any of these agencies are received by each school.  This radio system is tested by the Tuscaloosa County E.M.A. every Wednesday.

As an additional resource, each school also has a NOAA Weather Radio by which they receive all weather watches and warnings.  This radio system is tested by the Birmingham National Weather Service office every Wednesday.

In addition, all Weather Service Watches and Warnings are disseminated via emal to all Distrcit administration and local school administrators.

The School System also utilizes its Southern Linc Communications system to provide each school with weather updates.  Each school administrator, as well as key Central Office personnel is combined into a talk group in which each person can communicate and updates can be provided in real time to all schools simultaneously.  This talk group is tested once a month.

The Emergency Response Team  monitors several different forecast products from the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama and the Tuscaloosa County Emergency Management Agency.  Several days in advance of an event these agencies begin briefing on any significant weather for our area.

In most cases, the Tuscaloosa EMA and Birmingham NWS Offices provide updates via email or Southern Linc several hours leading up to pending weather events.

For significant weather risk situations, members of the Emergency Responce Team are invited to the Tuscaloosa E.M.A. to attend breifings.  That information is also passed on to school administrators via email.

As a weather event unfolds, members of the Emergency Response Team  will begin Southern Linc communications with the Tuscaloosa E.M.A. and receive updates based on information they are receiving from police and fire agencies, as well as storm spotters, and the National Weather Service. 

Any updates received from the EMA/NWS communications are passed on to the schools via the Southern Linc talk group.

The Emergency Response Team also monitors storm spotters via local Amateur Radio and are also members of a local media sponsored weather reporting team. 

Each school Principal and Assistant Principal, along with the Superintendant, Assistant Superintendants, Director of Maintenance, Director of Transportation, members of the Emergency Response Team and other key employees are all members of the Southern Linc talk group. 

At any given time, members of the Emergency Response Team can communicate with over 80 administrative personnel within the school system.

Direct contact via the V.O.I.P Telephone system also occurs with specific schools that may have an immediate concern.

Members of the Transportation Department are also briefed as to any pending weather event.  They are also part of the Southern Linc talkgroup and Emergency Response Team.  The utilize the VHF two-way radio that is installed in each School System Bus to communicate with drivers during normal operations as well as severe weather emergencies. The Transportation Departmnet also utilizes Southern Linc radios to communicate with individual buses.

Additiona members of the Emergency Responce Team also have VHF two-way radios that are capable of communicating with the Transportation Department and monitoring Bus related radio traffic.

The Tuscaloosa County School System has a superior working relationship with the Tuscaloosa Emergency Management Agency.  Direct communications with this agency is a normal operations procedure during times of severe weather.

The System also communicates with its team of Sheriff Resource Officers that serve our community.  These deputies serve a valuable role in the safety of our students and teachers.

The Tuscaloosa County School System purchased its own in-house radar system from Baron Services, in Huntsville, Alabama.  The system is comparable to those being used around the US by broadcast media and emergency management agencies. System employees monitor the radar system during severe weather events. 

While the Emergency Responce Team has several years of emergency weather experience, they are not meterologists and do not forecast weather.

The system is located at our Technology Office in Northport and is in a fixed environment with the ability to go portable in the event the operations need to be moved. One of the benefits of this system is the tracking, refresh rate and direct feed from XM Satellite which does not require Internet access.