SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – Severe storms can be scary, and with the right weather ingredients in place, can form at any time of year.
The South has a secondary severe weather season during the fall months, and tornado warnings are possible.
Late last March, tornado warnings were issued in the middle of dismissal for many Spartanburg County and Greenville County schools. Administrators and teachers had to act fast to get students to cover and even off of busses if they’d already started their way home.
Districts, like Spartanburg District 5, train the bus drivers, already equipped with radios, to immediately get to the nearest school while on the road when a tornado warning is in effect for that area. Those students are in turn directed to hallways away from windows to wait out the threat.
While parents may worry about the safety of their child when they can’t be with them during dangerous conditions, administrators encourage parents that the students are safest in the school’s halls rather than on the road or in the car with a parent during a tornado emergency. Dismissal and school can continue as usual once the warning has expired or the threat has obviously passed.
Parents who are caught in a car line are sometimes able to take cover in the school once administrators are satisfied that all students are in a safe shelter.
