Free emergency radios for schools go unused

[KC0QNB]

All I can say is that there should be one radio per public building and a way to get the message across if something does come up.

Finally someone that makes sense, instead of cutting everything to shreds.

 

[monitorman]

I saw this pr via REACT.

DOC/NOAA: 202-482-0702
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> DHS/FEMA: 202-646-4600
> Aug. 19, 2008
>
> Education: 202-401-1576
>
> HHS: 202-401-9215
>
>
>
> 'America Is Safer When Our Schools Are Safer':
>
> U.S. Schools Receive Life-Saving NOAA Public Alert Radios
>
>
>
> Federal agencies have begun distributing more than 182,000 Public Alert
> Radios to preschools, Head Start programs, K-12 nonpublic schools and
> nonpublic school central offices, K-12 school district offices and
> post-secondary schools. In two earlier phases, the federal government
> distributed radios to all 97,000 K-12 public schools across the country,
> bringing the program to a close this September with life-saving radios
> in every school in the nation.
>
>
>
> The radios sound an alarm to alert school personnel about hazardous
> weather and other emergencies, even when other means of communication
> are disabled.
>
>
>
> The radios are distributed by the Department of Commerce's National
> Oceanic and Atmospher
ic Administration with funding from the U.S.
> Department of Homeland Security and assistance from the departments of
> Education and Health and Human Services.
>
>
>
> Commonly known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, these Public Alert
> Radios provide alerts and safety steps on a wide range of
> emergencies-from an approaching tornado, a telephone outage disrupting
> 911 emergency services, local roads overrun by flash floods, a derailed
> train posing a hazardous material threat, or the urgent need to be on
> the lookout for an abducted child.
>
>
>
> The program also encourages school officials, emergency managers, human
> service providers, and Citizen Corps Councils across the country to
> partner and align their efforts with local emergency plans to build
> overall community preparedness. By coordinating with their local
> emergency managers and Citizen Corps Council, schools also can obtain
> technical and other assistance to improve their school safety plans and
> other emergency preparedness efforts.
>
>

 

[MaxMan1986]

In an amazing stroke of irony, a school administrator that I know recently brought a weather radio home from his school to show me because he knows that I know a thing or two about radios. He actually wanted to give it to me. I started laughing hysterically when I saw it and immediately showed him this article. It turned out that he had no idea that this radio came from the government, and he had only a vague idea of what it was. He told me that his school gets random items like this in the mail all the time, usually from some company trying to promote a product. He just assumed this was another one of those items. In my opinion, that just proves something that many people have already pointed out here: school administrators can't be expected to know what this thing is or know what to do with it. This program is distributing equipment without any real resources to help in implementing its usage. Also, I can understand why some of the people interviewed for the article had trouble figuring these radios out. I don't know if every school got the exact same radio, but the one I saw was not easy to use, even for someone like me who knows a bit about radios and other electronics. I had to look in the manual just to figure out how to turn the thing on and off, and I think the manual also overcomplicated the process of finding the right NOAA frequency. I was able to figure it out within a few minutes, but I would not be surprised to see a less knowledgeable person having a hard time with it. I think the government also failed to take into account that school administrators are busy people. Most of them simply don't have time to fiddle with radios when they're busy trying to educate our children and deal with real problems. Heck, the person I know didn't even have time to figure out where the thing came from or what it was, let alone attempt to make use of it. I have to wonder if some administrators may have even just tossed the thing in the garbage.

 

[chrismol1]

is putting a radio in every school it really worth getting the 4-5 messages a year? these should be given out to schools in select states like Florida where hurricanes and whatever come frequently
or just another example of the government and their "good" ideas of spending out money?

 

[rdale]

Uhhh - there's no need to have a weather radio for a hurricane... Think about it - the news is COVERED days in advance. HEAVILY covered if there is even a chance. Weather radios are great for short-term warnings like tornado and flash flood. Their purpose is to wake you up so you turn on the TV.

 

[chrismol1]

Uhhh - there's no need to have a weather radio for a hurricane... Think about it - the news is COVERED days in advance. HEAVILY covered if there is even a chance. Weather radios are great for short-term warnings like tornado and flash flood. Their purpose is to wake you up so you turn on the TV.

good point there, just turn on your TV. nother government spending issue

 

[rdale]

I said you don't need weather radios for hurricanes - they still have use.

 

[chrismol1]

I said you don't need weather radios for hurricanes - they still have use.

yeh, or just look out your window and see the storm coming

 

[Grog]

Weather radios are great for short-term warnings like tornado and flash flood. Their purpose is to wake you up so you turn on the TV.

:roll:

They actually give you information over the radio too. I know I don't go to TV for weather information with all the other resources available.

 

[rdale]

NOAA Weather Radio tells you more than a "storm coming." It'll tell you if there's a storm you need to be scared of - aka "tornado". By the time you see a tornado out the window - it's too late. And I don't know about you - but when I'm sleeping, I'm not looking out the window

NOAA Weather Radio information is WELL behind TV updates. Your TV met can be on the air continuously showing you live radar, live streaming video from chasers under the storm, and live updates on the path. NWR is audio recorded every 10-30 minutes with old data.