A lack of immediacy in Baker University’s B-Alert system during severe weather on Feb. 28 has caused administration to look into the university’s emergency notification method options.
On Feb. 28, a tornado warning spanned Douglas County and the tornado sirens sounded in Baldwin City.
“When I heard the alarms go throughout the city, I immediately turned on my computer and tried to send a message via the computer,” Dean of Students Cassy Bailey said. “With the B-Alert system, we have two avenues in which to send messages. One is through a computerized system and it’s called a campaign. … the second way is through a 1-800 number.”
B-Alert, the emergency notification system used to notify students of events such as disasters, intruders or school closings, was activated Feb. 28, but failed to reach students by text message or email until after the tornado warning had expired.
“I turned on my computer and tried to send … a campaign,” Bailey said. “It did not go through, so I called the 1-800 number three times and I got disconnected twice. So, by the time the campaign
was sent out … it was actually after the tornado had passed.”
Bailey said this situation has caused members of the university to question the methods in which to notify students of emergencies.
Senior Ebony Lewis was in her apartment when the tornado sirens went off and was unaware that tornadoes were even in the area.
“If they knew there were tornadoes in the area, they should let us know a couple hours ahead,” Lewis said. “They should let students know in advance because that’s much safer than (relying on) the news. (Some students) don’t watch the news that much.”
Andy Jett, executive director of information management, said the original intentions of B-Alert were not for emergency weather situations, and other external notification systems are being explored.
“(B-Alert) was never initially designed to be that immediate source like that,” Jett said. “So, what we’re looking at doing is figuring out what’s the best solution … that would give us that immediacy. There’s already existing tools that people can use through local news stations or various online tools where parents and students and staff can get those alerts to their phone or email as well.”
Jett said administration will continue to investigate the emergency notification system methods in order to provide students with the immediate alerts they need in emergency situations.
