Policy: 3.4 Emergency/Urgent Notifications

Institutional Effectiveness and Advancement  

Policy: 3.4 Emergency/Urgent Notifications

Adoption Date: October 21, 2024 Revised

The District Information and Marketing Office is responsible for coordinating communication with students, faculty, staff, media and community members in the event of an emergency or urgent notification situation.

The Chief Student Success/Public Information Officer has the responsibility of developing the communication protocol to be used at each location and assuring that the identified personnel have accessibility tools and training needed to carry out the required communications.

For weather alerts and college closure/delay notifications:

The Chief Student Success/Public Information Officer or designee will be notified of closures or delays by the college president or designee and will be responsible for notifying all locations (students, staff, and faculty) of weather closures and/or delays. This notification will be sent through the HC Alert system using the Rave program. Information is sent via text and email for users enrolled in the system. Additionally, the system will post directly to the appropriate college social media accounts. The Webmaster posts information on the college websites.

Local media (radio, TV, and newspaper) will be notified as follows:

Big Spring Area and SWCD: Cindy Smith

San Angelo: Kaitlyn Brosh (notification will begin once she has received the alert from San

Angelo ISD and she will notify the president, San Angelo campus leaders, and the Chief Student Success/Public Information Officer that she is initiating the media notification.)

The line of contact for emergency notifications will be utilized if the above-named individuals are unavailable.

For emergency situations at a site:

In the event of a local emergency that may require action on the part of students, faculty, or staff, the District Information, and Marketing Office line of contact is to be contacted immediately. The designated individual will be responsible for notifying students, faculty, and staff, as well as community members as appropriate. They will utilize the HC Alert system using the Rave program for all notifications. The notifications will be sent via text and email for users enrolled in the system. Information will also be posted directly to the appropriate college social media accounts as deemed necessary. As needed, the Webmaster will post information directly to the college websites. Additionally, the line of contact will be responsible for communicating to the Chief Student Success/Public Information Officer with regard to any action taken and communications received and/or disseminated.

Campus leaders at each location are requested to utilize the lines of contact below for notification in all emergency situations. Should the first line of contact not be available within one minute of initial contact, the campus leader is asked to flow to the next line of contact on the chart. Individuals serving as a line of contact for a site or for the district will have accessibility tools to perform the appropriate notifications as needed.

Local media will be contacted once all students, staff, and faculty are notified of the emergency situation and any action to be taken. Lines of contact will handle media communications throughout the emergency until the situation is resolved. Staff and faculty are asked to not communicate directly with the media.  If they are contacted by media personnel, they should refer them to the 1^st contact on the list below.

The Chief Student Success/Public Information Officer or their designee will handle any district wide situations or communications.

Big Spring Area Sites:

San Angelo Site:

SouthWest College for the Deaf (SWCD) Site: