Crisis Management Plan
Northeast Alabama Community College has established a Crisis Management Plan to guide in emergency situations. All personnel should be familiar with this plan and must know where to access the plan should a situation arise requiring immediate action. To obtain a copy of this plan, contact the Associate Dean of Instruction. The Crisis Management Plan can also be accessed on the NACC website at www.nacc.edu under the “About NACC” tab.
Emergency Resources
First-aid kits are located in the Campus Police Office (Student Center), each campus police car, EMS program offices, and science laboratories. Automated External Defibrillators are located in all buildings. The campus police also have an AED.
Fire extinguishers are placed throughout the buildings. All personnel should become familiar with their location and operation. Instructions are posted on the extinguishers.
Evacuation chairs are strategically located on the second floor of each two-story building for the evacuation of individuals unable to walk down the stairs.
SchoolCast
SchoolCast is a mass notification system comprised of email, voice, and text messaging designed to send emergency messages to students and personnel quickly. This system supplements the indoor/outdoor intercom system located throughout campus. College personnel and students may subscribe to alerts via three methods: voice messages to multiple phone numbers, text messages to multiple cell phone numbers, and email messages to multiple email addresses.
College personnel and students may register for SchoolCast. Following the drop/add period each semester, new users will receive an email delivered to their College email account with a username and password and detailed instructions for accessing their account. All students and personnel are urged to register for this service at www.myschoolcast.com.
NACC Alert will be activated for situations requiring immediate action, such as severe weather, building evacuations, or events requiring lock-down or immediate shelter-in-place. Following a warning, the alert system may be used to provide additional messages or an “all-clear” announcement.
The College does not charge for the NACC Alert service. There may be a small charge for text messaging for cellular users who do not have a text messaging contract. Users should check with their cell phone carriers to determine what these costs may be.
Messages from SchoolCast are identifiable as follows:
- Emails will come from “Northeast Alabama Community College” (noreply@myschoolcast.com).
- SMS text messages will begin with “NACC SchoolCast” and come from 223-83.
- Voice messages/phone call caller ID will be 256-638-4418. Users are encouraged to program this number into their phones along with a College identifier.
Any questions related to SchoolCast should be directed to the Administrative Assistant to the Dean of Instruction.
Emergency Shelter Duty
The Governor of Alabama will initially direct the emergency call for shelters, and the Chancellor will dispense a directive to the select college Presidents to open an emergency shelter for disaster evacuees in accordance with applicable Federal Emergency Management Agency and Alabama Department of Emergency Management shelter regulations.
The President will work closely with the Campus police and college administrators to organize the shelter operations. Employees may be asked to assist in managing and maintaining college facilities during an active emergency shelter situation. Employees assigned to emergency shelter duty shall, upon certification by the President, be paid:
- Non-exempt Employees: The normal rate of pay up to 40 hours in the workweek, and nonexempt employees shall be paid 1.5 times the normal rate of pay for time physically worked over 40 hours during the workweek when assigned to duty at an emergency shelter.
- Exempt Employees: The normal rate of pay up to 45 hours during the workweek, and exempt employees (except Presidents and those on Salary Schedule B) shall be awarded hour for hour compensatory time for physically working over 45 hours during the workweek when assigned to duty at an emergency shelter.
Response to Inclement Weather
In the event of college closings due to inclement weather, the following procedures will be followed:
Day Classes. If the College is to be closed for day classes, this information will be sent to student and employee e-mail accounts and phones by SchoolCast, the alert and notification system used by the College. Information will also be provided to local television and radio stations so that they might give notification no later than 6:30 a.m. when possible.
Evening Classes. If the College is to be closed for evening classes, this information will be sent to student and employee e-mail accounts and phones by SchoolCast, the alert and notification system used by the College. This information will be made available to the media for release no later than 4:00 p.m. when possible. Decisions to close will be made and released at the earliest possible time.
On days that the College is open and weather conditions deteriorate, media and SchoolCast announcements stating that evening classes have been canceled will be made by 4:00 p.m. when possible.
Depending on highway conditions, on some occasions the College may have a late opening. If this happens, and SchoolCast and media announcements have not been made, employees should presume that the College will be open and that classes will be held.
Faculty and Staff. On days the College is closed, employees do not report for work, other than designated police, staff, or administrative personnel.
Safety of Personnel and Students. Personnel should be mindful that weather conditions in northeastern Alabama can change very quickly and that our students come from a diverse geographic area. On some occasions road conditions in the majority of our service area may be fine but could be dangerous in a few isolated places. Therefore, when inclement weather occurs, personnel should use caution and their best judgment in deciding whether to drive to the College. In such situations the safety of students and employees takes precedence.
Weather Warnings during Classes. The College uses a campus-wide speaker system to make announcements concerning weather warnings as well as the SchoolCast notification system. In the event of warning during classes, the College will evacuate classrooms to designated safe areas. An announcement will be made on the campus-wide speaker system and SchoolCast when it is safe for personnel and students to return to their normal routine.