MAHONING COUNTY Schools get weather alert radios

YOUNGSTOWN -- More than 40,000 pupils and staff members at Mahoning County schools will have access to up-to-the-minute weather information starting next month.
The county Emergency Management Agency bought more than 250 weather alert radios that will be placed in all school buildings throughout the county, said Walter M. Duzzny, EMA director.
Grant funding: The radios are activated by the National Weather Service in Cleveland and are part of the county's weather alert system. They were bought with a $6,700 grant the county received last year from the Ohio EMA.
William M. Hyde, county schools superintendent, said all public and private school buildings will be given a radio, and one will be placed in the office of each district superintendent.
Having the weather radios close at hand will enable school officials to make faster decisions about whether to cancel classes because of severe weather, he said.
It also will enable them to give pupils and staff earlier warnings in the event that severe weather strikes while school is in session, said Campbell Fire Chief Dave Horvath, president of the county fire chiefs association.
Duzzny said that besides schools, radios will be placed in all public buildings throughout the county. County commissioners are expected to distribute them at their May 4 meeting.