I finally had time to read an article about a tornado that was photographed on Mars. I normally don’t research the topic of tornadoes so heavily that I would find out that a tornado (it was actually an 800 foot tall dust devil) rampaging around Mars. But Steve Satterly researches the topic enough to find such an article. You see, Steve has this thing about tornadoes. Actually, he has a thing about tornadoes and schools. In fact, Steve probably knows as much about schools and tornadoes as anyone I have ever run into – he has certainly written pretty extensively on the topic.

Steve has also been kind enough to take the time from his very busy schedule to write a guest blog for me on the concept of best available shelter in schools for tornado situations. He was also kind enough to do the bulk of the research and the writing for a 3,000 + word series of articles on school tornado preparedness we recently co-authored for Campus Safety Magazine. Then he was kind enough to offer to write a feature article for our next issue of the Safety Net, the free electronic journal we publish. He was also kind enough to offer to do the same for a white paper on school tornado preparedness we are working on for the Safe Havens website. All this while he is working on another feature article on recovery concepts for school tornado strikes for School Planning and Management Magazine.

Steve is a pretty busy guy since he serves as the Director of Safety and Security, as the Director of Athletics and as the Director of Transportation for a school corporation (district) in Indiana. He is even busier since he is also working on a certificate in Homeland Security in the evenings. We are very grateful that Steve has been so kind to donate his time to help us help others better prepare for school tornado strikes. Having survived an F3 tornado that ripped ventilation equipment off of the roof of his school when he was a new assistance principal, he is deeply committed to helping protect school employees and the students they serve from this deadly type of school crisis situation.

I am personally glad to know there is someone out there who has devoted so much time to the study of schools and tornadoes.  We are fortunate to have so many advocates for the children like Steve Satterly.   The world is becoming safer due to his awesome efforts.