News Release

ALL Campuses

Cerro Coso Community College Launches Emergency Notification System

April 28, 2009

The next time the ground starts shaking and all electrical power is lost, cell phones will start buzzing as students and employees of Cerro Coso Community College learn that the campuses are closed via text and voice messages.

The messages are part of the new "CCAlert" emergency notification system, which Cerro Coso Community College, along with sister colleges Cerro Coso and Bakersfield, will launch on April 21. While college leaders hope the system never has to be used for an on-campus crisis like the Virginia Tech tragedy, should an evacuation become necessary, "CCAlert" can help students and employees stay clear of the emergency.

"The recent onset of emergency situations – from natural disasters to health scares to the threats of violence – sheds light on the fact that we must always be fully prepared," explained Dr. Mary Retterer, president of Cerro Coso Community College. "Because of this need to be prepared, Cerro Coso Community College has implemented 'CCAlert' to enhance our communication to students and staff in the event of an emergency.

Cerro Coso Community College's "CCAlert" is operated on the Connect-ED communication service from Blackboard Connect, Inc. (formerly known as The NTI Group, Inc.). Through Connect-ED, Cerro Coso Community College campus leaders are able to schedule, send and track custom voice messages to up to six phone numbers per student or staff member. Messages are immediately sent via four different modes of communication:

Voice messages to home phones, work phones, cell phones and email Text messages to cell phones, PDAs, networked digital signage and other text devices Text messages to email Messages to TTY/TDD receiving devices for the hearing impaired

All phone numbers and email addresses on record for current students will be subscribed to the "CCAlert" system upon launch in April. While there is no fee to be a part of the service, standard text messaging fees from service providers may still apply.

According to students it is a small price to pay for personal safety. "I am happy to see Cerro Coso Community College take the initiative to implement a program of this type," Al Skinner, Associated Student of Cerro Coso president, said. "With all the shootings that are happening at schools across the country, I am glad to see that my college cares enough about my safety to implement this system. I hope that all the students take advantage of the system and sign up."

"CCAlert" is compatible with all major cell phone carriers, including Alltel, AT&T, Boost Mobile, Cellular One, Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon. The Connect-ED system which operates "CCAlert" was built exclusively for post-secondary institutions using the experience gained in delivering hundreds of millions of messages for educators.

The College plans to use "CCAlert" for emergencies that require unscheduled closure or evacuation of a single campus or the whole college. This includes, for example, inclement weather, power outages, police emergencies, catastrophes and/or hazardous chemical exposures. "CCAlert" will not be used for promotional purposes, announcements or for scheduled closures, such as holidays.

"Police emergencies at colleges and universities can be quite detrimental, but fortunately, quite rare," said Jill Board, vice president of student services for Cerro Coso Community College. "With 'CCAlert', we can notify our staff and students in as little as 90 seconds, adding an extra layer of protection to our emergency procedures. Nothing is more important to Cerro Coso College than the safety and protection of our students and employees."

The College began seeking an emergency notification system following the tragedy at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. With two additional high-profile emergencies at Northern Illinois University and Louisiana Technical in February 2008, the need to have a system in place became paramount.

"I believe this is another important step forward in providing the safest environment possible for our students, faculty and staff," added Board. "This will fit in well with other measures we are taking to safe guard everyone on our campuses."

About Cerro Coso Community College

Cerro Coso Community College was established in 1973 as a separate college within the Kern Community College District. Cerro Coso has five instructional sites (Eastern Sierra Center Bishop & Mammoth, Indian Wells Valley, Kern River Valley, and South Kern), which together form the largest geographical service area (18,500 square miles) of any community college in California and which serve a population of approximately 85,000. A leader in online education, Cerro Coso has been offering online classes since 1997 and offers 8 Associate degrees entirely online and as many as 100+ classes online each year, with approximately 100 sections per semester.

About the Connect-ED Service

The Connect-ED service is provided by Blackboard Connect Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB). The service was created specifically for K-12 schools and school districts based upon the award winning Connect platform. Additionally, the company provides the Connect-ED for Higher ED service, a unique service designed to meet the needs of institutes of higher learning. The service can be used to send targeted, time-sensitive voice and text messages to landlines, cell phones, email addresses, PDAs, pagers, TTY/TDD receiving devices, and other text receiving devices and is SIF v1.1 certified. The Connect platform is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that has been in service since early 2001 and includes the Connect-ED, Connect-CTY, Connect-GOV and Connect-MIL systems. In 2007, the Connect platform was used by more than 20,500 active sites to send more than 240 million voice calls and over 17 million email and SMS messages to constituents.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Natalie Dorrell, Public Information (760) 384-6260