Governor Matt Blunt has announced that colleges and universities in Missouri are now eligible to sign up for the Missouri Alert Network. The network allows state officials to notify schools throughout Missouri within minutes in the event of an emergency or an extraordinary situation that impacts student safety and security. The program is the result of a partnership between the state of Missouri and the Missouri School Boards' Association. The announcement was made today in Columbia at the University of Missouri by Governor Blunt, Dr. Carter D. Ward, MSBA's Executive Director, Dr. Robert Stein, Commissioner of Higher Education, and Mark James, Director of the Department of Public Safety.
"Our schools are among the safest places for our children, but the violence that occurred last year at Virginia Tech and last week at Northern Illinois University is a reminder that we must continue to be vigilant and enhance our preparedness for emergency situations," Gov. Blunt said. "The Missouri Alert Network provides critical and timely information alerts and warnings to Missouri schools during an emergency to protect the safety of Missouri students. Expanding this important service to colleges and universities will help us protect even more young Missourians from potential danger and we are most appreciative of the Missouri School Boards' Association for this important partnership to enhance school safety."
The Missouri Alert Network will allow state officials to contact local school officials throughout the state simultaneously either through voice, text, or e-mail messages within minutes. The decision to activate the network will be made by the Missouri Department of Public Safety. The system was developed by the Missouri School Boards' Association. There is no cost to K-12 schools and higher education institutions to participate in the system for one contact. Technology for the network is provided by GroupCast of St. Louis, that offers rapid notification solutions to businesses and schools.
"We are delighted to be able to expand the reach of this system to colleges and universities throughout Missouri," said Dr. Ward. "A system such as this is a critical tool in our continuing effort to provide the safest possible environment for our students and staff."
Public and private schools in Missouri have been able to participate in the Missouri Alert Network since it was announced last August. So far, more than 500 public school districts and private schools have signed up for at least one contact in the network.

Posted: 2/19/2008

previous page | print this page