GroupCast enters into a partnership with Missouri School Boards’ Association

St. Louis (March 2007) - GroupCast Messaging Systems, a leader in the emerging automated call notification industry, has partnered with the Missouri School Boards' Association (MSBA) to promote GroupCast's SchoolReach system to Missouri school districts. The SchoolReach system, presently in use in a number of schools throughout the state, is designed to provide a recorded message from a school official to parents for emergency purposes or to pass on a general announcement. Under terms of the partnership, MSBA will promote the advantages of using the SchoolReach system to enhance school-to-parent communications.

MSBA's decision to partner with GroupCast was made by MSBA after careful and deliberate study. The study focused on the quality of the SchoolReach service, the experience of school districts that currently utilize the SchoolReach system, and the adaptability of GroupCast to the needs of Missouri schools.

"SchoolReach allows a school administrator to more effectively and efficiently contact parents with important announcements," said Dr. Carter D. Ward, MSBA's Executive Director. "Further, the system can be a valuable tool to ensure that parents have timely information about situations that can impact a child's safety and security."

The SchoolReach system has already proved to be successful in a number of different circumstances.

The Meramec Valley School District, a SchoolReach user since September 2006, has sent calls regarding summer registration reminders, freshmen orientation, and school cancellation during the recent ice storms.
Career Academy of the St. Louis City Public School District uses SchoolReach to automate daily attendance calls and has seen a 2 percent increase in average daily attendance since adopting SchoolReach
On September 13, 2006 a student brought a rifle to the parking lot of the Westminster School in St. Louis. Once the police had assumed control of the situation, the school's administration sent out a recorded message using the SchoolReach system to dispel rumors and inform parents as to the facts of the situation. The school was widely praised by parents for dispensing accurate information about an emergency situation.

"Our partnership with MSBA will open up new doors for the SchoolReach system," said Paul Langhorst, GroupCast Vice President of Operations. "Schools struggle with day-of or night-before notices to parents; SchoolReach serves this need perfectly and requires no hardware, software or phone lines for use. We are very pleased that MSBA recognizes the need for such a communication tool and has selected GroupCast as its preferred partner to recommend for the provision of this service."

In addition to emergency situations, the SchoolReach system can prove to be very effective in relaying messages to parents about upcoming events, rumor abatement or important announcements. The improved system of delivery eliminates the need to send a note home with a student or a phone chain. Instead, an administrator can select which parents will receive the recorded message. Within minutes, every parent on the list has received a telephone message from the administrator -- a message delivered by a principal or other administrator whose voice the parent recognizes.

About GroupCast and SchoolReach
GroupCast is a St. Louis-based organization that provides innovative solutions for automated communications, including voice broadcasting, text and fax messaging. SchoolReach, a division of GroupCast, is an automated phone broadcast system that allows a centrally recorded message to be delivered simultaneously to tens, hundreds or thousands of phone numbers within minutes. SchoolReach is used by thousands of schools across the country to notify parents about cancellations and emergency announcements and to abate rumors and make general reminders. More information about GroupCast or SchoolReach can be found at www.groupcast.com and www.schoolreach.com.

About the Missouri School Boards' Association
The Missouri School Boards' Association is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping school boards succeed. With its headquarters in Columbia and Governmental Relations Offices and a Communication Center in Jefferson City, MSBA advocates for the perspective of locally elected school boards who are charged with shaping the educational programs of their communities' public schools. More information about MSBA can be found at www.msbanet.org.

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