Boston Public Schools Launches Free Anti-Bullying Texting Service from Blackboard

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Public Schools (BPS) has launched TipTxt^™, a two-way texting service from Blackboard Inc. that allows the district's 58,000 students to confidentially notify school officials of bullying or other school safety-related activity via text across its 128 schools. BPS is the latest in a series of hundreds of schools and dozens of districts that have made TipTxt available to their communities in time for the 2014 Back to School season.

BPS, widely recognized as a leading district in bullying prevention, launched the program today during their annual Back to School press conference.

"Ensuring the safety and well-being of our students is a top priority and essential to our mission of accelerating students' academic achievement," said John McDonough, interim superintendent at Boston Public Schools. "Bringing TipTxt to our schools is another example of how the City of Boston is committed to using proactive, innovative, and educationally sound strategies to prevent bullying."

TipTxt is a tipline that allows for confidential text conversations between students and school officials about critical challenges that students face, such as abuse, self-esteem or confidence problems. Armed with this insight, officials can provide resources, advice or other follow-up to help on a case-by-case basis. In May, Blackboard offered the service for free to all K-12 schools and districts in the country to help address the nationwide dilemma of bullying in schools.

"We're excited to partner with BPS in an important effort to support kids having a safe and positive school experience," said Jay Bhatt, Blackboard CEO. "We know that students are increasingly using mobile devices, and texting is an important part of how they communicate. With TipTxt we wanted to leverage this trend to increase the likelihood that students will reach out for help and not have to deal with issues alone."

For more information about TipTxt and how to get it in your school or district, please visit Blackboard.com/tiptxtK12 and follow #TipTxt on Twitter.

About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. is a global leader in enterprise technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students and learners around the world every day. Blackboard's solutions allow thousands of higher education, K-12, professional, corporate, and government organizations to extend teaching and learning online, facilitate campus commerce and security, and communicate more effectively with their communities. Founded in 1997, Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Standard text rates may apply for parent or student TipTxt message senders; they should consult their carrier plans for details. TipTxt uses standard text messaging and may be subject to the security vulnerabilities of any other text message sent to, or received by, the user's mobile device. Use of the free TipTxt service is subject to purchase of a compatible phone line.

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Blackboard represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release. Actual results may differ materially as a result of various important factors. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause the Company's views to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so.

SOURCE Blackboard Inc.