Fullerton College has switched their drills and emergency notification texting system from Regroup Mass Notifications to Rave Communications.

The new contract with Rave Communications will go into effect Mon. Oct. 1. The first test with Rave Communications will take place on Oct. 18 for the California earthquake drill.

The change comes after experiencing many delays with Regroup during practice drills. This led to director of campus communications Lisa McPheron to look for an alternative way of communication.

“I would use it during the great shakeout and the active shooter drill,” said McPheron. “We would sometimes see two hour delays with text messages.”

“There were also delays experienced at Cypress College and North Orange Continuing Education,” said McPheron. Because of these delays FC, Cypress and NOCE, made several attempts to change vendors.

McPheron and her team chose Rave Communications because after researching and speaking to other colleges, Rave Communications ended up being the better option. They are looking forward to testing out this new system starting with the California earthquake drill in Oct.

It is expected that with this new emergency notification system, students will be able to receive information through text messages, emails, and voicemails much quicker.

Although Regroup wasn’t working out, she would, at times, use different ways to approach an emergency, if there was one on campus.

“I take a toolbox approach to communications, that includes the website and social media,” McPheron said, “People will hear and learn the information from one of the communication tools so luckily I [have] never had to use the emergency communication system in a real emergency.”