Standards for when to post a CCBC website alert
The purpose of this policy is to identify when it is appropriate to post an alert on the CCBC website.What is an alert?
An alert is an emergency announcement posted in the orange band at the top of every page of the CCBC website. The orange band is reserved for urgent announcements that affect students, employees and the community as a whole. An emergency is a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or our environment and which requires urgent action. Once a visitor closes the alert on their device or computer, they will no longer see it.
When is an alert posted?
There are various reasons that would entail posting an alert. The most common situations in which we post an alert on the CCBC website are as follows:
- Inclement weather
- College is closed.
- College has a delayed opening.
- College is closing early.
- Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS)
- Closed or closing early.
- This impacts CCBC classes that take place at BCPS locations.
- Closed or closing early.
- Service outage announcements
- Learning management system (LMS) and student registration systems are unavailable.
- Down for at least 4 hours of scheduled maintenance.
- Unavailable due to a computer system issue.
- Learning management system (LMS) and student registration systems are unavailable.
- Power outage
- If multiple campuses or extension centers are affected for an extended period of time.
- Emergency drills
- Drills conducted by Public Safety.
- Crisis management
- Disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm CCBC or our community (i.e. fire, natural disaster or any other unplanned emergency incident).
Who posts an alert?
Only a member of the Web Management Team can post or remove an alert.
Want to propose an alert?
All requests must be sent to and processed by the Web Management Team.
In order for a request to be considered:
Situations that will not be considered for an alert:
The CCBC website is not be the only place you could post a notice of important information for students. You should also consider posting on social media, myCCBC and SharePoint. To design a mass email to students, contact Marketing Services.
For small groups that are affected, consider posting a note on the pages related to the service. Example: If the Testing Center is closed but the college is otherwise open, a notice should be posted on the Testing Center landing page.
For emergencies where every second can count, consider contacting Public Safety to request a Campus Alert. The Web Management Team does not maintain this system.
In order for a request to be considered:
- Email the proposal seven business days prior to the incident.
- Explain why it is important for everyone and details of the incident.
- Include the start and end dates. As well as time(s) as applicable.
- Summarize the incident in one sentence.
- Include a link referral to a CCBC page with more information.
Situations that will not be considered for an alert:
- Cancellation or promotion of an event.
- Regularly scheduled closings. Such as holidays and spring/winter break.
- Equipment that is “out-of-order.” Such as elevators and atms.
- Temporary service outage. Example: if OneCard is down for a few hours.
- Temporary change in office hours.
The CCBC website is not be the only place you could post a notice of important information for students. You should also consider posting on social media, myCCBC and SharePoint. To design a mass email to students, contact Marketing Services.
For small groups that are affected, consider posting a note on the pages related to the service. Example: If the Testing Center is closed but the college is otherwise open, a notice should be posted on the Testing Center landing page.
For emergencies where every second can count, consider contacting Public Safety to request a Campus Alert. The Web Management Team does not maintain this system.
