Mountain View, Calif. – November 3, 2006 – SumTotal® Systems (Nasdaq: SUMT), the largest provider of talent and learning solutions, said Darkness to Light, a national child sexual-abuse prevention, education and public awareness organization, has launched SumTotal’s learning management system (LMS) to create an online version of “Stewards of Children,” a child sexual-abuse prevention program.
“We believe our new, LMS-enabled Stewards of Children Online program will play a crucial role in vastly increasing the number of adults nationwide that we train to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse,” explained Anne Lee, Darkness to Light's founder, president and chief executive officer. “We hope to go from training thousands of adults to training hundreds of thousands.”
Any individual can complete the two- to three-hour online training by visiting the Darkness to Light Web site, (www.darkness2light.org). Darkness to Light expects to contract with various organizations that serve children and adolescents (e.g., schools; faith-based organizations; community-based programs like the YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs and sports and recreation leagues; and Child Advocacy Centers) to have their staff and volunteers complete the training as a prerequisite for working with children.
“More and more, organizations that serve children and adolescents are either proactively making the decision – or are being required to make the decision by their insurance companies – to create child-protection policies that include training all staff and volunteers that serve children and adolescents,” added Ms. Lee. “We feel the online Stewards of Children program, enabled by the SumTotal LMS, provides a convenient way for staff, volunteers and individuals to complete their training. We also believe that the online version of our training will provide a critical revenue stream to help sustain Darkness to Light's efforts to prevent child sexual abuse through the education of adults.
“Prior to launching SumTotal’s LMS, our Stewards of Children program was taught face-to-face by 200 facilitators in 30 states,” Ms. Lee explained. “We can’t keep up with demand for this program with face-to-face training alone.”
“We underwent a very rigorous review process before selecting SumTotal,” explained Ms. Lee. “SumTotal rose to the number-one spot because of its reputation, large network of clients, support and hosted solution. And SumTotal really cared about helping to make a big difference in other people’s lives.
“We now have available to adults a well-designed, well-conceived, sexual-abuse prevention training program for which the goal is to change behaviors,” added Ms. Lee.
The SumTotal LMS tracks users’ progress, offers interactive components and requires users to take tests to complete training requirements.
“We believe this will be a powerful use of SumTotal Systems’ technology to positively impact many lives and support communities across the nation,” said Don Fowler, chief executive of SumTotal.
The program’s goal is to ensure users have the information to know how to protect children. If those using or registered with the LMS need to retake the course on a recurring basis to meet certifications, then they will receive an email reminder. Participants can utilize the extensive resources in the online training program for up to two weeks after registering. Darkness to Light recommends the Stewards of Children Online course be taken every year as a good refresher and to attain additional knowledge.
Darkness to Light aims to educate the general public about the Stewards of Children Online program through an extensive national awareness campaign. This will include donated ads for print, radio, television and the Internet (e.g., CNN and AOL, featuring celebrity spokespeople such as Angela Shelton, Cyndi Lauper and Anne Heche).
A grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Technology Opportunities Program funded the Stewards of Children Online program. Given the cost of developing a high-quality, e-learning course, Darkness to Light would not have been able to develop Stewards of Children Online without the support of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
About Darkness to Light
Founded in 2000, Darkness to Light is a national, nonprofit organization and initiative located in Charleston, S.C. Its mission is to: 1) shift the responsibility for preventing child sexual abuse from children to adults; 2) reduce child sexual abuse nationally through education and public awareness aimed at adults; and 3) provide adults with information to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. Darkness to Light offers the educational programming and materials, online and face-to-face training, an information-rich Web site, a toll-free helpline and other resources to reach and educate adults about protecting children from sexual abuse. http://www.darkness2light.org.
About SumTotal Systems, Inc.
SumTotal Systems (NASDAQ: SUMT) is the largest provider of talent and learning solutions. SumTotal deploys mission-critical solutions that align talent and knowledge with business goals to generate significant bottom-line results. With more than 17 million users worldwide, SumTotal has helped accelerate performance and profits for more than 1,500 of the world’s best-known companies and government agencies including Accenture, Aetna, Cendant, DaimlerChrysler, Delta Air Lines, Harley-Davidson, Microsoft, Novartis, PNC Bank, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Bancorp, United Airlines, Vodafone, Wachovia and Wyeth. SumTotal has offices throughout the United States, in London, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Hyderabad, India. For more information about SumTotal's products and services, visit www.sumtotalsystems.com.
SumTotal and the SumTotal logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SumTotal Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Safe Harbor Statement/ Forward-Looking Statements
Information in this press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements represent SumTotal Systems' expectations or beliefs concerning future events. These statements are not historical facts or guarantees of future performance or events and are based on current expectations, estimates, beliefs, assumptions, goals and objectives, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from the results expressed or implied by these statements. Readers of this press release are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to: (i) unknown errors or bugs in SumTotal LMS; (ii) the inability to fix in a timely fashion unanticipated bugs, errors or defects that materially impact the functionality or usability of SumTotal LMS; (iii) the acceptance of SumTotal LMS and future product offerings; (iv) the ability to successfully implement SumTotal Systems' solutions; (v) the ability to successfully translate the use of SumTotal Systems’ solutions to increased efficiency, convenience and a much greater scale of training; (vi) the ability to successfully address technological developments and standards; (vii) the need to continue to expand product distribution and services offerings; and (viii) other events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in SumTotal Systems’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company’s annual report on Form 10-K filed on March 28, 2006, its quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed on August 9, 2006, Form 10-Q/A filed on September 15, 2006, its Form S-3/As filed on September 28, 2006, and October 2, 2006, and its Form 8-Ks. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of November 3, 2006, and SumTotal does not assume any obligation to update such statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release.