District Resources for Emergency Planning

Resources Areas Below
(Click on arrow to the right of each section to expand)

Device Hardware Programs

  • ByteSpeed - Terms for K-12 schools to secure hardware needs for upcoming year now and not having to pay until new budget year.
    Contact: Jodi Pritchett
    Phone: 877-553-0777
    Direct: 218-227-0491
    Fax: 218-227-0498

Helpful Links with Information:

Home Connectivity and Management for Staff and Students

LMS and Content Resources/Offerings

Content: for any LMS

  • INFOhio Educator Tools - Professionally-evaluated, standards-aligned, free online resources for Ohio teachers. INFOhio is providing all Ohio PreK-12 schools with access to high-quality instructional resources.
    About Educator Tools
    Link to Educator Tools

Content: Printable content for "Blizzard Bags"

  • INFOhio Educator Tools (https://www.infohio.org/educator-tools)
    Search for "World Book Webquest". This will bring up the printable content resources. They are working on linking these resources to the standards over the next couple weeks

Content and LMS: Virtual Classroom

  • JCESC - Virtual Learning Academy
    Discounted cost from $3/student to $1/Student
    Click here for flyer
    Contact: Mark Masloski
    Email: mmasloski@jcesc.org
    Phone: 740-283-3347 ext. 134
    Cell: 740-275-1611 cell

Content and LMS: Blue Sky Virtual Academy

  • Contact: Andrew Brooks - Superintendent, Ohio Valley ESC
    Ohio Valley Educational Service Center
    Phone: 740.439.3558 or Mobile 304-588-0745
    Email: andy.brooks@ovesc.org

Content: Discovery Education

LMS: Google Classroom

LMS: Virtual Classroom (Included in GradeBook, no additional charge)

Other Entity Sites with Resource Links

Zoom Stories - Storytelling via Zoom.us

BEMC Resources

  • Daily open support Zoom calls - Open Monday through Friday at 10 AM and 2 PM for at least the two weeks, and may continue indefinitely.

  • Link: https://zoom.us/j/879417037

MCOECN - Public Resources to Support Remote Learning

Ed Techs

  • Have office hours to support educators with remote support. Site for videos and office hours

  • Link: http://ohioedtechs.org

Keep calm and carry on with INFOhio!

Calamity Day Plans and Resources

Connected Nation

Professional Development Resources

Upcoming Live Webinars:

On-Demand PD:


Thoughts, Suggested Steps and Resources for Operational Continuity

Board Meetings via Webinar

Daily Operations

  1. Payroll and other fiscal operations are a priority for all districts. All fiscal offices must be prepared for continued operations, even in a work‐from‐home situation. Fiscal departments must have their systems configured to allow for secure remote access, utilizing a VPN setup. Train on and practice these systems now. If any districts need assistance, contact OME-RESA Technical Services.

  2. Remote meeting technology, such as ZOOM, Cisco WebEx, Google Hangouts, etc. may be a powerful tool for continued operations when key team members are working remotely. All districts should select, implement and practice a remote meeting system, prior to any need which may arise. Several of these vendors are now offering free trial periods.

  3. Stakeholder outreach systems, such as School Messenger, One Call Now, etc. should be tested now and updates made as needed.

VoIP/phone system configurations should be set to allow phone calls to be handled from offsite locations. These systems should be tested now, prior to any real need.


Thoughts, Suggested Steps and Resources for Continuity of Education

  1. Districts should fully implement adopted Learning Management Systems, such as Canvas, Google Classroom, Blackboard, Schoology, or others. All teachers, at all grade levels, should be required to fully engage as these systems may provide a FERPA compliant method for delivering instructional material in remote learning situations.

  2. Districts should ensure that all teachers can securely access the Student Information System remotely.

  3. All learning systems utilized by districts should be fully implemented with logins for all students tested.

INFOhio offers thousands of standard‐aligned lessons and materials for all districts. OME-RESA will be providing information on how to leverage all the INFOhio content, which is FREE to all districts. INFOhio content is all electronic, easy to use remotely, and covers almost all Ohio standards, benchmarks and indicators articulated in the state standards and model curriculum.

  1. Remote video teleconferencing systems, such as ZOOM, Cisco WebEx, etc. may be powerful tools for continuing instruction remotely. All districts should select, train on, implement and practice a remote teleconference system, prior to any real need. Several vendors are now offering free trial periods, as districts prepare for potential disruptions to normal schedules. Beginning the week of March 16, training will be made available for all districts on ZOOM videoconference software, which enables leaders, teachers and students to engage in high quality videoconferencing sessions. It is encouraging to note that there are schools around the world right now that are maintaining their typical class schedules with all teachers and students participating remotely. A full ZOOM license for each teacher is available for $5.00, valid for the remainder of the school year (students are FREE), or you may use the basic ZOOM licensing free of charge. ZOOM requires no special technology; any teacher with a laptop/Chromebook and students with smartphones, Chromebooks or any other cellular or web‐enabled device may fully participate. Students with traditional phones may participate over audio.

  2. Not every student will have access to a device or to broadband connectivity. Districts should survey students and families to identify those for whom additional support will be needed and then work to find resources to support those students and families.

Please view the "Home Connectivity for Staff and Students" section of this website for available resources geared to low‐income or other families. You may wish to share these with your parents or other stakeholders, should your district be impacted by the current health threat.

Certainly, there are many things which are uncertain at this time, such as the future of state and/or AP testing in a remote environment, as well as a plethora of other issues beyond continuing learning which you will be addressing, if or when, this unprecedented effort in remote learning unfolds. Please know that your OME-RESA team stands ready to support your staff and students in any way possible.

Webinar Software Offerings and Tools

If interested in implementing any of these tools, please contact OME-RESA. Links below will take you to the vendors offers and resources.

  • Google Hangouts Meet Advanced
    -     Hangouts Meet Advanced features are available for free through July 1, 2020
    - Larger meetings, for up to 250 participants per call
    - Live streaming, for up to 100,000 viewers within your domain
    - The ability to record meetings and save them to Google Drive
    - Hangouts Meet training and Help

  • Google Tools for Remote Learning

  • LogMeIn (Goto Meeting)
    - 3 Months of resources to schools through Emergency Remote Work Kits.
    - Host can have up to 3000 students
    - Attendance tracking
    - Record Meetings
    - Polls, handouts and questions
    - Screensharing, drawing tools, and up to 25 simultaneous webcams make it easy to get work done.
    - Support devices with Rescue Assist

  • Webex Transition to Virtual Learning

  • Zoom for Education
    You can purchase a full Zoom license for each teacher for $5 that is valid for the remainder of the school year (students are free), or you can use the basic Zoom licensing free of charge. Zoom requires no special technology; a teacher with a laptop/Chromebook and students with smartphones, chromebooks can fully participate, and students with old phones can still participate over audio.
    * Zoom has lifted the 40 minute time limit on the free version.