Hello members,

Happy New Year!
 
With the new year starting we wanted to celebrate the changes that are happening at ECNO including our updated newsletter! As we look forward to our commitment to connect with member boards to discover and share best practices in IT we’ve renamed our newsletter to ECNO Connect! Our newsletter will continue to be a resource to update and connect our IT community.
ECNO Connects with our Executive Director Wayne Toms
As many of you know, late last year there was a change in executive leadership at ECNO. For our members that are not as familiar with our new ED and his work we wanted to provide more background on him and insights on his vision for evolution that ECNO is going through.

How did you become a part of ECNO?
 
I have been a volunteer member of ECNO committees since the early 1990’s. I started as a member of the ECNO SAS PAC, then became a member of the ECNO System Managers group, serving as chair from 1996 to 2001. In 2001 I became a member of the ECNO Advisory Committee and served as scribe from 2003 until 2006. In 2006 I became a member of the ECNO Board of Directors, and served until 2016. I was president from 2013 until 2016. In 2016 I was hired as the Director of Customer Solutions, and served in that role until becoming the Executive Director in October 2019.

What is your favourite ECNO story (past or present?)

ECNO has always been about volunteerism and making things happen. I recall when the Ministry dissolved the Branch that supported ECNO in the mid-1990’s a couple of superb SBO’s of the time stepped up and created ECNO as a not-for-profit, and kept us moving without skipping a beat. In 2010 or 2011, we achieved the goal of having and supporting all 72 school Boards as members. A significant achievement!

What is the most exciting thing that is happening at ECNO right now?

Our partnerships with other organizations that support K-12 Education are the most exciting opportunity. We look forward to sharing this great news with our member Boards as our partnerships become formalized.

What is one thing above all else you would like to achieve for ECNO in the next 3 years?

We would like to build on our partnerships to ensure ECNO is the organization that Boards turn to in order to help them solve IT challenges once, as opposed to 72 different ways. Helping boards realize collective efficiency in IT will hopefully leave room for resources to be used in other areas of needs.
THE ECNO CONFERENCE IS BACK! Arthur C Clarke’s 3 rd law states “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” As ECNO is pushing IT forward in the province our 2020 conference will be packed with new learnings, new technology, great networking and leave you excited about the future of IT in Ontario. Come see our collaborative vision for the future of IT in Ontario at Nottawasaga Inn May 31 – June 2. Attendees can register at ECNOConference.com. Sponsors, there are still some spots left and you can find more info here .
Sketching Up Solutions Provincially
In the fall of 2019, many of our ECNO Shared Technology Services (STS) member Boards were noting challenges with accessing Sketchup Pro. Great research done by the STS Project Team, along with calls to Sketchup, determined that their licensing model had changed.

The Sketchup team wanted to be able to whitelist all School Board IP addresses in order to insure only valid students and staff were accessing the software. The Ministry was unable to provide this service and reached out to ECNO. As such, the STS team has spent the past few weeks populating Sketchup’s Administrative Portal with Ontario DSB IP addresses. Ontario DSB’s are now accessing Sketchup, both through the STS project and their locally installed applications. If your Board still requires this service, please mail your Board’s valid external white-listed IP Addresses to stspresenter@ecnoconnect.org .
Learning. Sharing. Growing.
Our mission to build a collaborative IT community within our provincial boards to create efficiencies and cost savings. If you want to become part of our community you can either sign up for a committee or our User Group Forums!