Local education-technology company Abre said this week that it will make its communication platform available to schools and families struggling with coronavirus-related closures.
Founded by two Hamilton City School teachers in 2017, Abre's move comes shortly after Gov. Mark DeWine ordered all schools to close and students to work remotely, maybe for the remainder of the year.
"One of the biggest challenges for schools to move to remote learning on short notice is making sure all the tools needed for staff, students and parents are easy to access and sign on to," Chris Rose, Abre's VP of Product said in a statement.
The Abre Hub provides a place to post news as well as access to a variety of school software tools, like document sharing. CEO Damon Ragusa said that by offering Abre's platform for free, the company hopes to help schools with their digital communications during a challenging and disconnected time.
"Right now, the current circumstances require teachers, students and parents to be more reliant than ever on their school's software systems," Ragusa said in a release. "Superintendents and directors of communication need all the tools available to push messages out in an effective way and to direct users to their digital learning tools."
Ragusa told the Cincinnati Business Courier that before he founded Abre, he worked as a consultant. He specialized in predictive modeling, and once did work for a client about the spread of the flu virus. Because of that experience, he knows how infectious the coronavirus can be, adding that this played heavily into the decision of offering the Abre platform for free.
The Courier also reports that the decision to make the Abre Hub free is permanent. Even after the outbreak, the company will not charge for schools to use its software.
Abre has previously participated in the Google for Education Partner Program, which helps ed-tech companies offer their products to more teachers and students. The company was one of Cincy Inno's 2019 Startups to Watch. Last year, it was also recognized as a startup of the year in a competition organized by EdTech Breakthrough.
