TO: Member School Superintendents, Principals and Athletic Administrators – Grades 7-12
FROM: Daniel B. Ross, Executive Director and Deborah B. Moore, Senior Director of Compliance and Sports Medicine
RE: New Coaching Standards – Sudden Cardiac Arrest (Lindsay’s Law)
It is our pleasure to announce the that the educational materials for coaches, parents and student-athletes as required in the new Sudden Cardiac Arrest Law, also known as Lindsay’s Law, are nearing completion.
The OHSAA has been collaborating with the Ohio Departments of Health and Education, along with our corporate partner Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Ohio Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, to provide this education that we believe will be relevant and easily accessible so that interscholastic coaches and the parents of our student athletes can come into compliance by August 1, 2017.
The required materials, that both parents and students athletes must review once per year, include a short video which will be posted to the ODH, ODE and the OHSAA websites; an information sheet which shall be printed and distributed to all parents and student-athletes; and a signature form which shall be signed by parents and student-athletes and which will be included in the package of consent forms found in the OHSAA digital PPE, the Privit Profile, as well as a paper form found on the OHSAA website within the sports medicine section. Our development team’s comment period for the new Lindsay’s Law resources ended on June 12. The staff at the Ohio Department of Health, along with their Creative Services staff, are making the final changes. Once those adjustments are made, the material will be uploaded to ODH’s website and then made available to the ODE and the OHSAA. Unfortunately, we are not able to obtain a specific date for this upload, but we anticipate it will be finished before the end of the month.
All coaches, both paid and volunteer, are required to view a training video and read an information sheet. To assist schools with ensuring compliance, the Ohio Department of Education will include these items in its Learning Management System (LMS). Once a coach has completed the training, the coach will be required to achieve 80% proficiency on a post assessment test. Successful completion of this requirement will generate verification through the LMS. The Ohio Department of Education anticipates that these items will be ready for coaches to access by July 5, 2017. In the meantime, if a district superintendent wishes to authorize coaches to complete this requirement earlier, the district shall arrange for all coaches to view the video at the same time and make the information form available to each person who is sitting for that requirement. This method will allow the superintendent to provide the e-check for this particular requirement. We will alert you when the materials are ready for distribution.
These educational materials are all free of charge and are the only materials authorized for compliance with this new state law. No other course or training material is acceptable. We wish you a relaxing summer, and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions.