Why Clinton’s Director of Technology Says Cloud Monitor is a “No-Brainer” for His District
Clinton School District in Missouri serves approximately 2,100 students and 500 staff members across a 1:1 learning environment. Led by the Director of Technology, Dr. Skip Cooley, the small but committed tech team manages a broad range of responsibilities across network infrastructure, security, and digital learning environments.
Dr. Cooley, who describes himself as wearing a “50-gallon IT hat,” needed a platform that could help streamline Google Workspace administrative tasks and support safety investigations without adding cost or complexity.
“We were sold after the first week of the 30-day free trial. Cloud Monitor gave us instant visibility into Google Workspace that we never had before—and we’ve used it countless times since.”
— Dr. Skip Cooley, Director of Technology, Clinton School District
“We don’t have a whole lot of time to get everything done,” he says. “Having to use Google’s Admin console to find specific emails or files in Drive or students in Classrooms is cumbersome and frustrating.”
That’s why he now relies on Cloud Monitor by ManagedMethods to bring visibility, efficiency, and peace of mind to managing Clinton School District’s Google Workspace environment.
Challenges
Before implementing Cloud Monitor in September 2024, Skip struggled with the limitations of Google’s admin tools.
“Pulling an email was a huge pain,” he says. “You had to find the message ID and go through all these investigation steps just to figure out what was in the message. It was like trying to get a bank vault code.” Tools like GAM offered more power, but only with complex commands, frequent updates, and a steep learning curve.
“With Cloud Monitor, we were able to reduce our costs in other tools. Not only did we save money, we gained more functionality and better control that makes managing Google Workspace and keeping our students safe easier.”
— Dr. Skip Cooley, Director of Technology, Clinton School District
The district also lacked visibility into Google Drive and Classroom activity. “There’s no way in Google Admin console to actually go in and see what’s in someone’s Drive or what their Classroom codes are,” Skip explains.
This gap created problems for the district’s IT and instructional staff alike. In one case, a principal needed to get a student into a teacher’s Classroom, but the teacher was out. “It was so easy to look it up in Cloud Monitor and add them to the Class. That wouldn’t have been possible without it.”
Managing student safety presented another layer of complexity. Clinton already uses other tools like Blocksi for web content filtering, but Skip quickly found that Cloud Monitor surfaced different alerts. “The more information we can give to principals, the better. I want them to be able to act on things faster than I can—I don’t know the students the way they do.”
Results
Since deploying Cloud Monitor, Skip and his team have seen significant improvements in efficiency and capability. “It gives us visibility into Google Drive and Google Classroom, which Google itself doesn’t give you. That was a game-changer.”
One standout moment came when a student ran away from home. Skip used Cloud Monitor to pull IP address information from the student’s login history. That data helped locate the student and bring her home safely. “That was one of the proudest moments of my job,” Skip shares. “You never know—kids disappear in places like Kansas City all the time. Being able to help keep that from happening was pretty fantastic.”
“Cloud Monitor gives us the visibility into Google Workspace that Google itself doesn’t offer. From Gmail to Drive to Classroom, we finally have access to the tools we need to manage accounts and keep our students safe effectively.”
— Dr. Skip Cooley, Director of Technology, Clinton School District
Beyond emergency situations, Cloud Monitor also helps Skip’s team streamline day-to-day operations. “Within a day or two of setting up our free trial, we had an issue come up and were able to use it right away. We kept finding different uses for it throughout the 30-day trial and, by the end of the first week, we were sold.”
Partnering with ManagedMethods saves the district financially, as well. They found that they could replace some of their existing tools while gaining more comprehensive management capabilities.
“We get way more bang for our buck out of Cloud Monitor,” Skip says. “You get everything you need from Google’s paid tier from a security perspective, plus so much more.”
For Skip, the value is obvious: “100% worth the investment. It simplifies my job, gives us access to things we couldn’t see before, and helps us act faster when something’s wrong.”
His advice to other districts? “Do the trial. Once you use it, the value becomes very clear. If you’re responsible for managing Google, especially with a small team, you need Cloud Monitor.”
Want to learn more about how Cloud Monitor and Content Filter can improve your school’s cybersecurity and safety? Claim your free Google Workspace and/or Microsoft 365 security and safety audit today.
