ManagedMethods helps this Pennsylvania district move from manual Google Drive audits to efficient, real-time protection without adding staff
Oley Valley School District, nestled in southeastern Pennsylvania, supports around 1,500 students across three schools. As the district’s Director of Technology, Jim Rothenberger is responsible for all aspects of technology delivery, including but by no means limited to cybersecurity, which is no small task for his team of two, plus one part-time employee.
The district relies on Google Workspace for Education for everything from student assignments and classroom learning to staff communication and district information storage. “We’ve been in the Google environment since 2011,” Jim shares. “It’s a fantastic tool for collaboration and productivity, but it comes with some security blind spots that many K12 teams aren’t fully aware of—especially in Drive.”
To strengthen their Google Workspace security, Jim and his colleagues at Oley Valley turned to ManagedMethods’ Cloud Monitor platform.
Challenges
Before implementing Cloud Monitor, Jim struggled with a lack of visibility into what was happening in Google Drive.
“I had zero visibility into Drive file sharing—what users were sharing, externally or internally, who they were sharing with, and what type of content was going around,” he explains. “We just didn’t have a good way of managing that.”
Beyond the lack of visibility, their existing process for identifying and responding to issues was highly manual and time-consuming. “We would only find problems when someone reported them,” Jim says. “By the time we got involved, the issue had already happened. It was reactive and inefficient.”
“ManagedMethods doesn’t just sell you a product—they make sure you’re getting value from it on an ongoing basis. Their customer success team regularly checks in, runs audits, and helps me uncover things I didn’t even know I could do.”
— Jim Rothenberger, Director of Technology, Oley Valley School District
Managing sharing permissions was another challenge. Jim notes, “Google’s admin tools are not set up to give you a clean, real-time look at Drive activity. You’re hunting through audit logs and piecing things together. That’s not sustainable, especially for a small team.”
Results
Since deploying Cloud Monitor, Oley Valley has transformed its approach to cloud security and student safety.
“Now, I get alerts instantly when there’s something that shouldn’t be happening—like if a student is sharing something inappropriate or if there’s sensitive data going out,” Jim says. “It gives me that peace of mind that I’m not flying blind anymore.”
Cloud Monitor enables Jim to easily monitor Google Drive sharing, including files shared outside the district and risky behavior involving personally identifiable information or explicit content. “It’s incredibly easy to drill down into a user’s activity and see what’s going on. I can take action right away—no more digging through logs.”
“Before Cloud Monitor, we had zero visibility into what students were sharing in Google Drive. Now, I get alerts the moment something concerning happens—and I can take action right away.”
— Jim Rothenberger, Director of Technology, Oley Valley School District
What used to be a reactive, hours-long process is now automatic and proactive. “It saves me time and helps protect our students and staff,” he explains. “Cloud Monitor acts like a second set of eyes on our environment, which I can’t put a price on.”
Jim also finds that the more he uses the platform, the more value he uncovers. “The more I dig into it, the more I find things I can do—features that are new or that I didn’t know were there that help me do my job better,” he says.
He especially appreciates the proactive support from the ManagedMethods customer success team. “They’ll reach out and say, ‘Hey, let’s do an audit,’ and every time I learn something new,” Jim shares. “They’re not just waiting for me to ask for help—they make sure I’m getting the most out of the platform. That’s rare, and it really stands out.”
Jim encourages other districts to consider how Cloud Monitor can help improve their cybersecurity and safety processes.
“Nobody has extra people sitting around to look into stuff. Cloud Monitor makes your operations more efficient, saves time, and gives you capabilities you wouldn’t otherwise have. I recommend ManagedMethods to anyone looking to improve their district’s Google security and student safety.”
Want to learn more about improving your district’s cybersecurity, student safety, and classroom engagement?
Get started with your free Google Workspace and/or Microsoft 365 security and safety audit today.
