A Smarter Approach to Google Cybersecurity & Student Safety at Compass Charter Schools – Source: securityboulevard.com

ManagedMethods Helps Compass’s IT Team Save Time While Keeping Data Secure and Students Safe

Compass Charter Schools are fully online TK-12 public charter schools in California. Compass serves about 2,400 students and employs 215 faculty and staff. From a technology standpoint, the schools rely heavily on Google Workspace for Education for instruction, communication, and collaboration.

To help ensure student safety and cybersecurity in its Google environment, the school’s IT team, led by Director of IT Krisha Moeller, implemented ManagedMethods’ Cloud Monitor and Content Filter platforms.

“We needed a solution that could provide a holistic view of our environment— in both Google Workspace and Chrome—while allowing us to drill down into specific alerts,” Krisha explains.

Challenges

Before adopting ManagedMethods, the technology team at Compass experienced challenges monitoring data security threats and student safety risks in Google Workspace. 

“Before ManagedMethods, monitoring Google Workspace for security threats and student safety was time-consuming and inefficient. Now, Cloud Monitor and Content Filter make it easy to track alerts, control data sharing, and proactively address online risks. The support team is fantastic, and they truly listen to our needs.”

— Krisha Moeller, Director of IT, Compass Charter Schools

“We had data loss prevention rules set up in Admin console, but it requires you to create filters that you have to manually sort through to find rule violations in each category, which is time-consuming and cumbersome,” Krisha recalls. “We wanted a more holistic view of alerts and rule category violations that would help us determine the overall health of our domain.” 

For example, the team struggled to detect files in their Google Drive and Shared Drive that were shared inappropriately. This is a concern for all schools, as it can create FERPA violations and impact student data privacy and security.

It was also tough for Krisha’s IT team to detect student safety concerns in areas like Google Docs and emails. And they couldn’t easily grant appropriate access to non-IT staff, such as counselors, without overwhelming them with unnecessary alerts or giving them too much access to admin controls.

Results

Since implementing ManagedMethods’ Cloud Monitor and Content Filter platforms, Compass has significantly improved its ability to monitor and respond to cybersecurity and student safety concerns. 

“With ManagedMethods, we finally have a solution that gives us both a holistic view of our cybersecurity and the ability to drill down into specific alerts when needed. The flexibility to assign access based on roles means our IT team can focus on cybersecurity while counselors handle student safety concerns directly, streamlining our entire process.”

— Krisha Moeller, Director of IT, Compass Charter Schools

Cloud Monitor provides a streamlined, detailed alert system, allowing IT and counseling teams to collaborate efficiently. “It makes the process of overseeing rule violations and alerts much easier and less time-consuming,” says Krisha. 

The school has found a more effective way to evaluate and control Google Drive sharing settings, preventing unauthorized access to sensitive documents. Additionally, response times to student safety incidents have improved, with Cloud Monitor helping to detect and escalate two student-in-crisis situations shortly after implementation.

Impressed by Cloud Monitor’s effectiveness, Krisha decided to explore Content Filter, a cloud-based web content filtering platform. After a demo, she quickly saw its potential in keeping her students safe online, especially as the schools transitioned to 1:1 Chromebooks. 

The product proved to be a great fit for the Chromebook-based online learning at Compass. Content Filter provides necessary visibility into risky online activities and reinforces safety measures. It can also be configured to assign custom roles to different users based on what they need to be alerted about. At Compass, that means allowing the IT team to focus on administration and cybersecurity while counselors handle student safety alerts. 

Content Filter also provides chat moderation, which captures inappropriate communications and provides insights to curb negative behaviors, such as cyberbullying.

“We have a Minecraft club that has a chat function. We also allow students to use Google Chat with their classes. These spaces are challenging to moderate. We had a case where there were some issues with kids bullying one another in the Minecraft chat. They requested transcripts, but we couldn’t get them,” Krisha recalls. “But with Content Filter, we now get insights into these interactions and can proactively address situations like bullying and students in crisis.”

One of the key advantages of ManagedMethods’ Cloud Monitor and Content Filter platforms is their flexibility and ease of use across different teams. 

“ManagedMethods has transformed how we protect our students and data. Not only does it save us valuable time, but it also ensures that our counselors have immediate access to critical student safety alerts, allowing us to intervene faster and more effectively. If you’re looking for a better, more efficient way to secure your Google Workspace and keep your students safe online, give ManagedMethods a try!”

— Krisha Moeller, Director of IT, Compass Charter Schools

The IT team uses the platforms to oversee cybersecurity threats, manage configurations, and enforce data protection policies. At the same time, the counseling team uses the platforms to monitor student safety alerts. Krisha can configure their roles to only access student safety alerts rather than being required to grant full admin access to the entire platform.

“Previously, we had to manually forward flagged concerns to the counseling team, which was inefficient. Now, they have direct access to the alerts relevant to them, allowing for quicker interventions and more streamlined workflows,” Krisha explains. This division of responsibilities ensures that cybersecurity and student safety are prioritized by the teams with the proper expertise to handle situations.

Krisha also benefits from ManagedMethods’ excellent customer support and continuous product improvements based on user feedback. “Their support team is fabulous. They even implemented a feature we suggested within days,” she shares. 

For Compass Charter Schools, Cloud Monitor and Content Filter have become essential tools for maintaining a safe and secure digital learning environment. 

“ManagedMethods has transformed how we protect our students and data. Not only does it save us valuable time, but it also ensures that our counselors have immediate access to critical student safety alerts, allowing us to intervene faster and more effectively,” says Krisha. “If you’re looking for a better, more efficient way to secure your Google Workspace and keep your students safe online, give ManagedMethods a try!”

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.

Original Post URL: https://securityboulevard.com/2025/03/a-smarter-approach-to-google-cybersecurity-student-safety-at-compass-charter-schools/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-smarter-approach-to-google-cybersecurity-student-safety-at-compass-charter-schools

Category & Tags: Security Bloggers Network,California,Cloud Monitor,Content Filter,Customer Stories,Customer Success Stories,Google Workspace – Security Bloggers Network,California,Cloud Monitor,Content Filter,Customer Stories,Customer Success Stories,Google Workspace

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