Proper administration of classroom ChromeBooks?

[daa-adm-access]

Please forgive me, for this basic question?  Proper administration of classroom ChromeBooks?  Due to a number of unforeseen events, staff changes, etc., I am starting literally from scratch, given that I have no legacy information or resources to draw on.

I am (new) tech. admin/system admin. support for a small private school in California (U.S.A.), that have an inventory of ChromeBooks, that per my understanding are in dire need of evaluation, updates, maybe even replacement (possible end of life).

Technical issues I can handle, it is the administrative side that I am currently blind to.  For example, who or whom do I contact at Google Education(?) to find out what state our ChromeBook google profiles are in, even how we might gain administrative access to the profile configuration system?  User ids, passwords, etc., left with the change in staff, and no warm hand-offs were done apparently.  Yes, no doubt, mistakes were made.

Since the resources that once setup and maintained the ChromeBook environment are not available for any active assistance, so I am starting literally from scratch, both learning about this environment, and trying to get a handle on correct administration of same.

Any help greatly appreciated!  Very much so!

[Olger]

I would try to source a local consultant to help you get started.  You need lots of help now. It's going to cost. Engage someone for one or two weeks to start with, and extend as needed. They'll likely know who to contact at Google. If you have no admin passwords or any access to your Workspace, you'll likely need to prove ownership to Google, probably via your Principal or CEO, or Business Manager or whatever.

Make generous use of chatgpt or gemini. Or whatever your fav AI is.  You can ask it to explain stuff, upload screenshots (just be wary of PII in screenshots or sensitive data). It'll take some time.

Look on the bright side. You're going to be the hero. It sucks to be hired into a situation like yours, but you'll learn heaps and management will love you. Your resume will love you too.

[Michael_Roop]

I've had to do this about 4 times in the past 16 years and here are some tips I would give you:

1. be excited about this!  It will be a drag and you will often be tired from the process however feed off of it in a positive way.
2. identify what things you can accomplish during the school year, versus during holiday breaks or summer.  No big swings during the school year while students need their devices.  Always be communicative to your staff about your situation and what tweaks you make.
3. identify physically what devices you have and if they are assigned to students or to "carts"(groups of devices that have shared users).  You dont have to identify which students have which device at this step, you are just trying to establish a base line.  We often get a virtual whiteboard, diagram all of the buildings, diagram what "carts" are where as well as what 1-to-1 devices are there.
4. use a tool that pulls from your Google Admin Console the information for devices your district owns, who was the last person logged into it, when it was logged into, and what Google OU the device currently sits in.   DON'T be surprised if some of the devices you physically identified aren't reporting in the tool, districts often buy chromebooks outside of proper channels and just throw them into classrooms.  Personally my favorite tool for this is Chrome Gopher with the Gopher Buddy extension.  Each time I go into this type of situation it is my first purchase for the district, I use it for a year to clean up and then I revert it back to the unpaid version.
5. spend some time looking in GAC.  Identify how the OUs are set up for both the devices and for the student accounts. 
6. Create an OU in GAC called "Unknown Devices" and set it to disable the chromebooks with a message.  Once you have this set up, its easy to identify 30 chromebooks at a time, move the ones in that you are having trouble locating or identifying, and move them out when someone contacts you that a chromebook is now mysteriously locked out.
7. Start looking at the Devices-Chrome-Settings from the top level of the OU at what settings are in place and whether they are inherited or Custom for each OU level.  
8. Start looking at Devices-Chrome-Apps & Extensions and identify what apps are being pushed out at each level or as a Kiosk (am app that either autostarts when the chromebook boots up or resides in the bottom left corner of the sign in screen allowing use of an app without the user signing in.
9. Identify the Google/Chromebook level of your end users in general.  Everything you do needs to be relayed to the end user in a manner that they will understand.  

All of this is the timeline I use for my first month or two in a mystery district.  Always set goals for yourself that are reachable, use the district resources at hand to help (football teams and unpaid students are great with this if the district's leadership agrees), no wild swings your first year (I usually push out a cool background, install a small non-necessary app).

Sorry for the spewage, you can tell its something I am excited about...

[kaned]

Get your feet on the ground for basic management of users/devices.  Get access to the Google Admin console and figure out the basics for your school.  Understand the system(s) and how data flows (Active directory -> Google, etc).

I would then recommend an audit for your systems.  If Google is your primary users/computers then look for a Google Audit.  (CDWG/amplifiedit, WorkspaceAudit.com).  This will give you a baseline of where you are, top recommendations, and a 3rd party opinion on what should be changed and why.  You can then work on some goals with your administration on getting things set up following standards.

[Dean_Mantz]

I feel for you. We're here to help you as much as you need. Over time, I created a spreadsheet that lists all my students in grades 7-12, including the Chromebook, charger, vendor, year of purchase, AUE, and a link to the agreement form. Another sheet lists all of the extensions I add, along with the ID, to assist with troubleshooting. I have used the CDWG/Amplified IT audit myself. It was a nice start. Then I discovered https://appsedu.com/. This group and service have been very beneficial to many folks and a great community of support, too. 

[llennon]

The amount of knowledge and experience in this group is huge, as you can see from the responses already.

I would be more than happy to get on a meet with you and give you nay pointers I may have. I think your situation is not unique to education, but I do think each situation is unique enought to merit talking it through rather than trying to type out all the specifics.

I agree with others, that getting outside help is a very good idea. Don't pick the first company that you hear about just because you heard about them. Ask for references and check them. There are some shady players in the field.

[daa-adm-access]

Thank you everyone... this gets me started.  Yes, the very first step, is to the 'administrative' such that Google recognizes our ownership.  I guess worst case we just establish a new 'instance' go forward, would be a blank slate, but that might not be a bad scenario, since I suspect we have EOL issues with hardware, beyond the administrative challenges.

[Michael_Roop]

Just my take on that....  Work with Google and your business office and your superintendant (they will probably want some other items like your school website) to reestablish your current connection.  Starting from scratch would remove all access you have to the chrome  devices as they (should be) enrolled to the domain and it's hard to reclaim those without the exact same identifications needed to reclaim a domain.

also, take the time to establish a superuser account (not a specific person) for the domain after you get that all cleared up so that those coming behind you benefit from your experience...