Quantifying impact: Driving student support with data
Meet Sarah McGraw-Thimmes, MHA, BSN, RN, District Health Coordinator at Lancaster City Schools. Sarah's journey into nursing began early. She started working in the ER at 18. After earning her bachelor’s degree in nursing and completing a critical care fellowship, she transitioned into community health and eventually school nursing.
Joining Lancaster City Schools, Sarah's commitment to student wellbeing quickly propelled her into leadership roles. Her dedication to improving care standards has driven her to the administrative position she holds today, where she continues to champion comprehensive student health initiatives. Overseeing the health services team, she ensures that all students receive the holistic support they need to thrive.
"My position is constantly evolving," Sarah explained. "I have a strong belief that any student can attend school, regardless of their medical situation. We have students who have come to school on a ventilator…it’s nice to know we can accommodate that all the way through. Every student is entitled to a free and appropriate education."
Before using August Schools, Lancaster City Schools tried to manage health records with their existing Student Information Systems (SIS). They had recently transitioned to PowerSchool which didn’t have the health components Sarah needed.
"We spend a lot of time doing vision/hearing screenings, making sure students’ immunizations are in compliance, and a lot of times what a particular state requires is different from one state to another," Sarah noted.
The district had to submit annual reports to the state, and PowerSchool was not set up to meet Ohio's specific requirements.
Given these limitations, Sarah received approval from her superintendent to look for software that would be compatible with PowerSchool. After a year of research and evaluation, Sarah decided on August Schools.
"August was great to work with. They really built our system to meet our needs."
"One of the things that really attracted us was that [August] had not only a physical health component but also a behavioral health component," Sarah explained.
Previously, information about students' mental health needs often did not follow them as they transitioned between schools or when new staff were hired. August Schools offered an integrated platform that allowed for both physical and mental health documentation, ensuring continuity of care.
Sarah and her team worked closely with August Schools through the spring and summer to tailor the platform to their needs.
"One thing that has been really helpful too is that I know [August] has a school nurse on staff, so they get what school nurses are wanting," she said.
The August platform provided new, eye-opening data for the district.
"When our district superintendent was able to run these reports, on average, our social workers and family support coordinators were interacting with 33% of the student population," Sarah shared.
“It was so nice to finally be able to quantify that…you can show the validity of what we’re doing.”
This data helped justify the district's investment in additional staff, including full-time health assistants in each clinic and more family support coordinators.
“[Administrators] were shocked that we have all these visits to the clinic because they’re not in the clinic everyday. Our assistant superintendent shared the data not only with our superintendent but also to all the administrators and our school board. When you have individuals who are actually impacting this many students in your building, that’s huge.”
Data from August on how many students were coming into the health clinic and why they were visiting helped administrators understand the crucial role of the nursing team.
Sarah loves the custom reports she can generate with August, which proved especially valuable during this year's district audit.
"The auditors were blown away that I had these reports ready for them. They didn’t have to spend what used to take an entire school day. Two people came to audit the records but because of how detailed our reports were they were able to fly through it in a couple of hours. The auditors said, ‘why doesn’t every school have August?’”
Access to real-time chat support is significant for the Lancaster teams.
Sarah shared,
“I love that we can ask questions in real time. We can click on the question mark in the app and ask a question if we’re stuck.”
Sarah’s teams don’t have to come to her with every question, they can message the August Support Team directly through the chat and talk to someone in a matter of minutes.
"For these students who transition from preschool to elementary, elementary to junior high, junior high to high school, their information is now in one place…Everyone was using their own system in the past so it’s nice that now it’s all housed within August Schools.”
The centralized system ensures that information follows students as they transition through different school levels, preventing the loss of critical data if staff members leave.
“If it’s in a notebook and that staff member leaves, that information leaves with the staff member, so we’re really trying to keep everything in August and make sure the appropriate people have access to that information.”
Sarah collaborated with the August team to establish permissions and role access, ensuring student data privacy while enabling her teams to collaborate effectively and support students with the highest standard of care.
The adoption of August Schools at Lancaster City Schools has transformed health data management, enhancing efficiency, coordination, and the overall quality of student support. With data at her fingertips, Sarah can now effectively demonstrate the significant impact her student support teams have on the wellbeing of the Lancaster City student community and ensure that every student receives the support they deserve.