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The operations of Wylie ISD were majorly disrupted when the pandemic hit. Fortunately, director of information services James Matthews was there to keep things running.

At the beginning of the 2021–22 school year, one problem that arose was the time-consuming process of notifying parents and staff of all positive COVID cases. The process took health services staff up to four hours after the school day—but using the Contact Tracing tool, James helped reduce the process to an hour or less. Because it was so streamlined, campus leaders were able to take over sending the notifications. Word spread of James’ solution, and he became a resource for other districts in the area as well.

James has always been selfless with his time, putting his Skyward expertise to work to solve just about any problem. For instance, he helped HR create a seamless workflow for hiring staff. He also ensured the counseling team had an efficient way to document student visits and an effective notification mechanism in place for students who need extra support. He trained the student nutrition staff on the student health alert capabilities and how to make point-of-service functionality the most efficient it can be. Curriculum, finance, CTE . . . the list of departments James serves goes on, encompassing just about all of them in the district.

James's presence is invaluable. He works through problems patiently and often comes up with never-before-considered solutions. He saves his coworkers time and eases their frustrations—even if they don't always know it because he has simply set up Skyward to make things happen for them!

Because of his hard work in Skyward and his willingness to help others, James makes Wylie ISD a better place to be.

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