How Lake Washington School District
turned a required tool change into a classroom win
When Lake Washington School District prepared to replace Dyknow, the district set one firm condition: teachers could not lose the tools they had come to depend on. After a side-by-side proof of concept, LWSD chose Securly Classroom, launched it at the end of the 2025-26 school year, and had teachers running classes in it before fall. Within a week and a half of the pilot, teachers were already asking for more. Today, about half of the district's weekly class sessions start automatically from the bell schedule.
Lake Washington School District, Redmond, WA LWSD covers 76 square miles east of Seattle and serves the cities of Kirkland, Redmond, and about half of Sammamish. The district enrolls roughly 31,000 students.
At a glance
Featured voice
Matt Palmer, Director of Technology
Amy Holliday, Digital Application Instructional Alignment Specialist
Kiehl Smit, Technology Project Manager II
Lee Hammers, Technology Integration Specialist
By the numbers
LWSD ran a short, focused proof of concept in the spring, rolled Securly Classroom out at the end of the school year, and opened fall with teachers already comfortable in the platform.
In a single week, about half of all class sessions started automatically from the bell schedule.
Pilot teachers went from their first login to asking for more in a week and a half or less.
Teachers started the 2026-27 school year with Securly Classroom already in place.
On an average school day, 455 Lake Washington teachers use Securly Classroom.
"During our pilot, it was immediately clear that this was a big change for teachers, but it was a good big change. " — Amy
Challenge
A replacement had to keep everything teachers relied on
Lake Washington teachers had used Dyknow for years, and the district’s technology team knew any change to a daily classroom tool would be felt immediately. The team wanted to be sure teachers wouldn’t lose any of the functionality they relied on when moving to Securly Classroom. Securly extended Dyknow support, and LWSD paused the project while it rolled out other district initiatives and protected teachers from having to deal with too many changes at once.
By the time the district returned to the decision, Securly Classroom had grown into what LWSD had been waiting for.
"Securly had time to do all the things we were hoping they would do." — Amy
The district's standard for a replacement stayed the same throughout: full functionality, on day one.
"The biggest thing for us was that we did not want teachers to lose any functionality they had grown dependent on, because you will hear about it immediately" — Amy
LWSD also needed district-level control. Its technology team wanted to manage shared access plans for teachers, the way it had managed blocking plans in Dyknow, while still giving teachers the freedom to build their own.
Solution
A proof of concept that made the choice clear
LWSD tested multiple classroom management tools side by side, giving teachers a few weeks with each one and a break in between. Amy Holliday went in open to every option.
"When we were first looking at multiple options, there was a sense that Securly was probably going to be the most seamless transition. I thought maybe there's something else out there, and it turns out Securly was still the best option for us. Our pilot really showed that too." — Amy
Securly's team stayed close throughout the pilot. Midway through, Securly requested a check-in with the district, heard what was working, and made adjustments before the next round began.
"You were able to fix things in the moment, so the next round went even better. That showed us immediate responsiveness, and it was a really good sign that Securly would be great to work with." — Amy
For Kiehl Smit, who managed the project, the proof of concept laid the groundwork for everything that followed.
"Your ability to work with us through an entire proof of concept phase was the basis for our successful full adoption. We learned a lot in that process. We created really usable access plans and a whole bunch of other things to help our teachers succeed." — Kiehl
District control, teacher flexibility
In Securly Classroom, LWSD's technology team builds district-level access plans that work much like Dyknow's blocking plans. Teachers can use those curated plans as they are, or copy one and adjust it for their own class.
Training built for Lake Washington teachers
Amy and Lee Hammers led the teacher rollout, creating resources and organizing trainings, including sessions led by Securly trainer David. Rather than a one-size-fits-all session, the team tailored training to help teachers carry their familiar Dyknow routines into the new tool.
"The guides and videos Securly had weren't consistent across the board with the other products we looked at. They made it easier for teachers to learn about the new things that weren't in Dyknow." — Lee
"The feedback we got on the training was really positive" — Amy
From the classroom
Teachers adopted Securly Classroom almost immediately
Feedback started arriving in the first week of the pilot. By week two, teachers at Redmond Middle School were writing in about features they loved.
"By week two, we were hearing from Redmond Middle School: 'I love that we have chat. This is huge.' Within a week and a half, teachers were already saying, 'This is great. I love this thing.'" — Amy
Auto start: visibility that runs on the bell schedule
Auto start, which launches Securly Classroom sessions from a teacher's or building's bell schedule, has quickly become one of the most used features in the district. In one recent week, about half of all sessions ran as auto start sessions.
"Even if a teacher isn't actively launching a session, if something comes to us about student behavior, we can look in Securly and see the sites students were on. It's giving us so much more information about what our kids are using, which is really valuable, especially in the current climate around what kids are doing on screens." — Amy
Built for the realities of a school day
Several Securly Classroom features filled gaps LWSD had lived with for years.
"Sub access was a huge win. We did not have that with Dyknow. And admins can override the automatic scheduling for testing days and things like that." — Lee
Matt Palmer points to Securly Classroom's observation groups and co-teacher roles, which let district staff see what is happening in classes and respond quickly, whether that means looping in a principal or asking the filtering team to adjust a block.
"The [observation groups] allowed other users to engage with the system. Having a co-teacher admin added a lot of value. Everything else stayed the same, and adding that was a big win for us." — Matt
District-level control has also made fixes fast. When an issue surfaced with Edge's new tab page, the technology team added an allowed site and pushed it out to teachers' plans in one step. LWSD is now exploring link collections, which update automatically inside every plan that uses them, including plans teachers have copied and customized.
Outcomes
A fast rollout with no big surprises
LWSD launched Securly Classroom at the end of the 2025-26 school year and had it ready for teachers before fall. For the team that ran the rollout, the speed never came at the cost of support.
"We launched this really quickly at the end of last school year. We got the support we needed, and it rolled out in time for the school year to start. I don't have any big negative takeaways, honestly." — Lee
"At the project manager level, it was one of those projects that felt too good to be true. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop all the time, and instead, Nate [Securly] caught all those shoes." — Kiehl
Responsiveness teachers can feel
When a teacher needs help, they need it in the moment. LWSD's team credits Securly's Solutions Engineering and Customer Success teams with keeping pace.
"Anytime we reach out, we hear back almost immediately from the Securly team." — Lee
"Your team's willingness to keep engaging with us at a really rapid pace has been really helpful. When a teacher reaches out to us, they need help right then. You've been a huge part of making it a seamless transition for us." — Amy
A partner in the work
For Matt, the partnership matters as much as the product, especially as families and teachers pay closer attention to how students spend time online.
"It really felt like Securly was in it with us, and willing to help us make sure we can provide the best educational experience for kids. If other districts know Securly will be there side by side along the way, I think that would be very compelling and reassuring." — Matt
Advice for other Dyknow districts
What Lake Washington would tell a district starting the move
LWSD's team returns to three things: test with real teachers, tailor the training, and lean on the Securly team.
"Having something that functioned and functioned well was our number one goal, and Securly was able to make that happen." — Amy
Kiehl recommends building training around how your teachers already work. In a district where teachers had years of Dyknow habits, the team found that showing teachers how each familiar routine translates into Securly Classroom worked better than a single blanket session.
"A blanket training is not usually best, at least for our district. We wanted to take those habits and bring them into the current tool." — Kiehl
And for any district weighing the timing, Lee and Amy point to the support that made a fast transition possible.
"The support you provided and the resources you had made our job so much easier to roll it out to teachers." — Lee
About Securly Classroom
Securly Classroom is Securly’s classroom management tool, part of Securly safetyOS. Securly Classroom serves more than 3,700 schools and districts and over 225,000 teachers. Teachers can guide student devices, keep students focused, chat with students, and schedule sessions to start automatically.
Over the past year, Securly has added more than 25 new features to Classroom, including integration with Securly AI Transparency, which gives teachers visibility into student AI use, as well as integration with Securly Pass.
Securly Classroom is fully WCAG 2.2 compliant and meets the highest industry standards for data privacy.
Dickinson High School + Securly Flex
How Dickinson brought tutoring into the school day — no bus ride required
Gator Time gives all 3,810 students in-day intervention, lifting Biology STAAR retester passing from 25% to 76%.
Learn more
Tahoe Truckee USD + Securly Reveal
How Tahoe Truckee turned screen time anxiety into community trust
Seven months of Reveal data showed families exactly how devices are used in class — turning one parent's concern into district-wide transparency.
Learn more