As @bentoms mentioned it sounds like you would benefit from the USB
ethernet trick. I use it often to reset passcodes on devices that get
disabled or forgotten. iOS disables WiFi (don't ask me why) after a cold
boot until the device is unlocked.
Technically these apps are only free to the initial owner of devices
purchased in the last couple of years and it determines this by the
first Apple ID used on that device. Apple recognizes this can be a
problem in an enterprise or institution and so...
I want to do this but am just starting to look into the options. Our
Skyward user credentials are also different than our AD (eventually I
would like to get them tied to LDAP, but that might be quite a while yet
before I have time). Have you come up ...