School district websites are often the first point of contact for parents, students and the community. With technology advancing so quickly, however, too many of us are still using older sites that lack modern capabilities, user-friendly functionalities and mobile responsiveness—not to mention the required ADA compliance.
Our site was used regularly by administrators, teachers, families and the community but needed an upgrade and improvements. It’s kind of like when you have a beautiful garden that’s overgrown with weeds and you don’t know what to do with it.
These are just some of the key issues we were running into with our website that we decided to tackle last year at the same time we put our new ParentSquare school-home communications platform in place. The vendor also offers the integrated Smart Sites website tool, which we knew would give us a single platform for all communications.
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We knew what we wanted from our new site and we used that criteria to vet different options before making our final decision. Here are five things that topped our evaluation list:
1. A clean slate. Smart Sites helped us rethink what we wanted our website to be and figure out how to improve upon our existing site. It gave us a clean slate when it came to accessibility.
Instead of trying to implement different applications on top of something that already existed—and clean up things we probably didn’t even need in the first place—we were able to start from the ground up and build our way into a better system overall.
2. Cover the bases with compliance. As a school district, we’re bound by federal laws and guidelines. We must have a website that everyone can access and use. Today, our website is mobile-responsive and ADA compliant, both of which were top priorities for us.
3. User-friendly interface. We didn’t want to have to use HTML coding to make simple edits to the district or school websites. Our site editors work from different schools and appreciate the new website’s user-friendly interface and ease of use.
We have people at different levels and technology skill levels touching the website. It was easy to train everyone on how to do everything from quick text updates to more involved tasks.
4. Consistent branding across the district. Branding is critical to us. We want people to feel “connected” to the district across all touchpoints. A modern, engaging website supports this goal and ensures that the materials presented reflect a consistent brand message.
Today, our district logo and colors are prominently featured on the website, where individual schools also display their unique logos and colors. We’re all tied together and the same cohesiveness is evident in the site content that is published both on the district’s site and across all school sites.
5. A streamlined experience for everyone. Another big must-have was the integration between the website and our communications platform, which allows users to post once and then check a box to have that post uploaded to the district website. That’s been critical for sharing our messages.
We also have an updated calendar, high-quality photos and easy navigation. People can find things quickly without having to search all over the website to find the information that they need. And in case of a weather alert or other emergency, we can use pop-up alerts to quickly broadcast important information.
Getting everyone involved
On our website, we now also have a “Get Involved” area that we use to encourage family involvement and engagement. It was a conscious decision to make that a navigational point on the site and we continue to expand on that.
We also have a fairly comprehensive news section for both the district and individual schools, where we post newsletters and other types of information that our families and community have come to rely on. We’re also continuing to explore other enhancements to our website—such as its intranet capabilities—as we further hone our school-home communication strategy.
