School Websites

What are your reactions to the websites you looked at?

I enjoyed looking at the websites.  I generally look at websites from our area and those of similar size throughout the state.  I usually do not look at bigger ones like these that we looked at for our assignment.  It is interesting how some of them are updated regularly and some of them have certain areas that have not been updated in  a while.  I guess all schools are busy this time of the year.

Is a website like this useful to a school district?

I think every website was useful in one way or another.  With almost all of the websites, i found the infinite campus or the gradebook easly accessable so parents could check their child's grades.  i think that alone is useful. 

I had looked at Custer's in early 2000's for a college assignment and i had actually exchanged emails with their superintendent.  When Doland was looking into the 4-day school week, we went back to their site again as one of the many forms of information.

Is it worth the time and effort to establish and maintain such a website?
Yes, but the time and effort are the key things...  If a person is going to do it they must maintain it.  Under BV's supenotes, it had not been updated in a while.  I am sure not too many people look at that on a daily basis becuase of this.  it is nice for all school reunions, extra curricular activities and such to keep alumni up to date on current issues and reunions for the district.

What is the condition of your school’s website?
I think it needs to be updated more, and i have been on our tech coordinator about it.  Last spring we finally started to update some of our links.  We had links on their that had not been updated in years.  Our students have not been a "key" part of our website.  I have strongly encouraged more student pictures.  Afterall a school is about the students, so we want to focus on the kids and show more pictures of them.  Our school website is very informative and very easy to use.

What information should be included in a school website?
Where should we start and stop????  I think the infinite campus (access to gradebook), student pictures, lunch menus, breakfast menus, teacher's websites and email addresses, the school information, school history, school acitivities.  I could go on and on with sports schedules, daily announcements, handbooks, school calendar, testing schedules, Dakota STEP results, etc.

What role should the superintendent have with the school website?
My situation is a little different than most superintendents.  I am superintendent, K-12 principal, and athletic director.  So i am more involved in the school website than say most superintendents.

Should each teacher be required to have a link on the school website that contains information about their classes (such as assignments, web resources, etc)?
I dont know if a teacher should be "required," but i think teachers should be encouraged to have more information on the website whether that be a linke to their website or whatever.  If we expect students to use the internet, than we should expect our teachers to use it.
How can students be involved creating and maintaining a school website?
We have a student tech coordinator who helps with the webpage.  We also have "unassigned" students who keep us updated with ideas for the website.  I would like to find more ways to involve students in the process.  Our advanced computers class has looked at ways of doing maintaining the school website.