By Travis Reems
Filed Wednesday, November 1 at 1:45 PM
The St. Louis Public Schools today rolled out a redesigned website which is highlighted by improved graphics, more user friendly navigation tools, and information for all audiences.
"Our Information Technology department worked very hard redesigning the website, making sure that it includes all of the information needed for our students, parents, and community members. The redesigned website includes press releases on the home page, a master calendar of events for the entire district, along with information on all of our 93 schools," said Dr. Diana Bourisaw, Superintendent of Schools.
Some of the features of the new website include:
"Our goal is to continue to expand our online services in an effort to communicate better with our students, their families, and the community," Dr. Bourisaw.
The website continues to list all district job postings, information on contracts that are available for bidding, and a phone directory listing all St. Louis Public Schools employees.
6 Comments:
I continue to be amazed at the number of new websites created in 2006 that fail to include RSS feeds. Email updates is so 1998.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006 2:40:00 PM
amen to that.
I scratched my head at the magnet school faq being in pdf form...then when I actually downloaded it my head exploded. It's in six-point (maaaybe eight) type, one-column on a *landscape* page...with no paragraph breaks.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006 2:54:00 PM
Steve:
RSS is a wonderful tool for what amounts to a single page with constantly updating content (blogs). Having an RSS feed makes no sense for websites that aren't blogs as websites, unlike blogs, are large and deeply developed. That type of structure doesn't yield itself to push distribution, such as RSS.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006 4:32:00 PM
I am shocked to see that, at least according to the website, Gary Hughey has returned as COO. Wishful thinking, I guess.
Thursday, November 02, 2006 3:50:00 PM
Like Steve, I was also disappointed in the lack of RSS support. While this is a common approach for blogs, its also an ideal approach to news distribution. SLPS missed a great opportunity to utilize this approach in enabling easy access to news items.
However, I do support their use of email updates. Currently, integrated RSS browser support is limited, at least with respect to the majority of users (IE 6).
More importantly, by utilizing email "push" to get the information out, parents might be more inclined to read the message as opposed to having to actively take a look at the RSS feed.
As far as the re-design is concerned, its "ok"; however, content is king. Hopefully we'll see a ramp-up in available information.
Personally, I'd really like to see budget and attendance information.
Thursday, November 02, 2006 5:12:00 PM
I have found the new website helpful and user friendly. Now, I hope that we will review, repair when possible, and upgrade where necessary technology and communication systems school by school. In some schools we have very antiquated phone systems. In others, lots of computer hardware that is not being used adequately or not usable at all. For several years now, I have heard parents and teachers talking about the need to be able to communicate more efficiently or at least leave a voice mail, the need for homework hotlines, etc. Each school, with their School Improvement Committee and technology person, concerned parents, knowledgable students, etc needs to do a school specific study and let central office know what they need, and what their priorities are, and yes, probably come up with some strategies to help finance these changes and improvements. Oh, and possibly most importantly, when new things are installed or upgrades made... adequate and mandatory inservice to a team of school-based staff needs to happen with on-going customer service (troubleshooting) available. The information highway should not stop at 801!
Wednesday, November 15, 2006 9:59:00 AM
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