Web site upgrade sought for schools

By Mary Carey
Staff Writer

Published on August 22, 2008

The town has a colorful new Web site, complete with a blog by the town manager, who uses his first entry to tout, in capital letters, "the best web site ever."

The question some parents and School Committee members have been asking is, "When are the schools going to get a new Web site?"

It's on the priority to-do list, Alton Sprague, the interim co-superintendent, told parents at the School Committee meeting last week, but it takes money to build a state-of-the art site and the budget is tight.

The Web site is one of a number of improvements the district is aiming to make, Sprague said. "If we had a windfall of money, we'd be moving fast."

Amherst School Committee Chairman Andrew Churchill has suggested that the administration not make choosing a designer an internal decision but involve interested parties, such as parents, who have repeatedly told the committee they think the site could use improvement.

Parents said they have checked the site to see what's on the agenda for School Committee meetings only to discover information that is not up-to-date.

A less than resounding 64 percent of Amherst Regional Middle School parents surveyed recently said the ARMS Web site keeps them well informed.

The district is looking for a new superintendent, and the Web site is the first thing prospective candidates are likely to check, Churchill said.

"From my perspective it's just kind of clunky. It's hard to find things," Churchill said.

"My sense is that you look at this Web site, it doesn't look like it's of this generation."

A visitor to www.arps.org first encounters a gray page with the title Amherst Regional Public Schools and the district's motto "Every Student. Every Day."

Under that, are photos of the seven schools in the district. Clicking on them takes the visitor to the schools' sites, which vary widely in presentation.

"It's not intuitive in terms of how you get information. It seems like if you look at good Web sites, it's easy to find your way through them," Churchill said.

"Part of it may be that we tried to put too many different categories of stuff up there without figuring out how there are going to be updates. I think you want to make sure that what's there is good and current and shows you off in your best light. It reflects the competence of the people behind it. It's our front door."

Some other district Web sites have what might be described as a more polished or streamlined look. Northampton's homepage at nps.northampton.ma.us lists the district's five goals in a white box, framed in royal blue with a montage of photos on top and a flashing box visitors can click for "Up-to-date school cancellation information." A click takes visitors to a list of links to the individual school sites, although the links were not working Friday afternoon.

South Hadley's homepage at shschools.com is a dramatic black with a tiger's face, a theme that carries through on the middle school's page, which features flashing silhouettes of a running tiger.

The two elementary sites are still under construction.

Easthampton's site at easthampton.k12.ma.us is characterized by a uniform look with a gray, white and maroon color scheme throughout and an online video, featuring the schools, teachers, students and Superintendent Debbie Carter.

"This is not a very high-cost Web site," Carter said.

"We have hardworking people in our district who have done the work." Rather than hire an outside vendor, it was created and maintained by technical staff and Shawn Sheehan, a chemistry teacher at the high school.

"He does not make a lot of money, but he puts in a lot of hours to do that work," Carter said.

Most of the feedback she has heard, she said, has been positive.

Carter agrees with Churchill that the Web site is a reflection of the schools. "It's a sign of the times. That doesn't mean you don't do print materials on top of it," she said. "People moving into a school system might check out the Web site. It's important."

Mary Carey can be reached at mary.carey@att.net.