School district launches new website
Garden City Public Schools launched a new, user-friendly website, www.gardencity.k12.ny.us, just in time for the start of the school year. The site retained the same web address, but offers many additional options. The custom template for the district’s eight home pages and 1,000 support pages utilizes a responsive design that adjusts the viewing size to many phone and tablet screens.
Parents will find a great deal of information under the “Parents” tab, consolidated in one location for ease of use. The new design also features a calendar app that can be uploaded to cell phones to enable parents to have up-to-the-minute calendar information for their child’s school. To upload this feature, parents should go to their child’s home school page, click on the “Calendar” heading on the right side of the maroon band, click on the green “iCal” button on the right side of the screen, and follow the directions. Parents with children in more than one school can choose additional school(s) by navigating to those home pages, or choose the entire calendar (all school activities) on the district site. There is a full screen notification feature for weather announcements, and the district’s Twitter feed, @GCUFSD, is posted on the district and buildings’ home pages.
Additional subscriptions to district and building web page features that can be accessed remotely are in the works, as is a free app for iOS and Android phones.
Starting in April, Technology Director Dr. Rita Melikian, worked with information technology specialist Keith Murdock, coordinator of public information Dr. Catherine Knight, high school library media specialist Margaux Calemmo, Advanced Placement art teacher Shawn Uttendorfer, and specialists from web-host company Schoolwires to create an attractive, user-friendly design. Much of the summer was spent migrating content from the previous site, populating the home pages, and training school staff.
Submitted by Garden City Public Schools
