Bridget Newman is community relations coordinator for Orland School District 135 in Orland Park, Illinois, and a member of the Illinois chapter of the National School Public Relations Association.

As a board member, the decision of whether or not to revise a school district's website is one that may be brought to your attention. If the district is considering a redesign, board members may want a sense of the process involved.

Staff may want to consider redesigning the website for a number of reasons:

• They want to add features that a current program cannot provide;
• They want to allow multiple users to be able to contribute to the site; or
• They want a new look for the site.

In the case of Orland School District 135, all of the above were true.

Websites are an increasingly relied-upon source of information for the community and should reflect the professionalism of staff and the quality of educational programs in the district.

We used a community survey to ask about a variety of communications issues, with the primary focus on the website. Our results were clear: we needed a new look with enhanced capabilities and more intuitive navigation.

A website redesign will require additional staff time and money. Does the district have someone who can lead the effort? Has money been budgeted for the process?

When looking for ideas, school district websites from around the country can provide a wealth of information, including communication contest winners with the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA).

Once a work plan has been prepared, you may be consulted as board members to review the results of any surveys and examples of other district websites to get your ideas and questions. If you believe a change is needed, you can give your "blessing" to the process.

District 135 chose to work with a website redesign company. Our technology director advised on technical details for a request for proposal (RFP) and a call was put out.

In reviewing the proposals, some of the questions staff should ask are:

• What do they tell us about their history?
• Do they answer our questions?
• Do they contribute their own ideas?
• Are they thorough?
• Do they have a clear timeline?
• Do they have a plan once they've been hired?
• Do they have solid references?
• Are costs (before and after the launch) clear?

After the company was selected and a contract was signed, it took us 11 months working with our Web partner to design new navigation, features and a new look for our website. A small committee assisted with the design and use of staff Web pages.

Text from the old website will need to be reviewed with the appropriate individuals. Keeping a binder that includes every page of the old website will help maintain a record of the content. Our review of old site pages in the binder revealed many pages that had not been updated in years.

During the process, your staff will want to make certain they don't rush the process by setting impractical completion dates. While we had set a date for the new launch, as it approached I knew we were just not ready yet. Rather than rushing, we pushed the date back feeling it was better to launch the site fully populated and looking its best than sticking with an arbitrary date.

Communication is always key. Our launch date coincided with the last day before winter break, which we hoped would lead to talk in the community over the holidays. Data from the surveys was used to create a how-to list for parents, which was sent home a few days before the launch.

We also communicated with individuals who had suggested changes that we did not use, and told them why. This was a successful tactic. They were touched that we had truly listened, whether we took their suggestion or not. The "thank you's" to everyone involved in the redesign were very public, which helped the project feel like a community effort.

How we're doing

Google Analytics helps us monitor visits to our site: which pages are visited most frequently, how long users spend visiting the site, how many pages they look at while there, and whether they type in our URL directly, or find us through a search engine. The board receives updates on this monitoring every few months. As of September, we could report 131,000 visitors since our launch last December.

The highest day for traffic was a snow day, which reinforces our understanding that the website is becoming an increasingly important source of information.

In addition to becoming such a strong source for information, the new website saves time in day-to-day operations by decreasing the number of phone calls and e-mails we receive because parents can find their answers online. Additionally, communication is more open than ever.

The "contact us" page helps when a visitor has a question and doesn't know who to ask. The calendar is a great resource, and staff members have enjoyed hosting their own Web pages. The use of online forms has improved efficiency in several departments, and links to great Web resources for families have been well received.

The website is updated regularly, and we continue to listen to feedback from our community. A binder of comments and questions received through the site has helped tailor information.

The website redesign experience was a challenging one, but it was the good kind of challenge that feels truly rewarding.

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