Carmel Clay Schools updated its website during winter break to give users a better way to communicate with the schools and navigate the site. The website was last updated in 2008.
“One of the big differences this time around is that we’re working with Finalsite, and they focus in the educational market space,” said Christi Cloud, director of technology for CCS. “They’re designing a platform that all of their educational customers can take advantage of, whereas with our previous provider everything was custom designed for us.”
Website updates on custom-built sites can be time-consuming and expensive, so switching to the new platform saves money for the district. CCS paid $18,000 to set up the new site and will pay $58,455 annually to maintain it for five years. The previous site had an annual cost of $108,000 per year plus hosting fees.
“The biggest change is that it’s a much more modern and refined visual experience,” said Kate Masterson, CCS technology and data specialist. “The site itself is much more streamlined and mobile responsive, so the final site’s design will change based on the device that you’re accessing the site on. When you look at the site on a mobile phone, it’s going to change the layout to best match that device than that screen.”
The parent and student portal also has been changed.
“We’re now using the PowerSchool Parent Portal,” Cloud said. “We had already used it for grading, but now we’re making that information available to our community, our parents and students. Parents and students will really have a new experience, not only on the website, but also with their portal. It will be more responsive, have quicker information on grades and access to class information.”
Every school in the district will have a new site along with the Carmel Education Foundation and PTO.
For more, visit ccs.k12.in.us.
