Why Your Child's School Website Looks Completely Different Today

If you haven't logged on to the Troy School District's website lately, you may be in for a big surprise the next time you visit www.troy.k12.mi.us.

That's because the  received a dramatic online facelift Friday afternoon when administrators quietly implemented a new user-friendly content management system across all the district's school websites.

"We created a template and updated each school's site with a new mascot and school colors," Troy School District spokesperson Kerry Birmingham said. "It's totally more intuitive."

Besides the new clean, crisp appearance and a uniform template across all the sites, there are several more features Birmingham said parents will appreciate, including the ability to sign in and access Edline information for students in grades 4-12 without having to leave the site. 

"It's one-stop shopping," she said. "This is completely integrated." 

Birmingham said navigating within and between school websites is now much faster and easier, too. A new navigation bar across the top of all sites allows users to easily access school calendars, lunch menus, student and parent information, athletics information and links to other district resources. 

By using the new content management system, Birmingham said each school's webmaster will still have some creative control over the school's website while still maintaining a uniform and professional appearance across all sites in the district. 

"Before, everybody did their own thing," Birmingham said. "Now, no matter what page you're on, you know you're in the Troy School District. That was important to the Board."

Also important to the Board of Education was keeping costs down, which Birmingham said they accomplished with flying colors by using the content management system offered by Edline, which the district already uses to provide student information to parents of children in grades 4-12. 

"We couldn't see spending $50,000 on a redesign," she said. "We were able to do this for almost nothing, and we don't have to pay anything extra for hosting. ... It's incredibly cost effective."

Birmingham said the total cost of the year-long project came to roughly $5,000, which included paying an artist to design or redesign a logo or mascot for each school. "They were able to pick exactly what they wanted and the school's website was based on that," she said.

Ultimately, the goal of the redesign was to make sharing information with parents, students and staff easier, Birmingham said. 

"We wanted to do this so it's easy and simple to use. ... It's really important to communicate as clearly and easily as we can with parents." 

What do you think of the redesigned website? Leave a comment below!