Rockford Public Schools

Needs:

• Easy to use public-facing website
• Consistent organization of information for district and schools
• Easy to use content editing tools for non-programmers to update site

Challenges:

The Rockford Public Schools website needs to be a source of information about the district and over 45 schools for multiple audiences -- students, parents, teachers, staff and community members. Information needs to be organized and presented in consistent ways to make it easy for site visitors to find what they need. Because each school has information and events they want to post on the site, content editing needs to be easy and flexible enough for trained school staff to use while maintaining consistent site-wide standards.
 

Solution:

Avastone Technologies designed and implemented a custom SharePoint-based website for Rockford Public Schools (http://www2.rps205.com/) that organized content for visitors based on who they are -- students, parents, staff or community members. A custom-designed rotating image on the home page highlights important activities for the district and a calendar that can be filtered by type of event makes it easy for visitors to find time and location details.
 
A secure log in for district and school staff integrates with the district systems to minimize administrative time establishing and maintaining log-ins. Staff who are authorized to make updates to the site can do so from anywhere they have web access which makes is easier for them to keep the site up-to-date.

Impact:

• Site was recognized as a "Top SharePoint" site
• Visitors can find information easily
• Content is updated regularly