New Web site online for Berkley schools

 

By Jennie Miller

C & G Staff Writer

     BERKLEY — Ease and opportunity will soon spring from the keys of a computer as Berkley School District overhauls its Web site with $18,000 worth of new and improved software.

     The Board of Education approved the purchase of the RCS Web engine at its meeting Dec. 13 after a presentation by district technology and curriculum steward Judy Nichols and Larry Gallagher, the district’s director of operations and finance.

     “Our current system is a cumbersome tech tool to work with,” Nichols said. “Our Web site is the district’s face in the community, and our resource to communicate within the district with our staff, students and parents. A new, updated system will open up a burst of new opportunities to work with.”

     The purchased system is the product of years of research and evolution by Rochester Community Schools, which worked with engineers and consultants to develop the format that can now be reconfigured for any school district.

     “This new Web engine will thoroughly update the capabilities of our system,” Gallagher said. “Under the new site, every staff member of the Berkley School District will have the opportunity to create his or her own Web page. It will increase the quality and scope of what we can carry. It will be a much more viable, active site.”

     School district officials share in the enthusiasm for this new technology tool.

     “We’d love to get more staff members involved,” said Superintendent Tresa Zumsteg.

     The current Web site is an off-the-rack commercial piece, Nichols said, with one Web master who controls every link and updates to the system. John Dow, an Anderson School teacher, took on the reins as Web master several years ago.

     “Without him, we wouldn’t even have a Web site,” Nichols said of the exemplary work Dow has done.

     But through this new system, Dow’s job will be much easier, and individual teachers will be able to create their own world on the Web for their students.

     “We want every teacher to be represented on the Web in some way,” Nichols said. “There are a significant number of staff members who are so enthusiastic about this and have been for a long time. Once the district sees how simple this is to use, everyone will share in that enthusiasm. It will run in such a way that when a teacher logs on to the network, they’ll have the authority to edit their own page, adding pictures, links and other things for their students to access. The students are all of an age and time where it is quite natural for them to turn to the Web for information.”

     The district hopes to have the new site up and running by March.

     “We are preparing the Web server right now, getting the operating system software we need, and we’ll begin working with the consultant (Troy Lindner) in January to customize the design, logo and colors,” Nichols said. “By February, we’re aiming to have it installed and operational.”

     On March 2, the district is holding a teacher in-service, and Nichols feels this would be the perfect time to help staff members get acclimated to the new site.

     “We’re thinking of using our seminar day devoted to learning how to make Web pages,” Nichols said. “That will be our big kick-off. It is the ideal venue to implement this.”

     Funding for Berkley’s new Web engine will be provide in part by the district’s Michigan Consolidated Grant as well as its strategic fund resources.

     You can reach Jennie Miller at jmiller@candgnews.com