When asked to describe Oxford Schools? current website, Superintendent Dr. William Skilling didn’t pull any punches.
‘It is the worst website in Oakland County,? he said. ‘I challenge anybody to find a school district with a website worse than Oxford.?
But all that’s going to change on Monday, Feb. 2 when the school district debuts its sleek, modern internet presence with the launch of its brand new website www.oxfordschools.org.
‘This site will better represent the quality of education that’s going on inside our buildings,? said Tim Throne, the district’s director of technology.
‘It’s going to be much more interactive and engaging,? Skilling said. ‘It’s going to be a lot more video/media enriched site. It’s not going to be a static site anymore.?
Instead of just text and still photos, Oxford’s new site will be similar to YouTube in that the district and its seven schools will be able to post flash videos for all to see.
‘Right now, we’re calling it O-Tube,? Skilling said. ‘Each school’s page will have this ability.?
Clips from athletic contests, fine arts performances, classroom activities, special events and media coverage will be available with the click of a mouse.
‘We wanted to incorporate a lot more video and motion than what we’ve had in the past,? said Throne, noting this website’s going to be ‘a lot more visually stimulating.?
Now, instead of just posting text about the high school’s upcoming production of the musical ‘Annie? March 26-28, Throne said a 15-30-second video clip of the students rehearsing could be shown on the website.
The new website will also be capable of video-streaming, which would allow the district to show and archive videos of entire sporting events, plays, even teachers? daily lessons.
However, doing this would require the district to purchase a special server (or servers) to store the videos and display them with the proper image quality, according to Throne.
The approximately $10,000 needed for this server(s) is included in the district’s $70.135 million bond proposal scheduled to go before voters in the Tuesday, Feb. 24 special election.
Along with being more visually-appealing, Oxford’s new website is going to be much more user-friendly and easy to navigate.
‘Our goal is that most of the information you’re looking for should be two (mouse) clicks away,? Skilling said. ‘If you have to click four, five, six times to get to a piece of information, a lot of people will give up, get frustrated.?
‘Right now, for you to open a document on a given page on our website, you’re probably looking at a minimum of four (clicks), usually five and sometimes six. That’s way too many.?
To help make navigating the website easier, the template for each school’s web page is going to be exactly the same.
‘There’s going to be complete uniformity from one school to the next,? Skilling said. ‘You can always get right back to the district (home page) from any page you’re on.?
In the past, Throne said each school controlled how its web page looked and where links were placed. This resulted in a lack of consistency.
‘One school’s got 20 links on the left-hand side, another school’s got three, the next one has 10,? he said. ‘It’s confusing for people.?
Each teacher will have a basic web page that includes photograph, brief biography and contact information.
‘That will be standard for everybody,? Throne said.
Ultimately, school officials are hoping the new website will accomplish two goals.
The first is providing as much information as possible to the district’s stakeholders ? parents, students, taxpayers and community members.
‘We’re going to give away everything that’s not protected (by law),? Skilling said. ‘I don’t know what ‘everything? is yet. Users will help us to define that.?
Skilling’s urging people who visit the website to ‘challenge us on information that’s missing? and let the district know what they want to see.
‘There’s no way we’re going to think of everything,? he said.
Eventually, the website’s going to feature copies of all the checks the district writes, so taxpayers can see exactly how their money is being spent.
‘It’s real important for public schools to be transparent in how they use taxpayer money and be accountable for how we spent it,? said Skilling, noting he got the idea about posting the checks from the Midland-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Marketing is the new website’s other goal.
‘A lot of people make judgements about you based upon your website ? good, bad or indifferent,? Throne explained. ‘People will go to an educational institution, look at their website and if it’s a quality website, they’ll tend to think quality education is going on there.?