Weld RE-1, which also serves students in LaSalle and Platteville, and the Weld RE-4 School District in Windsor updated their district websites since the end of the 2021-2022 school year. Weld RE-4 also serves students in Severance and west Greeley.
And, while district representatives say their sites remain a work in progress, Weld RE-1's Gerard Torres said the 1,990-student system was looking for a site that is more attractive, more accessible and overall more user friendly.
"Our websites need to be a window for the outside world to see who we are, and more dynamic and robust," said Torres, who started work in July as the director of technology. "There is an ease of use for those of us internally updating. It's a much easier application for us."
Weld RE-1 launched its new site on June 2. Weld RE-4, with more than 8,000 students, went live with its site in late June.
Both districts' websites were developed with assistance from SchoolBlocks.com, a K-12 website host in Carbondale. Weld RE-1 Superintendent Johan van Nieuwenhuizen said the annual cost is approximately $5,000 for maintenance and management of the website.
Cost and other information on the Weld RE-4 website is not available from the district.
The appearance or look of the websites is similar between the two school systems. A language tab at the top of both homepages allows the user to access a drop-down menu to select a preferred language for the site. The language options range from English and Spanish to Czech, German, Icelandic, Latin, Norwegian, Russian and Swedish.
Both districts show multiple photos on the home pages, and both utilize carousels. On the Weld RE-4 site, the carousel is used for photos and information. Currently, one of the carousel spots is occupied by a graphic with a link to pages on the 2022 bond and mill levy override.
Weld RE-1's carousel is devoted to information: about the district, with links also to a quarterly newsletter and news of former Valley High School teacher and current board of education president Ben Rainbolt Jr. being named an outstanding alumnus earlier this fall at Colorado State.
Under the district names on the home pages are bars with links to more information about the school systems, links to school pages and contact information.
Torres said the Weld RE-1 school pages include a staff listing tab. School staffs are listed alphabetically and the contact pages resemble business cards.
On the Weld RE-4 home page, there are additional links for families, for the community and on careers in the district.
Both district home pages have a calendar section for upcoming events such as meetings, concerts or other performances. At the bottom of the Weld RE-1 home page is a 'school feed' with links to news, announcements and events.
"If they want to come into the district, the most current and recent information will be there," Torres said.
©2022 the Greeley Tribune (Greeley, Colo.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
