Greenwood Community School Corp. has launched an app to accompany the district’s new website, with many of the features being cross-platform.
Provided by Greenwood Community School Corp.
The start of school is less than a month away, and Greenwood Schools has launched a new website and app ahead of it.
Greenwood Community School Corp. unveiled a brand new website and accompanying free app on June 26. The school district decided to update the website as the previous website template was outdated, and had features that no longer worked, said Terry Terhune, superintendent.
“Our other one was seven to eight years old and it was time for a refresh,” Terhune said.
The new website features an entirely new interface, which school officials say makes it accessible, easy to navigate, mobile-friendly and visually appealing. It also offers translations and a search function, said Jenna Cooper, director of technology.
Below a slideshow at the top of the home page are buttons that can take parents and students to popular resources and links, Cooper said. These buttons include the 2023-24 calendar, web portals like PowerSchool, the district’s free and reduced lunch application and public notices.
Both the website and the app include news and alerts, calendar events, staff directories and documents. There is also a built-in mass communication tool that allows the district to send out email, text, voice, web banners and/or app push notifications, Cooper said.
“Parents, students, and staff will have more news and information at their fingertips,” she said. “Most people go to their phones first for information, so we designed our website and app with that in mind.”
The entire development process for the new website and app took a little over the year, with the planning process for the overhaul beginning in summer 2022, she said.
For the development process, Greenwood Schools formed a website committee made up of stakeholders from different school buildings and perspectives. Stakeholders included administrators, teachers, parents and staff members who met both in person and virtually several times throughout the year, Cooper said.
Committee members discussed what made the school district special and what story they wanted to tell with the new website. They also looked at history of Greenwood Schools’ website and made notes about what they liked or wanted to change, along with exploring other schools’ websites and discussing what we liked from them, Cooper said.
The final website vendor was selected based on which sites the committee liked that the vendor had previously made. The committee chose Apptegy, and once they were selected, the district began designing the website template and app with the developers, she said.
“It was a very collaborative process,” Cooper said.
Terhune’s favorite parts of the new website are its ease of use and its cross-compatibility between web and mobile devices. He was excited to see the final product finally launch, he said.
“It’s taken close to a year of work to get this done,” Terhune said. “I’m just excited to have a fresh clean new look for our district. I hope our families and operations find it useful.”
The district’s new app is available now to download on both Apple and Android devices. The app can be found on app stores by searching for “Greenwood Schools Indiana” and selecting the app with the Greenwood “G” icon, she said.
It can also be downloaded directly on Android by going to bit.ly/4281o7n, and directly on iPhone by going to apple.co/3nhgVCN.
Once downloaded, users can customize which school, or schools, they want to see information for, Cooper said.
