Column: District 518 has new look on the web

• District 518

District 518

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WORTHINGTON — The technology department in Worthington’s School District 518 has been busy this year with a variety of initiatives and updates — the most notable and recent being the launching of a new website.

Check out the new look at http://www.isd518.net. The old website was very static and primarily existed just for links to resources needed for day-to-day tasks. The goal of our new website is to have new or dynamic data each time someone visits the site. The main focus now is the news and updates section for each of the schools and main pages. We want everyone to know what great things are happening in District 518, and to share them with all of you.

Another goal for the website is to make resources available for parents, students, staff and the community in general. For example, during the last couple of weeks, if you wanted to know when the girls or boys basketball teams played at state and when the buses were leaving, you could go to our website for the most up-to-date information about the events. Did you know that Prairie teachers took pies to their face and a middle school teacher got duct-taped to the wall to support the Pennies for Patients fundraiser? Photos of pies in the face can be found on the Prairie Elementary home page, while seeing the teacher duct taped to the wall can be found on the Worthington Middle School home page.

We also have resources such as the physical exam form under Athletics, the Daily Bulletins for the Middle School and High School, and as the monthly newsletters for all of the buildings. Parents can access the “Infinite Campus Parent Portal” to find our grades, attendance of their child as well as lunch balance information. This is now found in the middle of the red bar at the top of each page to the right of the word Campus. Student handbooks for all buildings can be found in both English and Spanish.

Staff who are interested in updating their own web pages are now able to do the editing from home or anywhere. The content management system that is being used for the website will make it easy for staff to update the website on a regular basis. Previously, the staff was only able to update the site when inside the district network. The flexibility the new site offers will allow for more staff input and updating.

The technology team has enjoyed the process of getting the website up and running. We hope you stop in and check it out.

Tags: district 518, prairie elementary, worthington middle school, opinion, columns, education, worthington, whs