We're excited to showcase the amazing design, user experience, and content of several impressive district websites that went live in March! After months and months of preparation, design, editing, and testing, these new sites show how the power of storytelling, thoughtful design, and impactful messaging can come together to engage students, families, and their larger communities. 

There’s a little of everything to explore this month, including custom design elements, vibrant visuals, intuitive navigation, and compelling testimonials. Let’s take a look at the districts that recently went live with Finalsite and are raising the bar for an effective digital experience!

Syosset Central School District

Syosset Central School District, well known for its academics, is live with its website that features a succinct and pleasant design and page layout. Right-aligned quicklinks to the calendar, portal, and budget information are well organized, and you'll find that mobile-friendly icons in its secondary colors offer easy access to resources like community flyers, athletics, and staff information. 

News and events, community updates from the superintendent, and social media integration with Instagram posts help capture the pulse of the district, and the consistent brand and user experience seamlessly extend from the district site to each of the individual school sites—wonderful work!

Warwick Valley Central School District

Now live with its new website, the Warwick Valley Central School District offers a fresh new take on the district's digital experience, featuring news and events that you can filter by individual school or district-level, and a "Portrait of a Graduate" series highlighting so many of its students' qualities like collaboration, problem-solving, and ethical citizenship. 

Warwick's beautiful homepage design translates well to the mobile viewing experience, effectively using full-width container panels and custom cards to support Warwick's content and design, all branded with its royal purple and yellow. 

Don't miss:

• Its points of pride section, which doubles as fast facts showcasing its 25K volunteer hours served by students every year, its 27 athletic teams, 100+ state and county musicians, and 99 college credits offered.
   
• A great feature is the surrounding area and community members that highlight Warwick’s rural charm— a great recruiting tool for educators and families considering the district.
   
• Video newsletters, artists of the week, and the superintendent’s spotlight help celebrate, showcase, and introduce the school members to the district, as well as the larger community.

Eau Claire Area School District

Eau Claire Area School District, serving over 11,500 students as the eighth-largest district in Wisconsin, works every day to inspire and prepare its students for creative, fulfilling, and responsible lives. 

As shared by the district, the new site is a transition that improves the user experience and enhances its accessibility so that all users can easily find information.

The new site also features a design perfect for any mobile device and enhanced multimedia to better integrate videos, images, and interactive elements and navigation so users can find what they need quickly.

Bradley Bourbonnais Community High School 307

Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School District 307, a smaller but comprehensive suburban high school of approximately 2,100 students south of Chicago, is now live with its site.

While the site provides the typical district information you'd expect, like upcoming events, a mission statement, and fast facts (including 100% student participation in community service!), you'll also find a useful "student backpack" resource on the homepage's right side—quick links to lunch menus, student handbooks, and daily announcements.

A standout feature is a custom-designed portrait of a graduate, complete with student testimonials, portraits, and animated icons representing the district's values of creativity, citizenship, and critical thinking. Well done!

Cherry Creek School District

Cherry Creek Schools, a district of 53,000 students across 67 schools in southeast metro Denver, delivers a comprehensive homepage experience complete with core values, featured news stories, calendars and events, Instagram posts, and photo slideshows paired with fast facts. 

The site also features an Educator Pathway, developed to support teacher satisfaction and retention through professional development. With the numerous resources and information about PD opportunities, it's worth exploring for inspiration and seeing how it can also serve as a recruitment tool for those interested in teaching at Cherry Creek.

With Finalsite Posts for news updates, the site is well-positioned to keep its community updated on the exciting partnership with the new Denver National Women’s Soccer League. CCSD will own and have use of playing fields for sports, providing students and youth sports across the region with additional playing fields for school and the community at large—exciting times for Cherry Creek!

Fontana Unified School District

Southern California’s Fontana Unified School District is recognized nationwide for its rapid growth in student achievement across its 46 schools.

You'll find significant improvements on the redesigned website, including a scrolling slideshow featuring the logos of the district's schools, enhanced navigation, standardized content across school web pages, expanded galleries, and a more visually appealing design, all intended to make finding information easier and more enjoyable.

As the superintendent shared, “This launch marks an important step in our commitment to providing clear, accessible, and engaging communication for our students, families, staff, and community members.”

San Joaquin County Office of Education

The San Joaquin County Office of Education (SJCOE), serving approximately 153,000 public-school students, has launched its redesigned website to provide a more accessible and user-friendly experience for the county's 14 independent school districts, charter schools, and public service agencies.

• You'll find that the site uses branded icons subtly placed within the homepage's background design, and the district's secondary colors are used to enhance the elements of upcoming events, calls to action, and gradients across its images.
   
• An animated "by-the-numbers" section highlights the district's success with impressive statistics, and social media integration displays recent content from its Instagram account. 
   
• The site also features a detailed professional development page with a keyword search bar and calendar to track down the latest training opportunities.
   
• It shouldn't be overlooked that the district's integration with AudioEye and Weglot provides enhanced web accessibility options and one-click translation to engage a broader audience. Lovely work!

Cache County School District

Cache County School District's website serves its users well with a simple navigation and dropdown menus, an improved search function that limits results to school and district sites, and a mobile-friendly design for a better experience on any device.

The site balances information for current families with resources for employees, parents, and students new to the district, while its interior pages are organized with detailed information using expandable accordions for easier browsing, especially on a smartphone or tablet.

Take a closer look at:

• A grid pattern that combines fast facts with its values of character, excellence, and community.
   
• The site's consistently branded look and feel. You'll notice the mountain from the district’s logo, cleverly reused to separate content areas across the site.
   
• Its streamlined navigation—the site offers quick links to district policies, tech support, health forms, and so much more.
   
• Check out its section dedicated to board members, featuring bios, contact information, meeting details, live stream access, and ways to engage with the board.

Congratulations to Cache County and all the other district sites that launched with Finalsite in March!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Connor has spent the last decade within the field of marketing and communications, working with independent schools and colleges throughout New England. At Finalsite, Connor plans and executes marketing strategies and digital content across the web. A former photojournalist, he has a passion for digital media, storytelling, coffee, and creating content that connects.