SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT
Francis Parker School
Reimagining What a School Website Can Be
At Francis Parker School in San Diego, the decision to redesign their website was more about alignment than aesthetics.
The previous site was functional, but it no longer told the right story. It didn’t quite reflect the school’s values, priorities, or personality, and it didn’t capture the experience of being part of the Parker community.
With new leadership, evolving programs, and a renewed strategic vision, the communications and marketing team saw a chance to rethink how the school was presenting itself online. Parker’s digital front porch needed to be welcoming to draw prospective families in from curiosity to inquiry while accurately showcasing the values that help students thrive day to day on both its campuses.
At a Glance
Francis Parker School, a JK–12 independent school of more than 1,300 students across two campuses in San Diego, has been educating students since 1912. With a mission rooted in academic excellence, global perspective, and strength of character, Parker is a values-driven school community known for its progressive philosophy and inclusive spirit.
“We didn’t want to make edits to the old framework,” said Allison Kaufman, head of communications and marketing. “We wanted to rebuild something that felt like Parker from the inside out.”
The challenge was set: design a site that communicates the heart of the school, and do it in a way that educates, inspires, and welcomes families into the story — all while managing timelines, teams, and a full school year’s worth of competing priorities.
The Challenge: More Than a Makeover
Parker’s redesign wouldn’t be as simple as choosing a trendy layout or swapping out some headlines and images. “We had a real opportunity to shift how we were presenting the school,” explained Allison. “But we also knew this was bigger than copy and photos—it was about rethinking our entire digital presence.”
“We could rebuild the site around the language, values, and experiences that have made Francis Parker School, Parker for 113 years.”
That level of transformation came with challenges, some that were expected—and others that revealed themselves along the way.
The Weight of Outdated Content
One of the earliest realizations for the Parker team was how much of their existing content no longer reflected the school they had become. “Much of our old website content was just wrong,” said Allison. New academic programs had been launched and initiatives had shifted since the last site build, and it wasn’t that the site was broken, but it wasn’t telling an accurate story anymore.
It required rethinking layouts, writing, and editing, and that meant engaging dozens of internal stakeholders, like division heads, department chairs, and program leads, to develop the most current, accurate, and meaningful information to feature. And that takes time.
"We weren’t building a single site...We were building a system for all our digital storytelling."
ALLISON KAUFMAN
HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING
An Optimistic Timeline Meets Reality
When creative director Zach Cameron joined the team, he quickly drafted a website project timeline based on his years of experience. “I had built websites before, and I thought this plan was generous,” he shared. Zach gave the team a few months each to focus on organization, design, content, and development, with a lean team of two people doing most of the work.
But as the months progressed, the calendar—and the complexity—shifted. “I didn’t realize how different it would be in a school setting,” Zach said. “There are rhythms and demands that don’t exist in other sectors. The busy admissions season, for example, consumed our time and slowed progress more than I expected.”
Their actual timeline revealed a longer content and development phase, and more people were brought in to assist with content creation and migration.
The Strategy: A Philosophical Rebuild
To build a site that felt like Parker from the very first click, the team reviewed the site’s entire structure from the ground up, including the navigation, content organization, and the words that guide people through it. “We weren’t interested in moving content around on the same old skeleton,” said Zach. To which Allison responded, “What if we blew it all away and started from scratch?" So they did.
Leading with Values, Not Visuals
The heart of Parker’s strategy was to realign the site’s architecture with their Strategic Direction and Core Values, themes that are part of everyday life at the school, from professional development to board meetings.
“We use this language in every meeting,” Allison explained. “So why wouldn’t we use it on our website?”
Instead of relying on traditional navigation terms like "Academics," "Arts," or "Programs," the team reorganized its primary navigation around the values that define Parker’s educational philosophy:
- About Us became “One Parker”
- Community evolved into “Belonging at Parker”
- Progressive Education was now “Needs of Society”
- Health & Wellness was reimaged as “Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies”
Each section was anchored in language inspired by their strategic direction; language that the internal community already recognized. But for prospective families, it was new. That required a thoughtful balance between innovation and clarity.
Rethinking Familiar Pages
Of course, bold ideas still had to be functional. “A good website is like a good pop song,” Zach said. “Familiar enough to feel right, but fresh enough to feel interesting.”
This philosophy helped guide some of their trickiest decisions:
- Academics: Instead of giving academics its own main menu heading, it was thoughtfully woven into divisional pages, reflecting Parker’s view that learning isn’t separate from the student experience, but fully integrated into a holistic education.
- Athletics: They placed athletics under “Health & Wellness,” reinforcing that sports at Parker are part of a broader commitment to student well-being.
- News: Community updates and highlights were placed in a reimagined “Community” section, supporting the goal of showing, not telling, what belonging at Parker looks like.
“Each of those decisions reflected a bigger truth about how our school operates,” Allison said. “We didn’t want to force-fit our values into an old structure, but build the structure around our values and unique aspects of the Parker experience.”
Navigation as Narrative
To help bridge the gap between internal language and intuitive user experience, the team baked storytelling elements right into the navigation. On desktop, the mega menus included short descriptions, giving context to sections like “Community” and “Progressive Education.”
And on mobile — where 75% of first-time users visited — the design emphasized repetition and location. “We used the word ‘community’ three times and ‘belonging’ twice, all above the fold,” Zach shared. “It’s intentional. It’s educational.”
Cutting Clutter, Not Corners
These were practical shifts, too. The redesign reduced the number of top-line menu items and eliminated dozens of underused or redundant pages. In the process, the team created a site that’s easier to navigate, maintain, and evolve.
Pages were built using a “database mindset,” organizing dynamic content through Finalsite’s Posts module using categories, tags, and collections. This made it easier to keep content fresh and relevant across various parts of the site.
More Voices, More Value… and More Complexity
Parker’s fortunate to have a skilled communications and marketing team of seven, but instead of shouldering the work alone, Zach and Allison saw an opportunity to build capacity across their team. “We brought more people into the fold not only for efficiency, but to future-proof the work,” said Allison. “We knew we had more projects coming, like a newsletter redesign and microsites for summer programs, and our team needed to be ready.”
At the same time, engaging more stakeholders meant managing expectations. “There’s a wide range of experience and comfort with technology among school staff,” Zach noted. “Some were incredibly helpful partners, while others had strong opinions that required careful communication.”
Parker approached these relationships thoughtfully, hosting discovery meetings early on for subject matter experts to shape how their work would be represented. “We weren’t asking for design feedback at that stage,” said Allison. “We focused on accuracy, clarity, and making sure their voice was represented.”
"We also weren't going in with a checklist," Zach emphasized. "Our meetings were designed for personal connection, for us to hear the why behind the big picture in each area, and to share what we were trying to do with our approach, so people could see themselves in the process."
The feedback wasn’t always easy. “People have opinions,” Allison noted. “Sometimes really strong ones. But by inviting them in early and explaining our reasoning, we got much more constructive input.”
Juggling the Project Within the School Year
One of the biggest lessons for the team was understanding just how much the school’s annual cycle affects the project’s momentum. “Content development nearly stalled during some heavy print deliverable production periods in our annual cycle,” Zach said. “It’s important for other schools to hear this—unless your only job is the website, you have to build in realistic breathing room.”
What’s more, the team’s bandwidth wasn’t unlimited. “We knew we couldn’t test everything ourselves before launch,” Allison added. “We had to work smart, not overextend.”
In response, the team planned a “soft launch” to internal audiences with a built-in feedback form that remained live for a month post-launch. This allowed them to fine-tune based on real input without opening the floodgates too early.
Empowering the Team, Easing the Load
One of the smartest moves the team made was to leverage all the product material and learning resources to train themselves on Finalsite’s content management system, Composer, early. “We didn’t wait until the end to train people,” said Zach. “We trained as we built.” This meant that by the time the site launched, several members of the communications and marketing team felt confident working in Finalsite’s platform, making it easier to keep the site fresh, roll out new features, and support upcoming projects without delays.
People First, Every Step of the Way
Looking back, Zach and Allison credit their intentional, people-centered process as a key factor in the project’s success.
“We met early and deliberately,” said Zach. “We focused on content, invited feedback, and treated our stakeholders as partners.”
It’s a strategy that doesn’t require a massive team or unlimited time, just thoughtful planning and clear communication. And for Francis Parker School, it paid off.
The Results: A Site That’s Parker
When the new Francis Parker School website went live, it didn’t look like every other independent school’s site, and that was the point. Parker soon earned silver in the NYX Awards, a prestigious international competition that recognizes some of the best work in marketing and communications.
Every decision, from the navigation structure to the language in the menus, captured Parker’s mission, values, and strategic direction. “This is the same language our faculty and staff use every day,” Allison said. “So when families explore our site, they’re already being introduced to our culture.”
The infrastructure behind the site was equally important.
By adopting a “database mindset,” the team made sure their site wasn’t a static product, but a living platform. Content modules were designed for flexibility, allowing updates, new posts, and fresh storytelling without needing a full redesign anytime soon. This approach is already paying off. Since its launch, the team has rolled out a new newsletter, summer programming content, and additional features, all within the same system. No duplication, no workaround hacks, no reinventing the wheel.
“We weren’t building a single site,” said Allison. “We were building a system for all our digital storytelling."
“The most important outcome,” added Zach, “wasn’t how the site looked, but how it felt. It feels like Parker.”
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