SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT
Kaukauna Area School District
Bryanna Moody had a clear vision for the Kaukauna Area School District’s website. As the district’s sole communications professional, she wanted a modern, functional site that could tell their story, support community trust, and reflect the pride they had in their schools.
Instead, she was stuck with a system that made everything harder.
“Our previous website was outdated and the back end was clunky,” Bryanna shared. “It was hard to navigate, hard to update, and as a designer, I couldn’t get it to look the way I wanted. It was frustrating.”
That disconnect was inconvenient, but it was holding them back. As Bryanna explained, “I’ve always said the website is more important than the signage outside our buildings. It’s the first thing people see. And when it doesn’t represent who you are, you’re missing opportunities.”
At a Glance
With seven schools and a history spanning more than 120 years, the Kaukauna Area School District (KASD) serves approximately 4,000 students from early childhood through 12th grade, supported by 450 dedicated staff committed to student success through the values of Kaukauna Strong.
With a critical $198 million bond referendum campaign on the horizon, Kaukauna needed a platform that could support storytelling, transparency, and community engagement, without adding more stress to an already full plate. The website needed to function, it had to inspire confidence, convey professionalism, and become a true communications hub.
That’s when they found Finalsite.
"The thing that stood out right away was how easy Composer is to use ... I can click and drag, design the pages the way I want, and instantly see the results. It’s seamless. I could finally design pages the way I envisioned, and actually enjoy doing it."
BRYANNA MOODY
COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING COORDINATOR
The Challenge: A Platform That Couldn’t Keep Up
Before partnering with Finalsite, Kaukauna was using a local platform, and while it worked for basic functionality, it fell short in nearly every area Bryanna needed to succeed, especially as a one-person department.
“It took so long to make simple updates,” she said. “You had to build it on the backend, publish it, then go to a separate tab and refresh the site just to see if it looked right. It was time-consuming and frustrating.”
She also couldn’t customize the site to grow alongside the district’s goals. “There was no storytelling. I couldn’t present who we were or what our schools felt like. And that’s something families notice, especially when they’re deciding where to enroll.”
At the same time, families were demanding faster communication, and information wasn’t always easy to find. “It wasn’t just about posting updates,” she explained. “We want people to feel confident in our district the minute they land on our site.”
Since partnering with Finalsite
2
Major design awards
in the first year since launch
9%
Increase
in enrollment across the district
32%
Increase
in web traffic to the district's homepage
The Solution: Empowerment Through Composer
Bryanna started exploring website platforms and connected with Finalsite. After a demo of Composer, Finalsite’s content management system (CMS), she knew it was the right fit. The transition to the new CMS brought immediate improvements in flexibility and usability.
“The thing that stood out right away was how easy Composer is to use,” she said. “What you see is what you get. I can click and drag, design the pages the way I want, and instantly see the results. It’s seamless. I could finally design pages the way I envisioned, and actually enjoy doing it.”
Kaukauna selected a custom design package, and Bryanna worked closely with Finalsite’s design team to bring her ideas to life. She even mocked up a wireframe in Canva, which helped inspire Finalsite’s designers to transform it into a fully responsive layout. “It was a really collaborative process,” she recalled. “The final design truly reflects our district’s brand and personality.”
Composer’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface gave Bryanna the ability to build and maintain the site quickly. With dynamic modules like Posts, she could now share district news, highlight achievements, and create entire microsites without needing to call in support or learn code.
One of her biggest wins was building a detailed Academic and Career Planning (ACP) course catalog using Composer’s Posts module, a searchable, filterable database that’s easy to maintain and intuitive for users. “We were paying extra for that feature before,” she said. “Now we have it integrated into our site at no additional cost, and it’s actually easier to use.”
The Results: Real Impact in the First Year
Kaukauna launched its redesigned site in June, and by fall, the site had already played a central role in one of the district’s most important milestones: passing a $198 million referendum, one of the largest in Wisconsin that year.
“We built a full referendum site within Composer, and that became our hub for all communications related to the bond campaign,” Bryanna explained. “It allowed the community to stay informed, ask questions, and get the facts from a single, trusted source. I’m confident it was a major contributor to the campaign’s success. Without Composer, we wouldn’t have had that kind of impact.” That momentum carried forward, and soon Bryanna noticed a sharp increase in engagement.
“I’ve had districts across Wisconsin reach out to ask who built our site. Even people I’ve never met,” she laughed. “I’ve hopped on calls to walk them through the Composer back-end and show them how simple it is. Their reaction is always the same: ‘I can’t believe how easy this is.’”
Since launching their new site, Kaukauna has seen impressive improvements across several areas:
- Website traffic: Organic traffic to the district’s homepage rose by 32%.
- New families: Open enrollment into the district increased by 9%
- Two major awards: The site earned the 2024 WSPRA Award of Merit and the 2025 NSPRA Award of Excellence.
- Countless hours saved: “What used to take me half an hour now takes seconds.”
Bryanna says she’s finally able to focus on strategy instead of troubleshooting. “It takes seconds to update supply lists or publish a post. I’ve gained real time back in my day,” Bryanna noted. “I can get a new post up in seconds. I can update a document and have it appear everywhere it needs to be. As a one-person team, that time back is invaluable.”
Bryanna’s enthusiasm for the site hasn’t gone unnoticed. She’s become a contact for other districts considering a switch to increase enrollment, improve communications, and strengthen community trust.
“The best proof of value is how often I get to show other districts how simple and powerful Composer is,” Bryanna added. ”I always recommend Finalsite. It’s fun to help others while knowing we’ve built something that truly works for our district.”
And while Kaukauna is attracting more students, it’s also attracting great staff.
“I think a lot of the renewed interest in Kaukauna comes from the site itself,” Bryanna said. “We just had an interview with a candidate who told us that one of the reasons they wanted to come to Kaukauna was because of the positive atmosphere the site portrays.”
Now, with Finalsite’s advanced search custom menu design, families can find what they need fast and the ease of navigation and the video banners welcome visitors to each school. “Each one captures the feel of that building and what it’s like to be there. It helps families connect with us on an emotional level right away. The videos, the storytelling, the clean design—it’s a whole new experience.”
“I’m so grateful for this partnership,” she said. “Finalsite gave me the tools, the training, and the freedom to do my job better, and help others do the same.”
Take a self-guided tour and explore Finalsite's CMS for yourself.
Learn how Finalsite's easy-to-use software can help you meet your goals!
Request my FREE
website report card
Does your website make a good first impression? Get expert feedback on your school's website sent straight to your inbox!