New E-Book: The Website Redesign Playbook | Public School Edition
Our most popular resource has been completely remastered for districts redesigning their websites in 2018 and beyond. This 80+ page guide covers everything you need to know for the website redesign process, from selecting a vendor to maintaining an accessible site.
Web Design and CMS for Districts
Simple content management, award-winning, accessible design and secure hosting for districts.
Empower Your District to Communicate, Engage and Inform
Finalsite provides the services, tools and ongoing support that districts of all sizes require to effectively communicate with their prospective and current families. With an easy-to-use CMS, accessible designs, secure hosting and dozens of tools for managing content, it is easy to see why more than 250 districts agree that Finalsite is the premier option for their digital marketing and communication needs.
ADA Compliant Design
Our team is trained in accessible design, and our 80-point QA process ensures your design, navigation and site structure meet WCAG 2.0 requirements.
Modern Communication Tools
Keep your community up-to-date with Alerts, PagePops, email newsletters, Calendars, and tools for blogs, news, teacher pages, and more!
Award-Winning Design
Finalsite's design team is the most decorated in the industry, helping your district and brand stand out to increase enrollment and improve communications.
Simple, WYSIWYG CMS
Composer's drag-and-drop, WYSIWYG interface ensures that webmasters of all skill levels can build beautiful web pages in minutes.
Create Once, Publish Everywhere (C.O.P.E.)
With Finalsite's CMS and modules, you only have to edit content — such as news or event details — in a single location, and it is automatically updated anywhere it is on any school site.
ROWAN-SALISBURY SCHOOL SYSTEM
“Of course Finalsite has a nice product, but we chose Finalsite because they are the experts in helping schools sell themselves. We wanted a partner who could help us make better choices that would give it that polished, private school look and feel — and not have the same pitfalls as other district websites.”
MARK A. STEELMAN, WEBMASTER
BARBERS HILL UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
“I know whenever I see a Finalsite website, I know its quality. And I know there’s not going to be any one who can match what you do. You have the most innovative, best modules and software for everything districts need. There’s no comparison.”
Valarie Hull, Director of Communications
Mequon-Thiensville School District
"A highly weighted component in our decision analysis to move to Finalsite was the understanding that you are a digital communication organization and thought leader, not simply a website provider. We are really looking forward to the opportunity to enhance our game."
Jennifer Flierl, Executive Director of Communications
Amherst Exempted Village School District
“We wanted to create a new website that could promote our amazing district, enhance communication, and assist parents in accessing information. Finalsite met all of our expectations and delivered a custom website and excellent management solution. We could not be happier with the professionalism, expertise, and service they continue to provide us. ”
MICHAEL MOLNAR
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
SUMMIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS
"We wanted a platform that could easily be used by end users, but wouldn't turn into a disastrous mess — and was very stylized. Finalsite was the only provider that met those two requirements, and since then, has exceeded those expectations."
Doug Orr
Director of Technology
Free School Website Audit
Want feedback on your district's website and how you can improve? Request a free website audit and consultation with one of our in-house website experts!
Want more design examples? View Our Full Portfolio
District Web Design Portfolio
Districts choose Finalsite for our experience in creating an online experience by visually telling your district's unique story. Explore some of our recent work in the portfolio below.
![Springfield School District]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1523043964/finalsite/yrjn6fim2sbvzso0of3t/ssd2.png","width":112}])
Springfield School District is a small school district in Sprinfield, PA that consists of four schools and a literacy center. Because the district is committed to providing an innovative, customized learning experience for each student, they wanted their website to offer this type of experience to webstite visitors. From the embedded, high-quality hero video that showcases the engagement between student and faculty, to a custom expandable element that highlights their custom approach to learning, SSD's web design, content and experience mirror its mission and brand. Each individual school's site follows the same design as the district homepage, which includes the same unique enhancements, unifying the user experience for website visitors.
![Upper Perkiomen School District]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1523043964/finalsite/n9wpekrwimuzqwz51k96/upperperkiomen2.png","width":112}])
Upper Perkiomen School District wanted a site that was visually appealing, user friendly, and showcase all of the great happenings in their school district — including the construction of a new Middle School. The district uses their homepage to promote the district's initiatives and mission, as well as their upcoming events. To keep their current community informed, the district actively uses their password-protected community portals, news, and directories.
![Barbers Hill Independent School District]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1523043964/finalsite/rqb6iqqelu87gdytcsqp/barbershill2.png","width":112}])
Barbers Hill looked to Finalsite to create a new website design that was accessible and met ADA compliance requirements; provided their staff, parents, and community with timely and useful information that would be easy to find; and shared their core objective of "Tradition of Excellence" as both a district and with their schools schools through great design and content. Finalsite worked closely with Barbers Hill to ensure that their site visitors would have a positive experience through easy-to-use navigation, intuitive layouts and well-developed content.
![Lake Washington School District]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1523043964/finalsite/d2lcmuhkbfsrhveluzmf/lwsd2.png","width":112}])
Lake Washington School District, comprised of more than 50 schools, is located in Redmond Washington. The city of Redmond is also home to Microsoft, and growing at a rapid pace. With the many job seekers and new hires visiting the area, the redesigned website had to showcase and provide information about the district and the communities in which the schools are located. An equally important objective was to provide information to current constituent groups in a way that was logical and easily accessible.
The end product features a visually rich homepage that walks new site visitors thought the school district's mission. The site features numerous design enhancements to make the site easy to navigate and prove to its tech-savvy community that it too, is tech-savvy. At the very top of the page, role-based navigation, calendar, news and search features provide current constituents with a variety of access points into the site. A jump to school feature in the footer provides easy access to individual school websites.
![Lower Merion School District]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1523043964/finalsite/nsd9dlqpbjiuy460o1wz/lowermerion2.png","width":112}])
Lower Merion School District has been a Finalsite Client since 2012 and has gone through two website redesigns. LMSD's six elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools have all been recognized for excellence at the regional and national levels, and the district uses their site to boast the community's ongoing accomplishments. The mobile-first, intuitive design provides a functional user experience, and gives LMSD a platform to share their most important content right on the homepage. A personalized "Parents" area, which can easily be found in the utility menu at the top, provides current parents with the information and content most relevant to them, without cluttering the homepage. LMSD's site utilizes one of Finalsite's pre-built designs, offering them the design flexibility and customization they required to showcase each of the school's unique content, while maintaining a streamlined brand and UX.
![Spring-Ford Area School District]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1523043964/finalsite/bht7xw0h4dc1jtmsewgi/springfordps2.png","width":112}])
Spring-Ford Area School district is centrally located in a growing area of rural Pennsylvania consisting of 11 schools and a virtual academy. With the mission to be educationally relevant, Spring-Ford partnered with Finalsite to ensure their website proved this mission. Complete with a sticky navigation element on the right, bold call to actions, and a unique customizable news element, the website's improves the user experience by making it easy to access important, personalized content. With parallax scrolling, beautiful high-res images, and an elegant use of the district's bold colors, their new website is engaging, easy-to-use and timeless.
![Jackson County Public Schools]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1523043964/finalsite/rgwa3gt0e06ztn4mae0w/jcps2.png","width":112}])
Jackson County Public Schools is a small district in Syva, NC — a location central to cities like Atlanta, GA and Asheville, NC. With nine schools spanning 2 districts and 4,200 students and teachers, JCPS is a small, but impressive district. And they wanted a website to prove it.
At JCPS, the schools in our district are small enough for each student to be known and recognized as an individual, but large enough to provide a variety of opportunities for involvement and growth. JCPS came to Finalsite because they were losing some students to Charter Schools that were popping up in the area as well as to highlight all the features that they have to offer. The technology at JCPS alone was a driving force to keep students attending the schools as well as wanted to show that in the new website.
![Minnetonka Public Schools]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1523043964/finalsite/qv8gn5zofqevtzlbie5l/minnetonka2.png","width":112}])
Often, districts use their websites as a simple way to inform their community. However, Minnetonka Public Schools was one of the first districts we worked with who took a marketing-first approach to their website, with the goal of selling the Minnetonka brand, community value, and academic excellence. With 10 schools, as well as numerous community programs for youth and adults, Minnetonka Public Schools boasts a modest-sized district in Minnetonka, Minnesota. When you visit their site, you're greeted with high quality images, an infographic, and an engaging social media mash-up that pulls in the latest content shared by the district. The utility navigation provides quick and easy access to important community links, such as the portal login — ensuring that current families are still given the necessary attention on the new site.
![Elmbrook Public Schools]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1523043964/finalsite/epstc4yfkueufqfduyca/elmbrook2.png","width":112}])
The School District of Elmbrook is a top tier public school district located fifteen minutes west of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and serves the Cities of Brookfield, New Berlin, and the village of Elm Grove. Elmbrook Schools serves over 7,000 students with a dedicated and highly skilled staff of over 1,100. Elmbrook is consistently ranked as one of the top five school districts in the state of Wisconsin. Thier flagship high schools, Brookfield Central and Brookfield East are consistently ranked in the top 400 high schools in the nation by Newsweek magazine. The goal of the redesign was to promote teaching and learning excellence and the personalizing of learning for all students, while also creating a site that made it easy for current and prospective families to navigate to the information they need in just a couple of clicks.The homepage of the site was designed to celebrate the district's accomplishments for current families as well as faculty and staff.
![Ellington Public Schools]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1523043964/finalsite/s2rhdywf6bfgjyhni7mr/ellingtonpsd2.png","width":112}])
Ellington Public Schools is a small school district in Ellington, CT, whose core values include big heart/small town, innovation, mindfulness, global connectedness, and growing learners/growing leaders. They wanted a site that helps highlight the great teaching/learning that is happening. We are competing with magnet schools that seem to have more of a draw; we need to highlight student life in Ellington. With that, they wanted social mashups as the key to making the site more vibrant and providing changing content. Using a custom design for the Finalsite Feeds module, they highlight students and faculty daily rather than simply providing information, which drives more traffic to the site.
Ellington's website also received a website received the top website award acknowledgment — Communicator of Distinction — and an honorable mention for their social media presence in the 2016 CABE Awards.
Free E-Book: The Website Redesign Playbook
Dive into this 80+ page, popular e-book that focuses on every strategy districts need to consider when launching a new website, from budgeting to web accessibility.
Love What You See? Let's Work Together!
We don't view a website redesign as a purchase or transaction. This is a partnership. Let's find out if we're a good fit!