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Superintendent outlines website redesign, social-media analytics and upcoming Finalsite focus groups
Summary
Superintendent R.J. Webber updated the board on a district website redesign project with vendor Finalsite, early analytics showing building-level Facebook pages may be substituting for the district site, planned focus groups with 80–90 constituents, and a modest survey response to date.
Superintendent Dr. R.J. Webber told the board on March 11 that the district is moving forward with a website redesign project with Finalsite and will host two days of focus-group sessions this week with roughly 80–90 participants from across the district to gather input.
Webber said the district has met with multiple vendors since Aug. 2, 2024 (he named Apogee, ParentSquare and Adleo as other firms considered) and has held weekly meetings with Finalsite. Initial analytics provided by Finalsite surprised the vendor: the district's existing website is not seeing the traffic levels the vendor expected, and many families appear to rely on individual school Facebook pages for school-specific information. Webber said those Facebook pages are typically run by parent volunteers or PTAs, and the analytics team flagged the district's high proportion of visits from desktop computers rather than mobile devices as an outlier compared with national patterns.
Webber described the planned focus groups and community input: two days of sessions with an external Finalsite consultant to gather needs and preferences, and an online survey the district put out two weeks earlier that had collected roughly 60 responses at the time of the meeting. He asked board members and staff who administer school-level social channels to raise specific questions at the Finalsite sessions about how the district's site can better serve parents and prospective families.
The superintendent also referenced broader communication successes: communications staff were recognized at a conference in Traverse City with an Award of Merit for a classroom "close-up" video series and an Award of Excellence for district podcasts; Katie Rourke was noted as accepting awards on the district's behalf.
Why it matters: The district aims to centralize reliable information on the official website so parents and community members have a single place to find authoritative updates (enrollment, meals, emergency notices and resources). The vendor work will include analytics to understand when parents access information and what channels they prefer.
Board members and staff noted practical questions the vendor can address in focus groups: should the district try to consolidate or link building-level Facebook pages, how to make information easier to find on the site (less text, better navigation), whether a blog-style or storytelling section would help engagement, and how to surface community resources (parks and rec, township and city links). Webber emphasized that the district wants a site that reflects Northville as a "top tier" district and that the consultant has already provided deeper analytics than the district had obtained internally.
Webber also touched briefly on a state-level discussion about a statewide student cell-phone policy referenced in the governor's state of the state address and the possible alignment between district policy and any state-level guidance.
No formal action was taken; the discussion centered on next steps for the Finalsite sessions and continued analytics work.
