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Arlington Central School District to launch new Apogee websites June 30 after spring migration
Summary
The district communications office previewed a new district and school website built on Apogee, citing an April 24–30 content migration, survey and analytics guiding navigation choices, staff training starting May 16, and a planned June 30, 2025 public launch.
District communications staff told the Arlington Central School District board the district has completed a content migration to a new Apogee website and plans to go live the day after graduation, with a public launch scheduled for June 30, 2025. "We were notified in September 2022 that FinalSite had bought Blackboard and that our current site would sunset as of 07/01/2025," the presenter said, noting the migration window ran April 24–30.
The communications office said it evaluated five platforms and chose Apogee because of navigation, distributed editing for school sites, mobile friendliness, unlimited training and the ability to access pricing aid through BOCES. A website advisory committee that included district staff, school web managers and parents guided the work; the committee reviewed survey results and provided feedback on site content, navigation and features.
Survey results presented included roughly 430–500 respondents (transcript language unclear) with 88% identifying as district parents; respondents reported frequent site visits, and 65% said they access the site via mobile devices. The presenter said analytics show users most often seek a SchoolTool/parent‑portal link, events, district and school news, contact information and menus; the current site has had more than 700,000 visits since May, the presenter added.
Key features described are a consistent top 'wrapper' across district and school sites, a searchable staff directory linked to SchoolTool that will be updated with clearer functional titles, unique school pages with consistent quick links (eight for elementary sites), public Google Calendar sync for events, a live stories feed and integrated translation provided via Apogee's Google Translate subscription.
Security and usability changes include removing raw teacher email addresses and replacing them with an encrypted "send me a message" feature to reduce phishing, and human (not automated) migration of content with a detailed content comparison planned before the switch because the old site will be inaccessible after launch.
Operational next steps are training school clerical and editorial staff beginning May 16, ongoing summer and early‑fall training for editors, creation of onboarding videos for families by mid‑August, and continuing evaluation after launch. The presenter thanked committee members and district partners for their work.
