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SFUSD plans Drupal‑based website overhaul to improve accessibility and mobile access
Summary
SFUSD staff outlined a district website redesign and migration to a Drupal CMS with a February beta, a phased migration of school and department sites, and plans to improve accessibility (Office for Civil Rights resolution), translation and mobile usability. Staff said direct two‑way chat is not in the beta but will be considered.
District technology and communications staff told the board Jan. 29 that they will replace the district’s public web presence with a consolidated, mobile‑first platform built on an open‑source content‑management system (Drupal) to improve accessibility, translation and search.
Melissa Dodd and the web team said the existing public web estate had become fragmented (100+ school sites and 60+ department sites) and is not consistently accessible or mobile friendly. The team noted a current resolution agreement with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights requiring improvements to accessibility and said the district’s public site draws roughly 150,000 unique users per month.
Staff described a phased approach: analytics and user research, a February beta linked from the main site for testing and feedback, and prioritizing migration of about 40 schools before June to reduce contract costs with a third‑party vendor. The platform will include built‑in translation tools; staff said they will add a second content specialist focused on school support and require departments to migrate to the district‑supported Drupal CMS over time.
Board members asked about two‑way chat, student service integrations and whether the platform will make high‑priority pages (enrollment, academic calendar, lunch menus) easier to find. Staff said two‑way chat is not part of the beta but will be considered, that they are exploring leveraging a city 311 model for phone triage, and that they will continue to improve analytics and search to prioritize frequently requested content.
Next steps: beta launch in February, targeted school migrations before June, additional staffing to support content managers and continued community feedback during the beta period.
