Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Communications Website topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Kennett Consolidated SD delays website launch, rolls out new newsletter tools and accessibility review
Summary
District communications staff previewed a nearly finished district website, announced adoption of Smore for newsletters and said the full launch of seven sites will be delayed about four weeks to allow school sites to finish content and ensure accessibility and translation features.
Lisa, the district communications staff member, told the communications committee on Oct. 28 that the district has finalized most of the new district website and is delaying the joint launch of seven sites to allow principals time to complete school content. "I have been able to finalize most of the new website for Kennett Consolidated School District," she said, adding that the vendor agreed to move the launch roughly four weeks later with a commitment to launch before Jan. 1.
The presentation placed the website in a broader rollout of communication tools. Lisa said the district adopted Smore for family and staff newsletters; key staff now have administrative dashboard access and the team can track open rates and link clicks. "Our family and community newsletters ... are on this platform," she said, noting principals are using polls and multimedia to increase engagement.
The committee questioned language and accessibility. Lisa said the site will offer translation for visitors, using a third‑party plug‑in (Wiglot), and she will duplicate rotator graphics and content in Spanish. "We will have that in Spanish as well," she said, and emphasized work to ensure messages are ADA‑compliant rather than posted as inaccessible PDFs. Committee members asked that the translation control be more prominent and advised against using a single country flag as the language selector; Lisa said she is negotiating that change with the vendor.
School Messenger will remain the district's primary mass‑notification system, Lisa said, and she is developing standards for when to use voice, text or email during an incident. For promotion, the communications plan calls for a mix of text, voice, email, social posts and newsletters in the weeks leading up to the key turn that will redirect traffic to the new sites.
The committee did not take formal action. Lisa invited additional feedback and said the communications team will continue department reviews and principal sign‑offs for school pages before setting a firm launch date.
