Weston communications committee flags calendar and website usability, offers quick fixes

The Weston Public Schools communications committee on Dec. 5 focused on making the district website easier for residents to use, with members reporting that calendar entries on westonps.org do not open reliably on touch devices and proposing short-term changes to highlight facilities and construction information.

Members raised the issue after Nicole Wallach said the district calendar shows events only as blue bars on an iPad and that tapping an event either produces a tiny blip or closes the details. "The calendar does not work," she said. Web administrator Dan acknowledged a touch-device issue and said he would investigate mobile optimization and settings to make event details accessible on phones and tablets. He noted that the district migrated systems after the original vendor, Gabbert, was acquired and customers were moved to ParentSquare's backend.

Why it matters: the committee said many residents do not have ready access to student-contact lists, so public-facing web tools are essential for broad community outreach. Members agreed the committee's priority is to reduce friction for users who need meeting links, recordings and project documents.

What the committee proposed: staff and volunteers discussed three interim options for increasing visibility of facilities information — temporarily replacing the transportation quick-link, adding a new top-level banner or using the "Quick Links" area — and asked Dan to test whether removing icons or changing the quick-links cap would allow a second row of items without degrading the page's appearance. Jody, who said she now has Facebook access, offered to resume posting board and subcommittee meeting notices to the district Facebook page to boost visibility.

The board also discussed a practical workaround: using the calendar's "view full calendar" option, which provides event titles in full-screen and can be easier for mobile users until a permanent fix is implemented. The committee did not adopt a formal motion beyond approving the prior meeting's minutes; staff agreed to pursue the technical fixes and present updates at a future meeting.

Next steps: Dan will look into mobile settings and the quick-links layout; Jody will post meeting notices on Facebook; committee members will test proposed layout changes and report back at the next communications committee meeting in January.