LCUSD launches new websites for its schools

After years of research and development, La Cañada Unified School District tech officials unveiled Tuesday six new websites they hope will help teachers, students and parents easily navigate and coordinate information and better represent the LCUSD community.

Tech Director Jamie Lewsadder reported on the progress of the launch, and gave a presentation on the district’s technical outlook for the 2015-16 school year at a board meeting Tuesday.

The sites were launched Monday and will be beta tested throughout the calendar year as feedback is gathered and pages are re-worked and added onto for maximum clarity and efficiency, she explained to school board members.

Lewsadder also shared the history behind the districtwide effort, dating initial talks to about five years ago. The process of finding a design and flow that best fit the district and the wider La Cañada community was imperative, she said.

“We were really cognizant of our audience,” Lewsadder told the board. “We’re looking at selling our story. [What’s] most important for our district, is who are we? And we…have a website now that represents who we are.”

In addition to the main district site, lcusd.net, users can now access individual school sites for each campus.

For example, pcrpanthers.net is the Web address for Palm Crest Elementary. La Cañada Elementary families would visit lcelions.net, while those wanting to find out more about Paradise Canyon Elementary would go to pcycougars.net. Seventh- and eighth-graders would type in lchs78.net, while information about LCHS 9-12 programs and academics would be found at lchsspartans.net.

Each page is to be populated with up-to-date stories and information about each campus, Lewsadder explained. Along with a central, customizable Google calendar, the sites will also feature news-style articles about the student body, created by a part-time media specialist the district is in the process of hiring.

The rollout of the new sites is not an end point or a time for rest, but rather an exciting starting point in an ongoing process, she added, encouraging teachers and administrators to make refreshing online content a priority.

Supt. Wendy Sinnette congratulated Lewsadder and her husband, Toby Lewsadder, for their many contributions to the project.

“This has been a tremendous amount of work. We’re very, very pleased with the launch,” Sinnette said.

In a subsequent report on the technical outlook of the current school year, Lewsadder projected future technology and infrastructure needs through 2017-18, by which point the entire La Cañada High School campus could be operating in a one-device-one student model.

Accommodating that possibility will be a huge undertaking, preparations for which should be planned out soon, Lewsadder said. She estimated that currently, about 1,500 electronic devices are connecting to the district’s Wi-Fi network on any given school day.

“Technology is going to grow whether we’re a part of it or not,” she concluded. “But we can be in charge of it and we can shape it the way we want.”