ELLSWORTH – The Ellsworth Community School District recently redesigned its website and created a new app for better communication and accessibility in the community. The website and app will feature a newsfeed that will contain notifications about ongoing events and announcements within the district.

The new website and app became accessible to the public on July 1, with a new look as well as new features. The traditional information is still available on the website, but teacher and administrator profiles now look different and contain Google slides that make it easier for students and parents to utilize.

The redesign of the website took about a year and a half; the actual design started about nine months ago.

Ashley Boe, assistant principal of Ellsworth Middle School and technology integration specialist, said, “The approval of the website took place nine months ago and then we started working on it right away.”

Boe said that the app will be a much easier way to promote community and parent engagement with the school district. The website and app really focus on the newsfeed feature, which is customizable and gives the option to be notified right away when events or announcements are published.

“If you are a parent with elementary school students then you can customize the newsfeed to only get elementary school news. So, you are able to choose building specific notifications if you want to,” said Boe.

Superintendent Barry Cain explained how the district really collaborates to make these newsfeeds available.

“Our teachers and staff put everything they can about the district into these newsfeeds and people also have the opportunity to really choose what news they want and how they receive the information,” he said.

Creating a connected community is what the school district wants to achieve with this new app.

“The overall goal is the parent and community engagement that this website allows, and this isn’t just a website, this is a notification platform for parents, and this lets parents get live updates right from their phone in their pocket. This is a new connection piece that helps with family engagement,” said Boe During the process of the app and website design Boe took a lot of feedback from administrators, students, parents, and teachers when creating the new features available.

“I would start with some ideas and then I would meet with various people to see if that is how they utilize the website or if that was the direction they would go and navigate the website. I got a lot of input from various people about the way that they use it and to make sure it is easily accessible.” she said.

The app will prioritize connecting with teachers and administrators, staying up to date with information, and knowing what is happening within all of the Ellsworth schools.

Cain said, “We want to share the everyday goings on around here; there are a lot of great things happening and we want the community to be a part of them.”

The Ellsworth Community Schools app is available for download with iPhone and Android devices on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.