Thanks for the compliments. I did not create the site... IES Central created and hosts the sites (other schools in our district have sites too). We (PTO, teachers, other depts) are responsible for filling it in. I also work at the school so I did the Life Lab section (trying to figure out how to link the Life Lab button to Mrs Hightower's site, my name) and PTO.

We are not allowed to have pictures of any children on our website... district rules. Kind of disappointing but I completely understand.

I will be putting our by laws on. Great idea! We're in the process of updating the by laws so as soon as they are done, I'll put 'em up.

Not sure how a counter would work. But I'm going to look into that!!!! Most of the teachers have not worked on their site but the site address will be going out in January's PTO newsletter!

Thanks again
Nicole

WOW!! it's very cool. Who hosts your site?

I am the webmaster for our elementary school's PTO page and I'm leaving after this year. (My child is going to middle school next year). I do not have anyone lined up to take it on after I leave and I'm sure it will go dormant after a year or two.

Please keep in mind all the time and effort you put into something like this may be hard to pass on if it is hosted on your personal account. Try to get a "buddy" webmaster lined up right away to do updates in case you cannot work on it any more.

Notes about the website:
Did the teachers give you their permission to have their names on the site? (Privacy issue).

Also, for pictures of your students on the site, do not use last names or omit the names altogether. I got a lot of heat from the School District because I put pics of our kids on the website. (I did leave out their names).

Put some kind of "tracker" on your site to see if anyone is actually looking at it. I use Extreme tracking www.extreme-dm.com It's free and extremely comprehensive.

I went "gung ho" and created all these pages, when actually no one was looking at them. I ended up deleting a bunch of them after a year.

Keep it Simple.

I've been so frustrated with our local School District's website. It is so lame!

Unfortunately our District does not have funds to employ a full time webmaster to handle ALL the schools.

I stressed to our District Superintendent if someone is moving to your area, you bet they are going to do a web search on schools in your area. If your district doesn't show on the web, what kind of impression does that give?

I gave a suggestion that every school should do their OWN website. At the present time we have ONE person (a teacher) doing web updates for the ENTIRE district - - whenever he has the time.

Congratulations on taking the initiative to get a website up for your school and PTO. It's a great service!

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Looks great!!!!! I love it. It must have taken you hours to design that. Have you considered adding the bylaws?

I think your site is great! Good job!

I would love for you to check out our school's PTO website. I would love feedback. I'm unsure what else to put on the site.... I have everything I can think of.... Help

Thanks
Nicole

www.iescentral.com/endeavour

Click on PTO and if you'd like, you can check out my site, under Staff and Mrs Hightower (I'm the Life Lab Coordinator)