HARVARD -- Except for final tweaks to the School Committee and Central Office websites, the 2011-2012 Harvard School Committee "outcomes" and expectations have been met. Once the website is approved by the committee, the 10 goals will be "fully accomplished," reported School Superintendent Joseph Connelly to the committee on June 25.

Middle School art teacher Martha Brooks walked the committee through a presentation showcasing all the features of the retooled websites. The Central Office website provides quick links to school calendars, documents, forms, school registration data, bussing and School Choice information.

The School Committee's website has also been revamped to include pictures of each committee member and their email address. The committee's goals, meeting schedule, agenda and meeting minutes are filed here, along with the district's policies, budgets, Harvard Education and school technology plans.

There's a Google-powered search engine to find information within the school district's master website, www.psharvard.org, and its various subsets.

"It looks like you completely rebuilt the architecture of this," commented school committee member Keith Cheveralls. "This looks and feels completely different."

"It is," said Brooks, who said the websites were built on "very simple" HTML coding.

Connelly said webmasters are being employed to maintain the school committee, central office, Hildreth

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Elementary (HES) and Bromfield School websites "to keep it current." Each webmaster will receive a stipend. "It won't be a voluntary post."

An HES webmaster has already been hired. Brooks maintains the special education website. "We're about to hire the other webmasters within a few days," said Connelly.

The HES and TBS principals have already signed off on their new web designs, said Connelly. "We've found them to be very user-friendly. The important information is there."

Vice Chairman Kirsten Wright said in researching other websites for school committees around the state, she's found several that contain brief biographies for committee members. Wright suggested the committee take time to "play with it" to see how the newly designed website feels before approving its public launch.

Still, Cheveralls told Brooks, that he thinks the new website design turned out well. "Two thumbs up ... It gives us the flexibility we were looking for ...Two thumbs up and thank you for your work."

With the digital divide covered, Cheveralls thanked Connelly for pushing the district's to-do list forward through completion. "I was reminded of just how much work has been accomplished," said Cheveralls. "None of us is smarter than all of us. The district's accomplished a tremendous amount this year."

"This was a team effort," said Connelly.

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