EUFSD Launches New Website

Last month, as the world was getting ready to turn the page on 2024, Eastchester was also gearing up for the future. 

On Dec. 19, the EUFSD unveiled its new website, ushering in a world of functionality and possibility for the students, parents and community members who are eager to stay informed about the amazing things occurring on a daily basis around the district. 

Robert Jacoby, Eastchester’s Director of Technology, explained that plans to revamp the district’s website were first discussed a year ago, as administrators and educators hoped to build a vibrant, new, public-facing platform for the community. Much of the impetus for the switch, Jacoby said, was born from a meeting with the Tri-States Consortium team, which recommended a number of changes to the district’s online presence that would benefit the educational experience for students and families alike.

“Some things were being asked of us that the infrastructure of the old website couldn’t handle,” noted Jacoby. “With the old website, there were certain challenges in terms of information syncing, including calendars and contact info, and the requests that Tri-States was making—especially in terms of guidance—simply weren’t possible.

A new streamlined platform—powered by Finalsite—would allow the district to dramatically enhance the on-line experience for visitors. It would be a stark contrast to the previous site, which could be somewhat labyrinthian and difficult to navigate. To that end, the EUFSD enlisted the help of stakeholders to ensure that the new website was not only user-friendly, but also reflected the unique identity of the Eastchester community. 

One of the more obvious overhauls came in the form of the district’s new branding design, which combines the traditional school colors with Eastward-facing arrows signifying Eastchester’s propulsive forward momentum.

“We had a couple of phases while building the new website; we had a small committee of parents and staff members who came together for the branding elements, and we had a lot of Board of Education feedback on the look and layout of the site,” said Jacoby. “With the branding, we wanted to take elements that were important to Eastchester, but also make everything more modern.”

Once the look and feel of the new website were finalized, Jacoby said, it fell to the district’s five building website facilitators—Stacy Goldring, Dave O’Neil, Natalie Malone, Jennifer Batz, and Elizabeth Bruni—to ensure that the information presented on the schools’ pages was accurate, up-to-date and easy to navigate.

“Out of everybody, the building website facilitators had the biggest lift, and they were really open to it, especially once they got a preview of how Finalsite worked and how easy it was to manage,” said Jacoby. “They started the content-editing process in November, which equated to a very large amount of work in a short amount of time, so I have to give all the kudos to our group of website facilitators.

“We met in person, and we really collaborated to make sure that all of the school pages were consistent, so when we have parents who might have children in multiple buildings visit the site, they’ll always know where to find things.”

Jacoby also credited Randy Hall, a website specialist from the Lower Hudson Regional Information Center, as being a vital part of the process, as Hall’s experience dealing with the platform was invaluable when it came to guiding the building website facilitators through the arduous process. 

“I’ve worked on websites,” said Jacoby. “But Randy has worked on more than 50 Finalsite sites; so as soon as a question was asked, Randy was able to help us with the mechanics of it all.”

Jacoby noted that the initial response to the new website has been overwhelmingly positive from both faculty and community members, while acknowledging that it may take some getting used to for those familiar with the old site. 

“Many of the comments show that people like the overall look and feel of the website, and how professional it is,” said Jacoby. “And even though some things have moved, and we’ve heard from parents who are looking to find a certain page, it’s important to remember that this website has a very powerful search feature, so if you can’t find something that you are looking for, you can always type it into the search and it should pop up in a list of results.”

He noted that particular attention was paid to making Board of Education meeting information more easily accessible.Now, when community members click on the meeting itself (most notably toward the bottom of the district and building homepages), both the livestream and agenda/minutes links are right at their fingertips.

“This is a public-facing website,” he added. “So one of the biggest priorities for us was limiting the number of clicks a visitor has to make to find important information.”

The EUFSD is always looking for ways to improve the online experience for our users. To that end, if you would like to offer feedback, please fill out our questionnaire HERE.