Mineola Schools Roll Out New District Website

Visitors to the Mineola School District website may have noticed the changes which have occurred to the site, which has undergone a complete redesign from the ground up for the 2011-12 school year.

During a preview of the new website at the September 15 meeting at the , Superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler described the new site as both “ready for primetime and not ready for primetime,” saying that the biggest difference was “what the teachers do and how the students and parents access it.”

One of the new features of the site is an individual log-in in the upper-right for parents, students and faculty. Sign-in IDs were not immediately given out so that teachers were given ample time to populate their individual web pages; the sign-in IDs were then given out to students as well as parents. Teachers can use calendars on the pages to post links, events and assignments.

“Whatever (they) want the students to have (they) can post the work,” Dr. Nagler said.

When a student first logs into the site they will see the home page, a “locker” which contains files, a homework section where students can submit assignments back to the teacher and a blog component where students can comment on an assignment. Another feature is that teachers can give answer sheets to parents only and the worksheet for students’ eyes only.

“You can give the same homework assignment that you always gave, you put it online and have kids hand it in electronically, I bet that your participation rate goes up,” Dr. Nagler said.

The calendars combine all assignments and are organized by classes in which students are enrolled. “It organizes your kids and the parents see the same thing,” Dr. Nagler said of the new functions. The calendar is also color coded to type of assignment such as a test or project or by subject such as math or science. It can also be displayed in multiple languages such as Spanish or Portuguese. The address and phone number for each building is also displayed on the bottom of every page.

Students’ teachers would automatically be assigned in the system so there is no need to hunt for teachers’ pages individually. The fifth graders will be using a because of their work with the .

“I want to roll it out as teachers are prepared to use it,” Dr. Nagler said, explaining that some teachers are still undergoing training to use the new website. “There’s a value that I think teachers haven’t seen yet – they’re still thinking like it’s an old web page and the more we give them training and the more we teach them the capabilities of it I believe the more teachers are going to jump on it and say ‘this is great’.”

If a teacher is not on board with the new website by mid-October, the superintendent said that he and the building principal will be speaking with the teacher.