APS School Websites Getting New Look

Platform switch will happen on Thursday; school websites could be down for several hours.

It’s not every day that all 142 APS schools undergo makeovers at the same time, but that’s exactly what is happening this Thursday. Only this time, we’re not talking about new paint and curtains.

The website of every school in the district will get a refresh when APS switches to a new platform on Thursday. Visitors to those sites will notice a modern, clean design and better use of photos. The sites will continue to feature school colors prominently and showcase such important information as calendars and bell schedules. The new websites also feature menus that allow users quick access to important school and district information.

But as with any project, there may be downtime as the APS Web Team and district technology staff make the switch and go live with the new websites. Specifically, the team asks for your patience between 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 29, which is when the transition will be occurring.

The district’s main website, APS.edu, should not be affected.

The switch to the new FinalSite platform was made necessary when APS’ previous school website provider notified the district in April that it would be ceasing business operations by the end of June.

Since then, the district’s Technology Department and the APS Web Team have been working feverishly to design, configure, and test the new sites. Each school website had between 18 and 130 pages of content that needed to be migrated over into the new system, which involved everything from copying content; downloading files, pictures, and slideshows; rebuilding the pages in the new system; and re-linking websites.

With the help of temporary employees, the team migrated 21,702 pages of content.

“It’s been crazy since April,” said Brian Beeler, a member of the APS Web Team.

The Web Team notes that it is still in the process of double-checking each of the websites and fixing any bugs it encounters.

In the meantime, the team says that if you have trouble accessing a school website from a bookmark, you may need to update the bookmark to the correct URL. The best way to do that, the team says, is to go to the APS.edu School Directory, choose your school from the list of schools, and click on  the “School Website” button on the school profile page.