New Troy Web site unveiled

BY ERIC HRIN (STAFF WRITER)
Published: March 18, 2010

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Photo: N/A, License: N/A, Created: 2010:03:17 13:34:33

Review Photo/ERIC HRIN Showing off the Troy Area School District's new Web site are, in front, webmaster Will Kelly, and in back, left to right, Ryan Griffin, technology technician, and Ryan Schrader, technology director.

TROY - The renovations in the Troy Area School District haven't been the only building project going on.

The district has been working hard on the construction of a new school district Web site, and it's now up and running at www.troyareasd.org on the Internet. The old Web site will be removed in the near future.

"We've had a lot of positive comments and our goal is have this be a community resource for the entire community," district technology director Ryan Schrader said. "We spent a lot of time and effort to make it unique to Troy, and it really reflects where we want to be as a school district."

He noted that the main Web pages, which include the district's home page and the pages for each of the schools, went up at the end of February.

Currently, teachers are being trained on how to load content onto their sites. More pages are also being developed.

The Web site, which was implemented through the School Wires program, features a more "cohesive" design and is easier to navigate, said the district's new webmaster, Will Kelly.

Schrader said the Web site will grow as more material will be added. "This is the initial roll-out," he said.

For example, he said, the Web site in the future will focus on sporting events with such features as updated stories on sporting activities, sports schedules, sports photos, and directions for away games.

In addition, the Web site will feature non-school items such as alumni information, alumni event data, and reunion news. The Web site also has the weather for Troy.

"If you need to know what's going on in the school district, we're going to have it on there," Schrader said. "If it's not on there, let us know."

On the home page, there's a "Headlines" section with such items as lunch menus, old-time pictures of the school district, kindergarten registration information, printable district calendars, and meeting notices. In addition, it features a Troy Trojan cartoon character designed by middle school art teacher Wayne Beeman. Community links are also featured for such entities as the Troy Chamber of Commerce and the Bradford County Heritage Museum.

There's also a "parent portal," which links to the school information system allowing parents to log in and view their children's grades and attendance. In the future, parents will also be able to register for e-alerts to find out such information as a teacher changing a homework assignment or a date being changed for school pictures. There is also a link for parents to pay on their children's lunch account.

"They don't have to worry about sending money in with their kids; they can pay online," Schrader said.

That's not all. According to Schrader, the district is trying to get kids involved with the Web site as much as possible, and their pictures can be seen on the Web pages. Student council and the school store will also be represented in the future with students modeling merchandise from the school store, he said.

Schrader noted a goal was established for the Web site.

"Our goal was to create a Web site that was more dynamic, showcased the school better, and created a hub to better communicate with the community."

He noted that comments about the Web site can be directed to the webmaster through the Web site. He said input is welcome.

"We want this to be something parents can use, so we want to know if they have input."

Eric Hrin can be reached at (570) 297-5251; e-mail: reviewtroy@thedailyreview.com.

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10 posted comments

Pinecroft Golf Course 2551 Centerville rd Gillett Pa 16925 , are willing to donate some of the money made @ our Golf course one saterday of your choice, if they come in and mention they heard about us from your school. If you are intested please contact me by email or call me 704 202 1498
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mechelle,  04/05/10 5:58
to ok but...

wow, your knowledge is SO impressive. maybe you should have applied for the webmaster position, seeing as how you obviously know more than anyone else in the whole wide world.

or maybe...

you should realize that the general public just wants a website that is functional and attractive, and could care less about your opinions of frontpage and dreamweaver. lets be honest here, the purpose of the comments here are not to demonstrate your prowess as a computer genius. they are to hear feedback from the community, which means the majority of the people want to have a clue what you are talking about.

might i suggest another career option for you...because the webmaster position is already filled by someone who is more than capable, why not get your teaching degree and bring your wealth of knowledge to our lowly troy school district, seeing as how you question 'if anybody in the district is capable of teaching real web development'.

again, this website is a work in progress and ALL the teachers need to be able to edit it, so i think school wires is user friendly and well organized to cover the wide range of tech skills. not all of the teachers have training in web design, but that does not make them incapable of teaching it, or less intelligent.

i applaud the tech department for forging ahead in a community that is somewhat hesitant to embrace technology, and i think student involvement is an excellent idea once teachers have been trained.

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legit teacher,  03/19/10 12:15
The website looks outstanding to me for just being rolled out. I only clicked on a few links, but everything opened quickly, went to the right place and looked great on my computer. I am sure that it will only continue to look better and I appreciate that they are showing their dedication to this process by even responding to comments about this article. Great job and keep up the good work.
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Charley,  03/19/10 9:29
The site looks decent but I agree, I'm not sure it's proportional to all screen resolutions (and mobile browsers). Also more concerning are two things:
1. It uses ASP (who uses that now days, why not make it ASP.NET).
2. I could be wrong here but the Home link on the top does not work per page, was that JavaScript panel/dropdown written on each page and not included?

All that said I'm sure it's a work in progress... Really if the school wanted to make the site more useful, it would be a good opportunity for students to become familiar with web scripting languages if anybody in the district is capable of teaching real web development (not using some lousy tool like FrontPage or DreamWeaver Templates).

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Ok but...,  03/18/10 8:34
To frustrated you can access all the teachers contact information from the directory button from the district page. Maybe they should put that information on the teachers pages also :) Looking at it you can tell they put alot of effort into the website already so I'm sure they will continue to improve it! I think it looks great and I'm glad they finally got something we can use as parents. On a side note not everyone in Troy is negative about everything the schools do. Keep up the good work I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the new website!
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Let's Be Possitive,  03/18/10 8:15
If there are broken links then you should see an email address where you can let us know. We welcome feedback.

I understand the imaging issues and it is difficult for us to test on different screen sizes. However we have recommended sizes given to us and who ever posts the pics normally previews it before posting to make sure it looks OK.

Again if you see anything that you have questions then please don't hesitate to contact us.

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Will,  03/18/10 7:08
On the District homepage http://www.troyareasd.org/tasd/site/default.asp you will see on the left hand side a "Directory" link. This will give you the opportunity to look for the staff member of your choice.
The site has just been rolled out and when the teachers (and there are many!!!) all get the basic training you will be able to get their email addresses from their teacher pages at the school sites.
Some are already set up but give it time!
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Will,  03/18/10 7:02
considering this website was made live only a month ago, and a webmaster was only recently hired, i think its a huge improvement. sure, there are a few bugs to be worked out, but that goes with the territory - change is good, but takes adjustment. if you read the article closely, it specifically states that 'input is welcome', so try emailing the webmaster with concerns, rather than complaining on the towanda review website. it usually helps to go to the source when you feel something isn't right.
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overly impressed,  03/18/10 3:42
There's no way to access the high school teacher email address information now. There used to be a page for that.
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Frustrated,  03/18/10 6:56
The web site's not bad but whomever is designing and maintaining it really should learn how to resize images to fit proportionately to the box they have allocated for it or not use images. It also should have been tested and previewed on multiple screen sizes before it was published (e.g., 19", 22", etc.). There are also a few links that don't go where they are actually supposed to. Hopefully over time, these issues will be resolved. As far as the logo and artwork are concerned, Mr. Beeman did an excellent job as always.

One further note, the constant advertising(here,letters sent home, etc.) for being able to pay for school lunches on line isn't as wonderful as one may think. With each "transaction" you are charged an additional $2.00 fee for being able to "pay online". That rather defeats the purpose of convenience or saving money, particularly when children are on the reduced fee schedule. Even local utilities don't charge a "transaction fee" for paying your bills online.

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Not Overly Impressed,  03/18/10 6:55