Queens Explorers Magnet School: Expert Support for a Great School Website
What does it take to build a great school website? Expertise in website accessibility, branding, storytelling, photography, and design. Queens Explorers Magnet School for Global Conservation and Service Learning found all that and more with eChalk.
Preparing for a School Website Transformation
Queens Explorers is a PreK-5 New York City magnet school in southwestern Queens, open to students throughout the NYCDOE. As a magnet school, it is important for them to have a website that highlights their unique programs and facilities—such as their Maker Space Engineering Room, SunWorks Hydroponics Farm, and service-learning curriculum.
Christina Tracy, the Magnet Coordinator, had previously created a website on her own using a free website platform. While it met their basic needs, Christina says that she knew that there were flaws, particularly when it came to accessibility.
“I just needed that extra help, especially with meeting ADA requirements,” she says. “I knew there were problems with my site, but I didn’t know how to fix them, and there wasn’t anybody to ask. I wanted to make sure the content on our site was accessible for all people with disabilities.”
Christina also wanted support with other aspects of the website. “I’m not a website creator, and I’m not a branding expert. I could figure out some things on my own, but I knew it could be better.” When her magnet district offered an eChalk website, she jumped at the chance.
A Smooth Website Transition with Expert Guidance
The comprehensive transition package Queens Explorers selected included content migration, photography, website planning, design, and branding and writing services. The eChalk team took care of the entire process, from initial planning to the final website rollout, with input from the Queens Explorers administrative team.
“Every single part of the process went smoothly,” Christina says. “It was very fast moving and very organized.” At the project launch meeting, the eChalk team listened to their goals for the website and set up additional meetings for branding and writing, photography, and design. The entire process took about two weeks from project launch to website rollout.
A photography session at the school captured some amazing images of their students and spaces. The images help bring the website to life.
Christina especially appreciated the expert guidance during the branding, photography and design sessions. “They guided us every step of the way and helped us figure out what was important in our story and how to tell it in both words and pictures. It was great to have that guidance and to work with people who really took the time to understand who we are and what is important to us.”
eChalk helped write some of the key pages, including About Us and Academics. The new pages highlight all of the unique aspects of the school and magnet program. About Us is focused on helping to attract prospective families.
Bringing the Story to Life on the School Website
Christina and her principal are both thrilled with the new website. Christina says, “It’s beautifully done. The new website is organized and clear. All the information our families need to see is there. I’m really happy with everything about it.”
Christina sees their new website as an important tool for parent involvement and participation. It is where they celebrate successes, talk about important events, and provide parents with a window into their children’s school lives. She also loves that she can easily get information out on the website, reducing the school’s reliance on paper flyers, notices and homework packets—an important consideration for their “Global Conservation” magnet theme.
The Home Page captures the information current families need most, including the calendar and announcement feed.
The website has gotten positive reviews from staff and community members. Everyone especially loves the new pictures, taken by eChalk photographer and web designer Tinsley Maier during a site visit. Their new About Us and Academics pages capture all of the unique programs, facilities, and partnerships that define their school. Christina remarks, “It was great to have help writing those pages. Now, they have the information we really want our families to see. It’s amazing, based on just those branding questions, you were able to capture who we are, even though you’re not in the school every day.”
The Academics page has information for each grade as well as an overview of their integrated, project-based curriculum and service learning projects.
Making School Website Accessibility Easy
The new site is now much more accessible for users with disabilities, too. In January, with its previous CMS, Queens Explorers’ website had 24.8 accessibility issues per page based on an automated 3rd-party scan, which gave it a “2” on the NYC DOE’s accessibility grading system (equivalent to a “D” grade). In April, after the transition to eChalk, Queens Explorers had only 1.3 accessibility issues per page, moving to a “5” (equivalent to an “A”) on the NYC DOE accessibility scale.
Removing the Stress from Website Maintenance
Christina says she now feels ready to maintain their new website on her own with eChalk’s easy CMS. She also loves having GUIDE, eChalk’s built-in accessibility tool, at her fingertips to help her maintain web accessibility and meet ADA requirements.
But what she loves most is knowing that she always has someone she can reach out to if she needs help. She explains, “What I love, love, love about eChalk is that if I need help and I don’t know how to do something, I send an email and Tinsley or Jenny get right back to me—within 24 hours if not same day. I don’t have to wait a couple of days for a form-letter answer saying, ‘we are working on your problem and will get back to you soon.’ They make sure I’m taken care of fast so I can actually get things done. Everyone is extremely nice, patient and understanding.”
She also appreciates how fast, easy and stress-free the whole process was. “Educators don’t have a lot of extra time. We’re always doing 20 million things and wearing a lot of different hats, so our time is very valuable. eChalk made everything so easy. You took the reins and made sure it all went smoothly. I would recommend this for any school who needs a new website.”