Back in September 2007 we posted that the Newburgh School District homepage needed help. The homepage has received something of a makeover. It is still deficient in most of the ways mentioned earler.
I was about to go back and check each thing I complained about last time, but the only thing more boring than looking at bad design is to look at the same bad design twice.
The truly interesting thing about the new homepage design is how it preserves the demented bizarreness of the previous incarnation. If you set out to suck the life out of a web page and leave a tattered bloodless shell, this is what you would make. The name of not one human being appears on the homepage. How odd is that? The site quite literally remains dehumanized.
For a sample of a passable school district web site, have a look at site of the Enlarged City School District of Middletown. Why look at that, the names of fifteen human beings appear on the homepage; upcoming events are front and center; budget development is under way (anything like that happen over in the Newburgh School District?). They've got a Calendar, Job Openings, and Search. And look at that, a friendly link to welcome newcomers. Goodness, even a link for vendors! Why doesn't the Newburgh School District have anything to say to vendors? Melissa Cortellini is doing great work for the Middletown School District, well done!
There are students in the Newburgh School District who could create a better web site than Middletown's. Some of them might even enjoy the challenge.