GILROY
– At the start of the school year, the Gilroy High School Web
site was static, filled with outdated and not-too-useful
information.
GILROY – At the start of the school year, the Gilroy High School Web site was static, filled with outdated and not-too-useful information.
Today, parents and students frequently visit the site to get up to date on GHS news and events, read the parent newsletter on-line and even take a peek at the award-winning student newspaper.
Is your student taking an Advanced Placement exam? Log on to the GHS Web site to pay the exam fees on-line.
Want to know what’s going on with the many construction projects set to happen this summer?
Check out the modernization project summary and renderings of the planned Student Center.
Assistant Vice Principal Greg Camacho-Light and district Construction Manager Jan Jensen even started a “blog,” complete with photos, to keep parents as updated as possible.
The site’s Webmaster is Eric Kuwada, who teaches physics, AP environmental science and Web design.
The idea was to make the site “dynamic, something that parents would come to week in and week out because there was something new there,” Kuwada said.
Much of the information comes directly from school staff or the student bulletin, he said.
“I try to put as much as I can up there, especially the weekend events and things coming up,” Kuwada said. “I can’t get everything, but I try to get as much as I can.”
An unofficial communication committee that includes Kuwada, Camacho-Light, Principal Bob Bravo and Journalism Advisor Elizabeth Dirks chooses the content of the site.
“We pretty much map out a month or so at a time what communication we want to put up on the Web site,” Kuwada said.
Parents have not provided much feedback on the improved site, he said, but the number of visitors has dramatically increased in the last four months.
Over the summer, Kuwada hopes to make the site more of a teacher-parent-student hub by giving teachers a way to post information.
“That’s the end-all goal: So teachers can get on, say, have a blog going of their daily assignments so students can see what they miss … and posting of grades,” he said.
Visit: www.gilroyhighschool.com
