New website to launch before spring break
by Melissa Martin
Jan. 15 school board meeting
Superintendent Jeffrey Harrison told Brecksville-Broadview Heights School Board members the district plans to roll out its new website before spring break, which begins March 24.
The existing website is being reworked to improve content management and accessibility under the direction of JC Power Strategic Communications LLC, Harrison said.
Harrison said he has asked parents throughout the district to share the top three reasons they turn to the website for information. The feedback he received has driven the website’s redesign.
“We were told that the website could be up and running as early as Feb. 21,” he told the board. “But I’m going with a more conservative estimate, saying that it will be operational by the time students are on spring break.”
A key component of the retooled website will be newly crafted curriculum frameworks, said David Martin, the district’s director of education.
The district has had curriculum frameworks in place in each school’s media center for years, but historically they have been difficult to locate.
“There were hard copy binders featuring all courses of study. … But they were big and they were clunky,” Martin said.
To illustrate his point, Martin said that when Harrison became superintendent in August 2023, he had difficulty finding the curriculum frameworks. Because that could be an issue for parents and community members interested in what students are learning and what resources they are using, Martin said that curriculum frameworks for all areas of study from sixth through 12th grade will now be accessible online.
“If I’m a parent and I’m thinking about moving to Ohio because I just got transferred and I’m checking out [school] districts in Northeast Ohio and I can see what my child is going to learn in sixth grade in the first quarter, I think that’s pretty wonderful,” he said. “It has all [the information] in one place where I can see [what they will learn during the] first quarter, second quarter, etc.”
Curriculum frameworks, Martin explained, provide a set of guidelines and learning outcomes derived from state standards.
The district began updating its curriculum frameworks in January 2024, Martin said.
As part of those frameworks, every high school and middle school course includes a description and overview of the course and notes the course materials used, as well as a link to the state standards on the course page.
The content, Martin said, “will be heavily standards based.”
“We’re trying to make this as accessible as possible for the community,” Martin said, noting that the frameworks will be updated routinely as state standards or course materials change.
School board member Tish Kwiatkowski said she is impressed by all the work the administration, teachers and staff have put into the course frameworks.“All of us on the board have received curriculum questions from the public about what’s being taught in our buildings,” she said. “I’m so impressed with the work that’s been done in one year to get this done. We know how passionate they are. … This is going to be a wonderful resource for our parents and our community to access. This is great.”