Welcome to the new NewarkCitySchools.org. This new site was designed, from the ground up, with three main points in mind: Larger visuals, and more of them; increased social media presence; and ease of navigation.

Starting with the visuals, which are the most obvious changes. The scrolling photo on the front page is bigger. Every school’s homepage also has a photo slideshow that will highlight recent events and classroom activities. This new website will also allow us to add more photo galleries throughout the entire site, and also opens up the possibility of streaming live video.

Now onto social media. Newark City Schools launched its Facebook and Twitter accounts in August 2012, more than two years after the previous website launched. Now, you can check district and individual school accounts daily throughout the school year to learn about important dates, delays and cancellations, classroom activities and much more.

This site brings our social media front-and-center, with direct links in the gray bar above. Our district Twitter account is also to the right with live updates, and you can also visit “NCS Live” here, or under our “Community” drop-down menu to find an ongoing stream from a variety of our social media accounts. If your child is participating in a school event, or if you want to know the score of the away girl’s volleyball match, you can look for it there.

Finally, there is navigation. If you can’t get around the website, then it doesn’t matter what it looks like. Navigation has three main areas:

The top black bar features our general information links:

· Schools: Find links directly to your school, which features building-specific news, photos and information.

· Calendar: Find an adjustable calendar that shows upcoming events.

· Board of Education: Learn more about our members, as well as find board policies, meeting minutes, videos and agendas.

· Departments: If you want to know about district-level information, from financial information to transportation, and from our report card to technology and community outreach, visit this section.

· Contact Us: Search for the email of any staff member in the district.

The light gray section features drop-down links that are geared toward specific audiences. Here is what each section (hopefully) features:

· Parents: Currently the most robust menu, the Parents section features links to any page with information that parents are most interested in, including Attendance Boundaries, yearly calendars, ProgressBook, Registration, Open Enrollment and Transfers

· Students: This menu features links students need access to, including ProgressBook, MyNCS, Student Handbooks and our Bring Your Own Device policy

· Staff: This menu features quick links for internal staff information, generally behind password protection

· Community: The many ways the district is involved with the community, including information about the Smiling with Hope Bakery, Channel 19, A Call to College, building rental information and directions.

· Alumni: A goal for the district next year is to increase our outreach to district alumni. If you are a Newark High School graduate, we would love to keep in touch with you. This resource will allow you to register for district updates, share reunion information and, ultimately, stay connected with the district.

Finally, the links to the left side of the page are called “Touts,” and you’ll see building-specific links on each of the school pages, as well.

· Superintendent’s Message: This is a message from our Superintendent, Doug Ute, which is updated occasionally throughout the school year.

· Academic Excellence: Visit this link to find information about honor rolls, scholarships, curriculum and other academic highlights.

· The Arts: Visit this link to find information about our performing arts (music, drama) and our visual arts classes, including a photo gallery and schedules.

· Wildcat Athletics: This takes you directly to nhswildcats.com, the home of Newark Wildcat athletics.

· E-News Sign-Up: Through here, you can sign up to receive Emails and/or text messages about district and school-specific news. Any item posted to the building page you select will be sent to you on a weekly basis. The emails can also include upcoming events.

Thank you for visiting the new Newark City Schools website. If you find any broken links, have suggestions for new webpages or have trouble finding anything, please email the Community Outreach Coordinator, Seth Roy, at [email protected].