Wood County Schools launches new site, mobile app
A screencap of www.woodcountyschoolswv.com shows the new layout for Wood County Schools’ website, which officials say will be easier to access and more user friendly. (Image Provided)
Wood County Schools new mobile app allows users to set up notifications for school news, events, closings and delays, as well as information from specific schools. A download link for the free Wood County Schools app can be found at www.woodcountyschoolswv.com. (Image Provided)
A screencap of www.woodcountyschoolswv.com shows the new layout for Wood County Schools’ website, which officials say will be easier to access and more user friendly. (Image Provided)
Wood County Schools new mobile app allows users to set up notifications for school news, events, closings and delays, as well as information from specific schools. A download link for the free Wood County Schools app can be found at www.woodcountyschoolswv.com. (Image Provided)
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PARKERSBURG -- Wood County Schools new app and website went live Wednesday as part of an overhaul of communications with parents and the community.
Superintendent Will Hosaflook said the schools website can still be reached at www.woodcountyschoolswv.com or www.woodcountyschoolswv.net, but has been overhauled to make it more user-friendly.
"The old site, when you would click on a button, it would drop down and cover the other buttons," Hosaflook said. "Also if you went to the site on your phone, the mobile site wasn't the same as the web site."
The new site features pop up menus that allow visitors to easily navigate to pages and information, and officials will continue to listen to public feedback and tweak the format of the site as needed, he said.
"It is a very fluid format," Hosaflook said. "It's very user-friendly and very stakeholder-oriented."
The new app also went live and works with the website to bring both information and alerts to users. A download link for the app can be accessed on the web page.
Once downloaded and registered, the app can be set to receive notifications both from the county as a whole as well as information for specific schools. Hosaflook said officials will announce delays and closures via the app this winter.
"I'll be able to send out a text message, a live feed, a push notification and a Facebook notification with one click," he said. "The same message goes out across all of our social media platforms as well."
Hosaflook said the app replaces the district's School Messenger calling system, which in recent years has encountered problems with dropped calls or distorted messages. Audio calls can still be sent via the new platform, he said.
"What we've found is most of the people in Wood County are getting their information on their phones," Hosaflook said. "The app and the website makes that easier."
Contact Michael Erb at merb@newsandsentinel.com.