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# School district has a new Web site
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/school-district-has-a-new-web-site/
- Published: 2008-03-04T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T18:43:59.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Education, Malibu, #archive-import

*District site offers more information*

SMMUSD HDQTRS The public school district’s Web site is looking up to 21st century standards these days.

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District unveiled a new and improved, user-friendly Web site last month, a home page that was once criticized by visitors for being outdated and difficult to navigate.

The upgraded site was created by Art Meets Technology, a locally-based Web site design firm owned by Maryanne Solomon, a Santa Monica school parent who is also the mastermind behind several other district-related sites, having designed the John Adams Middle School and PTA Council home pages.

“The biggest complaint I heard was the navigation,” Solomon said, referring to the old site. “The other complaint was the look of it — it didn’t look professional and for cities like Santa Monica and Malibu that are so into technology, we should have a state-of-the-art Web site.”

The new site was officially launched and introduced during the Board of Education meeting on Feb. 21.

With the input of the department heads, Solomon spent four months designing and compiling information for the new Web site, creating roughly 200 supplementary pages, consisting of 1,400 PDF documents and about 150 images. The site altogether cost approximately $9,000.

The result is a much clearer layout that makes information more readily accessible with new features including a staff directory, listing all main personnel, including school principals, on one page. In the previous iteration of the district’s Web site, contact information for the administrators were listed only on their department page.

Each department’s individual pages also received makeovers, containing more information than the former version. The main goal with the new site was to have enough information accessible through the Web so that visitors would not have to contact the district, Solomon said.

The new site is just one of the ways in which the district has tried to improve communications under Superintendent Dianne Talarico’s tenure. Last September saw the formation of a new coalition consisting of school leaders, aimed at promoting the achievements in the district. In the past several months, the reception desk was also moved from the second-floor of the district headquarters to the main lobby, intending to bring a face of the district closer to the visitor. While the site and the new reception area are not projects of the new coalition, they are attempts to better public relations, Talarico said.

“The person who greets you as soon as you walk into the district office should be... seeing what kind of assistance you need,” Talarico said. “It’s the same thing with technology — the face of the district is at www.smmusd.org.”

With the funding shortage the district has had to endure, some non-essential items have fallen through the cracks, including communication, Rebecca Kennerly, the PTA Council president, said.

“A school district needs to communicate effectively and this new Web site absolutely communicates, not just with parents but with the community, in a more effective way,” Kennerly said.

Kennerly said she was often frustrated with the old site, adding that it wasn’t laid out in a logical way and was confusing for newcomers.

“It’s a lot easier to find things now,”Kennerly said.“I think it’s going to be a much more useful tool for parents.”

The page has also received rave reviews from district staff. Jan Maez, the district’s chief financial officer, said on Monday that one of the biggest improvements with the new site is that it’s easier for the public to find minutes to the advisory committee meetings. The site will also allow parents to easily access the district’s budget, financial interim reports and audits, Maez said.

“It’s going to make it easier for people going on our Web site to find information that they’re looking for,” Maez said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 4, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/030408.pdf?ref=smdp.com)