Did the Clayton School District really need a new website? That was the 100,000 dollar question posed to the District, and they answered yes.

Much of CHS would answer no.

The homepage of the new CHS website seems more like an advertisement than a school website. With lines like, “At CHS, we inspire students to become lifelong learners,” it seems as if the website is trying to sell itself to students. Since the website’s primary usage comes from students, staff, and parents, it is only telling visitors what they already know.

Why did we decide to create a new website in the first place? Was it to compete with other schools’ websites? Was the Clayton School District worried that we might head to the Kirkwood website to look up our lunch menu? Maybe they were trying to attract Ladue students to our PowerSchool login page.

The purpose of a school website should be to give students, parents, and faculty the information they need and to let them find it easily. The new “Find it Fast” box on the homepage is aimed to achieve this goal. However, the “Find it Fast” box is not visible unless the visitor scrolls down, making the section itself not very fast to find.

Trading convenience for aesthetics, the website hides thumbnail-sized pictures for the headline stories under the full page generic “Educate. Inspire. Empower” photos.

“I liked the old website better,” sophomore Hugo Hoffman said. “I liked how I could see the pictures of the announcements.”

Despite the sleek design, some students are still a little disappointed with the visuals of the new site.

“The website could really use some orange,” sophomore Ben Schneider said. “It’s like they’re ignoring half of the school.”

History teacher Chris Livingston likes the new design, but site is not perfect.

“It looks good, but there are a few things I’m taken aback by. For example, when you scroll down to the bottom, it has Dr. Gutchewsky’s email, but says nothing about who he is,” Livingston said.

Livingston also recognizes how confusing the site can be to a first-time visitor.

“I can navigate the site, but I can see how a parent may not be able to make their way around it,” Livingston said.

At least the new website acknowledges its own confusingness. There are two locations on the CHS homepage with links to the other schools.

It may just need time, but right now, students are missing the old site.