Imagine having 300 visitors every day. There would be 600 dirty shoes, some nice guests and lots of food. Kimball Area Public Schools’ Web site www.kimball.k12.mn.us/homepage.htm has an average of 300 visitors a day. The site was designed by business education teacher Nancy Bonnifield. For an hour each day, Bonnifield updates the site and adds current information to teachers’ pages. Area students, parents and others visitors find class assignments, teachers’ schedules and contact information, upcoming sporting events and lunch menus on the site. Teachers say the pages make it easier to communicate class requirements to parents and students. Nathan Hylla teaches social studies at Kimball Area High School (KAHS). He said his site helped conferences run more smoothly this fall. With the technology, parents better understood what was happening in Hylla’s classroom and his expectations. KAHS seniors Michelle Condon and Amber Austad said they periodically use the site. Condon, a cheerleader, said she looks up sports schedules and homework about once or twice a week. She said it helps her stay updated on events. It also helps students prepare for classes. Hylla uses his page in classes to show students what will be covered and what projects will be assigned. Because of this, the students are held responsible for turning in work. Bonnifield echoed this remark, “The Web pages put responsibility on students. If they say they didn’t get an assignment, they could have gotten it off of the Web site.” Bill Hesse, a third-grade teacher at Kimball Elementary School, updates most of the elementary school’s information. The task takes about 5-7 hours a week. He said the pages are a work in progress, but the school has already promoted events, and posted the school’s newsletter. “The Web site has come a long way, [especially considering] all of the people participating in it,” Hesse said. Together, Hesse and Bonnifield try to figure out better ideas or ways of doing things. Bonnifield works to make the page user friendly, organized and attractive. “I think it comes out of frustration,” Bonnifield said. She said she has used pages that didn’t link, were hard on the eyes, or had inaccurate or old information. She wanted to avoid these problems on the schools’ site. She hopes the site is maneuverable. “I love to stand behind someone using it and see if they can get around,” Bonnifield said. She and Hesse also said they were open to comments and suggestions. They both want to know about any problems with the site, so they can be rectified. Both can be contacted via the Web site as all teachers’ e-mails are listed. “I know that there is so much e-mail between teachers and parents,” Bonnifield said. “During the day it is so easy to pop an e-mail to parents. It takes 20 seconds to send an e-mail, compared to five minutes to call.” The page also helps market the Kimball schools in the community and to area schools and families. “Hopefully we are getting our image out there,” Hesse said. “It’s great to show the support we have for the things we do here. We want to show the world.”
