The Idea
Carmel Clay Schools (CCS) is a very large school district in Indiana that is comprised of eleven elementary schools, three middle schools, and one high school, with a total of over 15,000 students. CCS is very forward thinking and had extensive technological resources for managing board notes, minutes and video; tracking courses, credit, and grades; human resources administration; websites for each school; and a district website that communicated valuable information to the students, parents, and the community. What they wanted was a unified system that encompassed all of these services and processes and one where students and parents could access information on mobile devices.
The Solution
Utilizing a Ruby on Rails framework, LightSky integrated all of the outside services and internal processes from grade recording, to board meeting notes and presentation into easily accessible back-end tools for the district. District staff see a unified set of back-end services and a single set of tools to easily update and manage the public facing site. Teachers can create their own webpages and add content for each course, further enhancing the information that is available to students and minimizing the need for paper resources. Parents and students have their own unique portals to automatically receive vital communication about progress in classes, upcoming assignments, and events. They can access that information through the full website or through a mobile version. With this complex project, LightSky has helped Carmel Clay Schools by providing a site that meets their needs for usability, functionality, integration, and that will remain adaptable to future needs.