School-e Voting Opens, Finalists Announced

LAWRENCE, Kan.— Fifteen finalists for the School-e Awards contest for the best school district Web site were announced today. Finalists were chosen based on the amount of nominations each district received and the design, content, and overall quality of the district Web site.

The School-e Awards, hosted by AllofE Solutions, showcases the best K-12 district Web site design and strategy. Anyone with a valid e-mail address can now vote for a school district site by going to http://schoolevoting.allofe.com.

The contest began accepting nominations for the best district Web sites in January to identify districts where constituents such as district teachers, staff, students and community members care enormously about the district and its Web site. Of more than 1,600 total nominations, the top 30 most-nominated district Web sites were then evaluated by experts in education and the web on a broad set of criteria to identify the sites that follow best practices.

After judging the sites based on design, content and overall look and functionality, the panel was able to narrow down the top 15 district Web sites for the public to vote on.

District employees, students, and community members should go to http://schoole.allofe.com to vote starting April 5 and to find out more information about the contest. Winners will be announced on the School-e Awards Web site on April 19th, 2010.

The list of School-e Awards finalists is as follows in alphabetical order:

1. Beaufort County Schools
http://www.beaufort.k12.sc.us

2. Brownsville ISD
http://www.bisd.us

3. Clear Creek ISD
http://www2.ccisd.net

4. Friendswood ISD
http://www.fisdk12.net

5. Godfrey-Lee Public Schools
http://godfrey.mi.schoolwebpages.com/

6. Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD
http://www.hebisd.edu

7. Leavenworth USD
http://www.usd453.org/

8. New Castle County Vo-Tech School District
http://www.nccvotech.com

9. Orange Schools
http://www.orangeschools.org

10. Polk County School District
http://www.polk-fl.net

11. Southwest ISD
http://www.swisd.net

12. Spearfish School District
http://spearfish.k12.sd.us/

13. University Academy
http://www.universityacademy.org/

14. Van Meter Community Schools
http://www.vanmeter.k12.ia.us

15. West Fargo Public Schools
http://www.west-fargo.k12.nd.us