BOE Approves Website Redesign Bid — Costs, Plan Not Disclosed

Board officials remain tightlipped regarding a plan for a district website upgrade.

At a Nov. 30 meeting, the district unanimously approved an undiclosed bid offer for a website redesign — without disclosing specifics of the plan.

With nearly no details provided on the agenda or at the meeting, Patch verbally requested from school district spokesman Steve Bartholomew a basic summary of the approved agenda item to include proposed cost, new features and expected time of website launch.

Bartholomew said Dec. 2 in an e-mail to Patch a request to the "Tech people" was made and he is waiting to hear back if "they are ready to publicize." 

Another e-mail was sent to Bartholomew Dec. 7 as a follow-up to his reponse.

"I've been told that we are in such early development stages right now that info will be released as it becomes available," said Bartholomew in an e-mail Dec. 7.

Members of the school board were then contacted by Patch and asked for any information that could clarify their approved agenda item.

School Superintendent Thomas Shea e-mailed Patch Dec. 9 — but again, few specifics were provided.

"At this point, we have only approved a bid for the redesign of the district website," said Shea. "The proposed upgrades have not yet been determined, the scope of the work has not been discussed, and the coming changes are not yet specific."

With school budget dollars at a premium statewide and expected cuts on the way later this year, the school board apparently approved the undisclosed bid amount for the website upgrade without discussing much of details or specific requirements. 

"We have awarded a bid for website redesign and will be meeting in the next few months with the contractor to determine the extent to which we can upgrade and format our award winning website within the established bid costs," said Shea, Dec. 9.

While not providing costs, Shea said the winning bidder for the website job was the public relations company Syntax. He said he would provide more details from the minutes of the meeting, if needed. 

After further review by Patch, Syntax, based in Bohemia, has designed websites for Copiague, Valley Stream, Locust Valley and Three Village school districts in New York.

With a school board at Countywood Primary Center, questions still remain regarding the specifics of the approved item.

UPDATE: See comments below for recent BOE e-mail