(October 7, 2009) — With the fires delaying the start of the school year, parent Sara Dwyer made use of the extra summer vacation days to work on the highly anticipated Clark Magnet school website. “The staff wanted a website for our school because we are a science and technology school,” Dwyer said. “The office wanted a site for parent communication.” The new website, clarkmagnet.net is the school’s second website according to assistant principal Kristina Provost. Schoolwires was chosen as the server of the website, after being recommended by senior administrative secretary Barbara Melone. The domain name costs $8 a year and is paid for by the school’s Title I funds. Dwyer, who was PTSA president last year and has a son who attends Clark, volunteered to design and load content to the site, in addition to training the staff to use it. “I didn’t get paid for making the website. Instead my training was paid for. I hope to be able to take my skills and get paid by another school in the future,” Dwyer said. While some teachers have started to use the website for homework and daily assignments, many teachers are sticking to linking their pages to SchoolRack. P.E. teacher and Intramurals advisor Judy Thomsen is one of the teachers who uses the site to connect it to a SchoolRack page. “I really haven’t used it because I have a lot of files and information on my SchoolRack page, but I think the design of the teacher pages is better than SchoolRack’s.” Thomsen said. SchoolRack has a capacity of about six files. On the new site, teachers will be able to upload much more information. “This site is more dynamic,” said Dwyer. “It has current announcements, a calendar and each teacher has a page.” The website will be updated daily for students and parents who want to keep up with school activities. Updates include the daily bulletin, teacher sections and a monthly calendar schedule. Many students are benefiting from the online edition of the daily bulletin, including William Reinoso. “I’m a senior, and I like the option of being able to read the daily bulletin online the day before,” said Reinoso. ROP advisor Valencia Watson will update the bulletin and Chris Davis, Becky Bondy and Susan Giatti will bring various sections up to date. Teachers will be trained to use the new site sometime in the middle of October. “I’m still learning how to use it. I love the capabilities and capacity it has,” English teacher Carol Pettegrew said. As for up-and-coming additions to the website, students can look forward to more pictures being posted as the year progresses. Also, forms will be available in the coming months to reduce papers that currently get mailed home to parents. “The website was a great idea, and will be helpful for students and parents,” said Provost. When Dwyer is no longer involved with the school, Provost and Principal Doug Dall will oversee the site. People who try to visit the old Clark website, clarkmag.net, will be directed to the new one.