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School Zone
Answering
the Why of our District's New E-mail Addresses
Nearly two years ago, Duval
County Public Schools began the planning and development
of a new district web site. This was the first update
to
www.educationcentral.org since its original launch
nearly 10 years ago. Not only was our district web
site’s name changed to
www.dreamsbeginhere.org to better reflect and
highlight our mission of facilitating and inspiring
dreams in our students, but it was also updated to be
more user-friendly with easier access to information and
easier navigation. The entire process was researched
with the goal of serving as the online resource for all
of our district’s constituents—students, parents,
teachers, administrators, district employees, school
board members, and community members—while supporting
our district’s Core Beliefs and Commitments.
The new web site was launched
in February 2007, complementing the "inspiring dreams"
theme, which replaced the Aim High/High Five motto
created by former superintendent John Fryer. Research,
design, and development of the new web site was
supported by district staff and conducted by a local web
development company, Idea Integration, in two phases.
Each phase cost $25,000, with the total amount for the
project totaling $50,000. Idea Integration was awarded
the contract after responding to a request for
proposal. The Communication department budgeted for the
project and paid the company. The web site currently is
maintained internally by the Communications and
Technology offices, which creates no additional
out-of-pocket costs to the district.
With the unveiling of our new
web site, we revised the domain name of our e-mail
addresses to match our web site domain name (dreamsbeginhere.org).
In the marketing world (in both public and private
sectors), it is of the utmost importance to build and
constantly reiterate a mission or concept. It’s only
through the constant reinforcement of an organization’s
mission to the public that an organization is able to
build confidence and familiarity within the community.
Therefore, to reinforce our
district’s mission, the Technology Office converted the
e-mail addresses of all employees over the spring
holiday weekend (April 6 – 8) to match the new web site
domain name (as was the case when educationcentral.org
was launched in 1998). This change did not cost the
district any additional money. The change was handled
by Technology Office staff. Your old e-mail address
with the educationcentral.org domain name will remain
functional for at least one full year to ensure that
adequate time/notice is provided to contacts. As a
result, there is no immediate need to reprint business
cards, letterhead, stationery or any other materials
that contain the old domain name, unless you run out of
your current supply. The change was not intended to
cost you additional money. It was intended to better
reflect our district’s mission of inspiring dreams in
our students.
As we all know, change is not easy, and
sometimes, it’s not well-received at first. However, if
you help us move forward now, our district will continue
on the path of becoming a leader and great success story
in the arena of public education. Each and every day,
you inspire dreams in the minds and hearts of students.
You serve as role models for our most valuable
assets—our children. Thank you for your dedication and
commitment.
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