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WORDPRESS FOR GOVERNMENT
SAVING TAXPAYER DOLLARS
WordCamp NYC November 1, 2015
WHO AM I? CAMERON BARRETT
Sr. Manager of Web Site Technology
Newark Public Schools
Old-school blogger since 1997 (Really)
CamWorld circa 1998-99
Sorry!
WHO? OLD SKOOL WEB GUY
BUILDING OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITY IN ENTERPRISE COMPANIES
WHAT? BUILT SITES FOR
SADLY… NONE OF THEM ON WORDPRESS
circa 2004 A young kid named Matt
BUT THEN… DRUPAL DEV WAS HELLA EXPENSIVE
.NET EVEN MORE DEAR LORD, WHAT A NIGHTMARE
REAL EXAMPLE 6 mos, 4 Devs, $1M Spent
COMMUNITY & KM SITE FOR ARMY BOARD OF GENERALS
REAL EXAMPLE 6 MONTHS, $1M SPENT COMMUNITY SITE FOR
ARMY BOARD OF GENERALS
REAL EXAMPLE NOW MIGRATING TO WORDPRESS
PROTOTYPE IN DEVELOPMENT
2015: NOW MIGRATING TO WORDPRESS PROTOTYPE IN DEVELOPMENT
PROBLEMS WORDPRESS SOLVED
CAC READER CAC Card and Reader not required
When not on WP, lost 90% of their users due to CAC reader being required
CAC: Common Access Card
• When in the field in Iraq and Afghanistan, computers with CAC readers were not readily available, therefore usage dropped
PROBLEMS WORDPRESS SOLVED
By using WordPress on an Army-hosted server, the sites were able retain their users
while they were in the field. Officers and soldiers were able to share
knowledge without the barrier of a CAC card
and reader.
YAY!
WAIT… WHAT ABOUT SCHOOLS?
ONE MOMENT… JUST A TEENY BIT MORE ABOUT ME
TEACHING FAMILY I GREW UP IN PLACES LIKE THIS
Parents were D.O.D.D.S. teachers
Pago Pago, American Samoa
TEACHING FAMILY I GREW UP IN PLACES LIKE THIS
Parents were D.O.D.D.S. teachers
North Yorkshire, England
I CARE ABOUT OUR SCHOOLS
But I’m not a teacher, I’m a technologist
So, I decided to use my skills for the greater good and fix the web site technology problems in our public
schools once and for all.
14,000+ PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN U.S.
THEY ALL HAVE WEB
SITES
CORRECTION!
crappy MOST HAVE
WEB SITES
They all look like this
WTF! Flash
WHY? NOT THE SCHOOL’S FAULT
SCHOOLS ARE BEING SOLD
CLOSED-SOURCE, VENDOR-CONTROLLED, HORRIBLE, BARELY-WORKING, CONFUSING UI,
SaaS SOLUTIONS
WHICH LEADS TO SCHOOL WEB SITES THAT ARE:
NOT UPDATED FREQUENTLY ENOUGH
Not updated because “It’s too hard”
Bad templates à Bad Design
Bad clip-art Mania (Ahem, MS Word)
Confusing Navigation and IA
TECHNOLOGISTS IN SCHOOLS SAY
“This vendor solution is closed-source. I could fix these issues easily but…
…I don’t have access to the source code!”
A WORD ON TAXES Bear with me here…
Federal E-Rate dollars
Monthly fees on your phone bill USF à FCC à E-Rate
E-Rate is used to pay for technology in schools (it’s FREE money for schools)
A WORD ON TAXES USF à FCC à E-Rate
A WORD ON TAXES This E-Rate money is going away in
2015-16 fiscal year! Which means school web sites will need
to be paid for by taxpayer dollars
YOUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS The vendors will need to either become way, way cheaper (not likely) or schools
will need to find less expensive solutions (likely).
THE SOLUTION
Migrate school web sites to WordPress
THE SOLUTION
Get local technologists involved in a Technology Committee who can make recommendations to the school board
and superintendent.
Fire your vendors! They are collecting taxpayer dollars and
delivering a bad product/service.
CASE STUDY Newark Public Schools
40,000 students, 75 Web Sites
WordPress Multisite (Launched Aug 29, 2014 – Wahoo!)
CASE STUDY Newark Public Schools
Up-front Development Cost
$30,240
CASE STUDY Newark Public Schools
Dedicated Server Hosting Cost
$14,400 10 million PageViews/yr
Across 75 sites
CASE STUDY Newark Public Schools
Hosting We used this awesome company
CASE STUDY Newark Public Schools
Year Two Dedicated Server Hosting Cost
$7,200 10 million PageViews/yr
Across 75 sites
CASE STUDY Newark Public Schools
Content Migration
$9,000 /plugins/schoolwires-importer.php
30,000 Pages, 100,000+ Media assets
(images, PDF files, etc.)
CASE STUDY Newark Public Schools
Year One Cost
$64,400 Proprietary Vendor SaaS Solution
$59,024 per year
CASE STUDY Newark Public Schools
Year Two Cost
$14,400 Proprietary Vendor SaaS Solution
$59,024 per year
CASE STUDY Newark Public Schools
Year Three Cost
$7,200 Proprietary Vendor SaaS Solution
$59,024 per year
CASE STUDY Newark Public Schools
Five-Year Savings of
$158,720
EXAMPLE #2 Osceola County Public Schools
5-Year Contract with Edlio
$750,000
HOW MUCH? WordPress Saves us money!!!
I haven’t actually done the math for 14,000+ school districts but it’s easily:
$many millions
HOW MUCH? Which can then be used for
Giving raises to teachers Urban after-school programs
Restoring Arts & Drama Pre-K Programs
Fresh, Modern, Responsive Design
Fresh, Modern, Responsive Design
New School Sites, Too! (Where Shaq went to High School…)
Not Just Newark Granite Schools (School District in Utah): 92 Schools
Not Just Newark Granite Schools (School District in Utah): 92 Schools
Not Just Newark Montclair, NJ High School (Rest of District in 2015)
Not Just Newark Fairfield, CT Schools
Mobile App! Powered by WordPress (with AppPresser Reactor)
Mobile App! Powered by WordPress (with AppPresser Reactor)
Mobile App! Powered by WordPress (with AppPresser Reactor)
Mobile App! Powered by WordPress (with AppPresser Reactor)
Mobile App! Powered by WordPress (with AppPresser Reactor)
Mobile App! Push Notifications directly to smartphones
Saving $$$$$$$$$
Native iOS/Android development for a Public Schools mobile app is
cost-prohibitive.
With AppPresser, we can do the dev in-house for less than $600
WordPress as an Application Framework
This book!
What this means is: You can develop your own apps and 3rd-party connections
The power of enterprise systems with the freedom of open source
What Else?
Now in Development • District intranet • Student portal/launcher • Google Sites Plugin for WordPress • Instructional Technologies portal • Professional Development portal • Classroom Newsletters • Teacher-activated push notifications
Lastly…
NASA is using WordPress! • http://blogs.nasa.gov • http://km.nasa.gov • http://appel.nasa.gov
Migrated from proprietary CMS eTouch
NOW WHAT?
http://schoolpress.co
Now signing up districts for migration in 2015 and 2016
14,000+ Public School Districts will have access to a free, open source, web site management solution built on top of WordPress
“WordPress for Schools” Service Company
AND THEN… Fire the vendors!
(and save taxpayer money!)
SUPPORT… Schools need technology help
Help migrate your school district to WordPress, volunteer to help train the staff on the Admin, fix design template problems, add
functionality, etc.
Stop paying expensive vendors
Q&A Let me have it
THANKS! Contact Info
CAMERON BARRETT Sr. Manager of Web Site Technology
Newark Public Schools
cbarrett@nps.k12.nj.us
cameron@schoolpress.co
@camworld
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