Website modernization · Staff enablement · Digital foundation
Turning a fragile website into a school-ready platform.
A staging-first modernization that made the site faster, safer, easier for staff to manage, and ready for its next chapter: a new public experience and practical AI services.
The starting point
A working website carrying years of technical weight.
The school's site was live, but routine updates depended on a layered WordPress stack with overlapping builders, unused plugins, slow response times, and workflows that asked too much of nontechnical staff.
Complex infrastructure with multiple page builders and fragile dependencies.
Slow, inconsistent delivery and unnecessary assets across public pages.
Difficult staff workflows for directories, media, sliders, and shared resources.
No safe proving ground for modernization without risking the live site.
The work
Stabilize first. Simplify next. Build forward.
Every consequential change was made on isolated staging, protected by recovery points, and verified before moving on.
Restore and isolate
Rebuilt the 3.87 GB site on dedicated AWS Lightsail staging with HTTPS, search isolation, disabled outbound mail, and production left untouched.
Secure and harden
Applied server updates, protected exposed surfaces, verified checksums and permissions, and retained recoverable snapshots.
Audit and simplify
Mapped real dependencies before retiring unused plugins, global scripts, WPBakery assets, and unnecessary administrative complexity.
Enable the staff
Created a branded dashboard, visual people directory, safer editor permissions, and no-code workflows for everyday updates.
Build REYsource
Reimagined the Staff Hub as a private, searchable resource center with 70 imported resources and a dedicated manager for links, files, categories, and featured content.
View the hub story →
Verified outcomes
Measured progress, with the caveats left in.
These are staging measurements from repeatable tests, not invented production claims.
lower cache-bypassed p95
From 2.392 seconds at the initial gate to 1.239 seconds in the final evidence run.
Operational staging comparison. It does not establish a single-cause improvement or a visitor guarantee.
Every page in the final staging crawl returned successfully.
Five audited pages scored 100, Homepage 99, and Academics 91.
The live site remained available and outside the implementation scope.
The honest performance finding
Operational response tests passed, but current mobile Lighthouse performance and LCP still need frontend improvement. The new design phase should address media strategy, rendering weight, and the remaining legacy theme overhead.
Matched evidence
Compare the same page, viewport, and moment.
Choose a page and drag the control. Production is the documented before state; staging is the proposed after state.
Full-page captures · Desktop 1440 px · Same automated capture method
Staff experience
REYsource made useful, searchable, and maintainable.
The former Staff Hub became a private resource center built around the way school staff actually find and manage information.
- Search and category filters
- Direct-click resource cards
- Files and external links together
- Editor-accessible manager
- No Elementor required
- Google authorization ready for a later phase
The larger transformation
This foundation is chapter one.
The case study will grow as the school's digital platform grows.
01 · Stabilize
Hosting, security, cleanup, performance, staff workflows, and REYsource.
02 · Redesign
A modern public site built around families, students, partners, storytelling, and conversion.
03 · Add practical AI
AI services that reduce staff workload, improve access to information, and support enrollment and operations.
AIHow the work was governed
Evidence before claims. Recovery before risk.
Staging first
No experimentation on the live school website.
Recoverable changes
Snapshots, archives, manifests, and rollback records.
Serial verification
Browser, crawl, security, form, media, and load gates.
Truthful reporting
Known limits and remaining work documented alongside the wins.
A repeatable model for mission-driven schools
Modernize what exists. Make it easier to own. Build what comes next.
This case study will expand with the public-site redesign and AI services as each phase is approved, built, and verified.
Talk about your workflow →