Anyone visiting the Beaufort County Schools website may notice some changes: its sleek gray color, its up-to-date design and the rotation of scene photos of Washington and schools throughout the county.

The school system launched its new website on Tuesday in an effort to make it more modern and functional, said Sarah Hodges, public information officer for Beaufort County Schools.

“The website is not for us. It’s for the community, the students and the parents,” she said.

Beaufort County Schools had been looking for a new website provider, and after a couple of months looking, they decided on Schoolwires, part of the parent organization Blackboard Inc., Hodges said.

“It was time for a change,” she said, adding that it’s another step to focus more on technology in the classroom. “We’re very excited and very pleased at this point, but we do still have a lot of work to do.”

A new tool on the site allows webpage visitors to translate the information into their own language, including Spanish, French, German and Chinese, among several others.

Hodges said the goal was to make the site accessible for all kinds of families, and in the organization process, the creators tried to determine how a parent would navigate the site.

“We really hope it’s something the parents can utilize,” she said. “We know a child may not have Internet access, but we’re going to operate as if everyone does.”

The website was also built to make it easier for teachers to post homework online, so students who need it have that option for access to work, Hodges said.

She said there is still a good amount of tweaking to be done to the website, and it will likely take another semester to work out any glitches.

“We do ask everyone to bear with us,” Hodges said. “It’s not perfect by any means yet, but we’ve come a long way.”