One Teacher. One Evening. A Complete Website.
This entire district website — every page, every photo, every feature — was built by a single CTE instructor using AI, in about the time it takes to watch a movie. No budget. No web developer. No prior coding experience required.
Wait, Seriously?
Yes. Every school district has someone like this: a teacher, a secretary, an IT coordinator who already does three jobs. They know their district needs a better website, but the quotes come back at $15,000–$40,000, the timeline is six months, and the budget meeting isn't until spring.
So the old site stays up. Parents can't find the enrollment forms. The calendar hasn't been updated since October. The phone number on the contact page is wrong. Everyone knows it's a problem. Nobody has the budget to fix it.
This project started with a question: What if the person who knows the district best could build the website themselves — not by learning to code, but by directing AI the same way a general contractor directs a construction crew?
The answer is the site you're looking at right now.
What Got Built
One evening, start to finish
How It Works (In Plain English)
No jargon, no buzzwords — just the honest version
Think of it like building a house. You don't need to know how to wire an outlet or hang drywall. You need to know what rooms you want, how big the kitchen should be, and what the finished product should look and feel like. The skilled tradespeople handle the rest.
AI works the same way here. The teacher describes what each page should contain and how it should feel. The AI does the technical work — writing the code, styling the layout, connecting the navigation — and comes back with a working draft. The teacher reviews it, asks for changes, and the AI revises. It's a conversation, not a command line.
Describe What You Need
Tell the AI what pages you want, what information goes on each one, and what the overall feel should be. "We need a schools page with all 13 buildings, a way to filter by level, and contact info for each."
AI Builds a Working Draft
The AI creates all the pages at once — not one at a time, but simultaneously, like a crew framing multiple rooms in the same house. In minutes, you have a complete working website to look at.
Review and Revise
"Make the phone numbers bigger." "Swap that photo for something warmer." "Add an FAQ section for parents." You give feedback in plain language, just like you'd talk to a designer. The AI makes the changes.
Publish for Free
The finished site goes live on GitHub Pages — free hosting, no monthly fees, no server to maintain. It just works. If you need changes next month, you have the same conversation again.
The Old Way vs. The New Way
- $15,000–$40,000 quoted budget
- 3–6 month timeline
- Requires a web development firm
- Every change costs more money
- Content goes stale between contracts
- District loses control of its own site
- $0 production cost
- One evening to build
- Built by someone who knows the district
- Changes happen the same day
- Content stays current because updates are easy
- The district owns everything
Who Can Do This?
You don't need to be technical. You need to care about your community.
Teaching kids to build things? Build this too.
You already think in projects and deliverables. A district website is just another build — and this time, your students can watch the process and learn from it.
You answer every phone call. You know what people ask.
Nobody understands what information parents actually need better than the person who fields those calls every day. That knowledge is the hardest part. The AI handles the rest.
You're already managing everything else.
You maintain the network, fix the printers, and reset the passwords. Now you can add "built the website" to the list — without adding another vendor relationship to manage.
Your district's website is its front door.
When families are deciding where to enroll, the website is often the first thing they see. This approach means a professional-quality site that reflects your district's values — without a line item in the budget.
This Isn't Really About Websites
It's about what becomes possible when one person can do the work of a team
A website is a visible, tangible proof of concept. But the same approach works for almost any information task a district faces.
Need to draft 16 lesson plans aligned to state standards? Describe what each unit should cover and let AI produce working drafts you can refine. Need personalized letters for 200 families about schedule changes? Provide the template and the details, and let AI handle the variation. Need to analyze survey data from three schools and write a board presentation? AI can crunch the numbers and draft the slides while you focus on what the data actually means.
The pattern is always the same: a human who understands the goal provides direction and quality judgment. AI provides the throughput. The human is not replaced — the human is multiplied.
For the Curious
Technical details for those who want to peek behind the curtain
What AI tool was used?
This site was built using Claude Code by Anthropic. Claude Code is a coding assistant that can create, edit, and manage files through a conversational interface. The human describes what they want; Claude writes the code. It's like having a conversation with a very patient, very fast web developer who never gets tired and never charges by the hour.
Does the person need to know how to code?
No. The entire site was directed through plain-language instructions like "build a schools page with 13 profiles and a way to filter by elementary, middle, and high school." Some familiarity with how websites work is helpful (you should know what a "page" and a "link" are), but you don't need to understand HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. The AI handles all of that.
What does the site run on?
Plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — the simplest, most reliable building blocks of the web. No WordPress, no content management system, no monthly subscription. The site is hosted for free on GitHub Pages. There are no databases, no plugins to update, no security patches to worry about. It's just files on a server, the same way the web has worked since 1995. That simplicity is a feature: there's almost nothing that can break.
How hard is it to update?
About as hard as describing the change you want. "Change the superintendent's phone number to 541-555-1234." "Add a news story about the bond measure." "Remove the winter break notice from the homepage." You tell the AI what to change, it makes the change, and the site updates within minutes. If you could explain it in an email, you can explain it to the AI.
Is the site accessible?
Yes. The site is built to meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards. That means it works with screen readers, supports keyboard navigation throughout, provides sufficient color contrast for low-vision users, and respects user preferences like reduced motion. Every page has proper headings, labels, and landmark regions so assistive technology can navigate the content.
What does it cost to maintain?
Hosting is free through GitHub Pages. There are no recurring fees, no vendor contracts, no licensing costs. The only cost is the time of the person making updates, and with AI assistance, most changes take minutes rather than hours. Compare that to a typical CMS-based district site, which often runs $200–$500 per month in hosting, licensing, and maintenance fees.
Andy McAteer
CTE Instructor · Crescent Valley High School · Corvallis, OR
Designed and orchestrated with Claude Code by Anthropic.
This page is itself part of the site it describes — proof that the tools work.