Here's a site I created for a local school. The effect of having the blog on the front page has really driven web traffic to the site and communication between school and community has been significantly improved.
Originally the site had a static home page and while the school community showed initial interest as there was nothing obviosuly new to see the people coming back soon dropped off. A quick move of the home page and the school committing to adding news a few times a day and visitors numbers are significantly up with lots of repeat visits.
The next step we are working on is to reduce the amount of printed paper being sent home to parents and utilise the website and email notifications.