[K12OSN] OT: need help configuring web server on Ubuntu Server to allow file uploads

[David Whitmer]

Our school has a small public web server (Ubuntu Server 7.04 with its
LAMP setup), separate from our main web site, just to play around with
learning Apache and related things.

I want to configure this web server to allow one of our teachers to
easily manage files in one of the web server's folders (e.g.
/var/www/classprojects ).  By "easy", I mean being able to open up a
graphical SSH connection (whether with WinSCP in Windows or "Connect
to SSH server" in Gnome) and just drag-and-drop files/folders to copy
them to the designated web server folder, and have all the file
permissions automatically work so that the general web browsing public
would not have any problems viewing whatever this teacher uploads.

I have already done a lot of searching, both with Google and in the
Ubuntu forums, and feel like I'm getting the runaround, in that the
advice I have found so far typically sounds like "just install vsftp"
or "just set the file permissions" and then "everything will just
work".  But it doesn't for me.  At least, not so that the file
permissions work automatically, i.e., telling the teacher that after
uploading the files, their permissions would then need to be changed
so the public can view them, would not be acceptable.

I'm sure I'm overlooking something obvious.  But I do not know what.

Does anyone have any ideas on what I can or should do to be able to
implement my goal?

Or maybe a better question might be... What would you all consider to
be a "best practice" when configuring a public web server on which you
want to allow specific users to be able to upload whatever files they
want to the web server, but without requiring that they execute
chown/chmod post-upload so the public can view those files?

Even just pointing me to an Internet site that would answer my
questions would help immensely.

Thanks!

David Whitmer
Director of Media & Technology
Calvary Schools of Holland (Michigan)
web: www.calvaryschoolsholland.org
email: thewhitmers at gmail.com