Recently at a school lawyers’ conference, the topic of school website accessibility compliance was discussed. To be honest, I hadn’t had previous occasion to think about this. In case you haven’t either, you should be aware that the protections afforded by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) extend to websites.
Recently at a school lawyers’ conference, the topic of school website accessibility compliance was discussed. To be honest, I hadn’t had previous occasion to think about this. In case you haven’t either, you should be aware that the protections afforded by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) extend to websites. This means that your school website must be accessible to disabled persons. What that looks like (along with links to other good information on the topic) is summarized here:
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has been targeting schools throughout the country for various forms of non-compliance. If an individual or advocacy organization reports a website
issue with your school, you will receive a letter of inquiry and be subject to investigation. Resolving the matter will take not only your time, but will also cost you in the likely event you need legal and/or technical assistance. Thus, it’s important that you take steps now to ensure your district is compliant.
Good news—those of you using the OPSRC website offering are covered. Our IT Director, Ben Parker, tells me that the IT team frequently checks for compliance, both on what they develop and on content members provide.
If you have any questions about the legal side of this issue, please feel free to. My cell number is 405.520.9680. For technical questions, I’d highly recommend you shoot those
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A collection of Oklahoma education-related news of the week.
You've done it: you've made it to the second half of the school year! When you think back on all your district's events and causes for celebration thus far, ask yourself: do you consistently inform your stakeholders about the great things going on in your schools, or is all the positive news kept within the school building's walls? If the latter, now might be a good time to re-evaluate your district's communication strategy.
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