Accessibility Statement

It is the goal of the Board of Trustees that the information on the school’s website is accessible to individuals with disabilities in compliance with the requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and that statute's implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. Part 104, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and that statute's implementing regulations at 28 C.F.R. Part 35.

For the purposes of this Policy, “school website” includes, but is not limited to, the internet home page, all subordinate pages, school department pages, intranet pages and sites, and includes online content and functionality, developed by, maintained by, or offered through a third-party vendor or by using open sources.

The accessibility of online content and functionality will be measured according to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA and the Web Accessibility Initiative Accessible Rich Internet Application Suite (WAI-ARIA) 1.0 for web content (benchmarks for measuring accessibility).

By conforming to the benchmarks for measuring accessibility set forth above the Board of Trustees will ensure that people with disabilities have an opportunity equal to that of their nondisabled peers to access the information on the school’s website, except where doing so would impose an undue burden or create a fundamental alteration of the school’s website. When fundamental alteration or undue burden defenses apply, the school will make reasonable modifications/accommodations for individuals with disabilities in order to provide equally effective alternate access. In providing such access, the school will ensure that to the maximum extent possible individuals with disabilities receive the same benefits or services as their nondisabled peers. To provide equally effective alternate access, alternates are not required to produce the identical result or level of achievement for persons with and without disabilities but must afford persons with disabilities equal opportunity to obtain the same result, to gain the same benefit, or to reach the same level of achievement.

To ensure that the school’s website conforms with the above benchmarks for measuring accessibility, except where doing so would impose an undue burden or create a fundamental alteration of the school’s website, the Lead Person will designate a school staff member to act as the Website Accessibility Coordinator. The Coordinator will:

1. Ensure that in-house staff and contractors responsible for webpages and webpage content development are properly trained on the school’s website accessibility policy and procedures;

2. Ensure that all new, newly added, and modified online content and functionality is accessible to people with disabilities as measured by conformance to the above benchmarks by, among other things:

a. Checking the hypertext markup language (HTML) of all new webpages on the website to make sure that accessible elements are used, including "alt" tags, long descriptions, and captions, as needed;

b. Ensuring that webpages are designed in a manner that allows them to be displayed using a visitor's own settings for color and fonts, and can be navigated with a keyboard;

c. If images are used, including photos, graphics, scanned images, or image maps, making sure to include text equivalents for them, using "alt" tags and/or long descriptions for each and ensuring the text equivalents convey the meaningful information presented visually by the image;

d. If online forms and tables are used, making those elements accessible;

e. Ensuring that videos appearing on the website include appropriately synchronized audio description and captions;

f. Ensuring when posting new documents on the website, the documents shall be provided in HTML or another text-based format (even if they are provided in another format, such as portable document format (PDF)). If documents are provided in both formats, provide both formats at the same time so people with disabilities have the same degree of access as others;

g. Periodically enlisting people with a variety of disabilities to test the Board of Trustees’ webpages for accessibility and ease of use and use this information to increase the Board’s website accessibility;

h. Periodically coordinating the audit of existing content and functionality of the website to identify online content or functionality that is inaccessible to persons with disabilities; and

i. Developing and carrying out a corrective action plan, when necessary, for making the school’s existing web content accessible.

3. Ensure that alternative means are available for people with disabilities to access information, programs, and services that are normally provided on the Board’s website.

This Policy establishes minimum standards for the accessibility of web-based information and services considered necessary to meet the school’s goals and ensure compliance with applicable law.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 34 C.F.R. Part 104; 28 C.F.R. Part 35