What is the process if someone complains?
There is a long process regarding website accommodation complaint resolution. There is no guaranteed prescribed pathway for such complaints. A common complaint process might go something like this (although every complaint process is unique and the Office for Civil Rights ultimately determines each case's individual process):
- A public member identifies something on the district’s website that is not fully compliant.
- The public member lodges a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights that they are having trouble accessing some information on the website.
- The OCR reviews the complaint and determines if it may have merit.
- If it may have merit, the OCR drafts a letter and sends it to the district. This letter informs the district that their website has been found to potentially be out of compliance with ADA guidelines and therefore a review has been ordered.
- As the ADA guidelines are not technical and prescriptive in nature, the OCR informs the district that the WCAG2.0aa guidelines will be used to assess the district’s accessibility.
- The district, under guidance from the OCR, must have a third-party review done of the website and identify all aspects of the website that do not follow WCAG2.0aa guidelines.
- The district must choose a third-party reviewer and submit the reviewer for approval to the OCR.
- The OCR will assess the capabilities of the third-party reviewer and either approve the reviewer or require the district to find an alternative reviewer (based on the reviewer’s understanding and experience with the topic at hand).
- A report is provided by the third-party reviewer listing compliance violations. The third-party review must be a combination of programmatic (technology-based) review of the website, as well as a human-driven review in order to be considered thorough. The reviewer must sample a statistically-significant portion of the website for compliance (for smaller sites, this may be limited to dozens of pages - for larger sites, this could be thousands of pages).
- Once reviewed, the OCR and the district build a plan of remediation regarding the guideline violations from the third-party report.
- The district, at district time and expense, follows the agreed-upon remediation plan to resolve the issues identified.
- Once the OCR is satisfied that the remediations have been completed, the matter is considered closed.
What’s the worst thing that can happen if a district fails to comply with the OCR?
The OCR does not sue districts for lack of compliance. Legal action may be taken by a member of the public against the district for not attempting to comply.
The OCR, as a federal enforcement agency, does have authority to work with the Department of Education to withhold federal funds from the school district due to lack of compliance. This includes the threat of all federal funds being withheld from the district.
What about the MTSBA policy? Does that cover me?
To review: the SAM and META organizations are not legal advisors. This topic should be discussed with your legal counsel.
There is no legal obligation to adhere to WCAG2.0aa guidelines. There is no legal obligation to have a particular policy regarding website accessibility. There is no legal obligation to follow any prescribed review process or authorship process with the district website.
The MTSBA model policy regarding ADA accessibility codifies as policy several website-related technical and process conditions. By adopting this policy, districts voluntarily place themselves under strict guidelines regarding website content process and technical standards.
When adopted, the MTSBA policy (in model form) outlines a wide array of expectations:
- The district will understand WCAG2.0aa compliance
- The district will follow WCAG2.0aa guidelines for all website content, including that of public-facing third-party tools
- The district will review all content prior to publication for WCAG2.0aa compliance
- The district will, at least every quarter, review the entire website for WCAG2.0aa compliance
- And other technical and process concerns.
By adopting the policy, a district is probably much more likely to have an accessible website than by not adopting the policy.
SAM and META plea: As with all district board policy, if your district does decide to adopt the MTSBA policy, please adhere to it! If you choose to adopt this policy and do NOT adhere to it, you are not following your own board policy and potentially generating liability.