Staying Compliant

Previous: Biggest Gotchas

My website is compliant. Now, how do I stay compliant?


Make Sure You Really Are Compliant

Before entering into "operational" mode, make sure your website truly is compliant. This can be done in a variety of ways:

  • Have another expert within your organization review your website
  • Enlist the help of a neighboring district expert to review your website
  • Consider asking META for help through the forums
  • Hire an independent consultant expert to review your website for accessibility concerns

By using one or more of the strategies above, you can better guarantee that you truly have an accessible website and are ready to move forward maintaining accessibility.


Training

Whoever is responsible for website upkeep should understand the principles of accessibility. The authors and publishers of content are the ones best positioned to identify and correct accessibility concerns before publishing content to the web. Some basic familiarity with the principles of accessibility and the RANCH rules will go a long way.


Process

The school district should map out and document the process used to edit and add content to the website. This process can be completely centralized (one person is responsible), or it may be distributed. Many schools have processes where multiple people draft content but one person ultimately is responsible for publishing. Larger schools may push responsibility out to various people depending on responsibilities.

Documenting this process will help formally identify the party(ies) responsible for accessibility compliance coordination.

Consider all of the following when documenting the process:

  • What kind of content do we want on the website?
  • Who reviews content for errors and accessibility?
  • What if a structural change is needed on the website? (such as a new menu item)
  • Assign roles to all of the process streams
  • What happens if a person assigned to a role leaves the district?
  • Other process related considerations on a case-by-case basis


Administrative Rule

Determine what part of the process will be administrative rule. That is, what part of the process does administration own? By documenting what part of the process is administrative rule, the district can clarify what part of the process is flexible and what part of the process will take administrative approval to adjust. This can be important to the staff member(s) assigned to overseeing the process so that they know what flexibility they have in adjusting the process from time-to-time.


Board Policy

One of the bigger considerations each district will face is: should we adopt board policy regarding website ADA accessibility?

The MTSBA has released model policy recommending all Montana school boards adopt a rigorous website-accessibility policy. META has no stance on whether this is a good or bad decision for school boards - every district must make their own decisions regarding this policy.

If your district does adopt board policy, please make sure to understand all of the technical implications and and to follow the policy. The model policy makes reference to both WCAG2.0aa guidelines as well as ARIA style guidelines. If you adopt a policy that states you are adhering to WCAG2.0aa and ARIA style guidelines, identify who on your staff is responsible for understanding these guidelines and what role they play in your overall website publishing process.

If you do adopt board policy, this policy must of course inform your process and administrative rule.


Ongoing Compliance Checks

Based on your district's board policy, administrative rule and/or processes, you may want to conduct routine checks for website accessibility. If ongoing compliance checks are part of your district processes, make sure to record who conducts checks and when they are conducted. By well-documenting these checks, you can prove to your board, your public, and other interested parties that you are serious about accessibility and ADA-related district processes.