District Web Accessibility Policy

The Board of Education authorizes the creation of websites by employees and students of the School District to be published on the World Wide Web. The creation of websites by students must be done under the supervision of a professional staff member. These websites must reflect the professional image of the District, its employees, and students. The content of all pages must be consistent with the Board's Mission Statement and is subject to prior approval of the Superintendent or designee.

The purpose of such websites is to educate, inform, and communicate. The following criteria should be used to guide the development of such websites:

The information contained on the website should reflect and support the mission and goals of the district.

When the content includes a photograph or information relating to a student, the Board will abide by the provisions of Policy 8940- Student Records.

The intent of this policy is to ensure that, information provided and supported on the district’s website will be accessible by all who attempt access, including individuals with disabilities.  In an effort to ensure all individuals have access to the district’s online content, the District has designated a Web Accessibility Coordinator who has sufficient resources and authority to coordinate and implement this Policy.

All links included on the pages must also meet the above criteria and comply with State and Federal law (e.g. copyright laws, Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA),Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)). Nothing in this paragraph shall prevent the District from linking the Board’s website to (1) recognized news/media outlets (e.g. local newspapers’ websites, local television stations’ websites) or (2) to websites that are developed and hosted by outside commercial vendors pursuant to a contract with the Board. The Board recognizes that such third party websites may contain age appropriate advertisements that are consistent with the requirements of Policy 9370, and State and Federal law.

District web content must conform to W3C WAI’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG), Level AA conformance.

All online content, whether developed by the district or third parties will provide equal opportunity to the educational benefits and opportunities afforded by the technology and equal treatment in the use of technology.  All district website content will be reviewed by the district’s Web Accessibility Coordinator prior to posting to ensure this compliance. Additionally, district administrators and staff will also ensure all content posted will be in compliance with this policy.

Under no circumstances is a website to be used for commercial purposes, advertising, political lobbying, or to provide financial gains for any individual. No webpages contained on the District’s website may: (1) include statements or other items that support or oppose a candidate for public office, the investigation, prosecution or recall of a public official, or passage of a tax levy or bond issue; (2) link to a website of another organization if the other website includes such a message; or (3) communicate information that supports or opposes any labor organization or any action by, on behalf of, or against any labor organization.

Staff members are prohibited from requiring students to go to the staff member’s personal webpages/sites (including but not limited to, their Facebook or MySpace pages) to check grades, obtain class assignments and/or class-related materials, and/or to turn in assignments.

If a staff member creates a webpage/site related to his/her class, it must either be hosted on the District approved server or made available to parents and guardians of their students and District administration.

Any staff member responsible for creating or distributing information with online content to students, employees, guests, and visitors with disabilities will be provided annual training on the web accessibility policy and the roles and responsibilities to ensure the web design, documents, multimedia content are accessible. The District Website Accessibility Coordinator, who shall be provided with resources to gain sufficient knowledge, skill, and experience to understand and employ the technical standard(s) adopted by the District, will facilitate training.

Quarterly the District Website Accessibility Coordinator will facilitate an audit to confirm compliance of third party links and employee created webpages. Online content from third parties will be subject to the technical standards and audits to which the District is subject. Further, any Request for Proposal or contract for provision of online content from a third party will require the contractor to meet those technical standards.

Violations of this policy will result in links being disabled. Any non-compliant content will be remediated or removed within ten working days.

School websites must be located on District-authorized servers. Any third party websites connected to the District website must be reviewed and approved by the District Website Accessibility Coordinator.

The Superintendent shall prepare administrative guidelines defining the standards permissible for website use. The Board retains all proprietary rights related to the design of websites and/or pages that are hosted on the Board's servers, absent written agreement to the contrary.

Students who want their class work to be displayed on the Board's website must have written parent permission and expressly license its display without cost to the Board. Prior written parental permission is necessary for a student to be identified by name on the Board's website.

All website accessibility concerns should be directed to the Director of Technology/Website Accessibility Coordinator at 734-762-8380, or by U.S. mail to: Attention Website Accessibility Coordinator at 1831 Radcliff Garden City, MI 48135.

Students, employees, guests, and visitors to the District’s website are advised that they may report violations of the technical standard(s) used by the District, and file a formal complaint through the Section 504 and Title II grievance procedure, and/or contact Website Accessibility Coordinator at phone number 734-762-8380.