Weld RE-4's Accessibility Plan for Digital Content

Compliance Requirements

The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) makes it unlawful for any person to discriminate against an individual with a disability. Colorado HB21-1110, passed in 2021, strengthened existing laws providing protections to individuals with disabilities, specifically as those relate to accessibility to government information technology, and expanded CADA by defining discrimination to include:

  • Excluding an individual with a disability from participation in or being denied the benefits of services, programs, or activities provided by any Colorado government entity.
  • Failing to fully comply with the accessibility standards for individuals with a disability developed by the Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) by July 1, 2024.

Accessibility means perceivable, operable, and understandable digital content that reasonably enables an individual with a disability to access the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services offered to other individuals, with the same privacy, independence, and ease of use as exists for individuals without a disability. Digital content is any content that exists in digital form, regardless of its location.

HB21-1110 specifically applies to all technology including hardware and software that is both public-facing and internal-facing including any technology provided by or procured by a government entity that is used by the public or used by a government entity employee. This technology includes, but is not limited to, websites, applications, kiosks, digital signage, documents, video, audio and third-party tools. Additionally, applications, programs, and underlying operating systems must permit the installation and effective use of and be compatible with software and peripheral devices that provide accessibility to an individual with a disability.

By July 1, 2024, local governments are required to develop an accessibility plan using the accessibility standards developed by the OIT and be in full compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA Guidelines in the creation and publication of any online content and materials; including, but not limited to text, links, images, forms, PDFs, documents, and embedded third-party applications.

The Weld RE-4 School District continuously works to maintain and improve compliance with the full requirements of HB21-1110 and federal ADA Title II regulations. The section below outlines our ongoing good faith efforts, testing, and remediation progress.

Scope

The Weld RE-4 Accessibility Plan applies to all digital content published or made available by the district including, but not limited to:

  • Websites available at weldre4.org
  • Official district social media postings and interactions
  • Professional Social Media postings and interactions of district employees acting in their official capacity
  • Communications including district-, department-, school-, classroom-, and team-level newsletters, emails, blogs, vlogs, etc.
  • Curricular resources including digital textbooks, online resources, supplemental materials, digital curricula, etc.
  • Digital learning and assessment environments utilized for professional learning and/or PK-12 classroom instruction including the Learning Management System, Student Information System, online registration systems, progress monitoring systems, etc.
  • Internal, employee-facing tools including productivity tools, ERP, absence management, and time clock systems

Standards

The district follows and complies with the OIT-adopted standards for accessibility, currently set to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA at: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/. In addition, our digital accessibility practices are designed to conform with federal ADA Title II regulations.

Accessibility Statement

The Weld RE-4 School District is committed to ensuring everyone feels welcome in our spaces — in person and online. This includes accessible digital content, like our website, for all members of our community, including individuals with disabilities in accordance with federal and state law.

Accommodation Requests and Feedback

We take accessibility seriously and are committed to monitoring our website and digital communication platforms regularly. To request reasonable accommodations or modifications, or to report inaccessible content, please let us know by emailing us at engage@weldre4.org, filling out our online form, calling us at 970-686-8095, or providing a physical letter to 1020 Main Street, Windsor, CO 80550. If you have difficulty accessing information from our website (or through other communications), please include in your message:

  • The issue along with the URL / website address with the problem
  • Device used (e.g., personal computer, iPhone)
  • Assistive technology used (e.g., screen reader), if applicable

Within seven (7) calendar days (excluding district holidays) after receipt of the issue / request, the district employee responsible for the service in question will contact the person initiating the issue / request to discuss the problem and the possible resolutions. Within fourteen (14) calendar days of that meeting, the district will respond in a format accessible to the submitter. The response will offer options for a resolution.

Annual Training

Basic digital content accessibility training is required for all staff and includes best practices and accessibility requirements common to all staff (e.g., email, mass communication, and productivity suites) and the employee’s role and responsibility to ensure that digital content is accessible. The training is facilitated by an individual with sufficient knowledge, skill, and experience to understand and employ the technical standard(s) required by HB21-1110 and the OIT.

Professional learning for accessibility is broken into two categories:

Mandatory Training

All district staff were required to complete an online mandatory training course during August and September 2024. The asynchronous course covered the HB21-1110 law, its requirements, and key accessibility strategies. Training updates are provided to staff annually.

Tool-Specific Training

  • Grackle Workspace: Face-to-face training covering accessibility in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
  • ParentSquare: Face-to-face and synchronous webinar-style trainings to assist in creating and sending accessible communications via the ParentSquare platform.
  • PopeTech: Face-to-face trainings for all 6th - 12th grade teachers to ensure accessibility in Canvas LMS courses.
  • Learn Platform: Train-the-trainer learning sessions to identify accessibility status of digital products in Weld RE-4’s resource library.

Additional advanced training may be required for users of specific tools including, but not limited to, the Web Content Management System, Learning Management System, mass communication systems, and social media platforms.

Testing and Remediation

We utilize automated testing tools to actively monitor and remediate digital content accessibility across our website and learning management system (LMS). Silktide is run on a regular basis on this website, and technical errors are corrected as they are identified. Additionally, Pope Tech is integrated within our LMS, allowing teachers to review and adjust course content to meet compliance rules before publication.

In addition to the testing tools outlined above, the district maintains a district-wide license for Grackle Workspace. This tool allows employees to run real-time accessibility checks across Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets, and utilize an accessible PDF export utility to keep structural tags intact.

Purchasing & Procurement

The district strives to purchase digital content or systems that are certified by the vendor to be compliant with the OIT-adopted standards for accessibility. In the event that this is not feasible, the product owner will be responsible for providing reasonable accommodations or modifications as needed.

Accessibility Check for New Digital Content

When creating or adding new digital content to a website, page, email, social media posting, or any other platform, the content owner will confirm that the information meets the standard(s) required by HB21-1110 and the OIT. All digital content shall be provided in a format that renders it accessible to all potential recipients.

Accessibility Audit

Website

An accessibility audit of the district’s website (including all school and department pages) shall be conducted annually by the Communications Department. The audit ensures that pages housed on or distributed by the district’s domain (weldre4.org) are compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) set forth by OIT. Supporting resources including video, audio, PDF, downloadable files, and online content are included in the audit.

Recurring errors are analyzed to inform future training opportunities for content creators. Content owners are responsible for maintaining their layouts; the respective owner/editor must fix the issue or remove non-compliant elements in a timely manner.

LMS

An accessibility audit of the district’s LMS (including all classroom and professional learning courses) shall be conducted at least twice each year by the Technology Department. The audit ensures that courses housed on or distributed by the district’s LMS comply with current OIT standards.

A list of courses, pages, and files that do not meet accessibility standards will be shared with the owner/editor of each page with specific directions required to fix the problem(s). The owner/editor will either fix the issue or remove the page/element that does not meet accessibility standards within a timely manner.

Other Digital Applications

The district provides information about the compliance status of adopted digital applications in the district’s Applications Library (hosted on Learn Platform). This information is updated as application agreements are renewed. Product owners must ensure that the digital tools they purchase and maintain are listed within the library database for proper documentation.