Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Website Accessibility Policy and Procedures Plan for New Content and Functionality

The Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District is committed to ensuring accessibility of its website for students, parents, and members of the community with disabilities. All pages on the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District website will conform to the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative’s (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, Level AA conformance, or updated equivalents of these guidelines.

Website Accessibility

With regard to the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District website and any official Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District web presence which is developed by, maintained by, or offered through third party vendors and open sources, the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District is committed to compliance with the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 and Title II so that students, parents and members of the public with disabilities are able to independently acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same benefits and services within the same timeframe as those without disabilities, with substantially equivalent ease of use; and that they are not excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or otherwise subjected to discrimination in any Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District  programs, services, and activities delivered online.

All existing web content produced by the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District, and new, updated and existing web content provided by third-party developers, will conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, Level AA conformance, or updated equivalents, by March 15, 2018 as agreed upon in the Resolution Agreement. This regulation applies to all new, updated, and existing web pages, as well as all web content produced or updated by the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District or provided by third-party developers. 

The Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District has agreed to a contract with Campus Suite ADA services as approved by the Office of Civil Rights to assure our school district website meets federal accessibility laws. 

Campus Suite ADA Service Plan is for schools and districts lacking the resources or expertise to understand and manage ADA requirements for its public website. This plan is designed to keep our website compliant and keep pace with constantly changing content. Campus Suite follows the WCAG 2.0 AA standards to ensure our website works properly for those accessing our website with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive disabilities. Campus Suite also provides ongoing reporting, updates and makes the District aware of any issues that you are responsible for, such as correcting a text document.  

The District’s Website Accessibility Policy and Procedures Plan for New Content and Functionality requires all web content will meet the WCAG 2.0 AA standards including the following:  

Text alternates

Descriptive text applied to all non-text based elements (i.e. images)

Semantic markup

Content follows standard semantic formatting such as H1, H2, etc. along with accessibility-specific markups

Keyboard navigation

Pages are easy to navigate without a mouse, using only keyboard

Easy to find information

Information can be accessed through search, site map and optional page navigation

Tables

Tables are checked and formatted to meet required standard

Videos

Up to 60 minutes per year of English captioning and transcription

Forms

Make all forms meet requirements (e.g., complex forms may need simplified, print or phone call options)

PDFs

Properly tagged PDFs to meet required standard

Training and support

Video training for best practices and access to helpdesk for support

Reporting

Ongoing monthly website reports for accessibility errors 

Individuals with questions about access to web content may contact Nicole Thomas at nthomas@starkville.k12.ms.us.