[nfbwatlk] FW: Blind parent wins battle for access to online Seattle school resources - The Seattle Times

[Mike Freeman]

From: Dean Stenehjem [mailto:Dean.Stenehjem at wssb.wa.gov] 
Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2015 10:58 AM
Subject: Blind parent wins battle for access to online Seattle school
resources - The Seattle Times

 

Important message.    

 

Note:   Noel is a former Board of Trustee Member for WSSB and a parent of
sighted children in the Seattle Public School System.  

 

FYI,


 


Blind parent wins battle for access to online Seattle school resources - The
Seattle Times


 

Seattle Public Schools will make its website and other online resources more
accessible to blind students, faculty members and parents as part of an
agreement tied to a lawsuit filed by a blind parent last year.

The Seattle School Board voted Wednesday to enter into a consent decree to
settle the lawsuit, which alleges the district’s websites and an online math
program weren’t accessible to those who are blind. The lawsuit was filed by
Noel Nightingale, a blind parent of a Seattle student, and the National
Federation of the Blind.

Under the agreement, the district will make its current websites accessible,
hire an accessibility coordinator and create a website portal to help
faculty and staff communicate effectively with people with disabilities.

The district estimates it will cost from $665,440 to $815,400 to implement
the 3½-year decree. That includes funds to pay for an accessibility
coordinator, staff training and attorney fees. Nightingale will receive
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Nightingale notified the district that its websites weren’t accessible in
2012. She said she had been able to use the website with a “screen reader,”
which allows websites, documents and applications to be read aloud or
displayed in Braille on another device. Changes to the website in 2012 made
the site incompatible with the technology she used.

The district said it relayed the information to its website provider, which
didn’t fix the problem. It alleges the provider breached its agreement by
failing to provide a website compliant with the standards outlined in the
Americans with Disabilities Act.

Nightingale sued the district in August 2014, alleging discrimination. Her
lawyers said cheap, available programs were available to make the site
compatible.

The agreement to settle the case is subject to the approval of the U.S.
District Court for Western Washington.

Nightingale and the National Federation of the Blind applauded the board’s
vote, which they called historic and comprehensive.

“This landmark agreement with the Seattle Public Schools should serve as a
model for the nation and should put school districts on notice that we can
no longer wait to have equal education for blind students and to have access
to information, use of school services, and full participation in school
activities by blind faculty, personnel, and parents,” federation President
Mark Riccobono said in a statement.

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