Under federal accessibility guidelines (including WCAG 2.1 Level AA and ADA Title II regulations), public school districts and state and local government entities must provide an official Accessibility Statement. This statement establishes your school's compliance commitments, clarifies current technical standards, and provides a direct, monitored contact mechanism for visitors who encounter accessibility barriers.
💡 Best-Practice Adoption Tip: Monitored Contact Emails and Realistic Timelines:
• Use a centralized office email: Route accessibility inquiries to a monitored team address (such as [email protected] or [email protected]) rather than a single individual to prevent unaddressed requests during staff leave.
• Commit to 2 to 5 business days: Set a clear response turnaround (e.g., 2 to 5 business days) so visitors with disabilities know when they will receive assistance or alternative formats.
• Display via the widget: When active, visitors can open your statement directly from the bottom of the floating Accessibility preferences panel on any page of your website.
Opening the Statement Customization Panel
To configure your school's accessibility statement:
In the CMS dashboard, navigate to the Accessibility Widget settings panel.
In the Accessibility Statement section at the bottom of the page, click Customize Accessibility Statement.
Choosing What Visitors Read
In the What Visitors Get section, choose how your statement is presented to visitors:
1. Use Our Statement (Recommended)
Edlio provides an accessible statement drafted from W3C guidelines and customized with your school and district details. When visitors click the link in your accessibility widget, the statement opens in a clean pop-up modal directly on your website without navigating away from the page.
2. Link to Your Own Page
If your district or board already maintains an approved board policy or dedicated accessibility webpage, select Link to your own page and paste your complete URL (e.g., https://www.yourschool.org/accessibility-policy). The widget link will open your dedicated webpage in a new tab.
3. No Statement
Hides the statement link from the visitor panel entirely. Note: This option is not recommended, as visitors with assistive technology will lack a clear contact escalation path.
Personalizing Contact Fields and Response Times
When using the Edlio prefilled statement template, complete the contact fields to personalize your text:
School or Organization Name*: Your school or district name (prefilled from site settings).
District (Optional): Enter your parent district name if applicable.
Contact Person or Office (Optional): E.g., Technology Department or Webmaster.
Contact Email*: The monitored inbox where accessibility inquiries and alternative format requests are sent.
Contact Phone (Optional): Direct phone number for verbal inquiries and TTY support.
Reply Within (Business Days)*: Set realistic response expectations (e.g., 2 to 5 business days) for providing alternative formats.
Editing Statement Body Text
The built-in statement includes customizable rich text sections covering:
Our Goal: Formally states your commitment to meeting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standards set by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Need Help or Found a Problem?: Clear imperative instructions on how visitors can report digital barriers and request alternative materials.
Insert Detail Variables: Use the formatting toolbar to insert dynamic data tags or customized headings, bulleted lists, and links.
Click Save Statement to publish your changes. Once published, your statement immediately links from the bottom of the floating accessibility widget across your entire website.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does an accessibility statement protect our district from ADA complaints?
An accessibility statement demonstrates good-faith compliance and provides a critical reporting mechanism for users, but it must be paired with proactive barrier remediation across your website content, PDFs, and multimedia.
Can we edit the statement text after publishing?
Yes. You can return to Accessibility Widget > Customize Accessibility Statement at any time to update staff contact emails, phone numbers, or policy language.
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