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ADA COMPLIANCE FOR DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS

ADA Compliance for Digital Communications

 

What does it mean to be ADA compliant in digital communications?

It means that people with disabilities, such as blindness, deafness, and low vision, can access information from the district’s website or other digital resources (see list below).

These tools or resources that are maintained by the district or a school, including websites, email, documents, forms, and more and are subject to standards outlined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) where were updated April 2024 by the Department of Justice (DOJ). 

For example, someone who is blind and cannot use a mouse, should be able to use the tab key to navigate the website.

Additionally, people who are blind or have low vision use screen readers to audibly listen to content on the website or social media page. It may also impact the coding/meta data of a PDF document or website and more. 

What is included?

Digital items that must be ADA compliant include the following, but are not limited to:

Web content

  • Web pages: The design, code, and content of all web pages must be made accessible, including navigation, structure, and readability. This applies to government portals, e-commerce sites, and business websites alike.
  • Online forms: These include applications, sign-up pages, surveys, and payment forms. They must have clear labels and instructions for all input fields and provide accessible error alerts.
  • Documents: Any digital documents available for public use or download must be accessible. This includes PDFs, Microsoft Word files, PowerPoint presentations, and spreadsheets.
  • Interactive elements: All buttons, links, and other interactive user interface components must be operable and understandable through various input methods, such as a keyboard.
  • Social media: Posts on official organizational social media accounts must include features like alternative text for images and captions for videos. 

Multimedia content

  • Videos: All prerecorded and live-streamed videos must include accurate and synchronized captions for individuals with hearing impairments.
  • Audio content: Podcasts and other audio-only media should be provided with transcripts.
  • Visual media: Any images, infographics, and charts need to have descriptive alternative text (alt text) so that screen readers can convey their purpose to users with visual disabilities.

Software and mobile applications

  • Mobile apps: Software developed for smartphones and tablets must be accessible to users with disabilities.
  • Software interfaces: Any software/instructional resources, including learning management systems (LMS) for schools, must be designed to be compatible with assistive technologies.
  • Third-party content: If a entity uses a third-party vendor for a service like a payment processor,  ticketing system, links to a site outside of their own website, that system must also be accessible.

Technical and informational elements

  • Color contrast: The text and background must have sufficient color contrast to be readable for individuals with low vision or color blindness.
  • Text size and zoom: Users must be able to adjust the text size and zoom levels without losing content or functionality.
  • Consistent navigation: Menus and site navigation should be consistent across all pages to provide a predictable user experience.
  • Compatibility: Digital content must be compatible with assistive technologies like screen readers, voice recognition software, and screen magnifiers.

Important Note: Not all things from other companies are accessible therefore it is important to review compliance prior to purchasing or linking to resources from companies. For example, Google Forms and Flyers are not accessible. The CRDC recommends not linking to Google Docs and whenever possible change PDFs to web page format. 

Who does this impact?

This impacts all stakeholders from students, to parents, to faculty and staff, to community members, or a person from another state who may want to access our website, digital communications or resources. Not only will it impact the tools we use, but it will also have an impact on routines, procedures, and processes for providing information internally, externally, as well as impact our instructional resources and materials.

 

 

 

Accessibility Implementation

 

The Road Forward

Based on the updated ADA requirements for digital communications accessibility, the Morgan County R-II School District Superintendent, along with the Communications and Technology Department, determined that the district would begin working toward compliance by approaching the process in phases (starting during the 2024-2025 school year). The first step was a long-overdue update of the district’s website through the procurement of an updated website platform contract and a mass communications tool contract.

The district selected ParentSquare for mass communications and SmartSites for website management. In addition, Grackle was procured to support PDF remediation for both the Communications and Technology Department and faculty/staff Google Docs. Faculty and staff are currently being transitioned to ParentSquare due to its built-in accessibility features as well as its management and oversight capabilities. Next, the faculty and staff will also be trained on basic accessibility measures and Grackle for Google Docs.

To further strengthen the initiative, the district’s Communications Specialist has also completed several professional development opportunities to gain a deeper knowledge of the updated accessibility standards and requirements. 

For the 2025–2026 school year, it is recommended that the Communications and Technology Committee establish an Accessibility Steering Committee (or focus group) composed of administrators, faculty, staff, and parents/guardians. Suggested members may include Communications and Technology leadership, the Assistant Superintendent, Special Services Director, Process Coordinator, Finance Department representatives, building administrators, head secretaries, instructional coaches, and HR personnel.

This committee would be tasked with the following:

  • Conducting an accessibility audit of other digital tools used throughout the district and in schools (e.g., HR tools, building office tools, instructional tools)
  • Conduct usability testing and/or run accessibility scans of those tools
  • Determine the impact on those with disabilities and the district/school
  • Make recommendations for procurement of appropriate replacements where necessary/determine if additional tools need to be purchased to meet accessibility standards (e.g. text-to-speech tool for students)

New Instances of School IT

Instances of Information Technology newly purchased, licensed, or internally developed after January 1, 2027 are expected to conform to the Standards to the fullest extent possible at the point of rollout or implementation. Where such conformance with the Standards is not technically feasible or may require extraordinary measures due to the nature or purpose of the Information Technology.

New District or School Content

Starting on January 1, 2027, MCR2 users using school district IT/digital communications related tools to post, distribute, or publish District and School Content should aim to make such content conform to the Standards, to the extent technically feasible and in accordance with the District Content framework specified. Where conformance with the Standards is not technically feasible, MCR2 users should consider how to make District and School Content available in an alternative format accessible to all persons with disabilities.

Existing District or School IT and Content

A prioritization plan for improving the accessibility of existing district and school Information Technology, including websites and web-based applications, and the existing district and school content hosted, published, or communicated on those platforms will be determined by an Accessibility Steering Committee led by the Communications and Technology Department. Priority will be given to District IT platforms that provide the most essential functions to, and are most broadly and regularly used by, faculty, staff, and students. In the case of public-facing websites, priority will be given to the district website. 

Procurement Considerations

Morgan County R-II personnel purchasing or procuring District or School Information Technology are responsible for communicating with the district’s Communications and Technology Department to ensure that suppliers seeking to develop or provide District or School IT are aware of the district’s and Department of Justice’s requirements related to accessibility and that contracts with such vendors hold them accountable to the Standards to the fullest extent possible. Administration, district business office, building offices, curriculum department, special services department and others charged with supporting IT procurement efforts should support these efforts when involved in District or School IT purchases.

The Implementation Procedures agreed upon by the Accessibility Steering Committee should identify resources, strategies, and guidelines for securing the greatest possible level of conformance to the Standards from third-party vendors, and purchasers and providers of District or School IT are expected to adopt and practice them. The District will apply such market power as it has to prioritize and promote digital accessibility. However, the Policy recognizes that the District is able to exert less control over some “off-the-shelf” Information Technology developed and marketed outside the District. However, it is important to note that the District and School can be held liable for a tool’s lack of accessibility. 

Definitions

“District or School Information Technology” or “District or School IT” is Information Technology purchased, developed, deployed, or used for District or School Business and, in the case of web-based applications and websites hosted on a Morgan County R-II owned or controlled domain, social media, mass communication tools, hardware, and software is hosted on a Harvard-owned or -controlled domain.

“Information Technology” includes software; server-based, personal computer, mobile device, and web-based applications and websites; website hosting and design services; development, hosting, maintenance, and archiving services; cloud-based applications and information processing or storage services; digital hardware interfaces; and digital database configurations and interfaces.

“District or School Content” is Digital Content created, posted, distributed or published for District or School Business.

“Digital Content” consists of any information or communication accessed or displayed in a digital format or medium, as text, image, audio, or video.

“District or School Business” includes activities carried out by the Morgan County R-II faculty and staff in furtherance of the Morgan County R-II School District’s mission and vision but does not include activities organized or conducted by students or student organizations.

“Senior Leadership or Administration” includes the district’s Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, deparmental or building-level directors and coordinators, and building administrators; or their designees.

Responsibility

Senior Leadership or Administration should promote broad awareness of accessibility and may need to assign responsibility of remediation to building or departmental faculty and staff. Improving digital accessibility requires the attention and commitment of the entire Morgan County R-II community. Accordingly, all members of the Morgan County R-II community should be mindful of ADA and digital accessibility requirements and aim to ensure that District and School Content they post to, publish on, or communicate through District or School IT is accessible.

Where possible, including on websites operated by the Morgan County R-II School District and its schools, the Morgan County R-II administrators should indicate commitment to accessibility by sharing this page and its resources, as well as the ADA update (April 2024) to the with their faculty and staff.

 

 

 

Common ADA Compliance Issues

Below are Common ADA Compliance Issues related to digital communications and accessibility. Guidance is provided for each issue listed.

  • Avoid Using “All Caps”

    Readability is reduced with all caps (all capital letters) because all words have a uniform rectangular shape, meaning readers can't identify words by their shape. Also, use of all caps is considered yelling.

  • Alt Text On Images

    When you upload an image to a website or social media, you must write “alternative text” or “alt text” that briefly describes the photo for people who are blind and/or using screen readers. Here are some examples of alt text on images. (ParentSquare & SmartSites require you to input alt text when uploading an image onto the mass communication tool and the website. ParentSquare does not. You can also input alt text into images on Google Slides, Microsoft Powerpoints, Word Docs, etc.)

    In 2025, ParentSquare added a feature in which alt text can be created through artificial intelligence generation. When you click the "image alt text" box, a prompt will ask if you want to "generate AI suggestion" and it can automatically write alt text for you.

  • Color Contrast

    People with limited vision cannot read the text if there is not enough contrast between the text and the background. (For example, light gray text on a light-colored background.) A fool-proof way to ensure compliance is to use black text on a white background (like a Word Doc.) Read the WCAG color contrast standards or use the Web AIM Contrast Checker.

    To learn more about color contrast and accessibility watch the video, “Accessible Color Contrast Requirements With Examples” by Pope Tech.

  • Closed Captioning on Videos

    All videos on the MCR2 website, social media, ParentSquare, or other digital communication tool will be required to have closed captioning as of the 2026-2027 SY so people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can understand the information in a video. Additionally, people who are visually impaired also rely on closed captioning to service their screen readers. Please make sure closed captioning is always included in your videos, for the entire duration of the video. Words that are displayed on the screen but not spoken aloud (i.e., someone holding a sign) are also supposed to be contained in closed captioning.

    Tip: The easiest way to ensure closed captioning is to simply upload your video to a YouTube account and enable automatic closed captioning. Then, you can embed the YouTube video onto a website, ParentSquare, etc. In addition, YouTube allows for closed captioning in multiple languages.

    Sometimes, formatting issues will prevent YouTube from automatically enabling closed captioning and the process will have to be done manually. Please review your video to ensure that the closed captioning is correct before sharing with others. 

    To learn more about captioning on videos, watch the video, “Easy Way To Create Accessible Videos With Audio” by Pope Tech.

  • Descriptive Links

    When linking to a web page or an email address, the link should be descriptive so a person with a screen reader can understand the link they are clicking on. It should not say “click here” or “view more.” Instead, it should say, “Visit the City of Versailles website” or “Email Mrs. Whitfield.”

    Update: In 2025-26, we have ceased listing email addresses or contact links in the website staff directory. Starting in 2026-2027, we will further update our staff directory to direct staff to contact our faculty and staff through ParentSquare due to accessibility and cybersecurity reasons. 

    To learn more about how to create descriptive links, watch the video, “Write More Accessible Link Text” by Pope Tech.

  • Headings

    A document should contain headings so someone using a screen reader can navigate to different sections of the document. For example, on the website, paste the content from your document directly onto the website and select headings (headlines) where applicable rather than posting a PDF.

  • How Do I Share Information From A Flyer?

    • PDFs in and of themselves may or may not be compliant, depending on whether or not the content was formatted correctly. Technically someone can “reorder” a document to make it compliant, but the process is complicated and requires specialized software and training. This almost never happens. 
    • Most reports in PDF form are not compliant because they are not formatted properly,
    • Flyers are never compliant.
    • Scanned documents are never compliant. We advise against posting PDFs on the website, social media, or ParentSquare unless it is absolutely necessary and additional text is provided. 

     

     

  • PDF Documents

    We discourage the use of PDFs on the website because most are not ADA compliant. PDFs must be formatted in a certain manner to be read with a screen reader. Please place content directly onto the website, and not a PDF, to ensure ADA compliance and language-translation compliance.

    • PDF flyers will no longer permitted on the MCR2 website starting in 2026. When we receive flyers about community or school events, we will use the wording to create event calendar listings instead.

    • If a PDF document, such as a letter or a report, must be posted on the website, it should be formatted properly with headings so it can be read with a screen reader. Tables containing data are often not formatted properly. (There are many documents like this that have been posted on the MCR2 website over the years, and we will be making efforts to stop this practice moving forward.)

    • If a PDF flyer, handout, or document is received on or after 2026-2027 SY we will not post it as we have in the past, but attempt to format it as part of the website or post. Please keep this in mind when creating your document. For example, you may not be able to include graphics as you may have in the past as we will use the basic information required to ensure the information is shared in an accessible manner.

    To learn more about PDF Documents and accessibility, watch the video, “Inaccessible PDF Example Read With Screen Reader” by Pope Tech.

  • Organizational Charts

    Typical organizational charts (or "org charts"), presented as a diagram or tree structure, or the like, are not accessible. Those charts are a purely visual representation of relationships, and do not appropriately convey information to people who need to understand the content without the use of vision. 

    As a result, visual charts should only be used as a secondary means of presentation: The primary means should be accessible to all users. This can be accomplished with a simple nested list on a web page or post. It can also include headings, accordion menus, or other techniques to improve appearance and functionality.

    Examples of accessible org charts:

  • Readability

    Is the language clear, and does the layout reduce cognitive load?

    Guidance: Design for Readability

  • Scanned PDF Documents Are Never ADA Compliant

    A PDF that is scanned is not ADA compliant whatsoever. It is essentially a photo, and a screen reader cannot read the text at all. Remember, “a scan is not a plan!” It will not be accepted beginning 2026-2027 SY. 

  • Tables

    A screen reader cannot read information in a table when it has nested tables, split cells, or merged cells. Generally, tables are best used for numerical data. Tables must have a header row (formatted top row), and often but not always require a header column (formatted first column on left). 

    Why? A screen reader audibly reads the data from left to right. The top row (header) has to be formatted so the screen reader knows to read the information in that row first before reading the information below it.

    To demonstrate an example, please view the sample table below, which shows water testing results.

     

    Date Sampled

    Type of Fixture Sampled

    Sample Location

    Lead result (milligrams per liter)

    Lead result after 30-second flush (milligrams per liter)

    10/20/2023

    Classroom Faucet

    Room 1A

    0.0016

    0.00015

    10/20/2023

    Classroom Sink

    Room 1A

    0.0017

    0.00053

    10/20/2023

    Classroom Faucet

    Room 2B

    0.017

    0.0014

     

    If the header is formatted properly, the screen reader will read each row by first reading the title found in the header, at the top of the column, so you can tell what type of data is being described. 

    If you look at the second row in the diagram above (the first row below the header), it would read the information this way:

    “Date sampled” → “10/20/2023” 

    Then, “Type of Fixture Sampled” → “Classroom Faucet”

    Then, “Sample Location” → “Room 1A”

    Then, “Lead Result” → “0.0016” and so on. 

    If the header row is not formatted, then the screen reader would read the second row this way:

    “10/20/2023,” “Classroom Faucet,” “Room 1A, “0.0016” and so on.

    For a table with dozens of rows, it would be impossible for a person to understand all the different data being described without reading the title of the column found in the header row.

    If you are creating a table on the new MCR2 website (on ParentSquare), click "header row" and if needed click "header column" as displayed in the photo below.

    Screenshot of a table interface with options for theme and header row.

     

    To learn more about making tables accessible, watch the video, “Introduction to Accessible Tables and a Screen Reader Demo” by Pope Tech.

  • Third Party Vendor Accessibility

    If an entity uses a third-party vendor for a service like a payment processor,  ticketing system, or links to a site outside of their own website, that system or site must also be accessible.

    To learn more about how to check third party vendor accessibility, watch the video, “4 Easy Ways to Check A 3rd Party’s Vendor’s Accessibility” by Pope Tech.

ADA Compliance Resources

 

Additional ADA Compliance Resources