Spring 2023
Resolution Number: 2022-5
Contact: Dan Clark

Resolution Requesting the Hiring of a Full-Time Accessibility Coordinator
for the Ventura County Community College District 
and Specialists on Each Campus

WHEREAS, accessibility and inclusivity are integral components of providing quality education to all students and must be a priority in the Ventura County Community College District; and policies and strategies to create true accessibility and inclusivity should be informed, comprehensive and sustainable; and a culture of embracing, embodying and championing accessibility and inclusivity should be institutionally foundational and led from the highest governance of the district; 
WHEREAS, California Government Code 7405 requires all State agencies to comply with Federal Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (as amended in 1989). Section 508 requires Federal agencies’ information and communications technology (ICT) to be accessible to people with disabilities; and amendments to Title 5 of the CA Ed Code in Oct 2022 now dictate that "a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use." as of the first day of the course; and California campuses are increasingly under scrutiny for accessibility with high stakes accountability, including UC Berkeley’s obligation by Consent degree from the US Department of Justice to ensure all future and all long-neglected existing online content is fully accessible; 
WHEREAS, Individual VCCCD faculty have primary responsibility for providing accessible course materials in their classrooms yet have no institutional, comprehensive, organizational recourse to ensure compliance and must rely on self-guided, or campus level-training by classified positions not trained in accessibility; and current accessibility departments must focus on student (not faculty) support;  and current staff positions with proper training in accessibility are not adequate to the immediate nor pending needs of faculty to rise to accessibility standards; 

WHEREAS, the Ventura County Community College District has a legal obligation to comply with federal laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, that prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability but does not have an individual specifically trained in accessibility for higher education to serve as the accountable individual in the district;
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Ventura College Academic Senate advocates for the immediate hiring of a professionally trained full-time accessibility coordinator to accept key responsibility for setting district-wide policies for meeting standards for accessibility, advocating for programs and resources to support faculty in the district in meeting accessibility standards and obligations;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the accessibility coordinator will work closely with colleges to develop and implement policies, procedures, and programs to improve accessibility and inclusivity, offer expertise to college professional development committees as they provide training for faculty on topics related to accessibility, and will provide technical assistance and advocate for funds spent to ensure that instructional materials, technology, and physical spaces are accessible to all students;
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the Ventura College Academic Senate advocates for the allocation of sufficient resources by the district to support the immediate hiring and ongoing operations of a full-time accessibility coordinator, and to prioritize filling said position with the utmost urgency. 

Adopted on 2023-05-04