The Disabled Rights Action Committee and Barbara Toomer, an advocate for the disabled, filed a lawsuit in March asking the district to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The advocates felt the district was not openly communicating with them or committing to a deadline for various improvements.
"People with disabilities are forced into making [governments] compliant," said Toomer, who uses a wheelchair due to post-polio syndrome.
Toomer discovered that a parking lot at Salt Lake City School District's Highland High was not in compliance with ADA rules several years ago while visiting the school for a conference. That sparked a series of evaluations of ADA compliance of various school districts' parking lots. The Salt Lake district voluntarily agreed to make necessary changes. A lawsuit regarding the parking lot issue in the Granite School District was settled in 2005. No other lawsuits are pending.
"It dumbfounds me that institutions like this didn't comply long ago," said Brian Barnard, the lawyer representing the disabled advocates. "It's simple."
The settlement of the lawsuit states that all needed changes will be made on or before Nov. 1. Most of the fixes have already been completed, Jordan officials say.
"We fully expect to be done by the deadline date if not earlier," said Burke Jolley, Jordan's business administrator. "I think it's important to note we've never had one complaint to the best of our knowledge."
Toomer said she was satisfied with the resolution because it ensures the number of spaces, their size, the signage and curb changes all meet the disability act requirements. Without the changes, parents and students would suffer.
"If you can't lower your [wheelchair] lift to let your kid in, what are you going to do? Park out in the middle of the school driveway?"
The lawsuit succeeded in pushing the improvements forward, Barnard said. In the original communication about the issue with the district, officials had at one point identified a tentative completion date of 2007 for some work. "We got the deadline moved up and we've got some enforcement power we didn't have before," he said.
