Annual Notice of Nondiscrimination
(revised July 2015)
In compliance with federal guidelines, prior to the beginning of each school year, recipients of federal career and technical (vocational) funds must advise students, parents, employees, and the general public that all career and technical educational opportunities will be offered without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, or disability. The announcement of this policy of nondiscrimination should be published after July 1 and before the beginning of each school year in a forum that will allow the general public to view it such as local newspapers, recipient publications and/or other media that reach the general public, program beneficiaries, minorities (including national origin minorities with limited English language skills), women, and disabled persons. Included in the publication should be a summary of career and technical (vocational) education program offerings and admission criteria along with the name, address and telephone number of person(s) designated to coordinate Title IX and Section 504 compliance activity.
This year for the first time (2014) the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has approved publishing the notice on the District’s Website as an acceptable “other media” in which to publish the Notice, either by itself or in conjunction with another acceptable media such as the local newspaper. This is because of changes in technology that have made the internet more accessible and due to decreased usage of newspapers. If this option is chosen, the notice should be published in a prominent place on the website. It is advisable to include a Spanish translation (as well as any other prominent language) if a community of non-English speakers has been identified in your District. It was noted that in most Districts people are more likely to see the notice on the internet versus reading it in the local newspaper. However, if there are concerns that internet access is poor or use is limited in your area then continued publication in the local newspaper would still be recommended. Some Districts may choose to publish in multiple medias.
If your service area contains a community of national origin minority persons with limited English language skills, public notification must be disseminated to that community in its language. If you have identified a community of national origin you must state that recipients will take steps to insure that the lack of English language skills will not be a barrier to admission and participation in career and technical (vocational) education programs.
An Email notice is sent to the Title IX and ADA coordinators that are on file from the previous year’s annual notice. If this notification has been sent to two individuals in your district, please coordinate your efforts in this regard to publish the annual notice of nondiscrimination. It is no longer required to send in the completed form with the attached clipping from the publication. If responsibilities have changed for this requirement please forward to the appropriate person and send an email note to me of the change. (Either a new Title IX, ADA coordinator or person responsible for publishing the notice.)
Please note that the requirement to publish an “Annual Notice of Nondiscrimination” has not changed and if you are selected for a Methods of Administration (MOA) civil rights review you will be required to show proof that this has been published prior to the start of school and that the media used to publish the annual notice was appropriate for your District.
An example of what an annual notice of nondiscrimination might look like is included in the “Useful Links and Documents”. The example is a minimum requirement from OCR, many districts have added statements and OCR encourages combined statements. All information received may be used in the preparation of KDE’s biennial report to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.