Litchfield High School complies with most civil rights accessibility requirements, but some improvements will still have to be made by the Board of Education and town to satisfy the state Department of Education.
The education department in March conducted a Civil Rights Compliance Review of the high school to determine if it meets the standards of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
The high school was one of six schools in the state randomly selected for a compliance review, Superintendent of Schools Deborah Wheeler told the school board's facilities and technology committee on Monday.
In addition to its building, the high school's baseball field and facilities at Plumb Hill Playing Fields were inspected.
The 2006-08 expansion and renovation of the high school brought the building into compliance with most accessibility requirements, according to school facilities director Tony Crowe. Areas of the school in non-compliance are mainly in locations not addressed by the renovation, Crowe said.
School officials have until Oct. 18 to submit a corrective action plan to the state. Crowe
said the corrective work will be relatively inexpensive. Required improvements include installation of new doors and door handle hardware, a handicap-accessible cashier's station in the cafeteria, a more accessible greenhouse, and a ramp at the main entrance to the school.
The existing greenhouse, Crowe said, will be taken down and a new one will be built. It will be less costly to build a new greenhouse than to make the required improvements to the existing one, he said.
The main entrance to the school needs some work because the concrete slope leading to the doors is too steep for wheelchairs. An L-shaped walk will be built to satisfy the requirement, Crowe said.
At the baseball field, a path leading to the bleachers for wheelchairs will be built, while Plumb Hill Playing Fields will get a viewing area for wheelchairs and a new water fountain. All of the work is scheduled to be phased in over the next three years, Crowe said.
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