Thirteen years after a family sued the San Francisco school district over its lack of adherence with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the district has installed its last elevators, ramps, and accessible toilets in its schools.
The district spent $250 million to fix 50,000 violations, the San Francisco Chronicle reported this week.
The work entailed adding elevators, wheelchair ramps, new light switches, wider doorways, wheelchair lifts, Braille signs, and water fountains accessible from wheelchairs, the Chronicle reported. In the process, the district spent another $550 million to upgrade schools in other ways, including replacing roofs, heating systems, windows, repainting, repaving playgrounds, and so on.
Complying with the ADA took so long in part because San Francisco has the oldest school building inventory in California and the city's hilly landscape made work more challenging, the school district's facilities director told the newspaper.
Another 50 schools and district buildings not part of the lawsuit still have to be upgraded to comply with ADA.
Read more of Nirvi Shah's On Special Education article HERE.