CUSD 200 communications team rolls out two-way app, readies accessibility work for DOJ deadline

The board received an update from the district's communications and community engagement director on outreach tools and upcoming accessibility work.

Communications staff said the district now offers Rooms, a two-way communications tool integrated with the district mass-communication vendor and the student information system. Rooms was piloted with athletics and then rolled out in training districtwide; staff will be encouraged to move from legacy apps to Rooms beginning in August. The system allows SMS/web access without requiring parents to download an app, and it supports automated translation and alternate notification preferences.

The communications director noted a new annual print newsletter distributed this year to nearly 39,000 households and described ongoing crisis and mass-communications protocols used with local law enforcement PIOs for faster, coordinated messaging.

Staff also briefed trustees on new digital-accessibility requirements finalized by the U.S. Department of Justice: public entities serving 50,000 or more people must meet new standards by April 2027 (smaller entities have until April 2028), so the district is training staff, requiring accessible PDFs and adding alt text to images. Vendors must also meet compliance standards; the district is piloting a vendor (Doc Access) to assist with accessible PDF generation and translation.

Administration emphasized that the Rooms tool and accessibility work are intended to improve two-way communication and broaden reach to families in multiple languages.

Sources: communications director's oral report and board Q&A in the meeting transcript.