At a time when civil rights disputes often lead to lawsuits, the Conval School District found a way to avoid one. The district is fixing a wheelchair ramp at one of its schools that it didn’t realize was a problem until it heard from the federal government.
Tim Grossi has managed school facilities for the Conval district — which covers Peterborough, Antrim, and seven other towns — for nearly 20 years. The five-page letter from the U.S. Department of Education's civil rights bureau he received nearly two years ago got his attention — and put the district on notice: Its wheelchair ramp to Pierce Elementary School in Bennington appeared to violate federal disability protections because it was too steep and it was eroding.
Grossi remembers thinking: “Oh my God, it's the Office of Civil Rights — what have I done?” He called the agency’s Boston office.
“Once we asked the questions and broke down the concerns, it was an easy collaborative effort,” Grossi said. “Which obviously can be applied to just about every component of my job. You know, ask questions and come to a resolution.”
The resolution, reached in late December, will be a new wheelchair ramp that will cost the district about $12,000. Grossi said work will start this summer, once school is out.
Grossi said no one had raised concerns about the ramp before this. The process of designing a new one was eye-opening, in part because he didn’t appreciate how challenging it is to navigate the ramp.
“If we had noticed there was a concern or there was an issue before, you know, we truly would have done something about it,” he said.