A parent of a Lawrence school district student vowed Thursday to file more civil rights complaints against the district if access for disabled students isn’t improved.

“I’m going to be watching the district,” Brent Garner said in an interview. “I won’t hesitate to file a … complaint if I think they’re playing games.”

In May 2003, Garner lodged two grievances with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. The first alleged Cordley School — where the district wanted his daughter to enroll — wasn’t compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

He subsequently filed a complaint charging district administrators with retaliating against him by refusing to grant his daughter a transfer to Sunflower School.

Under a settlement agreement tied to Garner’s first complaint, the district pledged to develop a plan by March 1 for addressing ADA shortcomings at Cordley and five other elementary schools. That plan will be based on an evaluation of the schools by Independence Inc., a Lawrence organization that works to improve accessibility for disabled people.

The six schools — Cordley, Sunflower, Langston Hughes, Quail Run, Deerfield and Prairie Park — were selected because all were schools where Garner’s daughter might attend. The fifth-grader is enrolled at Quail Run.

According to a document from the office of civil rights, Garner dropped his complaint of retaliation.

Garner, who ran unsuccessfully for school board in 2003, said it shouldn’t be so difficult to get the district to comply with ADA.

“If the district really was interested in bettering the conditions of children with disabilities, they would voluntarily improve Cordley. But they aren’t until they’re compelled to,” Garner said.

Austin Turney, the Lawrence school board’s president, said he planned to make public recommendations by Independence Inc. That report is due by the end of January.

“I think we need to make a public statement of everything that is asked of us,” he said. “It’s another unfunded mandate.”

Turney had no cost estimate of what might be required to improve accessibility at the six elementary schools.

It’s possible the education department will extend its review to all district school buildings, he said.

“That has been lurking in the background,” Turney said. “They’ve got their teeth into us and just aren’t going to let go.”