Agenda / Content Covered

All times are shown in Eastern time

1. Essential Special Education Legal Updates You Need to Know
   11:00 - 11:30, Ronald S. Stadler
2. Bullying and Harassment: Ensuring Special Needs Students Receive Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)
   11:30 - 12:15, Ronald S. Stadler
   1. Understanding FAPE in Different Forms: IDEA and Section 504
   2. Recognizing Harassment and Interference with Special Education Services
   3. Special Needs Students as Perpetrators: How to Handle it
   4. Documenting Responses to Bullying and Harassment
3. Developing Legally Compliant IEPs That Benefit Students: With Examples
   12:30 - 1:15, Erin D. Gilsbach
   1. Evaluation Best Practices
   2. Mitigating the Chance for Legal Liabilities in the Meeting
   3. Ensuring Legally Defensible Documentation for Every Decision
   4. IEP Progress Monitoring
   5. Changing the IEP: Essential Guidelines
   6. IEP Do's and Don'ts - With Examples
4. 504 Plan Eligibility and Accommodation Best Practices
   1:15 - 2:00, Erin D. Gilsbach
   1. 504 Plans vs. IEPs
   2. Eligibility Procedure Best Practices
      1. Should IDEA Procedures be Used?
      2. The ADAAA and 504 Plan Eligibility
      3. The Use of Parent-Submitted Information
   3. Determining Educationally - and Legally - Appropriate Accommodations
   4. Legal Best Practices for Students Who Do Not Need Classroom Accommodations
5. Manifestation Determination Reviews (MDRs): Did the Disability Cause the Behavior?
   2:30 - 3:15, Erin D. Gilsbach
   1. Necessary Procedures Under the IDEA
   2. Discipline Documentation: What to Include
   3. Determining if Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs), Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs) and Discipline Documentation Align
   4. What to Do if MDR Results are Disputed
6. Disability Discrimination Complaints: Lessons From Recent Court Cases and Enforcement Actions
   3:15 - 4:00, Cathleen M. Dooley
   1. Ensuring Equal Access to All Programs: Sports, Gifted and Talented, Etc.
   2. Technology and Accessibility, Including Websites
   3. Ensuring Modifications and Changes in Placement are Necessary
   4. Discriminatory Suspension and Discipline Practices
   5. Inappropriate Use of Restraint and Seclusion
   6. Recognizing Racial Disparity in Special Education Programs
7. English Language Learners (ELLs) and Special Education: Ensuring Legal Best Practices
   4:15 - 5:00, Cathleen M. Dooley
   1. Knowing When Referral is Appropriate
   2. How ELLs Should be Evaluated
   3. IEPs for ELLs
      1. IEP Meeting Essentials for ELLs
      2. Ensuring Language Instruction Meshes with IEP Objectives
   4. Legally Compliant School Policies for English Language and Special Education Co-Services
8. Legal Ethics
   5:00 - 6:00, Ronald S. Stadler
   1. Attorneys' Fees
   2. Conflicts of Interest
   3. Confidentiality Issues
   4. Ethical Concerns in Working with or Against Minors

Accreditation Details:

CATHLEEN M. DOOLEY is a partner with the law firm of Udall Shumway, where she practices in the education law section. She represents school districts and charter schools on a broad range of matters, including special education (such as 504 complaints, special education due process hearings, and IEP issues), personnel matters (such as EEOC complaints and employee disciplinary proceedings), contracts, open meeting law, and student discipline. Dr. Dooley has presented on personnel and special education issues at numerous conferences, including the Arizona CEC/CASE Principals Institute, the Arizona Charter School Association Legal Week program, and the Arizona School Board Association Annual Law Conference. She is admitted to practice before Arizona state courts and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Dr. Dooley is a member of the State Bar of Arizona and the Pima County Bar Association. She is also the president of the Southern Arizona Legal Aid Board of Directors. Dr. Dooley earned her Ph.D. and J.D. degrees from the University of Arizona.

ERIN D. GILSBACH is an of counsel attorney with the law firm of Steckel and Stopp in Pennsylvania and the executive director of EdLaw Interactive, an organization that provides school law training to educators and school leaders nationwide. Ms. Gilsbach is an experienced speaker at the state and national levels. She provides legal consulting services and a wide variety of school law training programs to school districts, charter schools, non-public schools, school leader organizations, educator associations, parent groups, and other organizations. In addition to special education issues, she specializes in legally-defensible policy and procedural development for schools, trending legal issues regarding technology and education, nursing and school health services, truancy prevention, child abuse prevention and mandated reporting, educator evaluation and discipline, and a variety of other school law topics. Ms. Gilsbach currently serves as the president of the PSBA Solicitor's Association and is a member of the Board of Directors of the NSBA Council of School Attorneys. She earned her J.D. degree from the Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law.

RONALD S. STADLER is a shareholder with the law firm of Jackson Lewis P.C. Mr. Stadler is an experienced educational attorney who uses his skills to advise and defend his clients before administrative tribunals, courts, juries, and arbitrators. He regularly uses his substantive knowledge of education law and employment law to assist school districts and other educational institutions in resolving disputes or defending them against administrative claims or claims brought in federal and state court. Mr. Stadler routinely represents school districts in matters arising under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act at mediation, due process hearings and subsequent review in federal courts. He also routinely defends school districts in federal courts on cases arising under the Constitution, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 1983, Section 1981, Title VII, Title IX, Title VI, and other state and federal laws. Mr. Stadler earned his J.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School and his B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, where he was a Harry S. Truman Scholar. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western districts of Wisconsin, the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Seventh and Eighth circuits, and all courts in Wisconsin.