Special Education Law Symposium Balancing Change and Continuity
June 21 - June 26, 2009
SYMPOSIUM FACULTY:
Aimee Dorosin, Esq. is a graduate of Columbia University and St. John's University School of Law, Ms. Dorosin is currently the Director of Policy and Planning at the New York City Department of Education in the Office of Special Education Initiatives. Prior to her position there, she worked for the Office of the General Counsel in the area of special education litigation.
Barbara J. Ebenstein, Esq. is a parent and an attorney with law offices in
Scarsdale, New York. Her practice focuses on the representation of parents
in special education and related matters. Barbara is an adjunct associate
professor at New York University where she teaches the graduate course in
Education Law. Barbara served as a member of the Disability Policy
Committee of the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, and she served as
one of the surrogates speaking on disability issues on behalf of the
campaign. Barbara also serves as an impartial hearing officer in New York
City and Long Island, and as a Vocational Rehabilitation hearing officer.
Barbara has extensive experience conducting CLE for attorneys and workshops
for parents, advocates, school personnel, and other professionals from
Hawaii to New Hampshire. She served as the lead instructor for the New York
pilot site of the SEAT Project (Special Education Advocacy Training) and she
serves as an attorney skills trainer for the Council of Parent Attorneys and
Advocates (COPAA). Barbara has authored articles on special education law
from the parents' perspective for numerous national publications. Barbara
served as Chair of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA)
from 2005 to 2006. Barbara J. Ebenstein holds a J.D. from Pace University
Law School, a M.A. in Education from Teachers College of Columbia
University, and a B.A. cum laude from Boston University.
Andrew E. Faust, Esq. is currently of counsel to the law firm of Sweet-Stevens, Katz & Williams, LLP. He has represented public school entities throughout Pennsylvania in special education and civil rights litigation since 1986, appearing at every level of the state and federal judiciary and in hundreds of administrative due process proceedings. He has spoken widely on special education, student services, and civil rights to audiences of educators, attorneys, college students, and parents and has appeared as an expert witness on special education.
Rebekah A. Gleason, received her B.A. from Vassar College, M.A. from Columbia University, J.D. from George Washington University, and LLM from Georgetown University Law Center. Currently, Professor Gleason directs the FCSL Family and Child Advocacy Law Clinic and teaches Education Law. Prior to Florida Coastal School of Law, she was the staff attorney at Good Shepherd Legal Services in Washington, D.C. Professor Gleason has extensive experience in both civil litigation and clinical education. She supervised the Georgetown University Law Center’s Family Advocacy Clinic and taught student externs at American University. She has also testified as an expert on special education, having taught special education for over 10 years prior to entering the legal profession. She publishes and speaks on the Special Education Rights of Parents of students with disabilities, and works with professionals both community and state-wide in training surrogate parents for students with special needs.
Judith Abbott Gran, Esq. has devoted her legal career to representing persons with disabilities and their organizations in litigation. She has represented students with disabilities and their parents in due process hearings and cases arising under IDEA and Section 504 in federal court around the country, including individual and class action cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri and Oklahoma. These cases have focused on inclusion, the provision of supplementary aids and services in regular classes and schools and comprehensive personnel development. Ms. Gran was lead counsel in Gaskin v. Commonwealth, the Law Center’s groundbreaking class action against Pennsylvania education officials.
Ms. Gran has represented institutionalized persons in class action suits in Pennsylvania, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Tennessee. As a result of those cases, former institutional residents, including those with the most significant disabilities, live and work in typical homes, neighborhoods and workplaces. Currently, she is actively engaged in implementation of consent decrees in two class action suits on behalf of People First of Tennessee and the residents and former residents of Tennessee’s state developmental disabilities institutions and nearly a thousand persons in nursing facilities and other congregate settings.
Ms. Gran was selected by the National Council on Disability (NCD) to conduct a national study that reviewed each state's progress in implementing the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C.,, a leading case which held that unnecessary institutionalization is a form of discrimination. She served as Chair of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) from 2002 to 2004 and will receive COPAA’s Diane Lipton Award for Outstanding Educational Advocacy in March, 2008.
Catherine A. Holahan, Esq. is an attorney with Connecticut Legal Services, Inc. In this position, she advocates through individual legal representation and systemic advocacy on behalf of low-income families with children with disabilities to gain access to special education and behavioral health services. Her experience includes representing individual clients in state and federal court, expulsion hearings, special education due process hearings, mediations and complaints, and systemic advocacy through legislative advocacy, class litigation, outreach and education. Attorney Holahan developed the CLS Stop the School-to-Prison Pipeline Project in Waterbury which focuses on providing civil legal representation to students with disabilities who are subject to school-based arrests or court referrals and school discipline for disability-related behavior.
Attorney Holahan received a J.D. with honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 2001 and an M.S.W. in Policy and Planning from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work in 2000. She earned a B.A. from the University of Vermont in 1994. Attorney Holahan is admitted to the Connecticut State Bar, the Federal District of Connecticut and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association Education and Federal Practice Sections. Prior to joining CLS, Attorney Holahan served as a law clerk in the Connecticut Appellate Court to the Honorable Ellen Ash Peters, Chief Justice Retired.
Claudia L. Huotis an Associate with Wisler Pearlstine in Blue Bell, PA and concentrates her practice in the areas of School Law/Litigation. She represents school districts, charter schools and educational management organizations, particularly in the area of special education. She advises clients in many aspects of school law and special education law, including representation in administrative proceedings, appeals and litigation in state and federal court. She has lectured, written materials and planned seminars regarding school law matters.
Dr. Stephen J. Jacobson, Esq. is the current managing partner and a founding member of Connolly, Jacobson & John, LLP. Originally from Loveland, Colorado, Dr. Jacobson graduates cum laude from Colorado State Univeristy with a degree in Psychology in 1991. In 1998, Dr. Jacobson earned his doctorate in Clinical Psychology cum laude from Widener University, and concurrently earned a law degree cum laude from the Widener University School of Law. Immediately following law school, Dr. Jacobson was employed by the United States District Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and by the Center for Psychotherapy Research at the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to representing students with special need throughout Pennsylvania, Dr. Jacobson was a partner in a Bucks County law firm that focused exclusively on education law, where he represented school districts in a multitude of special education matters for nearly a decade.
Dr. Jacobson has presented extensively on both special and general education topics across Pennsylvania to educators, parents, attorneys and hearing officers. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association as well as its Legal Services Exceptional Children’s Committee.
Kristine Marakovits, Esq. practices in the areas of general and special education and municipal law. Ms. Roddick began practicing law in Monroe County where she focused on education, zoning, and family law. She is a former Assistant Solicitor for Monroe County Children and Youth Services Agency and an Assistant Protection from Abuse Advocate for Monroe County. Prior to becoming Solicitor for Monroe County Children and Youth Services Agency, Ms. Roddick was appointed by the Honorable Margharita Patti-Worthington as Special Counsel to the Public Defender’s Office representing parents involved in dependency matters.
Ms. Roddick graduated Magna Cum Laude from Rutgers University in 1996 with a B.A. degree in Political Science, a minor in Psychology, and a certificate in Criminology. At Rutgers University, Ms. Roddick was in the Honors Program and received the Dean’s Scholar Award. In 1999, she earned her law degree from Villanova University, where she was a finalist in the Reimel Moot Court Competition. After law school, Ms. Roddick clerked for the Honorable Jerome P. Cheslock of the Court of Common Pleas of Monroe County. She was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1999, and is also admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District and Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Ms. Roddick has been appointed by the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office as Special Assistant District Attorney for truancy matters. She has represented school districts in various legal matters statewide in counties including Allegheny, Lehigh, Northampton, Luzerne, Pike, and Monroe. Ms. Roddick is a member of the Northampton, Monroe, and Pennsylvania Bar Associations.
Ms. Roddick is a frequent lecturer in the education field, speaking on a variety of issues facing school districts that include student discipline in both the regular and special education curriculum; special education liability; sexual discrimination; and condemnation proceedings. Ms. Roddick is a member of the National Slovene Benefit Society and the Monroe County Bar Association Law Day Committee and Social Committee. She is a member of the Leadership Lehigh Valley class of 2007. She volunteers for many community activities benefiting students. These activities include being a judge in the Mock Trial Invitation, which prepares high school teams for the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division Statewide Mock Trial Competition; the Monroe County Law Day Run, benefiting the Pocono Mountain Kidney Foundation; and the 24 Math Games.
Doris K. Martin, is the Director of Special Education in the School District of Cheltenham Township in Montgomery County, PA. She is an experienced special education teacher and administrator across twenty-nine years, having taught multiple support students for the Bucks County Intermediate Unit and learning support students in the Quakertown Community School District, where she also served as the special education department chairperson in the high school.
Doris subsequently served as Quakertown Community School District’s Director of Special Education for eight years prior to her current position in Cheltenham. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in special education from East Stroudsburg University and Lehigh University respectively.
Deborah Mattison, is a shareholder at Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis, P.C., in Birmingham, Alabama. Ms. Mattison represents persons with disabilities concerning issues involving the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as students and their parents in special education disputes. Prior to her current position, Ms. Mattison was the Director of Legal Services for Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service where, for 13 years, she pursued impact litigation on behalf of persons with disabilities.
Ms. Mattison is a frequent lecturer regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act and special education law. She has also co-authored several publications including The Availability of Damages and Equitable Remedies Under the IDEA, Section 504 and 42 USC Section 1983 and (Disabilities Education Law Report (Special Report No. 7, LRP Publications), and a special appendix entitled AStrategies and Remedies for Parents Resulting from Improper Discipline for Discipline in the School@ (LRP Publications). Ms. Mattison was appointed to the Editorial Advisory Board of the National Disabilities Law Reporter, the American Bar Association=s Mental and Physical Disability Law Reporter Editorial Advisory Board and to the Michigan State Bar Standing Committee on Mental Disabilities. Ms. Mattison was the recipient of the ADistinguished Contributing to Non-Averse Behavioral Interventions@ award presented by TASH. She was also recognized via two legislative resolutions from the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate honoring her work on behalf of persons with disabilities.
Ms. Mattison graduated from Antioch School of Law in 1980. She is a member of the Alabama and Michigan State Bar Associations, the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dennis C. McAndrews, Esq. has worked for over twenty-five years in the public and private sectors in several roles in the field of disability law. He is the founder of McAndrews Law Offices, an eight-attorney law firm in Berwyn, which regularly represents individuals with disabilities and their families in a variety of areas, including special education matters, special needs trusts, guardianships, estate planning, right-to-treatment cases, and injury cases. He frequently acts as a consultant to other public and private attorney with regard to disability and special education issues.
Kathleen S. Mehfoud is a partner in the Richmond, Virginia office of the law firm of Reed Smith LLP. She has practiced law for 31 years and has concentrated her practice in education law and in special education law. Ms. Mehfoud provides consultation services on a national basis and represents a number of school boards. She lectures nationally on a frequent basis. Additionally, Ms. Mehfoud serves on the School Attorneys Special Education Advisory Council providing consultative services to LRP Publications. Ms. Mehfoud was recently recognized in the publication Best Lawyers in America 2007 in the field of education law.
Ms. Mehfoud also serves as Vice-President of the Foundation Board for the University of Mary Washington, is Past-President of the University of Mary Washington Alumni Association and was a member of the University of Mary Washington Board of Visitors for eight years and Rector of the University for two years.
Ms. Mehfoud received her undergraduate education at Mary Washington College and earned a Masters of Commerce degree from the University of Richmond. She obtained her law degree from the University of Richmond.
Dr. James Newcomer recently concluded a thirty-nine year career in public education during which he was a high school English teacher, a teacher in a residential school for blind children, a teacher of the visually impaired in Bucks County, and a director of special education and pupil personnel services. He served as the assistant superintendent in the Quakertown Community School District for seven years prior to his retirement. He is a graduate of Lebanon Valley College, the University of Pittsburgh, and earned a doctorate from Lehigh University. His research dissertation and resultant journal articles dealt with special education litigation. Dr. Newcomer co-directs Lehigh’s week-long Special Education Law Symposium each summer with Dr. Zirkel.
Monica Dodd-Paletis, Esq. is an attorney with offices in Dover, New Jersey whose practice is limited to counseling and representing parents of children with disabilities in special education and related matters. She has been successful in representing clients in mediation, administrative proceedings and state and federal courts. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Paletis taught school for emotionally disturbed adolescents. Her legal experience includes having served as Associate Counsel for New Jersey School Boards Association and also as an attorney representing boards of education at the firm of Sills, Cummis, Epstein and Gross. Having represented both parents and boards of education in special education litigation, Ms. Paletis offers a unique and practical perspective to her audience. She has conducted numerous workshops and courses for attorneys, educators, parents and board of education members. She has authored articles on various aspects of special education and school law and her articles have appeared in national publications. Ms. Palestis graduated from Montclair State University summa cum laude and continued her education at Seton Hall University School of Law, receiving her J.D. degree, cum laude.
Leslie Robert Stellman Esq. is the leader of the education and employment practice group of Maryland’s largest school law firm, Hodes, Pessin & Katz, P.A., with offices in Towson, Columbia, Bel Air, and Cambridge, Maryland. For over 33 years Mr. Stellman has represented boards of education, as well as private and charter schools and institutions of higher education, in all aspects of school law, including teacher terminations, student rights, religious and disability accommodation, wage-hour, special education, purchasing and procurement, collective bargaining, and employment discrimination. He is co-author with Lou Fischer and David Schimmel of the 6th and 7th editions of Teachers and the Law and co-author with David Schimmel of School Law: What Every Educator Should Know, as well as numerous articles and lectures on topics relating to public education. He is a member of the faculty of the School of Education at the Johns Hopkins University, as well as the Baltimore University School of Law, where he teaches education law, and has taught higher education law to students in the Morgan State University graduate program in community college leadership.
Mr. Stellman tried the very first due process cases in Maryland in connection with the so-called Lovaas method of educating autistic students, and wrote the National School Board Association’s amicus brief in the landmark case of Schaffer v. Weast, which was decided by the United States Supreme Court in November 1997 regarding the burden of proof in special education due process hearings. He regularly appears in due process hearings and before state and federal courts, the Maryland State Board of Education, and the United States Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, where he represents many of Maryland’s public school boards.
Mr. Stellman has a bachelor’s degree (1972) from the Johns Hopkins University and a J.D. degree from the Syracuse University School of Law.
Michael Stafford Esq. specializes in education law issues, including special education, student rights and discipline, school policies and procedures, and staff termination issues, for both private and public schools in Delaware. In particular, Mike has represented public school districts in special education disputes in both administrative due process hearings and federal and state courts. Similarly, Mike has handled numerous student rights' issues, including complex disputes over students' free speech rights and discipline issues such as search and seizure and expulsion hearings and appeals. In addition, Mike works with school administrators to develop or revise policies and procedures and provides school staff development and training on a wide variety of topics. Mike is a 2003 graduate of Duke University School of Law.
Julie Weatherly Esq. is the owner of Resolutions in Special Education, Inc. in Mobile, Alabama, which is a consulting business designed to assist educational agencies in the avoidance of special education legal disputes. In addition, she is a founder of and attorney with The Weatherly Law Firm based in Atlanta, Georgia and is a member of the State Bars of Alabama and Georgia. For almost twenty-two years, Julie has consulted with and represented educational agencies across the country in their efforts to comply with the IDEA and Section 504. In June of 1996, Julie appeared on CBS news program “60 Minutes” to discuss the cost of meeting the legal requirements of the IDEA. She has been a member of the faculty for many national and state legal institutes and is a frequent speaker at special education law conferences. Julie has developed a number of videotape training series on special education law and has been published nationally as a part of her trainings, workshops and seminars. In 1998, Julie was honored by Georgia’s Council for Exceptional Children as Georgia’s Individual who had Contributed Most to Students with Disabilities.
Dr. Perry Zirkel is a university professor of education and law at Lehigh University, where he formerly was dean of the College of Education and more recently held the Iacocca Chair in Education for its five-year term. He has a Ph.D. in Educational Administration and a J.D. from the University of Connecticut, and a Master of Laws degree from Yale University. He has written more than 1,100 publications on various aspects of school law, with an emphasis on legal issues in special education. He writes a regular column in Phi Delta Kappan, another for Principal magazine, and a third, more recently, for Teaching Exceptional Children. Past president of the Education Law Association and co-chair of the Pennsylvania special education appeals panel from 1990 t0 2006, he is the author of the two-volume reference Section 504, the ADA, and the Schools, and the recent CEC monograph The Legal Meaning of Specific Learning Disability
