The OSBA legal division would like to invite you to join us for our annual Special Education Law Workshop on Friday, March 24, 2023. As in previous years, this event features engaging speakers on a variety of timely and relevant special education topics designed to keep professionals in the field up to date on this ever-changing area of law. The workshop is tailored to special education personnel as well as attorneys, and it has been approved for 5.5 hours of CLE credit. Register now so you can be sure you don’t miss out.
We will kick off with a session on interpreting evaluation data and making eligibility determinations, which will feature Julie Martin, an experienced special education attorney at Scott Scriven LLP, and Kate Jordan, a school psychologist at Upper Arlington City Schools. Then, attorney Ryan Gembala of Dooley Gembala McLaughlin Pecora will present a session on Section 504, outlining some of that law’s unique requirements.
In our next session, we will address a topic that has become increasingly more relevant in recent years: assistive technology (AT). Ennis Britton’s William Deters will discuss school districts’ obligation to provide AT to students with disabilities and how to navigate AT issues in the modern era. Next, we will have another tandem presentation, as Weston Hurd education attorney Christina Peer will join board certified behavior analyst Jen Gonda who works with the Northeast Ohio ESC among other organizations for a presentation on supporting students with behavioral challenges in the classroom.
Our final session of the day will be a panel focusing on dispute resolution in special education. Many disputes in special education wind up in either facilitation and mediation, and our panelists have years of experience navigating these processes. Randy Fisher is a mediator contracted by the Ohio Department of Education Office for Exceptional Children, and he successfully mediates and facilitates many cases per year throughout Ohio. He will give us his specialized insights as a neutral who routinely helps parties reach resolution. Randy will be joined by two experienced special education attorneys. Susan Geary is an attorney with Bricker & Eckler and has helped districts resolve many disputes through these processes. Kristin Hildebrant is a senior attorney at Disability Rights Ohio who has decades of experience representing students and parents in special education disputes. These three panelists will provide insights from all sides of dispute resolution and will give you the tools you need to feel confident to go into mediation and facilitation and get positive resolutions.
This year, attendees will have the option to attend the event either in person or virtually via Zoom. To register for the event, please visit https://www.ohioschoolboards.org/events/view/special-education-law-workshop-11.