The 2012 Institute of Special Education Advocacy (ISEA) at William & Mary Law School, Williamsburg, VA, July 22 - 27, 2012 provided training in special education advocacy for experienced advocates, law students, new attorneys, and attorneys who are new to special education law.
ISEA 2012 five-day training program is hosted by the William & Mary School of Law and co-sponsored by the PELE Special Education Advocacy Clinic, Wrightslaw, and The Oklahoma Disability Law Center.
The Institute opened Sunday evening, July 22, 2012, with the Orientation and Registration session and Welcome Reception.
The program included over 28 hours of training (25 sessions) on applicable laws, ethics, best practices in advocacy, strategies in working with parents and schools, and dispute resolution procedures, taught by national leaders in the field. This training was approved for 25 CLE (continuing legal education) credits and 27.5 CEUs (continuing education units).
Negotiating with Schools - Getting to YES!
47 attendees were selected via an application process. Attendees received over $200.00 in books and DVDs, a comprehensive binder of written materials, resource materials, and multimedia training CDs required for completing pre-assignments. Law students earned two graded credits for this course.
Jim Comstock-Galagan is the Executive Director of the Southern Disability Law Center (SDLC) located in New Orleans, LA, with a second office in Austin, TX. Founded in 2001, SDLC is a 510 (c) (3) non- profit legal services organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the legal rights of people with disabilities throughout the South. It partners with the Southern Poverty Law Center, Protection and Advocacy (P&A) programs, Legal Services Corporations (LSC) and disability organizations on major, systemic disability rights issues involving the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the federal Medicaid Act. Before founding SDLC, Jim was the Executive Director of Advocacy, Inc. (AI), the Texas P&A, where he worked for 12 years. During that period, he managed the growth of the P&A from an office of 34 staff to a staff of 93, and from a centralized operation with one office to a regionalized operation with eleven offices spread across Texas. From 1981-1989, Jim worked for the Advocacy Center for the Elderly and Disabled in New Orleans (Louisiana P&A) as its Legal Director. From 1979 to 1981 Jim worked as a staff attorney for the Louisiana Center for the Public Interest.
Mark S. Kamleiter, Esquire, is the founder and owner of Special Education Law and Advocacy, a special education law firm. Mark represents children with disabilities in due process and in Federal Court, advocating for their appropriate education in public school systems. He holds a BS degree in Education from Old Dominion University, Virginia and J.D. from the College of William and Mary 1978. He has completed course work at the University of South Florida, earning certification in Special Education, Varying Exceptionalities. Mark has taught regular education (History, Geography, Government) in middle school and high school and for several years taught a course in Law and Politics at the University of South Florida. He taught in the Pinellas County School System for five years, working with children with developmental delays and autism, and serving as a behavior specialist.
Mark is the President of STAND, Inc. (Statewide Advocacy Network on Disabilities, Inc.). Mark also serves as a director on the board of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc. (COPAA). He is a past- president of Casa and now serves on their governance committee Mark serves on the board of the Pinellas Chapter of the ACLU, as well as on the local ACLU legal panel. Earlier in the war in Iraq, he won an important "freedom of speech" case in Federal Court, defending a peace activist, who was arrested outside the gates of the Bay Pines VA Medical Center for expressing his desire for peace and opposition to the war against Iraq.
Professor Patty Roberts, Esquire, is a Clinical Associate Professor of Law whose areas of specialization are in Clinical legal Education; Education Law; Negotiation; Legal Writing; Practice of Law. She is currently directing the Special Education Advocacy Clinic and teaching Special Topics in Special Education Law. She is a founder of William & Mary's Institute of Special Education Advocacy. Professor Roberts practiced law for eight years in Newport News, Va., as a sole practitioner and later as a managing partner of a civil practice law firm. In 1997, she began teaching at William & Mary and since 2000 has served in numerous administrative roles including Associate Director of the Legal Skills Program, Director of the Academic Support Program and Externship Program, and Associate Dean for Academic Programs. She became a Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of Clinical Programs in 2008.
As Director of Clinical Programs, Professor Roberts' responsibilities include the development of new clinic initiatives. In spring 2009, the first in-house clinics, the Lewis B. Puller Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic and the Parents Engaged for Learning Equality (PELE) Special Education Advocacy Clinic, began operations. Several additional clinic opportunities are in the planning stages. In 2004, she received the John Marshall Award which is given annually by the Law School in recognition of exceptional service. She is Chair of the Association of American Law Schools Interdisciplinary Clinical Education Committee, Chair of the Special Education Advisory Committee for Williamsburg/James City County, and a member of Rep. Rob Wittman's First District Disability Advisory Council. She is a former member of the Legal Aid Society of Eastern Virginia, former member and president of the board of Legal Services of Eastern Virginia, and also has served as President of the Greater Peninsula Women's Bar Association.
Emily Suski teaches in the Health Law Partnership (HelP) Legal Services Clinic at Georgia State University's College of Law. Prior to joining the HelP Clinic, she co-taught the Child Advocacy Clinic at the University of Virginia School Of Law, and she was a Clinical Teaching Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center. She also worked as a staff attorney in the JustChildren Program at the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. She received a B.A., J.D., and M.S.W. from the University of North Carolina and an LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center.
On October 6, 1993, Pete gave oral argument before the United States Supreme Court in Florence County School District Four v. Shannon Carter, 510 U.S. 7 (1993). Thirty-four days later, the Court issued a unanimous decision for Shannon Carter. (Learn more about Florence County v. Shannon Carter). Pete is the co- author of Wrightslaw: Special Education Law (1999), Wrightslaw: No Child Left Behind (2003), Wrightslaw: IDEA 2004, (2005), Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy, 2nd edition (2005) and Wright law: All About IEPs. He appeared as the parent's attorney in in the award-winning DVD video, Surviving Due Process: When Parents and the School Board Disagree - Stephen Jeffers v. School Board (2004). Pete and Pam Wright are advisors at the William and Mary Law School's Special Education Law Clinic (PELE). They are the founders of Wrightslaw, the #1 ranked website about education law, special education law, and special education advocacy.
On the 22nd birthday of the ADA, Marilyn Bartlett, a member of the ISEA Class of 2012 spoke to the class. Marilyn Bartlett, a person who has dyslexia, sued the NY Board of Law Examiners for refusing to provide reasonable accommodations on the bar examination. Judge Sotomayor, who was later appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, ruled for Ms. Bartlett, awarding her injunctive relief and damages.
Jeffrey Breit, the 2008-2009 St. George Tucker Adjunct Professor of Law and partner at Breit, Drescher, & Imprevento, who provided the impetus to create the PELE Special Education Advocacy Clinic spoke to the graduates. Mr. Breit joined the founders of ISEA to present certificates.
Mrs. Pat Haymes from the Office of Dispute Resolution, VA Department of Education spoke about IDEA, NCLB and ESEA and covers topics such as reading, eligibility, student progress, receiving FAPE, looking ahead to future years in education.
After a brief presentation, a School Perspective Panel conducted a Question and Answer session. The panel included: Jason Ballum, School Attorney, Reed Smith LLP, Gail Hardinge, Clinical Associate Professor in the School Psychology, College of William and Mary, Paula Edgette, Supervisor of Special Education, Williamsburg James City County Schools, and Kathleen Velez, Lead Instructional Specialist for the Department of Special Education, Williamsburg James City County School Division.