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News & Events
Spotlight on Faculty
26th Annual Pacific Northwest Institute on Special Education and the Law
Join us for the premiere regional conference on Special Education and the Law!
www.uwschoollaw.org
October 5-7, 2009
Doubletree Hotel, Seattle Airport
- Learn from special education law experts from around the country
- Build professional relationships and network with colleagues
- Stay current on recent legal decisions and interpretations
- Expand your knowledge on research in evidence based practices
- Earn professional credits – CLE or clock hours
Who will benefit?
- Educators
- Education Administrators
- School Psychologists
- Special Education Directors
- Principals
- Attorneys
- Administrative Law Judges
- Special Education Advocacy Groups
- Parents
Get practical and immediate answers on topics such as:
- Important recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
- Legal standard of providing FAPE
- FERPA regulations effective January 2009
- The why’s and how’s of RTI, including an expansion of the approach to new content areas and its application to English language learners
- Parents and their rights under the IDEA and related state law
Presenters at the four General Sessions include:
Art Cernosia is an attorney and an education consultant from Williston, Vermont. He is also associated with the University of Vermont’s Education Law Institute. Art previously worked as a teacher, a practicing attorney, staff member with the Northeast Regional Resource Center, and served as an Assistant Attorney General assigned to the Vermont Department of Education. He also volunteered as a surrogate parent for students with disabilities who were placed in juvenile detention facilities in Vermont. He provides training, consultation and other technical assistance services to state and local education agencies and advocacy organizations throughout the nation pertaining to special education legal issues.
Art will be presenting the First General Session titled “Year in Review”. He will also be presenting a workshop titled, “Ninth Circuit Special Education Decisions”.
The general session, “A Year in Review”, will review recent judicial decisions that will have an important impact on the provision of special education services to students with disabilities. Both the United States Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have issued recent decisions that school staff and parents need to be aware of. Has the legal standard of providing a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) changed? What are the rights of parents to be reimbursed for private special education services if their child has never been found to need special education? Find the answers to these and other important legal developments at the Pacific Northwest Institute on Special Education and the Law.
Douglas Cheney, Ph.D., is a professor of Special Education at the University of Washington, Seattle. He has 35 years’ experience in special education and is a national leader in the area of emotional and behavioral disabilities. He is currently the principal investigator (PI) on Washington’s Behavior Research Center on Evidenced Based Practices; and The BEACONS Outreach Project: Washington’s Positive Behavior Support Network. He and Dr. Rick Neel co-direct a Master’s program at the UW, Seattle for teachers educating students with emotional or behavioral disabilities.
Dr. Cheney is co-editor of The Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, an Associate Editor for Intervention in the School and Clinic; and a Consulting Editor for Behavioral Disorders and Beyond Behavior. He co-chaired Washington’s Statewide Task Force on Behavioral Disorders from 1997-99, which provided a blueprint for the state’s positive behavior support model and is a Past President (1998-99) of the International Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders.
In the Second General Session, Dr. Cheney will review the research that is being conducted by faculty in the area of Special Education at the University of Washington, Seattle. The UW faculty have had sustained projects focusing on disability areas of emotional/behavioral and learning disabilities, autism, and early childhood for decades. In addition, the current focus on response to intervention in both academics and behavior will be discussed. Findings from some of the major studies at UW, Seattle will be presented with an emphasis on how these evidence based practices can be used in both preservice education at the university as well as in applied settings in schools.
Julie Weatherly 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 Georgia and Alabama. For over twenty-three 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.
Ms. Weatherly will be presenting the Third General Session titled, “Special Education at the Speed of Sound”. She will also be presenting a workshop titled, “Unilateral Residential Placements”.
Darcy L. Kriha represents public school districts and special education cooperatives throughout Illinois. In addition to overall school board representation, Ms. Kriha is known for her expertise related to special education and high-profile student discipline matters. Ms. Kriha has given oral arguments in two precedent-setting special education cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit She represented the National School Boards Association, the American Association of School Administrators, the New York State School Boards Association and the New York State Council of School Superintendents in support of the Arlington Central Board of Education. In July 2006, Ms. Kriha was selected by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company as one of Illinois’ “40 Under Forty Attorneys to Watch.” She was recognized for her unique and exceptional lawyering skills in the field of education law and her commitment to the profession, including extensive volunteer work.
Ms Kriha will present the Fourth General Session and Ralph E. Julnes Memorial Keynote Address titled, “Can’t We Just All Get Along?” She will also present mini-courses titled, “Special Education 101”; and “The Building Principal and Special Education”; as well as a workshop titled, “Students with Allergies and Chemical Sensitivities”.
Hardly a week goes by without reading an article in the newspaper about allergies and chemical sensitivities – it is a growing epidemic. School districts must be particularly sensitive to the needs of students with allergies as they serve a large number of students with varying needs in an environment that is not easily controlled. This session will highlight recent cases and stories from around the country and provide practical advice for drafting policies and responding to parental requests for accommodations.
For questions about the conference, email slawd@u.washington.edu or call Mary Jane Shirakawa at (206) 221-3936.
For program information and secure online registration, go to www.uwschoollaw.org.
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