Webinar, May 10th, 2021, with the Special Needs Advocacy Network of Massachusetts. The Same Side of the Table -Student-Centered Outcomes Through Dispute Resolution forum and discussion is open to parents and all professionals involved in the Special Education process, including parents, advocates, attorneys, administrators, and educators.
* This year’s Same Side event closes out a unique pandemic year. To mark its challenges, SPaN brainstormed a new format, and asked panelists to discuss the following questions.
- What common issues landed on your desk during this pandemic year for facilitation, mediation, problem resolution, settlement, or hearing after reaching an impasse at the IEP table?
- What creative and/or unusual resolutions became possible during this unusal year?
- What was successful about how stakeholders (educators, parents, administrators, advocates and agencies) engaged over the year?
- What lessons and ideas for resolution can stakeholders take back to the IEP table from this year’s experience?
Free to members, fee to non members.
RSVPs required by May 17oth, 2021, http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ehs2edsz225c32de&llr=pxn6x5iab&showPage=true or 508-655-7999 info@spanmass.org.
About the Moderator and Panelists:
- Reece Erlichman, Moderator, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Administrative Law Appeals. After a brief period in private practice, Ms. Erlichman began her long tenure with the BSEA, serving in a variety of capacities, including Mediator, Hearing Officer (a position she held for over twenty years), and Assistant Director. She interrupted her service at the BSEA for a period of two years (2000-2002) to serve as Senior Program Director for Special Education Litigation for the Boston Public Schools. Ms. Erlichman lectures frequently on topics in special education law and BSEA practice/procedure for both legal and lay audiences. Ms. Erlichman received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1974.
- Amy Reichbach, JD, M.S.Ed has been a Hearing Officer with the BSEA since July 2014. She graduated from Brown University and earned a Master’s degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania before attending BC Law as a Public Service Scholar and graduating first in her class. Previously, Amy worked at the ACLU on the School to Prison Pipeline and Disproportionate Minority Juvenile Confinement; represented children and parents in child welfare cases with the Child and Family Law Division of the Massachusetts public defender’s office; and taught Civil Procedure and Education Law at UMass Law School. Amy also clerked for Chief Justice Marshall at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and for the late Judge Reginald Lindsay at the federal District Court of Massachusetts. She has published law review articles about education law in the Boston College Law Review, the Boston College Third World Law Journal, and theTemple Political and Civil Rights Law Review. Before attending law school, Amy taught middle and high school English at urban public schools in Philadelphia.
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Myrto Flessas, JD, After graduating from Temple University School of Law in 2000, Ms. Flessas was a principal attorney in the firm of Flessas & Finocche, LLP. Most of her work was focused on representing parents in special education disputes. Ms. Flessas also provided pro-bono representation for students in special education through the Boston Bar Association and with the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association in the field of domestic violence divorce. Prior to her work at the BSEA, Ms. Flessas had the opportunity to serve on the Board of Directors for the Federation for Children with Special Needs. Since joining the BSEA in 2010, Ms. Flessas has mediated hundreds of cases in school districts across Massachusetts. Along with mediating cases at the BSEA, Ms. Flessas runs informational trainings for parents and school districts to help the parties better understand mediation and how to use the process to promote meaningful and positive results.
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Dr. Russell Johnston, Ph.D. has served as a Senior Associate Commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education since August 2014. There, he manages the state’s accountability and assistance system for all public schools and districts to support their work to raise achievement for all students, and oversees the implementation of various initiatives to assess effectiveness, monitor improvement, and identify appropriate interventions. Johnston, who began his career as a special education teacher and administrator, also led the West Springfield Public Schools from 2010-2014. In West Springfield, Johnston led work to increase the depth and rigor of the district’s curriculum; to create a collaborative process between school committee members, administrators, and the local teachers’ union to promote student learning and effectively implement the state’s new educator evaluation system; and to reach out to and engage families to address students’ barriers to learning. He and his family reside in Melrose, Massachusetts.Webinar Do you consent to having this presentation broadcasted as a live webinar for