Using quick-reference graphics, practical reference guides, a touch of humor, and nearly 20 years of experience as a special education attorney, Atty. Gilsbach shares real-life, hard-learned lessons from schools and provides practical tips for issue-spotting to help schools avoid these all-to-common mistakes. This session is particularly recommended for special education directors, supervisors, case managers, and any others responsible for reviewing and monitoring the development of IEPs within their school and training special education staff.

Schools often encounter complex family situations and issues. Can a step-parent view a child’s medical records without specific authorization? Can a custodial grandparent without legal guardianship agree to related services in an IEP? What rights do foster parents have? This session provides a practical approach to determining who has rights with regards to a student and what role non-parents may play in the education of a child. Atty. Gilsbach provides informational graphics, quick-reference guides, procedural tips, and memorable case studies to reinforce the important lessons learned.

Lawsuits involving allegations of Section 504 violations are increasing and can be very costly for schools, yet very few schools have legally-defensible procedures and practices with regards to Section 504. As an attorney who specializes in legal professional development for schools, Atty. Gilsbach has found that public schools across the nation are making the same liability-inducing mistakes. In this fast-paced, easy-to-follow training, she identifies areas of much-need improvement and helps schools identify and SOLVE some of today’s most significant Section 504 legal liability issues.

In this session, Atty. Erin D. Gilsbach, Esq., highlights this important and often-overlooked issue of truly transitioning a student with special needs from high school to college, employment, and everyday adult life. She compares Section 504 rights at the K-12 and post-secondary levels, outlines basic employment-related ADA Title I disability rights and procedures, identifies the ADA Title III accessibility obligations available for public accommodations, and explains how all of this information is a crucial part of the transition process for students with disabilities and their parents.

This training identifies the 3 primary rights guaranteed to parents/students under FERPA & provides an overview of the federal privacy obligations of public schools.

This session is designed to provide practical information for special events in the K-12 setting, such as: What types of security measures should be put into place? Are protocols different when inviting members of the public? What disability accommodations are required? What advance measures should be taken in order to protect the school from liability?
This session is designed to provide practical information for schools planning special events. Attorney Gilsbach will discuss legal hot topics and identify best practices regarding advance planning and protocols for school events.

Section 504 and the IDEA are both federal laws designed to ensure that students with disabilities are able to fully access a free and appropriate public K-12 education, but what is the difference between the two laws, and which one applies when? In this session, Atty. Erin D. Gilsbach discusses the difference between the two laws, including eligibility determinations, programming for students under each law, and how and when they might overlap for students. Atty. Gilsbach shares important information for both parents and educators on the rights granted and obligations imposed by both laws.

In this session, a seasoned school law attorney provides the fundamentals of the statutory and regulatory requirements regarding the provision of free appropriate public education (FAPE) in public schools as well as a summary of some of the key cases that have helped further define and refine the concept of FAPE.

In this session, a seasoned school law attorney provides the fundamentals of the statutory and regulatory requirements regarding the provision of free appropriate public education (FAPE) in public schools as well as a summary of some of the key cases that have helped further define and refine the concept of FAPE.

Progress monitoring is an inherent part of the special education process, but progress monitoring results can be confusing, inconsistent, and too often not even an accurate measurement of the skill they are designed to measure. In this session, Atty. Erin D. Gilsbach focuses on the legal importance of progress monitoring. She discusses some of the common problems and pitfalls that prevent them from being able to accurately and easily monitor a student’s progress, and she provides simple, practical solutions for improving progress monitoring across educational settings.

What happens when a student requires a more specialized placement than the regular ed classroom? In this session, Atty. Gilsbach will examine different types of placements, including behavior and emotional support placements, autistic support classrooms, life skills classrooms, alternative educational environments, partial hospitalization placements, and more. She will discuss least restrictive environment (LRE) legal requirements and provide practical tips and guidance for IEP teams when considering specialized educational placements.

Section 504 and the IDEA are both federal laws designed to ensure that students with disabilities are able to fully access a free and appropriate public K-12 education, but what is the difference between the two laws, and which one applies when? In this session, Atty. Erin D. Gilsbach discusses the difference between the two laws, including eligibility determinations, programming for students under each law, and how and when they might overlap for students. Atty. Gilsbach shares important information for both parents and educators on the rights granted and obligations imposed by both laws.