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Law students in the Juvenile
and Special Education Law Clinic
continued to advocate at a brisk pace
for their clients through the spring and
summer. Caragh Fay, ‘05, for example,
has appealed to the federal district
court a refusal by a special education
hearing officer to enforce a consent
order that the hearing officer had
signed three years earlier to provide
compensatory education services to a
District of Columbia student who is
currently incarcerated in a Maryland
state prison. This case ultimately
could address issues of first impression
regarding responsibility for providing
special educational services to
prisoners.
On behalf of another client who
has been incarcerated in the District
of Columbia, Clinic law student advocates
Toni Maschler, ‘04, and Maurice
Cox, ‘05, helped to create and
craft a settlement that will provide up
to $36,000 in private services for this
client. Mr. Cox worked through the
summer as a Mary Hynes Fellow. In
one case that resulted in a due process
hearing, Mr. Cox formulated and argued
a novel argument that a school
that is in need of improvement and
not meeting "adequate yearly progress"
under the federal No Child Left
Behind Act cannot provide, by definition and as a matter of
law, a "free appropriate public education" under
the special education law. A ruling on
this matter is pending.
Tiffani Johnson, ‘05, revised and
filed a motion to enforce a client’s
right to accommodations for his severe
speech-language disabilities in regard
to the provision of probation services. Requests for such accommodations
(in light of requirements under
the Americans with Disabilities Act)
are a rare occurrence in criminal
cases. Juvenile and Special Education
Law Clinic advocates hope to raise
awareness of applicable legal requirements
and the need for probation officers,
judges, prosecutors, and defense
attorneys.
UDC-DCSL Trains D.C. Special Education Officers
At the request of the District of
Columbia Public Schools Student
Hearing Office, Professor Susan Sutler
and Professor Joseph Tulman organized
and conducted a one-day training
session, held on April 8, 2004, for
the District of Columbia’s special education
hearing officers. UDC-DCSL
faculty member and D.C. Court of
Appeals Judge William Pryor began
the day with a presentation about the
role of the neutral decision-maker. In
addition to sessions led by the UDC-DCSL
professors, the training included a presentation by psychologist
Quentin Graham on the nature of
special education evaluations and a
lunch-time presentation by and discussion
with Elise Baach, a special
master in special education cases
currently open in the D.C. federal
district court. UDC-DCSL law students
helped to prepare materials for
the training.
On the Road with Prof. Joe Tulman in California, Kentucky, Ohio, Colorado, Tennesee,
North Carolina, Maryland and Indiana!
Professor Tulman has continued
to conduct outreach and training
sessions around the country regarding
the use of special education advocacy
on behalf of children in the
delinquency system and young adults
in the criminal system.
In March, Tulman conducted a
workshop in San Francisco at the national
conference of COPAA (The
Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates)
and spoke in San Diego at a
national conference of law professors
regarding creative legal problem-solving.
He also addressed a state-wide
meeting of juvenile defense attorneys
and advocates in Kentucky.
In April, Professor Tulman
went to Dayton, Ohio to train public
defenders from around the state.
In June, Professor Tulman
spoke at a national conference in
Denver, Colorado on "Positive Outcomes
for Court-Involved Youth,"
sponsored by the National Center on
Education, Disability and Juvenile
Justice. Also in June, he spoke at
two events sponsored by the National
Association for Protection and Advocacy
Systems. The first event was a
day-long institute on advocacy for
children with disabilities; the second
was the NAPAS national conference,
at which Tulman conducted a workshop.
Also in June, he spoke at a
state-wide training conference for
juvenile public defenders in Wyoming.
In July, Professor Tulman was
the featured speaker at a two-day,
state-wide conference in Tennessee
on juvenile justice and special education
sponsored by the Tennessee
Bar Association, the Tennessee Alliance
for Legal Services, and Tennessee
Protection and Advocacy,
Inc. Also in July, Tulman participated
as an expert presenter at an
"Education Advocacy Planning
Meeting" in Charlotte, N.C. to explore
responses to school resegregation
in that community.
That meeting was jointly
sponsored by the Harvard Civil
Rights Project, the University of
North Carolina Center for Civil
Rights, and the University of North
Carolina – Charlotte Department of
Education.
In August, Professor Tulman
conducted a workshop at a state-wide
conference in Indiana —
sponsored by Indiana State Bar Association
sections, state child-serving
agencies, and state organizations
representing judges, prosecutors,
and defenders — on mental
health and juvenile delinquency.
On September 9, Tulman conducted
a workshop at a state-wide
conference in Maryland on
"Achieving Positive Outcomes for
Court-Involved Youth." The sponsors
for the conference included the
National Center on Education, Disability,
and Juvenile Justice and
several Maryland state agencies.
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