Special Education Law and Advocacy - Basics - Your Rights & Responsibilities

On this episode of the EducationLawyers.com Sunday School Show we are bringing it back to our roots, "Special Education Law and Advocacy."

We will be talking - and learning about your rights when it comes to your child's education.

Did you know that you do not have to accept the educational program and placement offered to your child at face value. You have legal rights when it comes to your child’s education. This is especially true if your child receives special education supports and services, or if you THINK your child should be receiving special education supports and services.

We have a fantastic and diverse panel with us today to begin our journey into special education law and advocacy.

A panel consisting of the former director of school climate and safety from the School District of Philadelphia (Vern Trent), Vern is a familiar voice on the Sunday School Show - Vern has nearly 50 years of experience in the public school system - Regarding Education, there is not much vern hasn’t encountered professionally.

We have Dr Mary Montgomery with us -

Dr Mary Montgomery has over 40 years of experience in Special Education - in every role from an assistant to a teacher to administrator and now to paralegal and advocate.

Mary has seen the both sides of the system, the school side and the parents side and this gives her a unique perspective that adds a lot of value to the children that she advocates for. Mary is going to give us a little history lesson that will remind us how far we have come, but how far we still have to go in regard to educating our children w/ special needs.

We have VERN TRENT with us - Vern is a school psychologist with nearly 50 years of experience in the urban educational setting. Vern was a former PA HO - acting as the judge and jury to resolve disputes between parents and schools.

We have Terrill Carney - Terrill has been working in child welfare since 2006. He started his career as a foster care social worker for Children's Services Inc. Terrill then worked as a child advocate at the Public Defender Association of Philadelphia, where he advocated for children in the foster care system, specializing in working with older youth. Currently Terrill is the Supervisor of the Educational Advocates at CASA. Terrill currently oversees about 80 foster youth’s educational needs in various counties of PA. 

We have Shemica S. Allen - Shemica Allen is from the Texas Based Advocacy Group “Personalized Learning Solutions, LLC.”

Personalized Learning Solutions is an educational consulting firm specializing in providing special education advocacy and consultation services. The mission of Personalized Learning Solutions is to assist parents/guardians of special needs students in their quest for the ever elusive FAPE -  Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) ---

Shemica S. Allen is a former educator with 15 years of teaching and administration experience working with students with disabilities and their parents/guardians.

Did we leave anything out of the episode? Email your questions to [email protected]

Please do enjoy :)