2022-2023 Special Education Series
10 Monthly Webinars that Address the Most Litigated Special Education Issues in Nebraska
Cost is $1,000 per school district for the entire series, $120 per individual session. All sessions will be held from 12:00-1:00 CT.
August 31, 2022 - How Special Ed and Gen Ed Need to Work Together
As the school year gets underway in earnest, it is vitally important that special education professionals communicate seamlessly and effectively with general education staff. This session will describe new legal developments that relate to exactly how IEPs and Section 504 plans must be distributed to all responsible staff (including substitutes). We will also discuss how to train teachers and administrators in their child find obligations and the necessary level of participation by classroom teachers and other staff in IEP and Section 504 meetings.
September 26, 2022 - Finder Keepers – A Review of Child Find Basics
This session will cover what a district needs to do to establish and document solid child find processes and procedures.
October 20, 2022 - PWN, A Special Education Director’s BFF
It is tempting to view the prior written notice that districts issue parents after an IEP team decision as just one more piece of paper. This session will explain why a well-written PWN is a school attorney's favorite document and offer suggestions for how and when to draft PWNs that will save your district from legal hassle.
November 30,2022 - Movin’ On Up: Post Secondary Transition Plans
The revisions to Rule 51 changed the age at which students' IEPs must include a postsecondary transition plan. With this change in place districts are facing increased scrutiny of all their transition plans, not just those for students aged 14 and 15. In this session, the KSB attorneys will review the basics that every IEP team should consider when drafting transition plans.
December 20, 2022 - Dealing with Difficult Parents and Peers
Let's face it: you went into special education because you love kids, not because you love to deal with angry adults. However, the role of special educator unavoidably includes managing unhappy adults. This session will review options and strategies for managing difficult and demanding special education parents and well as for wrangling staff who might not be enthusiastic about implementing every accommodation in an student’s IEP.
January 31, 2023 - Behavior Intervention Plans
Regardless of whether it is incorporated into a student's IEP or a free-standing document, a behavior intervention plan is often the most contested (and most frequently referenced) special education document for a student whose behavior interferes with his/her education. In this session the KSB attorneys will review the required elements of a BIP and offer practical advice on drafting and implementing these vital documents with fidelity.
February 28, 2023 - GOOAAAAALLL! Writing Legally Defensible Annual Goals
It is easy to talk about "measurable annual goals" until you are in an IEP meeting trying to draft under pressure. In this session the attorneys from KSB will provide practical advice on writing annual goals that can help a district withstand legal challenge. This session will include examples of sufficient goals that you will be able to refer back to when drafting individual goals for students based upon their unique performance and needs.
March 21, 2023 - Graduation Decisions and Documents
This session will address how IEP teams should approach decisions on whether a student will graduate with his/her cadre. We will talk about the vital significance of parents understanding the difference between graduation and commencement as well as walk you through how to document team decisions on graduation.
April 27, 2023 - Multi Disciplinary Team Meetings for Both Initial and Re-evaluations
Although the multidisciplinary team meeting is the first documentation of a student's eligibility (or ineligibility) for special education services, that doesn't mean this document is easy to create. This session will review legal issues associated with MDTs, including how to address significant discrepancies in your special education population; how to document private testing data; and how to deal with a divided team.
May 16, 2023 - School’s Out for Summer! But What About ESY?
IEP teams often defer decisions on whether a student will receive extended school year services until the conclusion of the school year. This session will address what criteria a team should use in determining if a student qualifies for ESY, how ESY differs from summer school, and how to deal with the practical scheduling difficulties associated with summer services.