Join our state's most prominent special education attorneys to better understand your child's special education program and your rights. This training workshop will be held via Zoom webinar.
Meet our presenters:
Andrea Kadlec, Disability Rights Washington
A Northwest native, Andrea Kadlec grew up in Southern Idaho, was a foreign exchange student to Chile, and then obtained her undergraduate and graduate degrees (in Journalism and Organizational Leadership) from Gonzaga University in Spokane. Andrea worked at Disability Rights Washington for about 15 years before pursuing a law degree. She graduated with a juris doctorate from Seattle University School of Law and currently works on education and school-to-prison pipeline issues as part of the Community Inclusion and Services team.
Over the past two decades at Disability Rights Washington...
Over the past two decades at Disability Rights Washington, Andrea built and facilitated coalitions; developed and implemented disability-rights curriculum; managed media and communications; developed and managed grants; and promoted local and national policy to advance the civil and human rights of people with disabilities. She implemented a federal Office of Violence Against Women grant to better support long-term care residents who experienced sexual violence. Andrea was a Region 2 Ombuds for the Office of the Developmental Disability Ombuds. She directed a grant of national significance that built student-led advocacy, spurring legislation to include Disability History in public schools. She served as public policy chair for the State Special Education Coalition; was a member of the National Disability Right Network’s Community Education and Self-Advocacy Committee; chaired the Northshore School District’s Special Education Parent & Professional Advisory Council; was a trustee of the Board of Directors of the Arc of King County; and assisted with advocacy development for Manos Unidas, a school for students with disabilities in Cuzco, Peru.
David Weafer, Ford Law Firm PLLC
David is an attorney experienced with education and disability rights law, fighting for the educational opportunities of people with disabilities in Washington State. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School. At Ford Law Firm, he has helped clients obtain access to new services, private placements, and compensatory education. Prior to practice in Washington, he worked for the non-profit advocacy organization Disability Rights California, providing legal representation to people with disabilities in multiple areas. This included monitoring and enforcement of educational rights violations, helping review and draft legislation, and providing education and training to disability advocacy groups.
David is motivated to defend the right of every family and student...
David is motivated to defend the right of every family and student to access a fair and appropriate education. This work has included oversight and accountability for schools that leave students behind and for government agencies that fail to provide schools with the resources to teach students who qualify for special education.
David has helped students who have been left years behind grade level obtain the support needed to access an equal education. This support includes counseling and negotiation on behalf of families and, when needed, litigation to force compliance with the law and changes to District policies. The experience and expertise David brings to the table saves families time and money by getting results from Districts who can otherwise engage in years of refusal.
Time spent in the classroom without appropriate supports can never be fully made up, and each student deserves to be seen as an individual and given access to the tools they need to succeed in school.
Kerri Feeney, Feeney Law Office PLLC
In private practice since 2003, Kerri was named the Public Justice Lawyer of the Year in 2015 by the Washington State Association of Justice for her advocacy on behalf of clients and students with disabilities. Kerri holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism with an accredited minor in Spanish and a Masters of Art in Education with an emphasis on guidance and counseling, both from Washington State University. In 2003, Kerri completed the WSBA Rule 6 Law Clerk Program, studying under the late attorney Raymond Whitlow. In 2013, Kerri earned a certificate in Mediation Training from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard University School of Law.
A veteran legal educator...
A veteran legal educator, Kerri taught classes in the Paralegal Program at Columbia Basin College for approximately 25 years. During that time, she published a textbook for paralegals through Wiley Law Publications entitled, The Paralegal's Role in Trial.
As of 2021, she is the president of the Attorneys for Education Rights (AFER), a Washington nonprofit dedicated to improving educational outcomes for children in Washington state. Learn more about AFER here.
Kerri is proficient in Spanish, both written and spoken. As a college student, she studied abroad in both Guadalajara, Mexico, and London.
Lara Hruska, Cedar Law PLLC
Lara founded Cedar Law based on a holistic approach to school law informed by her unique background in education, social work, and the law. She is licensed to practice law in Washington and California. Lara received her JD from the University of Washington School of Law and also holds an MSW in Child and Family Welfare Policy from Columbia University, an MSEd in Special and General Childhood Education from Bank Street College of Education, and a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies from U.C. Berkeley. She has experience teaching children from pre-kindergarten through middle school in California, New York, and Louisiana, where she served as the founding special education director for two post-Katrina charter schools in New Orleans.
Prior to forming Cedar Law in 2015, Lara worked at a Seattle litigation firm...
Prior to forming Cedar Law in 2015, Lara worked at a Seattle litigation firm representing traditional school districts around the State of Washington with day-to-day general counsel advice and provided representation in state and federal litigation and administrative proceedings. She served on the board of the Washington Council of School Attorneys from 2013-2014 and the board of the Washington Women Lawyers from 2014-2016, and Chartwell School in Monterey, CA from 2017-2022. Lara received the 2016 UW School of Law Women Leaders Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Young Lawyer. She has consistently been recognized as a Rising Star from 2017-2022 by Washington Super Lawyers. Lara currently serves on the board of the Mother Attorneys Mentoring Association (MAMAs) of Seattle.
You can watch her 2016 oral argument on behalf of a student appellant in a special education matter before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit here.
Growing up, I was taught that education is everything. My family saw education as a great equalizer and a pathway out of poverty. For them it was. There wasn’t a single moment when I woke to the fact that this wasn’t a reality for everyone. I am still learning. But early on I saw inequities in public education from my own family’s privileged conversations about needing to move so we could go to a “good” public school or witnessing bullying and harassment against friends and finding systemic injustice (for example, at the time, sexual orientation wasn’t protected in my school district’s anti-discrimination policy).
I started to advocate as a student...
I started to advocate as a student – we got that policy changed – and haven’t stopped. I eventually became a lawyer, studying at New York University School of Law, after getting my undergraduate degree at University of Washington in English/Creative Writing and Political Science. What I love about being a lawyer for young people is that my job is to support youth in standing up for their rights and challenging the inequities they face. I still get to be an advocate for more equitable systems (public education, healthcare, etc.), and I get to do that in collaboration with and at the direction of young people whose rights are at stake.
Schedule
9:00 - 9:10 am - Welcome
9:10 - 9:25 am - Hot Topics in Special Education
9:25- 10:25 am - Session I, IEPs: Developing Effective IEP Goals and Progress Tracking
10:25 - 10:35 am - Mid-Morning break
10:35 - 11:35 am - Session II, Transition Services and Beyond
11:35 - 12:05 pm – Lunch break
12:05- 1:05 pm - Session III, All About Student Discipline
1:05 - 1:15 pm – Afternoon Break
1:15 - 2:15 pm - Session IV, Resolving Differences: Disputes and Available Remedies
2:15 - 2:30 pm - Closing
Interpretation Services
If you need an interpreter, you must register 30 days prior to the workshop.
Contact Phone: 425-894-7231
Email: training@WashingtonAutismAdvocacy.org
*Registrants will receive the Zoom link a week before the workshop
