LIVE TRAINING - Learning from Litigation: A Practical Guide to Section 504

Section 504 ensures equal access to school programs for students with disabilities, but educators are often fuzzy exactly what their obligations are under this federal law. Schools have become accustomed to the IDEA’s tightly-regulated requirements, but when it comes to Section 504, many lack even a rudimentary procedural framework. Rather than waiting until they get caught making some of the more common Section 504 errors themselves, this training focuses upon key Section 504 cases, is designed to provide practical tools to help schools learn from the mistakes of others and avoid the common pitfalls that can lead to liability.

Training Topics:

• SECTION 504 ELIGIBILITY ISSUES – a look at the expansive definition of “disability” and a discussion of how to make it workable in a school setting
• PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS – what does the law require, and what do schools frequently miss?
• COMMON SECTION 504 PLAN DRAFTING ERRORS – what’s causing trouble and how to fix it
• ACCOMMODATIONS VS. SPECIALLY DESIGNED INSTRUCTION – identifying the difference between these two concepts and why it is SO important!
• STUDENT HEALTH ISSUES – when do we need a nurse and other common questions
• DEVELOPING DEFENSIBLE PROCEDURES – what can schools do to establish proper protocols?
• Q&A – Got questions? Specific issues on your mind? Come prepared to ask!

About the Presenter

Erin D. Gilsbach, Esq., Program Director at EdLaw Interactive, is an experienced speaker at the state and national levels on matters regarding school law and a frequent author on education law topics. She provides a wide variety of training programs, as well as legal consulting services, to school districts, charter schools, non-public schools, and education-related organizations. She specializes in school policy and procedure legal defensibility audits as well as trending legal issues regarding school technology, nursing and school health services, truancy prevention, child abuse prevention and mandated reporting, educator evaluation and discipline, and a variety of other school law topics. A former high school English teacher who served for over two years at the PA Dept. of Education’s Office of Chief Counsel, Atty. Gilsbach was voted by her peers as a SuperLawyers “Rising Star Attorney” for the past 5 years. She currently services as the President of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) Solicitor’s Association, and she is an active member of and frequent presenter for the National School Boards Association (NSBA), NSBA’s Council of School Attorneys (COSA), and the Education Law Association.