See, Ed. Law Blogs Have a Purpose

Here is a testimonial from Lon in Oregon on using special education law blogs in his practice as an educator. Although it refers to a different educational law blog, the idea behind it (especially the 3rd paragraph below) is exactly why I publish here.

I have had several comments, emails and
conversations come up recently that have led to issues of special
education law. I know enough about it to (hopefully) stay in compliance
when I am working on cases within our schools and regional programs but
there are probably things that we do as professionals unknowingly that
are on the edge...

I am finishing up a two-year school
administration program through Lewis and Clark College in Portland,
Oregon. My School Law class was taught by a former principal who is now
in a District Office in a supervisory role. He was witty, knowledgable
and a great example of what I think a school administrator should be
like. he taught me a lot about how to think in cases that could be full
of potential landmines.

So
where can we go for legal information? If you have an attorney in the
family, that's nice, but special education law is a niche that needs
specific knowledge. I refer to a blog site called: "Special EducationLaw Blog."
This blog is a resource for case examples, advice, news and parent
advocacy by Charles P. Fox, an attorney in Chicago, Illinois. He
has other guest authors as well. I am putting his link on my important
links list on the sidebar. I would highly recommend going there if you
are researching something of a legal nature.

Using Lon's words ... educational law is a "niche that needs specific knowledge." Even his professor, a former principal needs access to this niche of specific knowledge before he can pass it along to his students. Most of that knowledge is not freely available on the Internet, and if it is, it is not centralized for easy access. This is where blogs are stepping in. Blogs bring information to a central resource, from which it can be redispersed in the near term and categorized and filed for the long term. There are only a few of us bloggers toiling away at the moment, but the pool of educational law bloggers is rapidly expanding (it easily doubled in the last year). As the pool expands and the amount of knowledge and information deepen, educational law blogs will be a central resource for educators, just as it is for Lon in Oregon. Thanks Lon, for the post. 

Comments

[Lon Thornburg]

Thanks for the post Justin. I agree that the information we need as educators is difficult to access as well as practice. The special education professional has many areas to keep informed about and things are always being added. Thanks for the congratulations. It has been a long two years and I am glad to see the end in sight on my admin license. I appreciate your efforts here and will put a link on "My Blog Family" list.
All the best to you!
Lon

[Lon Thornburg]

I have put a new post up commenting on your post and linking to it if you are interested.
http://nolimitstolearning.blogspot.com/2008/03/edjurist-accord-another-educational-law.html
Thanks again!
Lon