Lassen Foster Youth Services will be offering a special Foster Education and Court Companion Tool Kit training on November 14th, from 3:30 until 7:00p.m. in Middleton Hall at Lassen College.
Foster youth’s ability to learn and succeed in school is significantly impacted by the trauma they suffer as well as school instability. To combat this instability, foster and probation youth have a set of education rights including school stability, immediate enrollment, partial credits, and AB 167/216 graduation.
Utilizing the Foster Youth Education Toolkit and the Court Companion to the Toolkit, attendees will learn the basics of these rights and leave the presentation with the building blocks upon which school districts can construct a comprehensive program to realize real gains in the achievement of their foster youth.
Each topic is covered by a factsheet outlining relevant laws, best practice implementation steps, and flexible tools including sample letters and forms.
Attendees will also learn some of the basics of special education law and be able to ask questions about complicated special education cases.
Speakers at the workshop will include Education Program Director Jill Rowland and Senior Staff Attorney, Statewide Educator Rights Alaina Moonves-Leb.
Rowland is an expert in every area of education impacting foster youth, including early intervention, special education, general education, school discipline, and interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline. Rowland’s vision has grown the Alliance’s Education Program in response to the needs of our clients: from pioneering legal representation for early intervention services to addressing the unique trauma-related education needs of foster youth.
Her collaborative approach led to the creation of the Foster Youth Education Toolkit and its Court Companion, the training of thousands of school district and foster/probation system personnel (including social workers, probation officers, attorneys, and judges), and improved foster youth policies put into practice in multiple school districts.
Rowland is passionate about providing foster and probation youth with an equitable education, so they can succeed in college, work, and life. She earned her JD at UCLA School of Law, specializing in Critical Race Studies. She majored in Communications and Sociology at UC Santa Barbara.
Moonves-Leb holds a JD from New York University where she was president of the High School Law Institute, and advocated for families navigating the New York education and dependency systems. In 2011 she joined the Alliance as an Equal Justice Works Fellow to dismantle the school to prison pipeline for foster youth. In this role she directly advocated for youth, worked within the schools and juvenile courts, and led the development of and trained on key policy efforts and legislation.
At the conclusion of her fellowship, Moonves-Leb became a staff attorney, and continued this work. Prior to law school, she taught special education for two years, earned an MA in teaching through the Teach for America Program, and was honored nationally as their special education teacher of the year.
Registration is free, just follow this link to reserve your place. Registration will be open until November 4th.
