Wisler Pearlstine, LLP is pleased to announce that partner Amy T. Brooks was a key participant on a State Task Force, known as the “Pennsylvania School Reopening Task Force,” to provide specific guidance to schools, and in particular Special Education programs, to re-open this fall.

The Report is the first such statewide guidance from 150 cross-disciplinary educators and attorneys and 8 statewide school organizations to provide guidance to help local school officials, administrators and superintendents on all aspects of reopening in the fall. The “insights (in the Report) are also intended to serve as information for legislators and state administrators as they seek to support public schools in their reopening.”

As schools prepare to reopen their doors, significant planning, coordination, and communication must be done to ensure students are learning in safe environments. The Task Force outlined challenges, considerations, and ideas for solutions to help schools in their planning. The report is available at https://www.psba.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/School-Reopening-Task-Force-Report_FINAL-061820.pdf.

Ms. Brooks, a leader in special education law, and the Section 8 Director of the Pennsylvania School Board Solicitor’s Association, was asked by the Association to help craft the 29-page Special Education School Section of the Report. She was extremely proud to participate in this work and will be part of statewide webinars for educators and administrators starting in July. (See

https://www.psba.org/event/webinar-meeting-special-education-needs-as-schools-reopen/ for additional details).

In her practice, Ms. Brooksworks with school clients planning their reopening to ensure they have well thought out, lasting solutions that meet cross-disciplinary legal requirements. She regularly helpsschools understand and navigate the existing legal framework in which they operatein order to proactively achieve their goals. Ms. Brooks routinely litigates for school clients in administrative and local agency proceedings up through the appeals process. She defends schools against legal claims such as those brought under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as representing schools in investigations by the PA Department of Education and US Office for Civil Rights. A graduate of Temple University’s Law School (J.D., 2005), she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Temple Political & Civil Rights Review. She received her undergraduate degree from Haverford College in 1992.

For over 75 years, Wisler Pearlstine has provided effective, practical service to its clients through top-rated lawyers in their fields of expertise. The firm represents businesses and individuals throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania in various types of corporate, real estate, land use and zoning, construction, commercial litigation, business, alternative dispute resolution (arbitration/mediation), banking, tax and estate planning, administration of estates and trusts, family law and other related matters. In addition, the firm has long been recognized for its prominence in the areas of municipal, education, and school law. For more information, please see www.wislerpearlstine.com.