Newsroom Article

Pool Counsel Quarterly Lookback, November 2023: See what you missed!

A roundup of topics covered recently as part of the firm’s subscriber-based service.

Posted on in Press Releases and Announcements

Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams LLP is proud to offer a unique subscription-based service entitled "Pool Counsel" to school entities.

With this service, any member of the Pool Counsel service can email on-demand questions anytime on various operational issues related to Special Education or Technology, and all subscribers are "pooled" on the email distribution of the responses.

Here are some topics covered recently:

How should a district treat encrypted messages in the archiving process? Or, as part of a Right-to-Know request?

Some options on responding to Google prompts to change application access control settings.

The firm breaks down the facts - and flaws - behind the Pennsylvania Department of Education's new “policy” under which adults will be entitled to special education in public schools through age 22. The dialogue continued, as the firm then shared a letter sent to the Pennsylvania Department of Education's acting secretary in response to the PDE announcement and related settlement, as well as some follow up thoughts while the issue is being contested.

Additionally, the firm offered subscribers a guidance document describing - section by section - language that may be used in the NOREPs of returning 21-year-old students.

Since the PDE has been sued over the age 22 policy change, the firm continues to gather information from school districts, charters and IUs to prepare for an evidentiary hearing.

Benefits of the Pool Counsel service include not only the ability to ask questions 24/7, but also an electronic “Resource Room,” where members can log in to access the full library of all past Pool Counsel answers, searchable by topic and archived by year

To learn more, contact Andy Faust (Special Education) or Mark Cheramie Walz (Technology) or call 215-345-9111.