2010 General Session Information
First General Session:
Curriculum Controversies, Contested Values, and the Changing Nature of the Family
An examination of recent legal and public policy developments impacting K-12 curricular policy, pedagogy, and instructional materials, in light of the changing nature of the family over the past several decades.
Biegel

Stuart Biegel
UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies
UCLA School of Law
Los Angeles, CA

Stuart Biegel has been a member of the faculty at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies since 1985, and at the UCLA School of Law since 1989. He has served as Director of Teacher Education, as Special Counsel for the California Department of Education, and as the federal court’s consent decree monitor in the San Francisco school desegregation case. Biegel is a recognized expert in the fields of Education Law and Technology Law, having completed major works of scholarship in both areas. In 2001, he published Beyond Our Control? Confronting the Limits of Our Legal System in the Age of Cyberspace (MIT Press). In 2009, he published the second edition of his casebook, Education and the Law, West-Thomson/Reuters (American Casebook Series).  The book focuses on the broad range of developments at both the K-12 and higher education levels, and also includes major coverage of technology issues, privacy law issues, and disability rights.

Second General Session:
Education Law in Retrospect and in Prospect: A Half Century of Change and Challenge
This session will focus on three central themes that pose critical future challenges of education law - first, the challenge (and growing imprint) of government regulation on all sectors; second, the challenge of diversity (not only with regard to race, but also gender, age, sexual orientation, and even geography); and third, the imperative of collaboration, sharing, and resolution in the recognition of education law.
O'Neil

Robert M. O'Neil
Founding Director
Thomas Jefferson Center for
     Protection of Free Expression
Charlottesville, VA

Robert M. O’Neil became founding director of The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression in August, 1990, after serving five years as president of the University of Virginia.  He served until June, 2007, as a member of the University’s law faculty, teaching courses in constitutional law of free speech and church and state, First Amendment and the arts, and a new course entitled “Free Speech in Cyberspace.” Though officially professor emeritus, he continues to teach a First Amendment Clinic.  He is currently director of the Ford Foundation’s Difficult Dialogues Initiative and serves on the Board of Consulting Editors of Trusteeship, journal of the Association of Governing Boards, and he is a member of the National Advisory Board of the American Civil Liberties Union. A native of Boston, O’Neil holds three degrees from Harvard (A.B. 1956, A.M. 1957, LL.B. 1961) and honorary degrees from Beloit College and Indiana University.
Third General Session:
Civil Rights in Education
This session will address the importance of equity and civil rights in education. As the quiet revolution of education reform takes place in states and cities around the country, OCR is the assurance that all students receive a quality education.
Ali

Russlynn Ali
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Education
Washington, D.C.

President Barack Obama nominated Russlynn Ali as assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education on March 18, 2009, and she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 1, 2009. As assistant secretary, Ali is Secretary Duncan's primary adviser on civil rights and responsible for enforcing U.S. civil rights laws as they pertain to education—ensuring the nation's schools, colleges, and universities receiving federal funding do not engage in discriminatory conduct related to race, sex, disability, or age. Until her appointment to the Department of Education, Russlynn Ali had been a vice president of the Education Trust in Washington, D.C., and the founding executive director of the Education Trust-West in Oakland, California, since 2001. Ali received her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, where she was awarded the Lowden-Wigmore Prize for Trial Advocacy and was a Julius Miner Moot Court Finalist. She received her bachelor's degree in law and society from the American University. She also attended Spelman College.
Fourth General Session:
Supreme Court Update
Get an overview of recent and upcoming cases, as well as other important legal issues and national trends, and their impact on education.
Hutton

Thomas Hutton
Attorney
Patterson Buchanan Fobes Leitch & Kalzer, Inc., P.S
Seattle, WA

Thomas Hutton’s work at the Pacific Northwest law firm of Patterson Buchanan Fobes Leitch & Kalzer focuses on education law and on appellate and motions practice. Prior to joining Patterson Buchanan, he was a senior staff attorney for the National School Boards Association (NSBA), where he conducted amicus curiae advocacy in appellate courts on public education issues nationally and provided support and resources to state school boards associations, local school districts, and the NSBA Council of School Attorneys. He served as editor of NSBA’s popular weekly school law e-newsletter, Legal Clips, and of Leadership Insider, a school law and policy newsletter for school district leaders, and was a frequent news media source. Mr. Hutton speaks and writes widely on education law and policy issues.

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