Laura E. Hemmer
Merry RhoadesMinimizing legal risks to its clients is an important focus of Tueth Keeney. To minimize a client’s legal risks, Tueth Keeney attorneys often present in-services for its clients. Merry C. Rhoades and Laura E. Hemmer recently contributed their time and expertise to provide an in-service for Mid-State Special Education Cooperative. Mid-State Special Education, located in Central Illinois, is a four county joint agreement, which provides services to children with special needs, age 3 through 21 inclusive, who reside in the 16 member school districts.
On September 18, 2009, Merry and Laura spoke with Mid-State administrators regarding a number of special education topics. Some of the topics included were Response to Intervention, Responding to Parent Provided Evaluations, Transition and Brittany’s Law, Parental Revocation of Services, Developing Teacher Work Load Plans, 70 / 30 Regulations, FAPE and LRE in Light of NCLB, Disciplining the Special Education Student, Guidance on SIS Reporting, and Writing a Defensible IEP.
Merry C. Rhoades focuses her practice on general counsel services with an emphasis on special education law and student-related issues, school district reorganization matters and tax and finance matters. Because of her more than 20 years experience in representing Illinois public school districts, she has key insights regarding the day-to-day operation of the school district. She has extensive experience in special education administrative hearings, civil rights litigation, state and federal court litigation at the trial and appellate levels, and state administrative hearings.
Merry is an active member of several school related organizations. She is a member of the Illinois Council of School Attorneys Executive Committee and currently serves as its 1st Vice Chairperson and she is a service member to the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA). She serves as an Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) PRESS advisory committee member. Merry has been asked to speak for such organizations as the Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education (IAASE), the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA), the Illinois Principal’s Association (IPA) and the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) on numerous school related issues.
Laura E. Hemmer practices primarily in the areas of education law. She represents public entities with respect to employment and termination matters, special education issues, student discipline and student rights, civil rights and church/state issues. During law school, Laura served as a legal intern with the United States Attorney’s Office and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.
Tueth, Keeney, Cooper, Mohan & Jackstadt P.C. is proud to be one of the state’s largest downstate Illinois education law practices. The firm has one of the most experienced groups of attorneys in Central and Southern Illinois dedicated to serving public schools. We regularly represent nearly 150 public school districts, including many districts in Central and Southern Illinois. Our Firm is also regularly appointed by insurers of educational institutions to represent districts in complex or difficult cases involving school or civil rights laws.