Nov 25, 2020
Today we talk to Mandy Favolaro & Missy Alexander about the Annual COPAA Conference. COPAA stands for Council of Parents Attorneys and Advocates, an organization dedicated to protecting and enforcing the legal and civil rights of students with disabilities and their families. Their primary goal is to secure high quality educational services and to promote excellence in advocacy and their Annual Conference is one of the ways in which they do it!
If you aren't familiar with COPAA, join us to learn about one of the best conferences out there for parents of students with disabilities (and attorneys and advocates). And if you are familiar with this inspiring conference, then listen in to hear about all the cool ways they plan to host the conference virtually this year!
You can check COPAA out at COPAA.org and register for the
conference here:
https://www.copaa.org/page/2021-conference
You can learn more about Mandy Favaloro here: http://www.a2zedad.com/about-us/
You can learn more about Missy Alexander here:
https://www.ppmd.org/staff/missy-alexander/
TRANSCRIPT
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
conference, people, advocate, coppa, parents, attorneys, year,
training, topics, sessions, missy, students, mandy, hear, learn,
presentation, special education, government relations committee,
specific, special ed
SPEAKERS
Missy Alexander, Mandy Favaloro, Dana Jonson
Dana Jonson 00:02
Hello, and welcome to need to know with Dana Jonson. I'm your host,
Dana Jonson and I'm here to give you the information you need to
know to best advocate for your child. I'm a special education
attorney in private practice, a former special education teacher
and administrator, a current mom to four children with IPS and I
myself have ADHD and dyslexia. So I have approached the world of
disability and special education from many angles. And I'll provide
straightforward information about your rights and your schools
obligations, information from other professionals on many topics,
as well as tips and tricks for working with your school district.
My goal is to empower you through your journey. So if there's
anything you want to hear, comment on, join our Facebook group,
it's aptly named need to know with Dana Jonson, or you can email me
at Dana at special ed dot life. Okay, let's get started. Damn
speaking with Mandy favaloro and Missy Alexander, who are co chairs
of the conference committee for the Council, a parent attorneys and
advocates otherwise known as COPPA, co pa.org. If you're
interested, I talk about them all the time. So I'm sure you've
heard of them on my podcast. And Mandy is an attorney from
California and Missy is an advocate from Maryland. Can't believe I
almost got that wrong.
Mandy Favaloro 01:28
He's an advocate from Maryland. And so first, why don't you guys
introduce yourselves a little bit. I'd like to hear what you guys
do and how you came to here and what you're doing on COPPA? Mandy?
Sure, I'll go first. My name is Mandy favaloro. And I'm an attorney
that I just represent students with disabilities in the special
education system. I've been doing it for 15 years. And the first
COPPA conference I went to was in 2005. So almost as soon as I was
sworn in, I went to a conference. And I've been going ever since.
And I think I've been involved COPPA, with the training Committee,
which does our webinars, which have been in place for a number of
years, I taught feet for about six years, which is a special
education advocacy training program. And that's all done online.
And I have been doing I've been on the conference committee for
maybe four or five years now, maybe six years. And they all the
years are kind of melding together on this. And Missy, who has been
doing that for a very long time has sort of been my mentor and all
things conference committee, and I've been presenting at the
conference for a long time. Even before that, I have an interest in
sort of sharing my knowledge and letting people know what we do and
how to advocate for their own students and advocate for other
students. And I'm currently the vice chair of the Coppa board of
directors. Very nice. And Missy, also a board member, I believe,
yes, I am a board member. I've been in the world of specialized
advocacy. For a long time. My eldest, my youngest daughter is 28.
And she has an autism spectrum disorder. And she was educated in
our public school system, her entire educational career until she
was 21 years old. So I've seen the bowels of special ed. And it's
not pretty, but we live to tell about it.
Missy Alexander 03:19
I work for Maryland's Parent Training and Information Center, every
state has at least one as required by idea part day. And I've been
with parents place for 18 years. So I've been doing this
professionally for with other families for a little over 18 years
now. And it's here in Maryland, and my work includes working with
families directly, they also do some training. I also am involved
in some local and statewide systemic work just depends on who's
talking to what what committee I get invited to and, and if I feel
it's, you know, worthwhile cause and I've been a member of COPPA
for a long time. And I don't know how long I should have looked it
up that I'm sorry, I didn't, but I don't know. And I've been going
to the Coppa conference since second or third conference. I don't
remember when that was I should have looked it up. And I didn't
know sorry. list for me one year, so I could refer to it. Just so
you've really been I've been going for so long. I've been here co
chair of the advocate. They was co chair the advocate committee for
a while. And then I became co chair of the conference committee,
and I really enjoy doing that. And I'm like, Mandy, I want to share
what I know with others. I don't want to hold on to it. If I knew
it, I want everybody to know it. I think that's really, really
important. And for COPPA, I'm also on the board and I was the first
advocate chair of the board. Remember that? And I live to tell
about it. So I think that was really, really great.
Dana Jonson 04:47
Yes, that is wonderful. And I do think it's important to say for
those who don't know, COPPA, and I just think it's so critical that
I always assume everyone knows what it is and that everyone's a
member, but it's a wonderful organization and they work on not only
legislatively to try and get things passed on behalf of children
with disabilities, but they also do a tremendous amount of training
and support for people who do advocate for children with
disabilities, as well as parents. And I also have been going to
Copa for a very long time, I believe. And the conference is
possibly my favorite part of the year. And I've been going to the
cup of conference for at least 12 years, I think, at least. But
it's wonderful, because not only are you surrounded by like minded
people, but it's such a wonderful wealth of information for parents
and attorneys and advocates. So could you guys talk a little bit
about what the goal is of the conference, how you guys develop it
and make those determinations as to what you're going to put out
there. And and what it does for people, for parents and attorneys
and advocates? Sure, I
Mandy Favaloro 05:56
think the the part that we plan is really the the teaching and the
breakouts and the keynote speaker. So all of that is planned ahead
of time, we have a process where we get proposals from members and
from people kind of outside the organization who give us their
proposals about what they want to teach what they want to pass
along their knowledge. And we have a committee that really goes
through that process, and picks out the ones that we think are the
best, which is very difficult. Some years, we get hundreds of
applications, and there's about maybe around 40 spots on a typical
year. So that is a laborious process. I think the part of the
conference that brings people back every year is really the
networking and getting to know people, meaning people from your
area meeting parents that are going through the same thing that
other parents are going through finding people that they really
like to learn from I know Missy has her favorite instructors that
she will go to whatever they teach about whatever topic. So you
really make connections with people. And I think that that is what
keeps people coming back. And they'll learning is sort of an add on
bonus to that. But we're really proud of it. I think we you know,
we put in a lot of work, the staff puts in a huge amount of work.
As copas grown, we've got a lot more staff that's dedicated to the
conference than ever before, even in the five years that I've been
doing this, and I'm sure even more as long as he's been doing it.
And they do a lot of the day to day work of answering everyone's
questions and registration just open for this here. And there's a
lot of very specific questions. And all of those are being answered
by you know, Marcy, and Denise who is our executive director or
CEO, and Marcy who's really kind of in charge in the heart of the
company.
Missy Alexander 07:40
MRC is like the glue, she did the keeps it all together. And sort
of a little bit of a historical perspective of COPPA and the
conference. While it's the Council of parent attorneys and
advocates, it was really attorneys taking the lead. And we have
really morphed advocates have really pushed their way into things
so that we're now pretty much 5050 on the board and advocates and
attorneys Wow, this year, I believe we have more advocate members
than attorney members. And we wanted to reflect that in the
conference. So as each year has gone on, we've included more and
more in different categories to meet the needs of our various
learners. And we've done a really, from my perspective, a really
good job with making sure we have good quality content for
advocates. And now we're saying hey, we also have parent members,
too. So for the last couple of years, we've been working on being
very intentional, that we have offerings for family for parents,
who aren't quite ready to sit and listen to a two hour dissertation
about the Andrew f case like I would be but yeah, so I think that
we have a lot of really great subjects for a lot of people. And I
think that's a great point. I
Dana Jonson 09:01
mean, the counselor, parent attorneys and advocates started as more
of a professional organization, I believe, and and as advocates
sort of became just, you know, evolved out of parents who had been
through this process, and could help other parents who maybe didn't
need an attorney to come in and litigate a case, but they needed
support this growing body of parents who started to do it, not just
for fun or to help their friends but they started to do it
professionally. And I got to watch that my time attending COPPA is
to see that change how how it used to be parents and advocates are
kind of lumped together. And then now I know that advocates, it's
an actual profession that we now treat as such. And I love the
conferences reflecting that I think there's also been a growth in
options for parents to write up. Absolutely I know, I know that
there's a pre conference that And then the main conference. So can
you talk a little bit about the difference between those two
components? Sure. So
Mandy Favaloro 10:06
in a typical year, we have the pre conference and main conference
are kind of together, they're back to back. It runs from Thursday
to Sunday. And we'll talk a little bit about how that can be
different this year. But yeah, basically, the conference runs from
Thursday through Sunday, and Thursday and Friday, we have our pre
conference training, which had includes skill based training, those
go on for about two days, summer one day, but our big ones are
really two day trainings. They focus on new attorneys. There's
advocates specific training for brand new advocates all the way to
advocates who are maybe ready to conduct a due process hearing if
that's allowed in their state. We also have four new attorneys, we
do due process training, those are ones that have been around for a
long time, and are very successful, and people love. And those run
Thursday and Friday, Friday night, we sort of have like an opening
reception and a keynote speaker and then the main conference where
we have breakout sessions starts Saturday. And so on Saturday and
Sunday, there's breakfast, there's lunch provided with speakers and
an award ceremony. The breakout sessions are about six runs
simultaneously. So there's probably three typically on a Saturday
and two or three on the Sunday. And those are very specific to
topics so people can choose what they want to go watch and interact
with the presenters who are talking for about 90 minutes, typically
in person. And then there's usually Question and Answer periods,
those are all recorded. And then you can kind of buy a recording
later if there's a topic that you didn't get to go to or a session
that you really want to hear over and over again. And that has been
a really successful format. I think that's worked for, you know, it
was last year, our 20th conference, I believe was the 20 right
around 20. We may be past 20. But you know, it's worked for a
really long time. And it's fun, it's grown.
Dana Jonson 11:57
Yeah. Every first went it was just a Friday, Saturday, it was just
Saturday, Sunday, I think so
Mandy Favaloro 12:02
I grown every year the number of people that are there, I think the
pre conference, Ystad, you know, be smaller, we keep adding
sessions on to that, as we, you know, grow and are taking over
spaces and larger hotels and conference space that we can get, we
kind of offer as many sessions as possible. And there's ones that
people will take twice, because they learned so much the first time
that they're, you know, we're going to take it again, so we can get
something else out of it the second time. And I really think that,
you know, even someone who's been doing this a long time, or
someone who's brand new, you get something different out of it. I
know that you know, I've been doing this for a while. But if I get
one thing out of every conference, I consider that successful. And
it might be from someone that I'm teaching who has a tip that I
haven't thought of who has a situation that I have not come across.
And it really changes the way you think about your clients when you
go back home. And you're in your practice, or you're advocating for
your own child or for other students. And you're really, you can
put that into what you're doing on a day to day basis. And I find
that every year there's something new that I learned like a nugget
that I can take away from a presentation that really changes the
way I think and that I can kind of move forward with
Missy Alexander 13:15
students I used to alternate when COPPA first started. One year I
go to the Coppa conference and other year I'd go to the conference
of another national organization that was more disability specific.
And then after I had done that, I went to COPPA, what's the other
one and then I went to COPPA. And then I went to the other one. And
that was the last time I did that, because the quality of the
materials themselves are worth attending the Copa conference, you
get a compendium of everybody's presentations. The other one of the
speakers brought copies of their PowerPoints on when they ran out.
Oh, well, I mean, just the quality was just not there. That's one
thing that I liked. And like Mandy said, you can get recordings of
sessions, so you can listen to them, you know, throughout the year,
as well as your you are hearing from people who argue and when
before the Supreme Court on special ed issues, who better to learn
from, that's the lewdly.
Dana Jonson 14:14
Absolutely. And the Compendium, you're right, the materials are
amazing. And that volume of information. I always take those
companions and I have them in my office, I was really excited when
you guys started doing it digitally. made me really happy in my
office. Let's also talk a little bit about parents because with
COPPA, and I want to focus on the conference. But I also want to
mention that there's a lot of other supports that COPPA offers. So
you know, the list serves for one. And missy. I don't know if he's
still moderate. I know you did for a while, moderate some of them.
So maybe you could talk a little bit to the listeners. And then I
want to get back conference.
Missy Alexander 14:49
We have shifted from a traditional listserv to a community
platform, but it's virtually the same thing. You're getting email
lesson. Yeah, I'm on moderated the long list, so I had to tell the
attorneys, you need to turn your pose. And then I'd see him at the
conference. I'd be like, Hi, I'm so glad to meet you. I miss you,
Alexandra, you're the one that tells me to turn my post all the
time. Sorry, sorry, not sorry. But it's, it's really great. We have
a general list. And for families, you know, I was able years ago
when my daughter was little to get 90 hours of combat service based
on training i'd received as a parent. Now granted, I had a
paralegal background. But I was able to get that for her based on
what I had learned. So if parents if they feel like it's too
overwhelming to learn, it's not just take what you need to get from
that and more fit into moving forward into what you want to
know.
Dana Jonson 15:45
Yeah. And I do, I think that it's also there's the listserv for
attorneys, where it's wonderful to be able to communicate with with
just people who are doing what you do, and looking at it from just
that legal perspective, and the same from the parent perspective to
be able to reach out and have an attorney respond and say, that
doesn't sound right now, and we can't always we can't give specific
legal advice on the listserv, but certainly to say, you know what,
maybe you should look in this direction. And to get that
information, as you said, you know, these are people who are
arguing before the Supreme Court who better to learn from
Missy Alexander 16:21
exactly, you know, and the list, the general list, we have lists
for different memberships, there's a parent list, there's the
advocate list, there's, I think it's advocate related
professionals. And I'm all in the parent list and the advocate
list. And every now and again, I'll say, please put this on the
general list. Because I know there are attorneys on there, and they
will give you answers. And it's exactly what you said, Dan, they're
not offering legal advice at all. But they're giving you a
different framework to think about, or, you know, a different way
to approach it, or what to research or guidance, don't go down that
rabbit hole, it's not worth it. You know, it really sound advice
that you're getting for the price of a membership.
Dana Jonson 17:03
Yeah. And then and that level of information, I'm sure is what
brought rise to the conference. So now, last year, I went to the
conference. And while we were at the conference, I believe COVID
was exploding.
Mandy Favaloro 17:16
We got in under the wire, we were one re last conference in that
hotel, everyone was canceling after us. So we, I think I flew home,
like on the 11th or something of March, and I had this awful flight
where I had to, like go through Seattle before I came back down to
California. And you know, everyone was panicking. And if you
coughed in the airport, you know, Death Stare. So it was certainly
we were right at the beginning of this, and we were lucky enough to
get in and not have anyone gets sick as from getting into the
conference. We definitely had a few people who had to cancel
because they were worried about their own health had, you know,
weaker immune systems. And that was, you know, obviously
understandable. So but we It was a successful conference
nonetheless. And I think as soon as we came back, we started
thinking, what are we going to do next year? And how are we going
to address this? You know, should this continue? Right? And
Dana Jonson 18:07
it it was and it was it was that awkward? Sort of no one knew
whether we should be panicked or not like we heard it was bad, but
we didn't really know yet. And there's hand sanitizer everywhere.
And that anybody but no mask yet? That's right. We weren't into
masks yet. No, we did not know about those yet. So yeah, we had no
idea what we had in store for us. So as with many conferences that
have been going on since March, they've been virtual, and that you
guys are taking this virtual. So tell us what that's gonna look
like? Sure. So
Mandy Favaloro 18:39
I think that, you know, there were some challenges kind of going
into that the decision about when we were going to actually make
that decision. And if we wanted to wait until the last minute, I
think we decided to do it early. And certainly there were people
that had concerns about making the I think we decided what like an
April or May that we were really going to go forward virtually just
to be safe and not have to basically be planning to kind of
simultaneous conferences in the event that we weren't going to be
able to show up the conference was supposed to be in Irvine in
March of 2021. In the hood, I know it's not I'm still sad, I'm sad
to I was gonna have to drive down the road. So we made the decision
pretty early to go virtual so that we can let our presenters know,
we wanted to make sure that people were comfortable presenting
virtually some people are not technologically savvy and you know,
have said to us, they they don't want to do webinars. So if they
didn't want to do a webinar, we were concerned about switching at
the last minute and saying we're gonna go in person, oh, wait, now
you have to do it virtually and making sure that everyone knew
upfront what to expect and what was happening. So that's, that's
why the decision was made so early. We, you know, something like
timing. The regular conference runs from about, you know, eight in
the morning until six at night, but we had to adjust our schedule
so that, you know, people on the West Coast weren't expected to
sign on at 5am You know, we had to make sure that we adjusted that
some of our regular lunch is now a breakfast slash lunch so that,
you know, everybody is at the same time eating and we're having
extended breaks for people. You know, we did think a lot about
typically, our breakouts are a little bit longer. But there was a
concern about people being able to engage in online learning for 90
minutes without any breaks. And you know,
Dana Jonson 20:24
a typical day we're learning from the student. Yeah,
Mandy Favaloro 20:27
I think that a typical conference, you know, is, it's a lot, I
think, even in person, it's a long day, and people get tired. And
so we wanted to make sure that people weren't getting fatigued. So
we've we've adjusted the schedule to really take that into
consideration. Yeah,
Dana Jonson 20:41
I know that that at the end of the Cobra conference, I always say
like, it's the best time, but I'm exhausted, my brain is exhausted,
because I've taken in so much information. But so what kind of
topics are you covering this year? Has that changed at all? How
when you change your format, did that impact at all how you decided
to solicit topics? Because I know that often, you put out a list
and say you're you're welcome to or you you're open to any
proposals, but you usually put out a list of here's some topics
that we're seeing that are pretty hot that we think need to be
addressed.
Mandy Favaloro 21:18
Yeah, I think so I think we got a lot of presentations surrounding
that surrounding, you know, accommodations to address during this
time period, distance learning. So we've tried to bring some of
those topics and as well as just traditional topics that we focus
on a lot from year to year, because that's what people need to know
that they're going to need to know after this is all over and
everybody's back in school. So I think we were able to get a mix so
that we're able to address really what's currently happening for
people and some of the unique situations that need to be addressed
right now. As well as the kind of ongoing learning that you're
going to need to know after hopefully everybody's allowed back in
school full time.
Dana Jonson 21:55
And what are some of the ongoing learning ones? I know you have
some some programs that repeat every year that are very popular. So
what are some of those?
Mandy Favaloro 22:03
Yeah, so the format this year is it's a little bit different than
kind of just a Thursday to Sunday, because we didn't want to burn
people out. So we are doing our two days skills based training,
sort of a week before the end of February. And those are really our
most popular topics that we've done from year to year, the new
attorneys, the due process, training, advocacy, one on one, which
is one that Mitzi has been teaching for a number of years with a co
presenter, as well as the advanced advocate training for due
process. So those are standard, they've been on our agenda for
years they are being adjusted to, I think that we've kind of
trimmed the day a little bit. So they are being adjusted to run a
little bit quicker in the format so that we don't burn people out
online. We've now have also come up with these sort of on demand
special topics that include I think you're doing one on podcasting
for special we're doing there's a school refusal twice exceptional
students technology, that's a big one right now, because so many
people are using technology in a way that they haven't before, it
was sort of like an option. And it was something you know, that
certain kids were using that had assistive technology. But right
now everyone is having to use technology to learn. So we have a lot
of presentations on that we have our traditional kind of case law
review that everyone enjoys, we have sort of two different formats
that we do that and and then when we move into the virtual summit,
that's going to be a week later, that is going to have those 3636
breakout sessions. And those are going to be on some new topics
that are going to be very specific to this as well, as you know,
topics that we talked about a lot. We also were looking into, you
know, we talk a lot about diversity and equity and education. So
there's topics that are going to address that as well.
Dana Jonson 23:53
Those are pretty big issues right now. Definitely. How do you
choose the topics that you pick? Like, how do you decide this is
something we need more of, or this is something that has to be
addressed? Now, like COVID is obvious, right? Like, yes, no one's
gonna give a talk and not mention COVID. That's not getting
nothing. That doesn't mean it has to be COVID specific. But how do
you decide this?
Missy Alexander 24:17
Well, one of the things that we look at our evaluations from the
previous year's conference, what do people want to know, we ask for
input? We kind of keep an eye on the listservs to see are there hot
topics? You know, is there any case law or any litigation that
people would want to know more about, I don't want to say as worthy
because that that passes judgment, but what people want to know
more about that. So those are things that would be sort of what I
would refer to as like a fresh topic, something different, but
there are standard topics that every year people want to hear
about. And sometimes it's People like Randy said, it'll might be
the second or third time they've heard it. Some people might have
heard about it previously, and now want to listen, we really try,
we really put forth a lot of intentional effort to meet the needs
of our audience, you know, we we feel an obligation to them, to
provide them with what they want, and what maybe what they need.
And sometimes we'll choose things that hopefully will garner their
interest, maybe they don't realize they need it, but if they
receive training on it, so those are things that that we try to
kind of put them all together. And then we say, how many spaces do
we have? How many sessions can we have? And then we have to play
Solomon and decide who you know, what are we to recut? What do we
have to cut. And that's why I really like that we're having those
on demand sessions this year. Because they're really a lot of those
speakers are high quality that I know, I would want to hear. And
we're offering them to everyone, so they weren't carved out. And I
think, oh, sorry, who's to say so that on demand piece. So that's
going to be the list that they can watch it anytime,
Dana Jonson 26:06
yes, the others will be scheduled, and you'll be watching them
live,
Mandy Favaloro 26:10
right. So they will be pre recorded. So the presentation will be
pre recorded. But the presenter so for example, I'm doing a
breakout session, I will be pre recording my presentation, but then
I'm available live to ask questions after the session. And
something that's really unique this year is typically, if you're
attending the conference, and you don't get to go to a section,
there's we talked about the tape recordings, those are sold, that's
a separate cost to someone attending the conference. But this year,
because everything's pre recorded the presentation, you as someone
who are choosing to go to one presentation live will have the
opportunity later to view the pre recorded session that occurred at
the same time. So you really will you can access all 36 of those
sessions if you choose to do so. So that's a really unique
situation that we're able to kind of offer people this year because
of the fact that we're virtual,
Dana Jonson 27:01
Oh, that's wonderful. And that has been a benefit, I think for some
other conferences I've attended, because you know, you always have
that one session where the three top things you want to see are all
playing at the exact same time. And as you said, Miss, you can't
get to everyone to get all the handouts. And so that's, that's
wonderful. And I've also found that, at least for me, as a COPPA
member, if somebody calls me and says, I got your name from COPPA,
and I have these questions, or I need to talk to you, it's almost
like there's some connection there. Because we've all been to
COPPA, you know. And when we go to COPPA, and we're talking about
the different levels for attorneys, and parents and advocates, but
it's not separated like that, when you're there. It's not, you
might have different interests and different sessions, but the
whole conference is for everybody. And that's what I think is so
great is to be able to see and hear from different people's
perspectives, what's going on. And you know, I'm a parent, and I'm
an attorney. And it's, it's helpful for me, too, I've had I've had
to hire an advocate for my own child. So it was helpful for me to
know, what I was looking for. And what I needed in that even though
I'm an attorney, and for me to as a professional, understand what
advocates do and what their role is, and that that was something
that I was able to learn and understand through COPPA. And I think,
you know, we could talk about advocates forever, because there's
only you know, that that, but one of the things that I love about
COPPA and what I always refer people to, which is not part of the
conference, but it is part of your training is the special
education, advocacy, training for advocates. And when I, when I
tell parents, anyone, or I speak to parents, and I say, if you're
looking for an advocate, I strongly recommend you look into your
trainings. And by the way, here's the training that really does
give a very well rounded background to an advocate. Can you guys
talk a little bit about seat?
Mandy Favaloro 28:53
Yeah, so Missy, your are you teaching feet kind of the 1.0 version?
Yeah,
Missy Alexander 28:58
I'm the training team for 1.0. We divided it up. 1.0 is sort of
like a pre seed. And then there's the standard seat that Mandy, led
for many years. And then we created a seat 3.0 and that's for
advocates that really want to hang a shingle. Mm hmm. And the
nuances behind that, and the considerations and that kind of thing.
But see 1.0 You know, it was interesting, when we were having
conversations, and preparing for the conference, you know, gee, how
long is too long, what people go, how long can we hold people's
interest, blah, blah, blah. And I finally had to say, listen, when
I teach seat 1.0, it's two hours and those people would stay on
another hour if we let them. So if you are giving somebody
information that they want, they lose track of time, they're not
going to be watching the clock necessarily,
Dana Jonson 29:50
right well into your point. That's another reason why you want to
make sure people are comfortable presenting that array.
Mandy Favaloro 29:57
They think it's a it's a different you know, Beast, you don't I
taught feet what is now see 2.0 for about five years, and every
year, I kind of come in and do one class every year on section 504.
And you don't necessarily see the students kind of everybody's you
can go into the video. But while you're teaching, you don't have
like a classroom in front of you can't see everyone and people are
raising their hands virtually, you have to answer questions. And it
certainly takes some time, I think to get used to that format. And
teaching in that format, we wanted to make sure everyone was
comfortable the going back to seat that's it's a year long course.
So there's a lot of information that people who take that year long
c point C 2.0 are getting out of it. They're learning, you know
about state procedures, federal procedures, how to advocate at IEP
meetings, how to deal with section 504, there's just it's, it's
very intensive, and they're putting in a lot of work. It's, you
know, every week to ours. And as Missy said, you know, we you could
talk for three hours just presenting and answering questions, and
people get very invested in that, because they've, you know,
they've obviously paid for that. And even the presenters who are
addressing the topics are passionate about what they're talking
about. So, you know, I presented last Friday for two hours, we
could have probably presented for four hours with all the questions
that we were getting, and scenarios that people have that are that
everyone can learn from, you know, if you have a situation that
I've not addressed, but I might have some tips for that it can, you
know, everyone's learning from each other. It's a really unique
program.
Dana Jonson 31:33
No, it's wonderful. And it's, it's, I think it's the best training,
I really think that if someone's going to do it professionally,
they really need to invest in that component, because you get that
well rounded training. And it's easy to go through the process as a
parent, and only really deal with the pieces that relate to your
own case. And you have to learn a lot more than what your child
needs in order to be able to advocate for them. So you do learn all
this stuff that that you have to share. But I think he gives a
great well rounded so that you get to see all aspects of it. And
and you know, it's it's a testament to the training that COPPA
does. And just as the conference, you know, comes across this
training, and I think even with the seat program, you still have
tons of advocates at the conference every year, because there's
even more available there. And as you were saying, Misty, that you
go back to the same people, I do that too. And I find that it
depends on what cases I have that year, one year, I happen to have
a lot of reading cases, and that might be the piece I pull out of
somebody's presentation. And the next year, I happen to be in the
middle of an autism case, and I go to the same presentation, I
might pull something completely different out of it. So it really
it's it's an amazing wealth of information for everyone in the
Special Ed, parent side special ed world.
32:51
Which
Dana Jonson 32:52
then brings me to what about teachers who are parents, and they
come to your conference,
Missy Alexander 32:58
they can, as a parent, there is an exception process, we had one
situation, it's an exception process. And we mean it, it's a
process, do it ahead of time, I remember when we were in Baltimore
one year, and a teacher just kind of slid in under the radar, and
was sharing, you know, wanting to everybody to know what the
teacher side of it was, hadn't gone through the exception process.
And we had to say you can't continue to attend the conference. You
know, we mean it, we have a responsibility to our members, they
trust us as a board and as leaders to ensure that we uphold what we
say we're going to uphold. And part of that is we are for the
children and the families. Not necessarily for the school folks,
the school folks have their own organizations that they go to. So
you know, we have exception processes for membership, we have
exception processes for the conference, and people rely on us and
expect us to follow those processes. And we really do our due
diligence on them.
Mandy Favaloro 34:05
And I think that the reason for that is to really create a safe
space for parents and advocates and attorneys who are doing this,
you know, if you are a parent, and you have a concern about your
specific school district, you want to be able to share that concern
without getting backlash from somebody from that school district
who may be part of the conversation as well. And that's, I think
that's kind of the global reason behind it is to really encourage
an open dialogue and have people feel that they're in a safe space
online when they're sharing when they're at the conference. And
they're sharing. So that's why it seems sometimes I think, a little
strict to some people. But the idea is really just to protect our
members and allow them to have that open communication and
dialogue. They don't feel like they can't ask a specific question
that it's going to kind of come back and haunt them at some later
point.
Dana Jonson 34:50
And I think that was also a good point, which is that school
districts do have their own organizations and they have a lot more
organization many more organization. With with a lot more money
than what parents have access to. So I think that's a really
important point too. It's not a matter of excluding people, we want
teachers and administrators and everybody else to learn what we're
learning, we just know that they have other options. And, and
parents didn't for a really, really long time only. Absolutely. Oh,
and briefly and that I don't know if either of you are involved in
this, but but can either of you talk just very briefly about some
of the legislative stuff that COPPA does? Maybe not specifically,
but I know that they Denise does a lot of work particularly
Mandy Favaloro 35:32
sure COPPA is involved in, in lobbying and working with legislators
at the federal level, and really educating them about the needs of
our constituents about parents, and the students and what they're
looking for in, you know, what our needs are and what our interests
are. So that's sort of where we are, I am not involved in that part
of COPPA, I find it very interesting. But we do have a committee of
people who are very well versed in that who do a lot of work, who,
when we were in DC, and I think maybe in Baltimore as well, this
last year, there was kind of a pre pre conference where the day
before the pre conference, people went and spoke with their
representatives on Capitol Hill to really advocate for students
and, you know, let everyone know what the needs are and what we're
looking for. And I think that, you know, Denise, and that
committee, what, what's the name of the committee
36:29
was government
Missy Alexander 36:30
relations, government relations,
Mandy Favaloro 36:32
thank you, the Government Relations Committee, they are on top of
it, and they know what's coming down and what we need to do. And I
think, you know, when everything kind of went on lockdown, we also
had a, like a campaign to like a letter writing campaign for some
specific topic that I can't remember. But they, we, you know, sent
out a blast to our membership and said, Here's a sample letter,
call your representative, write an email, we've done that a few
times. And I think it's been really successful for different areas
that affect our students to say, look, here's a sample, here's
your, here's how you find your representative, you can email them,
you can leave them a message, and people respond to that very well.
And I think we're seeing that more and more in the last few months,
I think. So it's really kind of grassroots organizing to get
people
Missy Alexander 37:18
involved. And I think our our members expect that of us to be
knowledgeable about what's happening, I have seen just recently,
the various listservs, bringing up a area of concern what is COPPA
doing about this, what is COPPA know about this, there's COPPA
involved in this. So people are realizing that we, as an
organization, and Denise Marshall has really spearheaded this are
invited to the table to talk about things as they're planned, which
is a huge, huge thing to happen and to be heard and understood.
Dana Jonson 37:52
Yeah. And I do like that, I love that, you know, it takes the
thinking out of it. For a lot of people, if I know, I'm gonna get
that action alert from COPPA, that's gonna tell me when I have to
do something that I don't have to have all of my radar out there.
And because the board meets in person at the conference, usually,
although this year will be different, typically, you know, everyone
from the Government Relations Committee is there and they're
accessible. And so for anyone, whether it's a parent, Attorney,
advocate, provider, who are interested in those areas, and how to
be active in their areas, they have access to this government
relations committee that can help them and direct them in the right
direction. So it really is, I can't say enough about all of the
resources that that Kobe has. But I really appreciate you guys
talking about the conference with me today, because I really am
hoping that a lot of parents who are listening to this have either
already heard of it and have already signed up and registered and
are ready to go and will of course all be in my podcasting class,
or that they are hearing us right now. And they're saying, Oh my
god, I can't believe I didn't know what COPPA was or how great it
was. And now I have to go sign up and I have to join. And when they
think that, where do they go?
Mandy Favaloro 39:08
Sure. So you go to coppa.org. So it's co p a.org. And there will be
a link for the conference. And I think registration actually opened
yesterday. So it's live, it's up this week, you can register, I
think, because it's virtual this year, that hopefully opens it up
to more people because you don't have the typical cost of travel in
a hotel and meals out of the home. So we're hoping that that really
is going to make it accessible to more people this year as an
introduction. So it's kind of less of an investment on your part.
In terms of at least money. It's it's more time because you can go
to so many more events and see so many more presentations and
really get a taste for the conference this year. And hopefully,
when we are Fingers crossed back in person in Boston in 2022 That
we will see more people who have joined us virtually, who will now
be making the you know the trip to join us in person. And with any
with any conference of any kind, I am sure that this is going to be
very high quality material, but I will miss the camaraderie and all
of that that we get. And, and I do highly recommend that anybody
listening to this who wasn't planning on it definitely attend
because there's a ton of information. But even more importantly, I
would recommend going when it's in person as well. Because just
being able to be around people who are doing what you do or
suffering through what you're suffering through, and who want to
learn the same things you
Dana Jonson 40:40
want to learn are all there. And I know at least in my daily life,
that isn't always the case. Thank you guys so much for joining me.
I really appreciate it. Is there anything else that I missed that
people
Missy Alexander 40:53
need to know about COPPA before we sign off? I don't think so. I
think so either.
Mandy Favaloro 40:57
I think we we covered a lot.
Missy Alexander 40:59
Join us. Join us at just give us a year join us and we will
definitely increase your knowledge and it for parents, it'll
benefit your child. Yes, I
Dana Jonson 41:10
think empowering parents is a huge part of what happens at COPPA.
So thank you. And thank you both for all of the time that you
donate to make sure that this conference comes off. I think it's
really important to mention that it is a voluntary board. You do
this all for free because you believe in the cause. Yes, thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Please don't forget to subscribe to this podcast so that you get
notifications when new episodes come out. And I want to know what
you want to know. So join our Facebook group also named need to
know with Dana Jonson, or you can email me, Dana at special ed dot
life. But definitely reach out with your comments and questions and
I'll see you next time here on me to know with Dana Jonson have a
fabulous day