Oral argument in our education funding case took place before Pennsylvania's Supreme Court on September 13. Hundreds of parents, students, superintendents, and school board members, including advocates from as far away as Erie and Pittsburgh, crowded the halls of Philadelphia City Hall and waited in line to attend the argument.

Yvelisse B. Pelotte, Esq. has joined ELC as a staff attorney, focusing on school climate and school access issues. Before joining Education Law Center, she served in Community Legal Services' employment unit as a Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellow and Staff Attorney. She graduated cum laude from West Chester University in 2009 and received her Juris Doctorate in 2014 from Temple University's James E. Beasley School of Law.

Sean J. McGrath, Esq. has joined ELC as a 2016 Independence Foundation Public Interest Law Fellow. His work centers on the representation of at-risk children to better access early intervention and early education services in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties. Sean graduated from the Penn State Schreyer Honors College and received his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. 

With our collaborators, ELC is working to implement strategic reforms stemming from a number of cases. Most significantly, Pittsburgh Public Schools agreed to convene a working group to address the policy and procedures in the District to ensure that Limited English Proficient parents and students receive the translation and interpretation services to which they are entitled in both special education and school discipline matters. This working group - half parents and advocates, convened by ELC, and half school personnel - had its first meeting this month. The group will meet three more times before making a formal presentation and recommendations to the PPS Board of Education. 

On September 19 and 20, ELC and the Campaign for Fair Education Funding brought UC Berkeley economist Dr. Rucker Johnson to Philadelphia and Harrisburg to present on his research on the long-term economic benefits of sustained investment in education, including Head Start and K-12 programs in high-poverty areas. Dr. Johnson was well-received at Philadelphia City Hall and spoke alongside Mayor Kenney, School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Dr. Bill Hite, and state senator Vince Hughes. He then presented in Harrisburg with ELC Executive Director Deborah Gordon Klehr at the PA Chamber of Business and Industry education symposium.   

ELC has joined a number of national civil rights organizations to write to the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, urging them to issue stronger legal guidance on the use of school police that would clarify the civil rights protections of students, especially students of color and students with disabilities. ELC remains troubled by t he ongoing presence of police officers in schools when resources ought to be directed to counselors, social workers, and other child-serving professionals.