Main Library

This library contains CADRE resources as well as State, Lead Agency and Parent Center resources. Please note that CADRE makes no endorsement of the State, Lead Agency and Parent Center resources included here, nor of any policies, procedures, processes, or documents specific to any item.

Art Stewart has trained mediators in 22 states, Kenya and Canada. He has testified before Congress on the use of mediation for special education issues. He wrote: “When Parents and Educators Do Not Agree: Using Mediation to Resolve Conflicts About Special Education 1995,” “Preparing for Mediation and Resolution Sessions 2009,” and contributed a chapter on “Building Trust and Resolving Conflict in Special Education” to The Handbook for Administration and Leadership in Special Education 2012. He coordinated the special education mediation program in Massachusetts for fifteen years and is...
Cindy Swain coordinates special education complaint investigations for the Texas Education Agency. She currently manages the state's IEP facilitation initiative in Texas and serves on the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities and the State Task Force for Children with Special Needs. As a member of CADRE's Intensive Facilitated IEP Project, Cindy is especially interested in improving school outcomes for students with disabilities through facilitated IEP team meetings. She served as a classroom teacher, administrator, and college professor for 25 years before coming to the Texas...
Jim Gerl is a special education law consultant, is licensed to practice law in West Virginia, Illinois and the District of Columbia, and is the author of the award winning Special Education Law Blog. He has spoken on special education law topics at numerous state, regional and national conferences, and is a regular faculty member for the conferences of the National Association of Hearing Officials. Jim has trained hearing officers from all states, and works with a number of state departments of education. Clip 1: You've had extensive experience with due process hearings as a hearings officer...
Dr. Melanie Reese has been the Dispute Resolution Coordinator for the Idaho State Dept. of Education since 2010. Professor emerita from Boise State University (2009), she serves on the BSU Dispute Resolution Graduate Program’s Advisory Council and teaches courses in mediation, negotiation, and facilitation of groups in conflict, and has co-authored two textbooks: Mediation Theory and Practice and Personal Conflict Management . Previously, Melanie was the Faculty Ombudsman for the College of Western Idaho and served on the Executive Board of the Idaho Mediation Association. She has a...
Nina Meierding has been involved in the conflict resolution field for over 30 years and has mediated over 4,000 cases. She has provided training in over 45 states, as well as internationally. Nina has been involved in the field of special education for over four decades, receiving her Masters in Special Education in 1977, teaching in a residential program and a public school resource program, serving as an attorney for parents, as a mediator for the California State Department of Education, as a trainer of special education mediators, and most recently as the mediation partner for the...
Patricia McGinnis holds a degree in education from the University of Minnesota and has over twenty years of teaching experience. She has been the Coordinator of the Minnesota Department of Education's Special Education Mediation Service since 2001, assuring access to the federally required mediation process and Minnesota's facilitated IEP meetings. In addition, she is a statewide trainer of leaders in special education on communication, due process and facilitation of IEP meetings and presents to parents, advocates, the Minnesota's State Bar Association, county social workers, professors,...
Patricia Williams is a consultant with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction who works in the area of special education procedural compliance. She is the coordinator for the State IDEA complaint process and is the liaison to the Due Process Hearing System. Patricia is a former WDPI liaison to the WI Special Education Mediation System. She served as one of the CADRE Exemplar Wisconsin Coordinators for development of the Wisconsin Exemplar Profile development. The interviews below were conducted in 2010 as part of CADRE's Exemplar Initiative . Clip 1: What is the one thing you know now...

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