Total Credits: 2.0 MCLE, 2.0 Kansas Credit
This seminar is an online rebroadcast of a previously recorded program. To participate, you listen and view online.
Originally presented on November 5, 2019 by James G. Thomeczek and John F. Brink, Thomeczek & Brink, LLC, St. Louis
This two-part program will address both special education and general school law and is designed to provide important information for everyone connected with the operation and legal obligations of Missouri public schools. The program will include significant new developments in state and federal education laws, and will address key questions on policy, law, and practice that are of interest to school officials, staff, students, parents, and the attorneys who advise and represent them.
This program will specifically discuss:
Rebroadcast Moderator: Shawna M. Bligh, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Jefferson City
| School Law Part 2 - Special Education (387.9 KB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| Discipline Procedures Brink (285.6 KB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| Stay Put Brink (231.9 KB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| Faculty Bios (60.3 KB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| MCLE Form (95.2 KB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| MoLAP Information (1.2 MB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| Kansas Credit Requirements (49 KB) | Available after Purchase | ||
Jim Thomeczek is a partner in the St. Louis law firm Thomeczek & Brink, LLC. For over thirty years Jim has represented school districts in Missouri in special education and related student matters. He has argued four special education cases before the Eighth Circuit and has had at least one more dismissed by the Court. Jim is currently on the Board of Directors of the National School Boards Association’s Council of School Attorneys. He has also served as the Chair of the Missouri Council of School Attorneys. For the past eleven years, Jim has been recognized by Thompson Reuters as a SuperLawyer, and has also been recognized by Best Lawyers – including as the Lawyer of the Year in Education (St. Louis)
John Brink is a magna cum laude graduate of Southern Illinois University – Carbondale School of Law where he was a member of the law journal. Prior to entering law school, John was a high school math teacher in Illinois for several years. John received a B.S. degree in Secondary Education-Mathematics from the University of Illinois.
After graduating from law school, John had the privilege of serving as a law clerk for the Honorable Edward L. Filippine, Chief Judge of the United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri. Serving as a law clerk provided an invaluable opportunity to be exposed to a wide variety of legal issues and to view the legal process from the judicial perspective.
Upon completion of his clerkship, John served the State of Missouri as an Assistant Attorney General. In that capacity, John represented the State and various state employees in a wide variety of matters, including civil rights, employment, special education, and school desegregation litigation. While with the Attorney General’s Office, John first- and second-chaired several trials and represented the State in administrative hearings related to personnel issues. In addition to arguing cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and writing numerous appellate briefs, John drafted an amicus curia brief filed with the United States Supreme Court.
After moving to the private sector in 1999, John focused his practice on the representation of public school districts, with an emphasis on issues related to students with disabilities. His practice has included providing counsel on a wide variety of issues and representation in administrative and judicial proceedings. John has served as a mediator in special education matters and as a hearing officer in Section 504 due process hearings.
John has been asked frequently to speak to school and attorney groups on matters related to students with disabilities and is an adjunct professor for Lindenwood University, where he teaches special education law.
