Bucks County Education Attorney Helps Kick Off Advocacy Campaign

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. - Oct. 21, 2014 - PRLog -- Pennsylvania education lawyer Stephen J. Jacobson is helping to spearhead a campaign to better inform parents and guardians of the education rights of students with disabilities and those who are mentally gifted.

Jacobson, vice chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Legal Services for Exceptional Children Committee and managing partner of Connolly, Jacobson & John, LLP, helped launch the program at a news conference at the Capitol in Harrisburg on Oct. 6. Entitled “Have a Voice in Your Exceptional Child’s Education,” the campaign aims to provide parents and guardians with an overview of special education rights in Pennsylvania.

"Although Pennsylvania guarantees many educational rights to exceptional children, unfortunately, many parents are either unaware of them or are simply overwhelmed by the process," Jacobson said. “Our law firm specializes in working with families of children with special needs, and we are thrilled to support this initiative to ensure that parents can help their exceptional children get all the educational support to which they are entitled.”

Jacobson joined Pennsylvania Bar Association president Francis X. O’Connor and Gabe Labella, an attorney with the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania, to announce the program, which is sponsored by the state bar association and 25 county bar associations, including the Montgomery Bar Association.

As part of the campaign, participating bar associations are distributing brochures entitled “Education Rights for Students with Disabilities” and “Education Rights for Mentally Gifted Students.” Brochures are available at no cost on the association's website or through the mail by contacting the PBA at 1-888-799-4557. Funded by the Pennsylvania Bar Association and a grant from the Pennsylvania Bar Insurance and Trust Fund, this is the 12th in a series of statewide public education efforts led by the association.

Based in Doylestown, Pa., Connolly, Jacobson & John is dedicated to ensuring that children with special needs have access to all of the educational and support services to which they are entitled. Jacobson and partners Michael J. Connolly and Hollie B. John speak frequently on a variety of issues related to special education in Pennsylvania.

Connolly, Jacobson & John, LLP has more than 40 years of collective experience in special education, focusing on the representation in education and related matters of children with special needs and their families. The firm represents students who receive a variety of special education services, including students with learning disabilities, autism, ADHD, speech and language impairments, intellectual disability, emotional, physical and developmental disabilities, behavioral concerns and giftedness.