About

Sarah provides counsel to Ohio school boards on a variety of school law matters, including special education law issues, labor and employment law matters, student rights and discipline, and school finance. She also has experience with administrative level hearings and cases filed with the Ohio Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.  Sarah has successfully litigated cases in both state and federal court in employment, civil rights, residency, and school finance matters.  She also clerked with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.  Sarah speaks at school law conferences and provides in-service training to school boards.

Experience

• Argued challenge to improper school district of residence determination for a special education student in juvenile court for the 11th District, resulting in a substantial change in financial responsibility for the district.

• Successfully defended district’s decision to expel a student for improper social media posts relating back to school administrators. The case established precedent for supporting school districts’ disciplinary decisions regarding inappropriate off-campus social media use.

• Defended the district’s interpretation and implementation of HB 410 establishing new requirements for addressing student truancy.

• Represented numerous school boards in due process hearings, including mediation, discovery, witness preparation, and litigation preparation.

Education

• DePaul University College of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 2012

• Northwestern University, B.S., cum laude, 2007

Admissions

• Ohio, 2012

• U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit

• U.S. Dist. Ct., N. Dist. of Ohio

• U.S. Dist. Ct., S. Dist. of Ohio