Overview
Dina Harris advises and represents California school districts and county offices of education in a wide variety of matters, including student discipline, parent and student rights, special education and Section 504 compliance, governance, and policy. She has been practicing education law for 30 years.
In the area of student discipline, Ms. Harris regularly advises school clients on day-to-day issues that arise, such as interventions and suspensions, as well as stipulated expulsion agreements, expulsion hearings and decisions, and expulsion appeals. She also provides student discipline training for school site personnel and hearing panel members.
In the area of special education, Ms. Harris advises and represents school clients at IEP team meetings, resolution sessions, mediations and due process hearings before the Office of Administrative Hearings when disputes cannot be resolved informally. She also assists school districts in the preparation of prior written notices in response to parent requests and to support school district proposals. Ms. Harris provides staff training in various areas, including manifestation determinations for students with disabilities.
Ms. Harris spends a significant portion of her practice on charter school matters, assisting school districts and county offices of education in reviewing and taking action on charter petitions and renewal requests, negotiating agreements, responding to facilities requests, and carrying out oversight responsibilities. She also has significant experience assisting school districts in responding to federal and state complaint investigations and compliance reviews, and in conducting complaint investigations at the local level.
Ms. Harris presents on a variety of topics at conferences serving the education community, including the Coalition for Adequate School Housing, the Association for California School Administrators and the California Association of School Business Officials. She also represented the California School Boards Association Education Legal Alliance as amicus curiae.
While at Brigham Young University, Ms. Harris served as founding editor-in-chief of BYU’s Education and Law Journal.