217.428.2100 (tel.)
217.428.2186 (fax)
cmccarty@rsnlt.com

Practice Areas: Education Law, Municipal Law, Special Education,Student Discipline

Colette McCarty concentrates her practice in the areas of general student matters particularly student discipline and special education. She represents school districts in due process hearings, suspension and expulsion hearings and mediations. In addition, she advises clients regarding student records, residency determinations and content of board policies and student handbooks. Colette has also represented school district clients in real estate negotiations, intergovernmental agreements and contract disputes. In the area of local government practice, she advises villages and townships regarding finances, compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act and also serves as prosecuting attorney for local government clients in ordinance violation cases.

Colette has participated in programs presented at the Illinois Association of School Boards annual convention and has spoken at programs presented by the Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education and at numerous workshops and seminars for school district administrators and school board members.

Education

• J.D., University of Illinois College of Law, 1991
• B.A., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1988

Admitted to Practice

• Supreme Court of Illinois
• U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois

Recent Publication

• Contributing author, Special Education, ILLINOIS SCHOOL LAW (Ill. Inst. for CLE, 2005).

Recent Presentations

• Internet Liability Issues for Schools, Area IV Learning Technology Center Administrators' Academy, Rantoul, IL (April 2009)
• Physical Restraint and Touching of Students From a Legal Perspective, Urbana School District #116, Winter District In-Service Day (January, 2009)
• Presenter, Update on Student Discipline, Southern Illinois University School Administrators' Legal Roundtable, Carbondale, IL (October, 2008)
• "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" Inquiry Into Student Speech Issues, 2007 IASB/IASA/IASBO Conference, Chicago, IL (November 2007)
• Keynote Speaker, 504 Plans and Procedures, Urbana School District No. 116, Teacher Institute Day (October 2006)
• Keynote Speaker, Legal Issues Which Affect Teachers, New Holland-Middletown Elementary School District No. 88 (September 2006)
• Constitutional Rights of Students, College for a Day program for gifted students, Decatur Public School District No. 61 (March 2006)
• Keynote Speaker, Recent Legal Happenings and Their Impact on Classrooms, Shelby County Teacher Institute Day (October 2005)
• Township Clerks' Handbook, Educational Zone Seminars, Township Officials of Illinois (May, June, July 2004)
• Must Have Provisions in Student Handbooks, Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education, Fifth Annual Winter Conference (January 2004)