Attorney and law professor Michael Gregory to present keynote address on trauma-sensitive schools

Via Indiana University Bloomington Newsroom

Clinical Professor of Law Michael Gregory

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A panel discussion on legal issues involving transgender students and a keynote lecture on trauma-sensitive schools will be among the highlights of the annual Martha McCarthy Education Law and Policy Institute: The Future of Professional Ethics, presented by the Educational Leadership & Policy Studies program at the Indiana University School of Education.

Registration is now open for the conference, which is free and open to the public and will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. June 9 at Willkie Auditorium. A complete listing of the events is on the conference website.

The keynote address, “Trauma-Sensitive Schools,” will be delivered by Michael Gregory, clinical professor of law at Harvard Law School and senior attorney at the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative. Gregory’s talk is part of the Future of Professional Ethics 2015-16 Workshop series, sponsored by 12 units at Indiana University, including the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions and The Media School.

Educational leaders, attorneys and professors from across the country — including Martha McCarthy, Presidential Professor at Loyola Marymount University and Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus at IU Bloomington — will take part in various panel discussions on current legal, policy and ethical issues in education, such as student harassment, bullying, student and employee privacy, and technology in schools.

The institute concludes with a roundtable discussion on transgender student legal issues led by Thomas Aberli, a Louisville principal featured recently by The New York Times and National Public Radio for his school’s policies protecting transgender student rights. Other roundtable discussion topics include the privatization of public education, students with disabilities, women in administration, and racial discrimination in school discipline.

About the Martha McCarthy Education Law and Policy Institute: This is the third year that the conference will carry the name of Martha McCarthy. Organizers renamed the longtime conference in 2013 for McCarthy, a faculty member at the IU School of Education from 1975 to 2011 who is nationally recognized as an expert in education law. Her research has covered a variety of education leadership and policy matters, including student engagement, equity in schools and teacher preparation.