Susan Roberts

After 35 years in special education administration, Susan Roberts brings a broad and deep range of experience and acumen to F3 Law and its clients. She strives to help school districts spend less time in litigation and more time in collaboration with parents, training staff and hiring and employing educators and other professionals who share the values and the mission of the district. In all situations, Susan works diligently to ensure her districts make decisions with students’ best interests placed front and center.

Drawing on a passion for and fascination with the promise of special education, Susan considers her focus on the specialty not just her career, but her avocation. Her background includes positions as director of pupil services for a school district, program specialist for student support services, special education coordinator and school psychologist. She constantly looks for opportunities to apply her insights, significantly alter outcomes, and gain more positive futures for pupils with disabilities and their families. Susan finds great satisfaction in finding ways to appropriately support these students.

Approachable and easy-going, as well as direct and honest, Susan offers a calming, reassuring presence even in high-stakes and stressful circumstances. In every situation, she considers the big picture as well as the details and the specific needs of each student.
Her decades of experience allow her to predict many of the unintended consequences of actions taken or not taken. She’s also highly respected for her ability to use strategic thinking to recognize emerging issues and then respond proactively.

Susan listens and communicates carefully, projecting a positive and solution-oriented sense that problems can be resolved in ways that benefit everyone. She wants school district administrators to know that she and the F3 team have their backs at all times and are ready and willing to provide whatever help is needed, from legal guidance to additional staff training.

Working both directly with school district clients and in tandem with F3 lawyers, Susan provides highly informed help in a range of areas, including evaluating students to determine whether they’re eligible for special education through an IEP or Section 504 plan, developing educational plans for students who have challenging needs, and ensuring that placements are appropriate and least restrictive. Susan translates legal language into straightforward English and concepts that make sense to clients.

School districts and F3 lawyers elicit Susan’s input on special education program development, design and delivery systems; planning, organization and implementation of appropriate professional development and training; IEP document development; facilitation of IEP/504 meetings; suspension and expulsion of students with disabilities; positive behavior support; referral, assessment, and identification procedures; non-pubic school placements; transition planning; special education staffing; due process proceedings; data-based decision making and progress monitoring; response to instruction/intervention; and evidence-based curriculum and instruction.

Susan’s perspective and insights prove valuable in pressing issues that have been increasingly arising in special education, such as persistent school avoidance, determination of residential placements, identifying differences between Section 504 and special education eligibility, and aggressive or disruptive behavior that may be disability related.