BASF’s special education ADR services are offered in partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Special Education Services ADR Program and Support For Families of Children with Disabilities (SFCD), and are free thanks to a grant from the California Department of Education.
BASF’s neutral ADR services are designed with an equity lens to repair and support the relationships that are essential to a thriving and student-centered collaboration amongst all IEP team members.
Services include:
- Facilitated IEP (FIEP): a professional third party neutral will facilitate your student’s IEP team meeting, including drafting the agenda, holding ground rules for the meeting, and supporting a fully inclusive, meaningful, and collaborative process. IEP meetings are on the record and are not confidential.
- Collaborative Conference (CC): a professional third party neutral will facilitate a confidential Collaborative Conference, which is an early form of mediation where parties can engage openly and honestly with one another directly, without attorneys present, about what is needed to repair communication and trust and continue collaborating effectively for the student. This is treated as a mediation under California laws and is a confidential process.
- Communication Strategy Session (CSS): a professional third party neutral will provide one on one communication coaching to support you in navigating wherever you find yourself in a conflict in a particular moment in time.
- ADR Trainings: a professional third party neutral will provide custom ADR trainings to support all parties towards greater and more effective (a) collaboration and communication, (b) access to justice and navigation of the full spectrum of ADR, (c) skills in effective communication, cultural humility, and trauma informed care.
BASF’s interdisciplinary and diverse panel of certified neutrals are staff or independent contractors who have extensive training and a wealth of experience in special education law, school culture, negotiation, effective collaboration and communication, cultural humility, trauma informed approaches, interpersonal relations, and group dynamics.
BASF’s panel of neutrals are vetted and assigned by BASF.
If you are interested in joining BASF’s panel of neutrals, please contact:
Laura Benghal
Director of ADR
Email: sfusdadr@basf.org
To request ADR services, please complete this form and/or contact:
Julia Martin
SFUSD Special Education Ombudsperson
Mobile: 415.319.4811
Email: adr@sfusd.edu
Website: www.sfusd.edu/special-education-adr
Meet the facilitators
These BASF facilitators are independent contractors who provide services through BASF.
