Special education attorney Julie Weatherly, Esq., will bring four decades of legal experience to the Transporting Students with Disabilities & Special Needs (TSD) Conference and Trade Show this November, helping school transportation professionals understand how recent court decisions can affect every day operational choices and potentially expose districts and transportation providers to litigation.
Weatherly will present “The Wheels of Justice: Important Case Law Impacting Transportation of Students with Disabilities” Saturday, Nov. 7, from 9 to 10:45 a.m. The keynote is part of the 2026 TSD Conference, scheduled for Nov. 4-10 at the Embassy Suites in Frisco, Texas.
During a recent interview on the School Transportation Nation podcast, Weatherly reflected on beginning her special education law practice in 1986, when litigation surrounding the federal special education law was still developing. Since then, she has watched the field evolve through new regulations, federal guidance, civil-rights investigations and major U.S. Supreme Court decisions. That long view will frame a keynote focused less on legal theory and more on what court rulings mean for student transportation services during the individualized education program process.
Weatherly plans to use real-world scenarios and recent decisions to address four areas of growing concern: Personal injury-type monetary damages in special education cases, student discipline, transportation as a related service under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and requests involving service animals. The goal is to help attendees recognize where legal vulnerabilities can arise while providing safe, equitable and individualized transportation.
One focal point will be the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2025 decision in A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools. The unanimous Court rejected a heightened “bad faith or gross misjudgment” standard that had applied to certain education-related claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Instead, the Court held that students bringing those claims are subject to the same standards that apply in other disability-discrimination contexts. Weatherly indicated she will explain why the decision matters when parents seek compensatory damages over alleged failures involving transportation and other special education services.
The keynote will also examine cases addressing what transportation actually means as an IDEA-related service. Attendees can expect discussion of individualized transportation needs, questions surrounding door-to-door service and the point at which operational policies must yield to decisions made by an IEP team. Weatherly will also connect transportation-related discipline to the district’s obligation to maintain required services when a student’s behavior results in removal from the school bus.
Service-animal requests present another developing area. Weatherly plans to review how courts have responded to the accommodations requested by families and how far districts may be required to go. For transportation teams, those cases can raise practical questions about boarding, student and staff responsibilities, safety planning, supervision and the need for an individualized response rather than a blanket policy.
Her broader podcast conversation underscored the rapidly changing environment in which those decisions are being made. Weatherly discussed uncertainty surrounding federal special education and civil-rights enforcement while emphasizing that the legal rights of students with disabilities remain in place. She also cautioned districts against treating AI as a substitute for qualified legal advice or individualized educational decision-making, citing the potential for inaccurate information, confidentiality problems and generic, cut-and-paste planning that does not address a specific student’s needs.
Weatherly is the founder of Resolutions in Special Education, Inc., a Mobile, Alabama-based legal and consulting firm that assists education agencies with disputes arising under IDEA, Section 504, the ADA and related laws. A graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law and a member of the Alabama and Georgia state bars, she provides legal and consulting services to school agencies nationwide and is a frequent presenter at state and national special education law conferences.
Main conference registration is currently available at the $499 Early Bird rate through Oct. 2, a savings of $100. Registration includes the main conference workshop, general and keynote sessions, networking events, the Ride & Drive + Technology Demo, and the trade show and reception. Visit TSDConference.com and clicked the Register Now button to reserve a seat.
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