Beth Sims Takes Office as President of New York State Association of School Attorneys

President’s Message

My name is Beth Sims, and I am privileged to serve as NYSASA’s President for 2019.

For more than fifty years, NYSASA has served as a membership association dedicated exclusively to school attorneys.  Our members serve as legal counsel to boards of education and public school districts across the State.  The mission of this association is to support New York’s schools by supporting the attorneys who represent them.  NYSASA is committed to helping school attorneys provide their clients with the highest quality legal representation.

Our association does this in a number of ways:

We regularly offer continuing legal education seminars and conferences specific to the practice of school law.   For example, on May 31-June 2, 2019, we will once again host our annual School Law Seminar at the Sagamore Hotel in Lake George, which is a three-day program providing the latest information on hot topics in school law.  This seminar affords those who attend the opportunity to network with other school attorneys from across the State, as well as to share experiences and best practices in representing school districts.

Our organization co-sponsors, with the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA), the Annual Pre-Convention School Law Seminar, which will be held this October in Rochester and kicks off NYSSBA’s 100th Annual Convention & Education Expo.  This seminar is attended by a large number of school district board members, superintendents and other officials, so it’s a great opportunity to spend time with clients as well as colleagues.  This past year we had our greatest attendance ever with almost 500 audience members.  Information on how to register for both of these conferences will be available soon on this website.  I hope you can attend one or both of these upcoming professional conferences.

In partnership with NYSSBA, the NYSASA membership writes a monthly column in On Board, NYSSBA’s newspaper, to substantively address legal issues that are important to the field.  In addition, our members-only listserv provides you with access to our entire membership of school attorneys who can be a resource of information when novel or challenging questions present themselves.

NYSASA is also a knowledgeable and pragmatic resource for school boards and administrators, New York State governmental officials and the general public. For example, our Board of Directors has worked hard over the past several years to grow critical relationships with legislators, State Education Department officials and Statewide stakeholders, to enable school attorneys to have a place at the table when important decisions affecting public education are made.  These efforts have paid off, as NYSASA is called upon more and more frequently for critical input on emerging legal and policy issues.

I am greatly looking forward to the continued growth and important work of NYSASA during 2019.  If you have any questions about NYSASA, please feel free to contact me at info@nysasa.org or at 845.486.4200.   I very much look forward to my leadership role as President and continuing our association’s commitment to public education and the practice of school law in New York State.

Very truly yours,

Beth L. Sims

https://www.nysasa.org/index.php/about-us/presidents-message