Jaime A. Fernand

Jaime A. Fernand concentrates her practice exclusively on education law, charter school and private school governance, and related regulatory matters. She focuses on helping schools and the organizations that support them. Specifically, Jaime supports schools and networks, providing counsel in a wide range of areas including student discipline, employment law (including policies, investigations and counseling on employment decisions), social media and privacy issues (for in-person and remote instruction), reporting requirements, governance, school policies, crisis management, special education, and testing integrity. She guides schools through the charter application and renewal processes.  She also helps schools manage the challenges presented by COVID-19.  Further, she conducts employment and student-focused investigations on behalf of a school’s Board of Trustees.

Jaime was trained in mediation while employed at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and she regularly assists schools with responses to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Office for Civil Rights, and formal requests from government agencies and authorizers.

Representative Accomplishments

• Worked collaboratively with parent advocacy organizations in NY to develop model charter school disciplinary practices.
• Conducts investigations into employment, fraud, test administration, and allegations of misconduct between students or students and school employees.
• Helps schools navigate intricacies of social media in the workplace and between students (cyber-bullying, sexual harassment).
• Regularly assists schools carry out administrative hearings related to disciplinary matters
• Advises schools and not-for-profit organizations on regulatory compliance, contract work and transactional matters.
• Trains and advises charter school board on governance best practices.
• Interacts with authorizers on behalf of charter schools.
• Served as Chief Education Counsel for EdisonLearning and its nationwide network of schools (charter, district partnership, and virtual).
• Helped found the Andrew H. Wilson Charter School in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.