Education Stability Attorney

Public Justice Center
Baltimore, Maryland

August 19, 2024

Education Stability Project, Lead Attorney

Be a critical member in a team of social justice advocates! The Public Justice Center seeks an attorney to lead its Education Stability team.

The Public Justice Center (“PJC”) and the Education Stability Project
The PJC pursues systemic change to build a just society. Founded in Maryland in 1985, the PJC uses legal advocacy tools to pursue social justice, economic and racial equity, and fundamental human rights for people who are struggling to provide for their basic needs. The PJC is a civil legal aid office that provides advice and representation to low-income clients, advocates before legislatures and government agencies, and collaborates with community and advocacy organizations. For more about the PJC, visit our website: www.publicjustice.org.

The Public Justice Center’s Education Stability Project seeks to advance racial equity in public education by combatting the overuse of practices like suspension, expulsion, and school policing that disproportionately target students of color and students with disabilities push students out of school. Project attorneys represent individual students facing disciplinary removals from school and potentially engage in impact litigation; educate students, parents, and community members on the rights of students with respect to student discipline and school policing; and engage in policy advocacy to discourage school pushout and support the use of effective and inclusive strategies for achieving positive student behavior and school climate. The attorney will lead a team of one additional attorney and a paralegal. The attorney will be supervised by the Legal Director.

Recent examples of the Education Stability Project’s successes include:

• Ended the use of zero-tolerance discipline in Prince George’s County where the district was referring students for expulsion for certain alleged offenses regardless of the particular circumstances surrounding the incident.
• Through community advocacy and testimony, secured the closure of two alternative schools in Dorchester County which sought to unlawfully segregate students as young as prekindergarten who were determined to be “disruptive.”
• Obtained a favorable decision from the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) which established a mechanism to ensure students in St. Mary’s County are provided special education supports while in in-school suspension.
• Obtained a favorable decision from the MSDE which found that Prince George’s County Public Schools had violated the law when it suspended students in PreK – 2nd Grade. This resulted in multiple districtwide trainings on the law on suspensions of these youngest students and procedures designed to prevent them from being suspended.

Core Duties:

• Manage and supervise a team of one additional attorney and one paralegal.
• Provide legal advice and representation to public school students facing school pushout, along with their parents or guardians;
• Provide know-your-rights trainings and outreach to community groups;
• Thorough and timely case and file management;
• Develop and advance the goals of the Education Stability Team at the PJC, including contributing to the team’s workplan and race equity analysis and supporting fundraising/communications;
• Actively participate in coalition and team meetings and advance policy advocacy, including in the Maryland General Assembly, before local school boards, and at the state board of education.
• With the team, advocacy partners, and potentially co-counsel, develop impact litigation to combat inequitable school pushout.

Desired Skills and Experience:
The following qualifications are valued for this position. Applicants should also identify other related or supplementary skills and experiences.

• Maryland bar admission or admission to another state bar and eligibility for admission in Maryland, or willingness to take the Maryland bar when needed.
• 3-5 (or more) years of legal experience.
• Prior legal experience with low-income and other oppressed communities and clients.
• Prior experience in education or children’s rights advocacy strongly preferred.
• Passion for social justice and commitment to the vision of the Public Justice Center.
• Understanding of the principles of race equity and the intersection of racism and poverty and their application to the PJC’s organizational life and to our work.
• Ability to work under deadline and manage multiple tasks.
• Lived experience with our client communities highly desired.
• Ability to empathize and sensitively respond to people in crisis situations.
• Strong problem-solving abilities, time management, and organizational skills.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with others both in and outside of the PJC.

Compensation: This is a full-time, exempt, professional position. The attorney may be called upon to work hours more than 40 hours in a workweek, including the potential for evening and weekend work. Local travel will be required at times. Salary is determined by the PJC’s pay scale; the range for an attorney with 3 to 5 years of experience is $76,000 - $80,000 and increases with experience, plus a $1,000 Spanish language annual salary supplement if qualified. An excellent cafeteria benefit package in the annual amount of $16,200 is also provided. This package offers health, dental, vision, disability and life insurance, and retirement options. Cafeteria benefits packages give employees flexibility to choose how to direct their benefits. For example, this package can cover 100% of employee healthcare premiums, but an employee can choose to direct those funds towards retirement if they already have health insurance, or can have remaining funds added to the employee’s taxable salary. PJC employees receive at least 20 days of paid leave, with increases based on length of tenure, 12 paid holidays, and 15 days of sick leave annually.

COVID-19 Information: Most PJC positions, including this one, generally have the option of working in our office in downtown Baltimore City or at home. The attorney will be required to come to the office, the courts, or other meetings only as necessary. The PJC provides PPE for employees and guests and maintaining other risk reduction measures in the office.

Physical/Mental Demands and Office Environment: The physical/mental demands described in this job announcement are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.