Betsy is the mom to four children, one of whom needed an IEP in third grade. She became an IEP “expert”, good enough to get her daughter all the services she needed in a timely fashion, mostly at Impartial Hearings, which she did herself, without an attorney, and which she has continued to do for other parents. Betsy consistently wins the money/tuition sought by the parents for private schools and/or programs.
Betsy started her career as an investigative reporter with ABC-TV in New York City. She then moved to Cairo, Egypt, where she worked with the networks as an assistant producer and designed and set up a solar-powered video project that helped the tiny Nile Delta villages reach out to government officials through programs produced locally to obtain resources. Betsy lived and worked in Egypt, Israel, and Jordan for five years.
Betsy visited the teacher re-assignment centers (TRCs or “rubber rooms”) from 2004-2007 as an interested member of the public. Then, from 2007 to 2010, she worked as a special representative at the UFT, overseeing the eight rubber rooms in all boroughs. In 2011 Betsy started her own company, Advocatz, to “fix” the corruption and fraud in NYC public education.
Since 2003 Betsy has assisted teachers with their 3020-a arbitration hearings – preparing for, researching, and writing closing arguments, questions for testimony, and anything else that was needed. She works with Attorneys or assists the Respondent without an attorney. She also does this work in these hearings outside of NYC on Long Island and in upstate New York. Betsy is a graduate of NYU, Johns Hopkins SAIS, and Northwestern University. She edits the following websites and blogs:
- ADVOCATZ.com
- ADVOCATZ blog
- Parentadvocates.org
- NYC Rubber Room Reporter
- New York Court Corruption
- National Public Voice
- NYC Public Voice
- Inside 3020-a Teachers’ Trials.
Susan Woolhandler