Shemica is an instructor for COPAA's SEAT 1.0, SEAT 2.0, The Business of Special Education Advocacy, and also works as a TA. She is also the founder of a Special Education advocacy business called Personalized Learning Solutions. Shemica began her teaching career in 2000 teaching cardiac education classes in two cardiac rehabilitation programs in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.  She kept advancing her career in the area of Special Education after she received her Principal certification and later gained experience as a Lead Case Manager/Response to Intervention Coordinator at a middle school in Crowley ISD, Special Education Team Lead at a high school in McKinney ISD, and Vocational Adjustment Coordinator in Garland ISD. She also has experience as a Content Mastery Teacher, Homebound Teacher, and In Home Trainer. Shemica has completed the Special Education Advocate Training (SEAT) 2.0 training through the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) which is a nationally developed and recognized year-long course that will help her better serve current and future clients.  She has attended hundreds of ARD/IEP, 504, and Student Support Team (SST) meetings. Shemica also has extensive training in facilitating Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD)/IEP committee meetings which requires effective  communication, problem solving, decision making, and conflict resolution.

Cynthia Daniels Hall (NC), is the parent of children with diagnoses on the autism spectrum.  Cynthia is a special education advocate and owner of Every Child Solutions, a special education advocacy business. Cynthia is an COPAA board member, a Black American female born in the southeast, raised in the northeast, and now lives in North Carolina.  As a person who was raised in a family of educators, and as the parent of young adults with disabilities, she understands the process from a unique and personal perspective.  Cynthia understands how the inconsistent implementation of special education laws by public school systems affects parents and their children. As a military spouse, having lived in six states, she realizes that when helping parents obtain a free appropriate public education for their children in the least restrictive environment, any solution must be tailored to their individual child and their situation.  Cynthia interest in serving on COPAA's Board and as Chair of the Advocate committee is non-attorney special education advocate training that promotes the development of knowledge and skills to support, inform, and empower parent participation in the special education process.

Heather Eckner serves as the Director of Statewide Education & Outreach for the Autism Alliance of Michigan (AAoM) leading efforts under the organization’s education pillar which includes programs and strategic initiatives aimed toward systems change. Most notably are the statewide education coalitions that Heather convenes connected to special education at both the grasstops and grassroots levels.

She holds a BS in Accounting from the Pennsylvania State University and MA in Education from Ursuline College. In her role as an instructional assistant at Wayne State’s College of Education, she develops and delivers family programming to increase parents’ knowledge and confidence in navigating the special education system. Heather has general education classroom teaching experience comprising the inclusion of special education students and is the parent of children who receive special education services and supports. Heather’s extensive knowledge encompasses all areas of eligibility and the continuum of services in Special Education with a training emphasis in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Dyslexia. 

Heather is a 2021 fellow for the Michigan Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (MI-LEND) program, an interdisciplinary leadership program that prepares emerging leaders with the goal of improving the health of infants, children, and adolescents with or at risk for neurodevelopmental disabilities and other related health care needs.

She is now in the Leadership Detroit Class XLII for 2022. Leadership Detroit is a community leadership program for executives in Southeast Michigan that aims to create awareness of key issues that affect the Detroit region and to challenge emerging and existing community leaders to bring about positive change in the community through informed leadership.

Heather’s dedication to advocacy is driven by her commitment to education and passion for social justice. She participates in various community roles as a member of the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor as well as serving on committees, executive boards, and by collaborating in advisory groups and coalitions.

As a parent of special needs children, David understands and appreciates all of the difficulties parent’s face as they try and navigate the special education maze.  David formed Parent Support Arizona to ensure parents have a local resource and the tools they need to ensure their children’s educational needs are met. Over the past few years, David has sought administrative remedies through the State Department of Education, Office of Administrative Hearings OCR and FERPA.  David uses these experiences to provide civil rights advocacy, educational advocacy, parent training and represent parents in IDEA due process hearings in the State of Arizona.  In addition he offers self-help tools and resources that allow parents to advocate for themselves and on an equal footing with schools as they advocate for their children’s rights. 

Bonnie’s journey in advocacy began when her own child entered the public school system in 2011, and she learned they were in need of special education supports and services. It quickly became apparent the special education system is complex, and she embarked on a personal journey to learn as much as possible about navigating it, to ensure her child received the supports and services they needed to succeed, and that their rights were being honored by the education system.

In 2018 she became a member of COPAA, completed their series of SEAT courses, and today she is a teaching assistant and instructor for COPAA’s SEAT program, continuing her journey by teaching others to advocate for special education students across the country.
She has worked with schools in Nevada and California to advocate for student needs and has gained a wealth of experience working with teachers and administrators not only as an advocate and parent, but as PTA President, school site council member, founding board
member of her school district’s first education foundation and currently sits on the Washoe County School District Superintendent’s Special Education Family Action Committee.

Bonnie also holds a BS in Business Administration, an MBA, and spent 10 years working in brand and corporate marketing before transitioning to a new role of parenting in 2006.