The pandemic, students, and the law

With retirement on the horizon, Kathleen Mehfoud, B’74 and L’78, anticipated a light workload in 2020, working part time as senior counsel at Reed Smith in Richmond.

Then along came COVID-19.

“This was supposed to be a very low-key year for me, with me not working very much,” Mehfoud said. “But I ended up having to work a whole lot for the public school districts, at least at the beginning of the year, because of all the COVID issues and the poor schools.”

Mehfoud has spent more than four decades — 42 years to be exact — working in education law, a field she was drawn to because of the variety and wide range of issues it encompasses. But nothing prepared the Richmond Law graduate for the challenges the pandemic presented to schools in the area, around the state, and across the country.

In your many years working in this field, had you ever seen anything like this?
No, definitely not. This is a unique challenge. The only thing you could potentially liken it to was when AIDS first came about, and we were dealing with employees and children in the schools who were HIV-positive and trying to work our way through that, but that was very different. That was a very isolated case here and there and obviously something you could deal with very easily without having to close the schools.

What was the initial response to the COVID-19 restrictions by the schools you work with?
The clients were at a complete loss as to what to do. When it first came about, there was this — in retrospect — naive belief that schools were going to be closed down for two weeks or a month and then we’d all come back. And then there was a belief, over the summer, that we’ll all come back in the fall, and it will be fine, which of course hasn’t proven to be correct at all.

The thing that was happening was it was so overwhelming and affecting every aspect of the school communities that the staff was at a loss as to what to do. It was not only a concern for the students and what was going on with them and helping them continue their education and getting the technology in place quickly so that they could learn remotely, but then there was the concern for the staff and anybody supplying services to the schools.

Every aspect of operations was affected and then, of course, the finances. How do you afford all the services you need to put in place and get all the technology in the hands of the students? How do you buy technology for all of your students if you have this big economic slowdown and your budget is less than anticipated? It was just an overwhelmingly difficult task.

As schools and school boards navigated this new learning environment, how did you and your colleagues respond to the increased demand for legal support?
We did audio conferences and virtual seminars to talk about the nuts and bolts about what they needed to do on a day-to-day basis. How do you work with children with disabilities who are not going to be attending school in person? How do you meet strict deadlines? How do you do evaluations when you can’t sit down face to face with a student?

And, then, there was lots of planning for the future. If this continues, what do we have to do to get rigorous education programs in place in a virtual setting?

In addition to the sheer scope, what made this such a unique challenge?
All the requirements are in place for the school districts regarding educating kids, serving children with disabilities, developing their IEPs [Individualized Education Program], doing evaluations, and all the timelines for doing it. They’re all there in place, but then you put the COVID restrictions on it, and it makes the task almost impossible, but yet they still have to meet all regulatory requirements. So we’ve been trying to be very creative in finding solutions so that school districts continue to fulfill their educational responsibilities even though there is a pandemic going on. That is not an easy task.

Can you detail some of those creative solutions?
In terms of creative solutions, the firm discussed, in our seminars last spring, that school districts would need to plan over the summer for the possibility of all virtual programs for September and needed to determine methods of delivering rigorous educational services in a virtual environment. 

This type of program entailed placing computers in the hands of all students and ensuring they had Wi-Fi access. The Wi-Fi access was particularly interesting and the use of hot spots, school parking lots, and mobile buses to provide Wi-Fi services were investigated. Additionally, training was given to teachers by the districts about how to teach virtually and by my firm about how to conduct meetings virtually. 

My firm defined the legal issues in conducting virtual meetings, such as sharing written information in advance, limiting the number of participants while still meeting legal requirements for the meeting, and addressing privacy issues for the virtual meetings. We provided many tips about how to conduct the meetings legally — although virtually — and what licensure and privacy limitations there could be on the provision of related services over a virtual platform. 

How has the pandemic amplified privacy issues for the schools?
When students come into school and they’re sitting in a classroom with a teacher, it’s usually just the students and their teacher, so it’s a very self-contained environment.

Now you translate that into each one of the students in that class being at home. Parents can see everything that’s going on in the class. You can record the sessions. And there’s also the privacy issue of staff now seeing into the homes of all the students. They can see things that are going on there. So there are privacy concerns for the other students in the class as well.

How significantly has the transition to virtual learning impacted the faculty and staff?
There’s so much stress on the staff. The poor teachers, not only are they worried about their own families and their health — and that’s a big concern — but in order to teach a class, they’ve had to master a platform that they haven’t been using before. So they have to figure out how to teach virtually, something they didn’t have to do before. They are starring in a program where they are the actor, the director, the writer, and the producer. And their audience is not just the students, it’s any parent who wants to walk by and criticize what they’re doing.

As someone who specializes in the law as it relates to education services for children with disabilities, how has the pandemic impacted those students in particular?
By definition, children with disabilities need special support. They wouldn’t be identified if they didn’t need more in the way of educational support, so having them learn virtually is that much more difficult. Which is why, at least in Virginia, we’re seeing some schools that may be virtual, but children with disabilities may be attending school for at least part of the week.

Children with disabilities may need to attend school in person two or three days a week so that they are getting some individualized instruction.

The financial strain of this ongoing pandemic is being felt by everyone, from families to businesses. How is it impacting schools?
If you want to have the students there in person, you need to do a lot of work to your heating and air conditioning systems. Schools are not affluent to begin with, and then when you add all of this on top of it, they definitely need additional financial support from the federal government and from the states — the states need it from the federal government.

Just installing acrylic dividers and getting the PPE for the staff, depending on what type of situation you are in, is a tremendous expense. And, then there is the question, “Are these changes that we have to make permanently, or are these changes that we’re investing all this money in and then we’re not going to need long-term?” It’s a really, really difficult time for everyone, and particularly the schools.

Is there a solution in sight for the many challenges schools are facing?
The solution is that, hopefully, we all get the vaccine and return to school. I’ve been predicting all along how long it’s going to take for things to return to a semblance of normalcy for the schools, and I was thinking that September 2021 is going to be when it happens, and now I’m worried because they’re talking about the vaccine not rolling out anywhere near as fast as they’ve been talking initially.

I imagine if they can just get the adults vaccinated, then the teachers can safely teach the kids in school, so maybe we just have to get through until September of next year. I mean that’s my best unsubstantiated prediction. Who knows what will actually happen?

Even after 40-plus years in the field of education law, was there still a learning curve as you dealt with the impact of this pandemic?
Everyone is facing something new. There aren’t answers, which also makes it interesting. If you always deal with the same thing, where the answer was obvious, it wouldn’t be nearly as challenging or as exciting. I think this pandemic situation is definitely challenging and an interesting one to retire on.

Given the many challenges the pandemic presents, is there no enticing you to stay on a bit longer?
Jan. 2, that was my retirement date. This is it. I’m 72 years old. It’s time.


Retirement, however, will not mean a sedentary life for Mehfoud. The avid traveler has already checked close to 100 countries and all seven continents off her must-visit list. While international travel is on hold for now, Mehfoud hopes to add a trip to California with two of her granddaughters to her 2021 itinerary. Spending time with her three children and nine grandchildren will be high on her list of to-do’s as she begins this new phase of her life.

And although she won’t be tackling the legal side of the pandemic, she anticipates feeling the effects of the worldwide pandemic for years to come.

“I think the way the whole world operates will be changed after this, without a doubt.”