2019 TSD Conference Preview Changing the World Through
Blogging and Bullycide Prevention Special education attorney Betsey Helfrich brings her message of communication to this month’s TSD Conference
Written By Amanda Pampuro B
etsey Helfrich was nearing her 30s when her mother, Mary, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. It came as a surprise, because Mary didn’t have a grey hair on her head. As an
attorney, Helfrich worked daily to make schools safer for students with disabilities, but it still took her a decade to start sharing her own stories about her mother’s illness. At first it was hard to talk about, but finally in January 2018, Betsey and her older sisters, Mindy and Jenny, started blogging under the name “Run for the Sun.” “We were just trying to help other people who might
feel like they’re in that sandwiched generation, where we’re trying to raise our kids and we’re trying to take care of our mom,” Helfrich reflected. “Seeing how we’re out in public with my mom, she looked so young and healthy; people didn’t understand why she’d act in a certain way. It really gave me a different perspective on mental health, and how you can’t always tell that somebody’s sick, or what they’re going through, just by looking at them.” Betsey Kruse grew up in Kansas City as the young-
est of three girls in a house with a white picket fence. While their dad, Tim Kruse, spent time on the road as a carpet salesman, Mary Kruse made the house a home with good meals and impromptu Johnny Mathis dance parties. When Helfrich was in college, her father took her to see one of his friends: Thomas Mickes. Considered a grandfather of education in Missouri,
Mickes has shaped learning at every step of the way. He began his career as a teacher and football coach, then worked his way through the principal’s office, board of education and superintendent’s seat, before attending law school and founding his own practice. “I sort of fell into education law because of him,”
Helfrich reflected. “I would literally not do anything else. I love school law, and I’m very lucky to practice in that area exclusively.” The law firm of Mickes O’Toole represents 250 Mis- souri school districts, with Helfrich at the helm of special education compliance, often advising districts on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Sec. 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and meeting to design In- dividualized Education Programs for qualifying students. The most difficult part of the job, she says, is delivering the bad news. “Some clients think I get paid all day to tell
54 School Transportation News • MARCH 2019
people what they don’t want to hear,” Helfrich explained with an easy laugh. But sometimes, she added with frankness, there are
no good answers. “Sometimes our clients call with a very, very difficult situation, or it’s a really small school, and there aren’t a lot of good options for placement,” she added. “So, you try to balance the rights of that student versus the needs of their community.” Often enough, Helfrich’s clients need a helping hand
more than legal aid. “A lot of times the superintendent is also the special
education director and the bus driver—they wear so many hats. I think sometimes they feel so alone in the decisions they have to make and the hard parts of the job,” she said. “A lot of times, I find that they call just to talk, and talk through an issue that isn’t even a legal issue, but they just want somebody else to bounce a tough decision off of.” In addition to being recognized by Missouri Lawyers’
Weekly and Super Lawyers, Helfrich successfully argued before the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2013 on behalf of the South Callaway R-II School District, located just north- east of Jefferson City. Looking back, she humbly said, “I will always remember that I was 20 weeks pregnant when I argued before the 8th Circuit, and that was neat!” But one case that sticks with Helfrich more than any oth-
er involved the tragic loss of a student. In 2014, a 7th grader took his life after suffering from bullying. His grief-stricken parents sued the school district for failing to intervene. “There are no winners in a case like that, but I was just trying to help everyone through that and their emotions,” Helfrich said of the case that took more than one year to settle. Since then, she made it a personal mission to pre- pare schools to prevent bullycide. In addition to sitting on the Missouri task force for suicide prevention and awareness, she personally drafted the model policy that schools across the state employ. Whether a district is implementing school bus camera policy
or suicide prevention, the key is communication, Helfrich said. Policies don’t enact change—people enact change. “Get input from everybody it might affect. Don’t whip
out a policy of what we think is legally best, but really talk it through with everybody who might be affected by the policy,” Helfrich said. “You want to be able to follow what’s in writing or to have that really reflect what you’re doing.” ●
Continue on page 56 for more TSD Conference details ➥
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