Notes from the other side: Tips from a SD Conference

I recently attended a legal conference sponsored by the Colorado Department of Education.  I confess that I was a little nervous about attending; while it was certainly open to the public, and while I had at least two reasons to go (as a parent as well as an attorney), I still felt like I was snooping on the enemy.  In some ways, the conference was reassuring.  No one misstated the law (that I heard); no one said incredibly egregious things about parents (although the "angry parent" motif was quite common).