In December, the Illinois Association of School Boards announced the retirement of General Counsel, Melinda Selbee, after 26 years of service with the Association. It was also announced at that time that IASB’s Assistant General Counsel, Kimberly Small, would take the reins in the general counsel position.

Now, after a several-month search, IASB has announced that Maryam Brotine has accepted the position of assistant general counsel.

Brotine is currently working as a senior associate with the law firm Robbins, Schwartz, Nicholas, Lifton & Taylor, Ltd., Bolingbrook, where she practices school law. Brotine will start her duties at IASB on April 11.

“It’s a perfect fit,” said Small. “Maryam has a wealth of experience in school law and is very aware of the Association’s work with providing policy to school districts.”

Brotine graduated from the University of Illinois in 2000 and received her juris doctorate from DePaul University College of Law in 2004. She has served with Robbins Schwartz since 2008, focusing in the areas of special education and students’ rights. Brotine counsels and represents school districts with respect to IEP meetings, ISBE complaints, OCR complaints, mediation, due process hearings, residency hearings, student discipline, policy decisions, and FOIA requests. Prior to joining Robbins Schwartz, she served as a supervising assistant public defender with DuPage County.

Brotine has been active in the Illinois Council of School Attorneys and other professional legal organizations, and is a regular panel presenter at Joint Annual Conference and contributor to legal publications.

As assistant general counsel, Brotine will assist with providing legal counsel to the executive director and the Association. Her work will also heavily focus upon creating and maintaining the Policy Reference Education Subscription Service (PRESS) materials used by IASB’s Policy Services department for its work with boards as she assumes the role of Assistant PRESS Editor. Other key responsibilities will be developing curricula with legal content and their materials for School Board Development, along with providing in-person training sessions. Her position will also support the Advocacy/Governmental Relations department and provide support for the continuity and success of the Illinois Council of School Attorneys (ICSA).

Selbee’s retirement is effective June 30. She began as a staff attorney in 1990 and ultimately created the Office of General Counsel in 2006, when Small was hired as assistant general counsel.

“The prospect of losing Melinda and her experience and institutional knowledge was daunting,” added IASB Executive Director Roger Eddy. “But with the new team of Kimberly and Maryam, I am confident that this will be a seamless transition and our members will continue to be served well.”