Ms. Carroll represents school districts throughout Ohio in both state and federal courts including the United States District Court, Northern and Southern Districts, and is admitted to practice before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.  She assists clients in labor negotiations as well as implementation/administration of collective bargaining agreements and provides counseling to board members and school administrators on a variety of legal matters.  She also routinely represents boards of education in special education disputes, including complaint resolution through the Ohio Department of Education or the United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, IEP meetings, due process hearings and subsequent state or federal litigation.  Mrs. Carroll has both local and international experience speaking to professional groups on a variety of school-related topics.

• In a Court of Appeals case of first impression, the court approved a school board's authority to issue notices of deficiencies and an "extended limited contract" at one Board meeting rather than two.
• In a United States District Court case, the court rejected the parent's demand for a specific educational methodology and private school placement. 
• In administrative proceedings before an Impartial Hearing Officer and a State Level Review Officer, the parent's demand for private school placement was overruled.  The board of education's complaint for recovery of attorney fees from the parent and her attorney is now pending review in United States Northern District of Ohio.  This attorney fee case is one of the first attempts to recover attorney fees from a parent under a new provision of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004.

• Assistant Attorney General under Attorneys General Lee Fisher and Betty Montgomery
• Counsel to the State Employment Relations Board and Department of Industrial Relations 1992-1996
• Statewide Coordinator for "Operation Crackdown" from 1993-1996 - a program that used civil nuisance law to board-up known drug houses and return the property to lawful use.  
  • The program closed hundreds of privately owned homes in Cuyahoga, Summit, Lake and Lorain Counties being used for drug trafficking, a Bar & Grill in London, Ohio, a hotel in Lakewood and two massage parlors/houses of prostitution in Sandusky.
• Executive with Cuyahoga Steel & Wire, Inc., Solon, Ohio from 1978-1987.

• American, Ohio and Akron Bar Associations
• Cleveland Bar Association, Grievance and Disciplinary Committee 1993-1995
• Public Sector Labor Relations Association, President, 1996
• National Counsel of School Board Attorneys
• Ohio Counsel of School Board Attorneys
  • Executive Committee (2002 to present) and Chair elect (2007)

• Ohio
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio
• U.S. Supreme Court

• Numerous presentations to board members, school administrators and teachers on topics including labor relations and collective bargaining matters; student discipline; effective teacher evaluations; the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA); the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA); the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act and as reauthorized in 1997 as well as the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004.
• Guest speaker, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Disability Law classes, "When is a Disability Disabling?" 2005, 2006, 2007.
• Guest speaker at the Australia-New Zealand School Education Law Association (ANZELA), meeting in Sydney, Australia, to present a paper on special education in the United States, "The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act - If the Goal was Balance, Have We Lost Our Way?" 2002.
• Guest speaker at Ashland Leadership Academy Seminars (ALAS), sponsored by Ashland University, "Preventing Special Education Law Suits," 2001; "Practical Advice for Public School Educators," 2004.
• Guest speaker at Legal Update For School Heads (LUSH), Sponsored by Kent State University, Department of Graduate Studies, "Preventing Special Education Law Suits," 2002, 2005.
• Ohio Department of Education, Office For Exceptional Children, Impartial Hearing Officer Training Seminar, Special Education Case Law Update, 2004.

• 1992 J.D., The University of Akron, School of Law
• cum laude
• Trial Advocacy Award, National Finalist, Second Place, 1992
• 1989 B.S., The University of Akron, Speech Pathology