Clark Hill Director of Governmental Affairs Del Chenault and Attorneys Barbara A. Ruga and Eric C. Griggs Presented at the Michigan Association of School Personnel Administrators (MASPA) Conference December 5 & 6, 2013

Grand Rapids, MI.

– Clark Hill Director of Governmental Affairs Del Chenault and attorneys Barbara A. Ruga and Eric C. Griggs presented at the Michigan Association of School Personnel Administrators (MASPA) Conference December 5 & 6, 2013 in Lansing, MI. Chenault and Griggs discussed “The Effects of Politics on Public Education”. Ruga presented the topic “Impact of Legislation on Bargaining”.

Chenault has over 20 years of legislative, political, and public affairs experience working at the highest levels of local, state, and national government. For the past 5 years, he has been engaged as a multi-client lobbyist working on issues as varied as appropriations, banking, pharmaceutical regulation, taxation and gaming.

Ruga is a member in Clark Hill’s Grand Rapids office where she practices in the Education and Municipal Practice Group as well as the Labor & Employment Law Practice Group. For more than 30 years, she has been advising and counseling public school districts and businesses on a wide variety of labor law and employment issues. Ruga has extensive experience negotiating teacher contracts in a context of scarce resources. She has also handled numerous unfair labor practice charges, fact-findings and related employment litigation. Ruga advocates for prevention through education, and to that end specializes in employee training programs.

Griggs is an associate in Clark Hill’s Education and Municipal Practice Group in the firm’s Grand Rapids, Michigan office. He focuses his practice in the areas of education law and labor and employment. Griggs represents public school officials at the bargaining table during contract negotiations with school labor unions and advises school board members and school administrators on matters involving: the Revised School Code, the Open Meetings Act, the Public Employment Relations Act, the Teachers’ Tenure Act, and other laws impacting Michigan’s public schools.

MASPA is the statewide organization that serves and represents human resources professionals in education. Their mission is to advocate on behalf of the personnel and/or human resource function, work to enhance member professional growth, actively support diversification of the work force, serve as a resource agency, and promote the highest standard of personal and professional conduct and professional ethics to ensure quality instruction and service to Michigan students. MASPA is an affiliate of the American Association of School Personnel Administrators (AASPA).