Hearing Officer Bios
ODR employs various individuals throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to provide services as a Special Education Hearing Officer. The Stakeholder Council interviews and makes recommendations as to selection of hearing officers. Individuals are chosen based upon their academic achievement, background in special education and law, professional experience and writing abilities. In addition, ODR contracts with one hearing officer who handles cases when Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit is a party in the due process matter, or when one of the LEAs within the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit is a party.
Attorney James Gerl
Attorney James Gerl has an undergraduate degree with departmental distinction in political science from the University of Illinois (Urbana), a Master’s Degree in Public Policy Analysis (Political Science) from the University of Illinois (Chicago) and a Juris Doctor from the University of San Francisco. He previously served as a due process hearing officer and mediator for West Virginia for twenty-nine years. He has also served as an IDEA Hearing officer and mediator for the District of Columbia, and he has been a special education hearing officer for Utah; South Dakota; a portion of Pennsylvania; Delaware (panel chair) and the U. S. Virgin Islands (conflict case). Attorney Gerl has served as a special education state complaint investigator for state education agencies in New Mexico and Kentucky. He has been a frequent speaker and lecturer on various aspects of special education and law. He has attended the Administrative Law: Fair Hearing course at the National Judicial College, and he is a certified hearing official by the National Association of Hearing Officials.
Attorney Michael (Jake) McElligott
Attorney Michael J. (Jake) McElligott has been helping school districts and the parents of special needs children resolve disputes since 1994, first as a member, and then co-chair, of the Pennsylvania Special Education Appeals Panel and now as a hearing officer. Attorney McElligott is a certified hearing official through the National Association of Hearing Officials. He is also trained in special education mediation. For many years, Attorney McElligott was an administrator at Duquesne University School of Education. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Penn State University and a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh, a master’s degree in education from Duquesne University, where he also engaged in doctoral studies in educational leadership. Attorney McElligott is certified by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in secondary English and secondary social studies. He has taught social studies in public and private high schools, as well as a wide array of university courses, including school law. As a presenter, he has made numerous presentations on special education law and special education dispute resolution at local, regional, and national conferences. As an author, he has published book chapters on school counseling and on school law.
Attorney Savannah Murphy
Savannah L. Murphy, Esq. received a bachelor’s degree in political science and theatre from East Stroudsburg University and a Juris Doctorate from Ohio Northern University – Pettit College of Law. Ms. Murphy graduated as the highest-ranking graduate of her law school class. While in law school, she served as an editor on Law Review, teaching assistant in the subject of Civil Procedure, and was a member of the ABA Appellate Advocacy Moot Court team. Ms. Murphy received numerous awards recognizing her academic success and dedication to legal research and writing. In 2022, Ms. Murphy was published in Ohio Northern University’s Law Review. Prior to serving as a Special Education Due Process Hearing Officer, Ms. Murphy was a junior partner at a firm owned and operated by her family. She dedicated her practice to serving individuals with disabilities, exclusively practicing special educational law and guardianships.
Attorney Cathy A. Skidmore
Attorney Cathy A. Skidmore has been active in the field of special education dispute resolution in Pennsylvania since 1994, in both formal and alternative dispute resolution processes. She earned her undergraduate degree in Special and Elementary Education from Slippery Rock University, her Juris Doctor from Duquesne University, and her Master of Education in a program of general special education from the University of Pittsburgh. Attorney Skidmore previously served for fourteen years as an appellate due process hearing officer in Pennsylvania, including seven years as a panel chairperson. She was also trained in basic and special education mediation and has been involved in collaborative dispute resolution as a special education mediator and facilitator in Pennsylvania. Attorney Skidmore has experience in private law practice and also formerly served as as an adjunct professor of special education as well as a judicial law clerk. She has been a frequent speaker and lecturer on various aspects of special education and disability law, and has co-authored several articles related to due process. Attorney Skidmore remains active in numerous special education and legal professional organizations and is a certified hearing official by the National Association of Hearing Officials.
Attorney Joy Waters Fleming
Attorney Fleming joins the Office for Dispute Resolution (ODR) following her tenure as a contract hearing officer, during which she presided over a wide array of hearings across the Commonwealth, including those involving the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504, and gifted education. As a practitioner, Attorney Fleming focused her legal work on matters involving child welfare, Social Security disability, juvenile justice, and family law. She has also served as Counsel to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, providing legal guidance to the Bureau of Special Education, the Charter Appeal Board, and the State Library. In addition, she has held appointments as a Juvenile Hearing Officer and arbitrator in Dauphin County. A graduate of the Dickinson School of Law, Attorney Fleming began her legal career as a judicial clerk for the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania and subsequently served as Chief Counsel to the Health and Welfare Committee in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
Dr. Vicki McGinley (Contracted/Gifted)
Dr. McGinley spent most of her career, 30+ years as a professor of Special Education at West Chester University where she taught courses in Legal Issues, Family Systems, and Behavior Management among others. At the university she served as a Fact Finder for discrimination and harassment cases brought forth at the university level, as well as an Ombudsperson and Mediator.
She was trained in the early 1990s in Conflict Resolution, specifically Mediation through the Atlanta Justice Center. Since that time at various times over the years, she has practiced in both capacities, as a Due Process Hearing Officer for both gifted and special education and as a special education Mediator and IEP facilitator.
She received her BA from the University of Pittsburgh in Secondary Education/English, and her M.Ed. and Ph.D. from Temple University in Special Education. She has pursued many professional development opportunities for her work, such as in legal issues, restorative justice, technology, and conflict resolution, trauma informed education and mediation. Past professional work includes teaching in the K-12 classroom, in-home, and school therapeutic work and supervision. When not involved in Conflict Resolution, volunteer work has included Mediation, as well as serving as a Court Appointed Special Advocate. She is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the PA Council of Mediators.
Hearing Officer Bios – (Español)
January 2026