Marlies Spanjaard – YAF, President & CEO and
                                   EdLaw, Director of Education Advocacy

Marlies Spanjaard is the Director of Education Advocacy for the Youth Advocacy Division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), Massachusetts' statewide public defender agency. In this capacity, she leads the EdLaw Project, which provides education advocacy to court-involved children and youth across the state. Additionally, the project offers technical assistance and training on student rights to court-appointed attorneys, parents, students, and youth workers. Marlies joined the EdLaw Project in 2001 and became its director in 2008. As a leading expert on the intersection of juvenile justice and education rights in Massachusetts, she frequently presents to a wide range of audiences, including parents, youth workers, students, and legal professionals, both across the Commonwealth and nationally.  As part of her role with the EdLaw Project, Marlies also serves as the President and CEO of the Youth Advocacy Foundation (YAF), a 501(c)(3) organization based within the state public defender's office. YAF is dedicated to dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline by ensuring that all court-involved children have access to expert education advocacy. Marlies is passionate about teaching and has served as an adjunct professor at Boston College School of Education and Boston University's Wheelock College of Education and Human Development. She earned her J.D. and M.S.W. from Washington University in St. Louis, where she attended both the Law School and the George Warren Brown School of Social Work.