Membership FAQ
- How long will it take until my membership becomes active?
- How do I renew my COPAA membership?
- How do I make a donation to COPAA?
COPAA Website FAQ
- What can I find on the COPAA website?
- I want to log in to the Members Area but don’t know my username or password – what should I do?
- I’m not able to log in to the Member Area of the COPAA Web site – what could be the problem?
- How do I update my COPAA membership information?
- I entered my Web site address in my member profile but it doesn’t work properly. What’s wrong?
- How do I add myself to the COPAA Find an Attorney/Advocate public directory?
- How do I opt out of being listed in the COPAA online membership directory?
- How do I contribute a pleading, brief, hearing decision, or other legal document to the Legal Matters
- directory in the Members Area?
- I uploaded a document to the Legal Matters directory, but it’s not showing up.
- How do I retrieve a document from the Legal Matters directory in the Members Area?
- Are IEP and other advocacy materials available in the Members Area?
Listserv FAQ
- I’ve joined COPAA but don’t have access to the COPAA listservs – why not?
- The listrules say to “trim my post.” What does that mean?
- What may I post to the COPAA listservs?
- How do I request a change to the email address I use to receive my COPAA listserv(s) email?
- I’m getting too much email from COPAA’s listservs. What can I do about this?
- How do I stop or resume receiving messages while I am on vacation?
- Where can I read the listserv rules?
- How do I access COPAA’s archives of past posts?
- How do I send a post privately offlist?
- People use a lot of acronyms on the email lists – what do they mean?
Membership FAQ
How long will it take until my membership becomes active?
The process takes approximately 2 weeks.
How do I renew my COPAA membership?
There are two ways:
Online: Log into the member area and click on Member Profile. You may then update your contact information and renew using your credit card. (DO NOT go to the JOIN COPAA section.) If your membership has expired you will be prompted to pay before you access your Member Profile.
By mail: Print out the renewal form and mail it in with a check.
How do I make a donation to COPAA?
COPAA welcomes donations to help support our activities. Donations are also welcome for the Beth Goodman Scholarship Fund, which helps one or more COPAA members attend COPAA’s conference each year. You can make a donation online at or print out a Printable Donation Form.
If you cannot find the answer to your membership question here, contact us.
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Website FAQ
What can I find on the COPAA website?
The COPAA Site has a rich variety of information. Check out the COPAA Forums ( a place for members to visit and post resources or diaglogue on specific issues), a Legal Brief Bank, and Resources and Links. Login to the Members Only area of the site and browse around!
I want to log in to the Members Area but don’t know my username or password – what should I do?
On the Member Login page you will see a box to submit your email address if you are you a current COPAA member but haven’t yet gotten a username and password or if you forgot your log-in information. Please enter the email address you use for your COPAA membership profile. When you click the Continue button your log-in information will be sent to you.
I’m not able to log in to the Member Area of the COPAA Web site – what could be the problem?
You may be entering the wrong email or password. Please double check by following the instructions above. You may also need to renew your membership. If that is the case you should be directed to make a payment. If neither of these suggestion help please contact us.
How do I update my COPAA membership information?
Login to the Member Area of the site. On the Member Home page you will see a link to Member Profile. Edit your information here, including creation of a personalized password.
I entered my Web site address in my member profile but it doesn’t work properly. What’s wrong?
Be sure that only your url, with the preface <http:// > is in the box. If www.copaa.org appears before your site URL the link will not work.
How do I add myself to the COPAA Find an Attorney/Advocate public directory?
Login to the Member Area of the site. On the Member Home page you will see a link to Member Profile. Edit your information here and select Yes to Opt in to the Find an Attorney/Advcoate Page. Attorney Members must add your bar number in the Profile for your listing to appear on the public area of the site (your bar number will not appear in public area).
How do I opt out of being listed in the COPAA online membership directory?
Login to the Member Area of the site. On the Member Home page you will see a link to Member Profile. Edit your information here and select No to Opt out of being listed in the Member Directory.
How do I contribute a pleading, brief, hearing decision, or other legal document to the Legal Matters directory in the Members Area?
Go to the Members Area of the website. Go to “Legal Matters” and click “Go.” Go to “Add documents” and click “Go”. This will take you to a form where you can submit your document. The document will be reviewed by COPAA’s Publications Committee before being added to the website.
I uploaded a document to the Legal Matters directory, but its not showing up.
It may take a few days before the Publications Committee reviews the document and posts it to the website. If you submitted it a while ago and it still has not been entered, email us to inquire about the status of the document. Documents are generally uploaded twice a week.
How do I retrieve a document from the Legal Matters directory in the Members Area?
Go to the Members Area of the website. Go to “Legal Matters” and click “Go.” Go to “View documents” and click “Go”. Select a topic. Please note that all documents are Adobe PDF files and must be read using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Are IEP and other advocacy materials available in the Members Area?
There are sample IEP and other advocacy materials in the Members Section of the website. Go to the Members Area of the website. Go to “Advocacy Tools” and click “Go.” Go to “View documents” and click “Go”. Select a topic. Please note that all documents are Adobe PDF files and must be read using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
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Listserv FAQ
I’ve joined COPAA but don’t have access to the COPAA listservs – why not?
After your membership becomes active please login to the Members Area of the site. Veiw the Listserv Tutorial and Listserv Guidelines. Fill out the Listserv Acknowledgement Form. If you have any questions contact us.
What may I post to the COPAA listservs?
Discussion of special education and advocacy issues, history, and current events related to special education and advocacy are welcome on COPAA. Posts with non-informative information directed at a single person, such as “thank you,” “I agree,” or “me, too”, should be sent privately off-list. Copyrighted material may not be posted to the lists, although one or two sentences may be posted with the website address of the future article. Be sure to review entire Listserv Guidelines in the Member Area of the site.
The listrules say to “trim my post.” What does that mean?
Before sending your reply to the list be sure to delete all, or most of the text and the headers/footers from previous emails. You may leave one or two sentences if you think its necessary for context, however, listmembers will follow the thread by the topic. Leaving in past text wastes space on the listhost server and also makes Digest versions of the list impossible to read. Trimming is required by our List Host: ICORS.
How do I post to the COPAA listservs?
You should have received instructions on how to do this when you signed up for the lists.
The first part of the email is either COPAA or COPAALAW
@ listserv.icors.org
If you have questions, please contact us.
Note: COPAA/COPAALAW posts may not be shared with non-COPAA members without explicit prior written permission of the original poster.
How do I request a change to the email address I use to receive my COPAA listserv(s) email? Contact Us
How do I access the archives of past posts?
You must have cookies enabled in order to use the archives.
Go to http://listserv.icors.org
Click on Online Mailing List Archives
Click on COPAA or COPAALAW
Note: You can only access archives for a list for which you are a subscriber.
Either
Click on Search the archives
Construct your search (i.e., fill out the blanks) and then press Submit (bottom of page).
or
Click on one of the dates shown (i.e., September 2005, week 4)
You will now get the “Login required” prompt if you haven’t previously logged in (the site uses cookies, so if you log in once, you will stay logged in indefinitely).
If you don’t already have a personal password, or don’t remember your password, click on “get a new LISTSERV password” (in the first paragraph above the log-in box). This will take you to a screen where you enter your email address (be sure it’s the one you use for your COPAA email) and the password you want. You will then receive email with instructions you have to follow in order to activate your password (click on the link in the email or copy and paste it into your browser).
You will now have a working password. Remember, you always need to use the email address that your COPAA/COPAALAW subscription is sent to – that’s the only one that will be recognized.
If you have trouble getting this work, or you do not find the answer to your listserv question here, contact us.
I’m getting too much email from COPAA’s listservs. What can I do about this?
There are three main options for reducing the amount of email you get from COPAA or COPAALAW: digest (one post per day with all the previous day’s posts), HTML index (one post per day that lists the previous day’s posts with links to them in the archives), and nomail (don’t receive any mail but read the list through the archives.) DO NOT unsubscribe from the lists – if you do, you will no longer have access to the archives.
Directions (you must send a plain text email for this to work, and there must not be any other text, such as signatures, in the body of the email):
Digest (one message with all the day’s posts): Send an email message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG that says:
set copaa digest
or
set copaalaw digest
To return to individual messages, send the message:
set copaa nodigest
or
set copaalaw nodigest
Index (a list of all the day’s posts, with links to them in the archives): Send an email message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG that says:
set copaa html index
or
set copaalaw html index
To return to individual messages, send the message:
set copaa index
or
set copaalaw noindex
Nomail (you stop getting email but still have access to the archives): Send an email message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG that says:
set copaa nomail
or
set copaalaw nomail
To resume getting posts, send the message:
set copaa mail
or
set copaalaw mail
I’m going on vacation. How do I suspend my email and re-start it when I return?
Follow the directions for setting COPAA or COPAALAW to nomail (suspended delivery) above. DO NOT unsubscribe from the lists – if you do, you will not be able to restart your mail when you return without help from the listowner.
Where can I read the listserv rules?
The List Rules are available at: http://www.copaa.org/about-copaa/copaa-listserv-guidelines/
Please read before participating in the email lists.
How do I send a post privately offlist?
Some people’s email programs make it difficult to see the sender’s email address. To send a message offlist, use “forward” instead of “reply”. You will see the original poster’s email address in the “From” header of the forwarded email. Or, if you right-click on the name and then select “properties”, you usually can see the actual address.
People use a lot of acronyms on the email lists – what do they mean?
Some helpful glossaries include:
“Dictionary for Parents of Children with Disabilities” (in PDF format, you need Adobe Acrobat to read it) at http://thespecialparent.com/wp-content/resources/dictionary.pdf
A short webpage of “Acronyms Used in Special Education, Disabilities, Tests, Therapy and Other Related Terminology” can be found at http://www.uniquelygifted.org/acronyms.htm
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