About Us
With nearly 40 years of combined experience as senior attorneys and leaders at the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, Evergreen’s founders, Beth Gellman-Beer and Amy Niedzalkoski, will guide your school district, charter school, or postsecondary institution through every step of federal civil rights compliance, helping ensure that your school has a culture where students, faculty, and staff can thrive.
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Beth Gellman-Beer, esq., co-founded Evergreen Education Solutions with a vision to build a consulting firm that can provide educational institutions with an authoritative source on federal civil rights laws.
With decades of civil service experience at the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Beth is a subject-matter expert on federal anti-discrimination statutes, implementing regulations, and evolving policy perspectives, with specific expertise in how institutions should respond to complaints of discrimination and harassment on the bases of race, color, national origin, shared ancestry, sex, disability and age. While at OCR, Beth served in all aspects of enforcement and regional leadership, including as Chief Attorney and Regional Director of the Philadelphia regional office, and in service to schools throughout the Mid-Atlantic. Beth is known as a national expert in conducting high-profile, highly complex investigations and is frequently called upon to provide training on the federal anti-discrimination statutes in collaboration with community partners.
Beth approaches institutional compliance with both legal rigor and a practical understanding of human systems. Before practicing law, Beth worked in human resources management and development, equipping her with insight into workplace dynamics and employment-related compliance challenges. After law school, Beth joined a small plaintiff’s law firm with a focus on labor and employment law. In her free time, Beth also teaches civics and education law at local schools and colleges.
A graduate of Franklin and Marshall College and Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, Beth is driven by the belief that education is the front line of civil rights in the twenty-first century and that creating equitable educational environments and eliminating barriers to access for everyone is of paramount importance to our nation.
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As co-founder of Evergreen Education Solutions, Amy Niedzalkoski brings her lifelong commitment to public service to the intersection of law, education, and civil rights.
In more than twenty years with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Amy investigated and resolved thousands of complaints and compliance reviews alleging discrimination in our nation’s schools. Her extensive experience in investigation, negotiation, mediation, policy review, and teaching has been lauded by colleagues, school officials, and legal professionals nationwide. Her expertise with Title IX, Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VI, and the Age Discrimination Act has led to some of OCR’s most impactful and consequential enforcement work of the past two decades. And as former Chief Attorney in the Philadelphia regional office, Amy has formidable first-hand experience with the complex challenges that our students and schools face every day.
Amy’s passion for education is rooted in her background as an educator herself. She has taught in both K-12 and postsecondary settings, including in Philadelphia area charter schools and colleges. Among other subjects, Amy has taught school law, civics, social studies, and legal research and writing. She’s been an instructor for the Street Law program, a restorative justice facilitator, and a high school mock trial coach, helping prepare the next generation of engaged citizens and advocates.
Additionally, Amy spent the early parts of her legal career clerking for an administrative labor law judge and working at a firm practicing labor and employment law.
Amy is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and Temple University’s Beasley School of Law. Her legal career has proudly centered around the education field, and her countless school and teaching experiences have provided her with a first-hand understanding of the hard work and commitment educators display, the challenges schools face, and our common calling to make schools safe and equitable for everyone.