Innisfree Foundation was initially funded through a partial settlement/agreement in a class action which John Rue, still a senior White & Case associate at the time, represented the plaintiffs.
John developed an interest in special education law early in his career as a litigator. His first exposure to the field was in a CLE he took sponsored by Volunteer Lawyers for Justice and the Education Law Center, for which he agreed to take a case in return for receiving the training. It was the first of many, and John has won several awards for his commitment to pro bono work.
John chose the name Innisfree not as a reference to the poem but because of a venture in the prior generation of his family. His parents, who were educators in both the Montclair and Lawrenceville/Princeton areas, opened and ran a school and a camp in Pennsylvania which put into action some of the ideas at the forefront of progressive education in the 1970’s. A description of the history of the earlier iteration of Innisfree is available here.
John hopes to acquire the sign from one of the original Innisfree buildings in Pennsylvania. The actual property was sold approximately twenty years ago, but John hopes that some of its original inspiration and educational ideals can be carried forward through the Foundation.
The Innisfree Foundation has been able to assist many clients and groups of individuals through difficult situations. This past year, IF has counseled numerous parents, both individually and as part of town groups, on their rights regarding the participation or non-participation of their children in PARCC testing. Our programs and services are summarized here [link].