-
The Petition should be typewritten using
standard double-spacing, in
12-point Times NewRoman font, on standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch white
paper, and no longer than 20 pages. Top and bottom margins should be no
smaller than 1 inch and left and right margins should be no smaller than
1 inch.
-
A caption or heading should
appear in the upper left hand corner in the same manner as it appears on the
Notice of Intention to Seek Review and the Notice with Petition.
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Begin the Petition by identifying yourself as the parent or person in parental
relationship to the child.
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State the child's age, and the
name of the school, if any, which the child is attending.
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If you have met with the School
District Committee on Special Education, state whether the Committee decided
that the child has an educational disability and the name of that
disability, for example: learning disabled.
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If the Committee on Special Education decided that your child should receive special
help, describe what the Committee advised you that your child should receive, such as a
special class or special services.
-
State the date when you requested a hearing, and when you received a copy of the
hearing officer's decision.
-
See section
3. Serving the Petition
for information on timelines for your appeal. If you fail to initiate a
timely appeal, clearly state your reason for such failure within the petition.
Please note that the State Review Officer has the discretion to excuse a failure
to commence a timely appeal if good cause is shown within the petition. The
State Review Officer may dismiss any appeals that are not filed in a timely manner.
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Explain to the State Review Officer what part(s) of the hearing
officer's decision you disagree with, and why you disagree with the hearing officer's
decision. If possible, you should refer to the evidence in the record, such as pages in
the written transcript of the hearing or written documents which were presented at the
hearing, to support your argument.
-
If you object to the way in which the hearing was conducted, you
should state your objection, and if possible, you should refer to pages of the written
record of the hearing which relate to your objection.
-
If you object to the way in which your meeting with the Committee on
Special Education was conducted, state the date of the meeting and why you believe it was
conducted improperly.
-
While you are not required to refer to
portions of Federal or State laws or regulations to support your argument
that the decision of the hearing officer
should be overturned or amended, you may do so in the Petition. You
may also submit a separate document detailing your legal arguments. The
separate document is a
Memorandum of
Law. Your Memorandum of Law should be typewritten, standard double-spacing,
in 12-point
Times New Roman font, on standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch white paper, and no
longer than 20 pages. Top and bottom margins should be no smaller than 1
inch and left and right margins should be no smaller than 1 inch.
-
At the end of the Petition, you should
explain to the State Review Officer what you would like to see happen. For
example, your child's classification should be changed or not be changed,
and/or your child's class should be changed or not be changed.
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Affidavit of Verification (Form
C). In this form the
petitioner makes an oath in front of a Notary Public or Commissioner of
Deeds that the statements in the petition are true to the best of the
petitioner's knowledge. You will usually find a Notary Public or a
Commissioner of Deeds in a government office, or a bank, or by looking in
the yellow pages of your telephone directory.
3. Serving the Petition
The petitioner must have a copy of
the Notice with Petition, a copy of the Petition and a copy
of the Affidavit of Verification hand-delivered to the Board
of Education by someone over the age of 18 who is not a party
to the appeal (not you or the child involved). These documents
must be served, by hand-delivery, on the school district
within 35 days from the date of the hearing officer's decision.
If the hearing officer's decision was served by mail on petitioner,
the date of mailing plus the four (4) following days must
be excluded in computing the 25 or 35 day period.
Two photocopies of all the papers
should be made. One photocopy must be delivered to the
Board and you should keep the other photocopy. The original
of the notice with Petition, the Petition and the Affidavit
of Verification and an Affidavit of Service
of a copy of the Petition upon the Board are filed with the State Review Officer
(see
Step
5).
4. Notarizing the Affidavit of Personal Service
The Affidavit
of Personal Service, (Form
D) must be
signed in the presence of a Notary Public or a Commissioner of Deeds by the
person who delivered the documents described in Step
3 to the Board of Education. The original of the
Affidavit should be attached to the original Petition. You should keep a copy
of the Affidavit.
5.
Filing the Appeal with the State Review Officer
The petitioner must file the following items with the Office of State Review
of the New York State Education Department, 80 Wolf Road, Suite 203, Albany, NY
12205-2643. All
papers sent must be the original.
Notice of Intention to Seek
Review / Form A
Notice with Petition
/ Form B
Petition
Affidavit of Verification
/ Form C
Affidavit of Personal Service
/ Form D
6. Improper Filing of an Appeal (Effective
October 1, 2003)
In the past, the Office of State Review/Office of Counsel
has facilitated the filing of petitions by identifying those that were
improperly verified, noticed, and or served, and returning them to
petitioners with explanations regarding the manner in which to correct
deficiencies. A new submission deadline allowing 14 days from the date
of the Office of State Review response letter within which to correct
deficiencies was then extended to the petitioner.
Given the rising number of cases on appeal and the need
to devote all of our personnel to assist State Review Officers issuing
timely decisions, this office will discontinue providing notice of
improperly filed, served or drafted petitions at the time of filing.
Petitions not filed in compliance with the requirements of
Part 279 are
subject to dismissal sua sponte, at the discretion of the State Review
Officer.
7. Answer (Response to
the Petition)
Within 10 days after receiving the Petition,
the respondent must serve an Answer to the Petition in the format
outlined below*. The Answer may be served by personal delivery
to the petitioner or by mailing a copy of the Answer to the petitioner.
If the petitioner is represented by an attorney, the Answer should
be served on the petitioner's attorney. Written argument, in
the form of a Memorandum of Law, may also be submitted by the
respondent.
*The Answer and Memorandum of Law should
be typewritten using standard double-spacing, in 12-point Times
New Roman font,
on standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch white paper, and no longer than 20 pages.
Top and bottom margins should be no smaller than 1 inch and left
and right margins should be no smaller than 1 inch.
If the Board of Education is the
petitioner, you should prepare an Answer to the Petition.
After reading the Petition, you should decide whether
you disagree with any of the statements in the separately
numbered paragraphs of the Petition. In your Answer,
you should respond to each paragraph of the Petition,
by admitting or denying the truth of the statements in
each paragraph. After making admissions and denials in
your Answer, you should briefly explain to the State
Review Officer why you believe that the decision of the
hearing officer should not be changed. A photocopy of
the Answer should be served upon the petitioner, as described
in
Step 6.
If the Answer is hand-delivered
to the Board of Education, the person who delivered the
Answer must sign an affidavit of
personal service
(Form
D). If the Answer was
served by mail, the person who mailed the Answer must sign an
affidavit of
service by mail (Form
E). The person must sign either
Affidavit in the presence of a
Notary Public or Commissioner of Deeds. The original of the Answer and of the
Affidavit of
Service must be sent to the Office of State Review of the New York State
Education Department, 80 Wolf Road, Suite 203, Albany, NY 12205-2643 within
two calendar days of the date that the Answer was served on the petitioner.
8. Petitioner's Reply to Answer
The petitioner may reply to the
Answer of the respondent only with respect to any procedural
defenses asserted in the Answer or with respect to any
additional documentary evidence filed with the Answer.
The Reply should
be typewritten using standard double-spacing, in 12-point Times
New Roman font, on standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch white paper, and no
longer than 10 pages. Top and bottom margins should be
no smaller than 1 inch and left and right margins should
be no smaller than 1 inch.
No other Reply will be accepted
by the State Review Officer. The Reply must be served on the respondent
and filed, together with an Affidavit of Service (Form D or
E), with the Office
of State Review of the New York State Education
Department, 80 Wolf Road, Suite 203, Albany,
NY 12205-2643 within three (3) calendar days
after the service of the answer.
9. Filing Responsibility
In each appeal, it is the
Board of Education's responsibility, whether it is the petitioner or the
respondent, to file with the Office of State Review of the State Education
Department, 80 Wolf Road, Suite 203, Albany, NY 12205-2643, the decision
of the impartial hearing officer, a bound copy of the written transcript(s)
before the impartial hearing officer, including a corresponding word index
for the written transcript(s), as well as an electronic transcript(s),
and a copy of the original exhibits accepted into evidence at the hearing
and a corresponding index to the exhibits. Additionally, the Board
of Education shall submit a Certification with the record, that the record
submitted is the complete hearing record.
10. Challenging the Impartiality of the
State Review Officer
Any party to an appeal may challenge the impartiality of the
State Review Officer, who may not have any personal, economic or professional interest in
the hearing to be reviewed. The State Review Officer may not have been employed at any
time by a party to the appeal, and may not, in any way, have been substantially involved
in the development of any State or local policy or procedure challenged at the hearing.
