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Decision No. 13,824

Appeal of CYNTHIA and FRANK GARRAPUTA, JR., on behalf of ANTHONY and DANA GARRAPUTA, from action of the Board of Education of the Lawrence Union Free School District regarding residency.

Decision No. 13,824

(August 29, 1997)

Minerva and D'Agostino, P.C., attorneys for respondent, Albert A. D'Agostino, Esq., of counsel

MILLS, Commissioner.--Petitioners appeal respondent's determination that their children, Anthony and Dana Garraputa, are not residents of the Lawrence Union Free School District ("district"). The appeal must be dismissed.

Petitioners reside with their children at 186 Gibson Boulevard, Valley Stream, New York, within the Hewlett-Woodmere Union Free School District, where they intend to reside permanently. Prior to establishing this residence on January 27, 1997, their children had attended the public schools in the Lawrence Union Free School District as residents.

Petitioners advised the district of their Valley Stream residence on January 27, 1997 and their children were denied admission to respondent's schools on February 12, 1997 because they were no longer residents of the district.

Education Law "3202(1) provides, in pertinent part:

A person over five and under twenty-one years of age who has not received a high school diploma is entitled to attend the public schools maintained in the district in which such person resides without the payment of tuition.

The purpose of this statute is to limit the obligation of school districts to provide tuition-free education and related services to students whose parents or legal guardians resides within the district (Appeal of Curtin, 27 Ed Dept Rep 446; Matter of Buglione, 14 id. 220).

In this case, petitioners admit that they are nonresidents and that their children reside with them outside the district, where they intend to settle "permanently." The uncontroverted evidence before me establishes that petitioners do not reside in the district and that respondent has not acted in an arbitrary or capricious manner. Consequently, respondent's determination will not be set aside.

THE APPEAL IS DISMISSED.

END OF FILE