Decision No. 15,089
Appeal of CHRIS C. CORDISCO, on behalf of his daughter VICTORIA, from action of the Board of Education of the Rhinebeck Central School District regarding the distribution of textbooks.
Shaw & Perelson, LLP, attorneys for respondent, Margo L. May, Esq., of counsel
MILLS, Commissioner.--Petitioner challenges the policy of the Board of Education of the Rhinebeck Central School District ("respondent") in relation to the loan of textbooks to his daughter, Victoria. The appeal must be dismissed.
Petitioner and Victoria reside in respondent"s school district. Victoria attends St. Joseph School, a nonpublic elementary school located in Millbrook, New York. On petitioner's behalf, St. Joseph School requested from the district a loan of textbooks for Victoria for the 2003-2004 school year. The district failed to order all of the requested textbooks. This appeal ensued. Petitioner requests that I direct respondent to order the requested books for all district students attending St. Joseph School and find that respondent"s textbook loan policy is in violation of Education Law "701.
After the commencement of this appeal, on November 13, 2003, the district ordered all remaining requested textbooks for district students attending St. Joseph School, including petitioner's daughter. Further, respondent is considering a policy and regulation establishing formal procedures regarding textbook loans to nonpublic school students.
This appeal must be dismissed as moot. The Commissioner will only decide matters in actual controversy and will not render a decision on a state of facts which no longer exists or which subsequent events have laid to rest (Appeal of Kushner, 43 Ed Dept Rep _____, Decision No. 15,040; Appeal of Reynolds, 42 id. 231, Decision No. 14,834; Appeal of N.S., 42 id. 190, Decision No. 14,817). Because the district ordered all of the requested textbooks for district students attending St. Joseph School, including petitioner's daughter, the appeal is moot.
THE APPEAL IS DISMISSED.
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