Appeal of MATTHEW JOSEPH MILLER and A.B. from action of the Board of Education of the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District, and application for the removal of Rodney A. Krzykowski as a member of the Board of Education of the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District.

Decision No. 17,118

(July 7, 2017)

Richard E. Casagrande and Laura R. Hallar, Esq., attorneys for petitioners

Shaw, Perelson, May & Lambert, LLP, attorneys for respondent board, Margo L. May, Esq., of counsel

ELIA, Commissioner.--Petitioners seek the removal of Rodney A. Krzykowski (“respondent”) as a member of the Board of Education of the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District and also name and join the Board of Education of the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District (“board”) in connection therewith.  The application must be denied and the appeal must be dismissed.

Respondent was elected to respondent’s board in or about May 2011.  Petitioners, residents and taxpayers of the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District, allege that respondent has failed to pay his school and property taxes since at least 2001.  This appeal ensued.

I must address a procedural matter.  While petitioners named and served the board, petitioners assert that they do not seek any relief against the board and joined it only in the event that the board was deemed a necessary party by the Commissioner.  I have reviewed the record and do not find that the board is a necessary party to this appeal, which solely seeks removal; the petition sets forth no other allegations regarding the board.  Therefore, the appeal against the board must be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.

Petitioners’ application 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 exist or which subsequent events have laid to rest (Appeal of a Student with a Disability, 48 Ed Dept Rep 532, Decision No. 15,940; Appeal of M.M., 48 id. 527, Decision No. 15,937; Appeal of Embro, 48 id. 204, Decision No. 15,836).

I take judicial notice of information published on respondent’s website on or about July 1, 2014, stating that respondent was an unsuccessful candidate for a seat on respondent’s board in the May 2014 election.  Therefore, the matter is academic and the application pursuant to Education Law §306 must be dismissed as moot (see e.g., Appeal of Anderson, 52 Ed Dept Rep, Decision No. 16,438; Application of Laub, et al., 49 id. 317, Decision No. 16,040; Application of Lilly, 47 id. 307, Decision No. 15,705).

In light of this disposition, I need not address the parties’ remaining contentions.

THE APPEAL IS DISMISSED.