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Decision No. 14,675

Appeal of PATRICIA BRIORDY, on behalf of JOHN FERRANDO and MICHAEL BRIORDY, from action of the Board of Education of the Riverhead Central School District regarding transportation.

Decision No. 14,675

(December 20, 2001)

Ingerman Smith, L.L.P., attorneys for respondent, Lawrence W. Reich, Esq., of counsel

MILLS, Commissioner.--Petitioner appeals the determination of the Board of Education of the Riverhead Central School District ("respondent") to request information related to the transportation of her children to a charter school. The appeal must be dismissed.

On January 10, 2001, the Board of Regents of the State of New York issued a charter authorizing the board of trustees of the Riverhead Charter School to operate a charter school located in the Riverhead Central School District. The charter authorized the charter school to commence instruction in September 2001.

On or before April 1, 2001, Arnold Braunskill, a member of the Riverhead Charter School"s board of trustees, submitted to respondent a list of proposed enrollees for the school including petitioner"s children. Mr. Braunskill requested that respondent provide transportation services to each student from home to the Riverhead Charter School. On April 4, 2001, respondent"s school finance manager sent a letter to petitioner asking for further information related to the transportation request including the address of the charter school. The letter requested that petitioner provide the information by April 16, 2001.

This appeal was commenced on April 19, 2001. Petitioner sought an interim order staying respondent from requesting additional information concerning the transportation request. Petitioner"s request for a stay was denied on April 27, 2001.

Petitioner alleges that the request for additional information was unfair and unjust. She contends that she could not provide some of the requested information by respondent"s deadline. For example, she could not provide the address of the charter school because the charter school had not finalized the location of the school facility. Petitioner expressed concern that respondent would not provide transportation to her children if she did not provide the requested information by the April 16, 2001 deadline. Respondent states that it requested the additional information to help construct transportation routes and plan for the efficient use of its buses. In addition, respondent submitted a letter dated September 4, 2001 from respondent"s superintendent to the charter school stating that respondent would transport students residing in the Riverhead Central School District to the charter school.

The Commissioner of Education will only consider 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 Diane M., 39 Ed Dept Rep 709, Decision No. 14,356; Appeal of Studley, 38 id. 258, Decision No. 14,028). In this appeal, petitioner seeks to prohibit respondent from requesting additional information as a condition to providing transportation to her children. This issue has been laid to rest by respondent"s agreement to provide transportation to petitioner"s children.

THE APPEAL IS DISMISSED.

END OF FILE