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FINDNGS OF FACT AND DECISION
Case Number: 168690
N.Y.S Identifier Number
Name of Student
Date of Birth:
District:
Hearing Requested by: Parents
Date of Hearing: September 19, 2017
Hearing Officer: James P. Walsh, Esq.
NAMES AND TITLES OF PERSONS WHO APPEARED SEPTERMBER 19, 2017
Esq. Attorney Associated with the Firm of, PC Attorneys for Parents Parent
District and Department of Education
Representative Department of Education
The Matter of ., (hereinafter referred to as “Student”), was initiated by correspondence filed on behalf of Parents by the Law Firm of , PC, dated September 6, 2017 and received by the New York City Department of Education’s Impartial Hearing Office on that date. The Due Process Complaint (Exhibit A) alleged that District’s Committee on Special Education (C.S.E) failed to conduct an Annual Review for Student or create for Student an Individualized Education Program or offer Student any placement for the 2017-2018 school year, thus failing to provide Student with a free, appropriate public education for the 2017-2018 school year.
. As relief, Parents sought the provision of twenty-five hours of Special Education Teacher Support Services (SETSS) per week, together with the Related Services of Speech/Language Therapy for five hours per week, on an individual basis; Occupational Therapy for three hours per week on an individualized basis; and Physical Therapy two times per week, forty-five minutes per session, on an individualized basis, on a fifty-two week per year, twelve month basis.
The undersigned had been appointed by the New York City Department of Education’s Impartial Hearing Office as the Impartial Hearing Officer authorized to preside over this matter by notice dated September 13, 2017.
Contained in Parents’ Due Process Complaint (Exhibit A) was an invocation of Student’s Pendency rights. Accordingly, a Pendency Hearing was conducted on September 19, 2017.
Thereafter, by date of September 21, 2017, an Interim Order on Pendency was issued, which provided that District and the New York City Department of Education provide to Student until the conclusion of the administrative proceeding, The undersigned had been appointed by the New York City Department of Education’s Impartial Hearing Office as the Impartial Hearing Officer authorized to preside over this matter by notice dated September 13, 2017.
Contained in Parents’ Due Process Complaint (Exhibit A) was the invocation of Student’s Pendency rights. Accordingly, a Pendency Hearing was conducted on September 19, 2017. An Interim Order on Pendency thereafter issued, dated September 21, 2017, which mandated that Student be provided by District and the New York City Department of Education with twenty-five hours of Special Education Teacher Support Services (SETSS) per week, together with the Related Services of Speech/Language Therapy for five hours per week, on an individual basis; Occupational Therapy for three hours per week on an individualized basis; and Physical Therapy two times per week, forty-five minutes per session, on an individualized basis (I.H.O. Exhibit I). Such Interim Order was made retroactive to September 6, 2017, the date of filing of Parents’ Complaint.
A hearing on the merits of Parents’ Complaint was scheduled to be conducted on January 9, 2018, but was adjourned. On May 27, 2018, I was advised that the matter had been submitted for settlement. However, the matter remains open and the Interim Order on Pendency remains in effect.
The 2017-2018 school year has long ago come to a close. There is nothing in the Record before me that would indicate that the Interim Order on Pendency (I.H.O. Exhibit I) has been terminated or ineffective. Thus, Student has received, pursuant to the Interim Order of Pendency (1.H.O. Exhibit I) all of the special education services and Related Services that Parents sought as relief in this proceeding. There is no relief that I could afford to Parents that Parents have not already realized, even were I to rule in their favor. Of course, were I to rule otherwise, Parents would be entitled to no relief at all, but would have still received such relief. Thus, it is my finding and determination that all of the issues presented in this proceeding have become moot.
Mootness can only successfully be avoided where retrospective relief is sought (Board of Education of the City of New York, 26 IDELR 1326; Neshaminy School District v. Karla B., 25 IDELR 725 [E.D. Pa 1997]. To paraphrase the State Review Officer who decided Application of a Child with a Disability, Appeal No. 94-9:
“An appeal may be found to be moot, if no meaningful relief could be provided and there is no basis for believing that the dispute between the parties will continue.”
It is, therefore, my Determination and Conclusion of Law that all of the issues presented in this proceeding are moot and that there is no valid reason to continue this matter.
ORDER
Based upon the above, it is HEREBY ORDERED that Parents’ Due Process Complaint be, and the same hereby is, DISMISSED.
Dated: October 23, 2019 Gomes Fo Walsh, Eng.
James P. Walsh
Impartial Hearing Officer
DOCUMENTATION ENTERED INTO RECORD SEPTEMBER 19, 2017
A. No.: #of Pages Description: Offered by: 2 Parents’ Due Process Complaint Notice, Parents dated 9-6-17
B. 17 Findings of Fact and Decision by Impartial Parents Hearing Officer, dated 11-6-14
C. Order on Pendency by I.H.O.; dated 10-15-13 7 pages Parents
OTHER DOCUMENTATION ENTERED INTO RECORD
I. No.: #of Pages Description: Offered by: Interim Order on Pendency, dated THO September 21, 2017, by I.H.O. J. Walsh 8 pages Parents