Appeal of S.R., on behalf of his children B.R. and C.R., from action of the Board of Education of the City School District of the City of Beacon regarding an extracurricular activity.

Decision No. 16,001

(December 4, 2009)

Shaw, Perelson, May & Lambert, LLP, attorneys for respondent, Jillian E. Jackson, Esq., of counsel

STEINER, Commissioner.--Petitioner appeals the decision of the Board of Education of the City School District of the City of Beacon (“respondent”) to prohibit his daughters from attending a school dance.  The appeal must be dismissed.

During the 2008-2009 school year, petitioner’s daughters, B.R. and C.R., attended the Rombout Middle School in respondent’s district.  Both students were prohibited from attending an eighth-grade moving-up dance, on Friday, June 19, 2009, due to their excessive tardiness.  This appeal ensued.  Petitioner’s request for interim relief was denied on June 19, 2009.

Petitioner alleges that the school district failed to follow the rules and regulations set forth in respondent’s student handbook.  Petitioner requests that his daughters be permitted to attend the dance.  Respondent maintains that petitioner has failed to demonstrate a clear legal right to the relief requested and that the appeal is moot.

The 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 exist or which subsequent events have laid to rest (Appeal of Tine, 46 Ed Dept Rep 579, Decision No. 15,600; Appeal of N.C., 46 id. 358, Decision No. 15,532; Appeal of Lombardo, 46 id. 282, Decision No. 15,508).  Since the dance in question occurred on June 19, 2009 and petitioner seeks only to have his daughters attend the dance, the appeal must be dismissed as moot.

THE APPEAL IS DISMISSED.

END OF FILE