The guidance provided in this section presumes that the parent is the Respondent who already received a Request for Review and intends to respond in an Answer with Cross-Appeal. In this case, the district is the Petitioner in the appeal to the State Review Officer. However, if those roles are reversed, a Respondent school district would follow the same rules in a similar manner in order to serve and file an Answer with Cross-Appeal upon a parent Petitioner.
1. A Notice of Intention to Cross-Appeal (Form C / Form C)
If the School District has served you with a Notice of Intention to Seek Review and you also intend to challenge some parts of the IHO's decision, you must prepare a Notice of Intention to Cross-Appeal and serve it to the Board of Education of the school district no later than 30 calendar days after the date of the decision of the impartial hearing officer that you are Cross-Appealing. The Notice of Intention to Cross-Appeal is not the The Answer with Cross-Appeal itself. It is the first of several documents that must be prepared to cross-appeal from an IHO's decision. It is important that you provide notice to the district of your intent to Cross-Appeal.
2. A Case Information Statement (Form C/ Form C)
You must complete a Case Information Statement along with your Notice of Intention to Cross-Appeal. You may combine the Case Information Statement together with the Notice of Intention to Cross-Appeal into a single document. The Case Information Statement identifies which issues you plan to ask a State Review Officer to review, which may be different than the list of issues that the school district wants the State Review Officer to review. This list is not the Cross-Appeal itself, and you are not limited to the issues identified on the Case Information Statement and can raise additional issues in your Cross-Appeal. However, if no party has raised a specific issue/ruling of the IHO, either in the Request for Review or the Cross-Appeal, it will be considered abandoned and will not be addressed by a State Review Officer.
3. How to Serve the Notice of Cross-Appeal/Case Information Statement
After the Notice of Intention to Cross-Appeal and Case Information Statement are prepared, copies of both forms must be hand-delivered to the school district. This service must be to the school district clerk, any trustee or member of the Board of Education, the superintendent of schools, or a person in the superintendent's office who has been designated by the Board to accept service. You will also file the Notice of Intention to Cross-Appeal with the Office of State Review, but only after you have completed several additional documents and steps such as preparing and serving your Answer with Cross-Appeal.
4. Failure to Serve a Notice of Cross-Appeal/Case Information Statement
If you fail to Serve a Notice of Intention to Cross-Appeal/Case Information Statement upon the school district, it does not automatically bar your Cross-Appeal. You should still proceed with preparing and serving your Answer with Cross-Appeal within the time limits and the State Review Officer will decide whether to allow your Cross-Appeal in light of the particular circumstances in the case.