a. The Reply is your response to any claims the school district raised in its Answer that you did not already address in your Request for Review, to any affirmative defenses raised in the Answer, or to any additional documentary evidence served with the Answer.
b. You must serve the school district with a Reply within 3 calendar days after you receive personal service of the Answer (or within 6 calendar days if the Answer was mailed to you).
c. Affirmative Defenses are facts raised by the school district which prevent you from winning your appeal for reasons other than the merits of your claim. Examples of affirmative defenses include:
- That your request for review was not served on time or was not properly served on the district
- That the claims in your request for review were already resolved in an earlier impartial hearing or in a settlement agreement with the district
- That you are not the parent of the student or do not live in the district
- That you did not request or have an impartial hearing before seeking review by a State Review Officer
- That your claims are not the type of dispute that can be resolved by a State Review Officer
d. The Reply should be typewritten using standard double-spacing, in 12-point Times New Roman font, on standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch white paper, and no longer than 10 pages. Margins should be no smaller than 1 inch. You may also submit an optional separate document detailing your legal arguments. The separate document is a Memorandum of Law. Your Memorandum of Law in support of your Reply should be typewritten, standard double-spacing, in 12-point Times New Roman font, on standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch white paper, and no longer than 10 pages. Margins should be no smaller than 1 inch.
e. Affidavit of Verification Form D (Form D / Form D). In this form you as the petitioner make an oath in front of any person authorized to administer oaths in New York State (such as a Notary Public or Commissioner of Deeds) that the statements in the Reply are true to the best of your knowledge.
f. You may serve a Reply by personal delivery, mail, or overnight delivery service to the school district's attorney.
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If you serve the reply by mail or overnight delivery service, you may compete the Affidavit of Service by Mail using Form F (Form F / Form F).
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However, if you serve the Reply by personal service (i.e. hand delivery) then you may complete the Affidavit of Personal Service using Form E (Form E / Form E)
g. Within 2 calendar days after the service of the Reply on the school district, the following items must be filed with the Office of State Review:
- the Reply
- the Affidavit of Verification
- a Memorandum of Law (optional), and
- the Affidavit of Service
As of March 2023, you are strongly encouraged to electronically file the documents listed above using the secure, encrypted e-File System instead of mailing them to the Office of State Review.
If you do not electronically file your documents, State regulation permits you to mail the documents to:
Office of State Review New York State Education Department 80 Wolf Road, Suite 203 Albany, NY 12205