Verification of an appeal to the Commissioner of Education
Decisions of the Commissioner of Education 14,523
Frequently the rules for filing an administrative appeal require that the appeal be “verified” under oath by one or more of the parties filing the appeal. Failure to comply with such a requirement is often a fatal omission as the Booker decision by the Commissioner of Education indicates.*
The parents of Elizabeth Booker filed an appeal with the Commissioner alleging that the Baldwinsville Central School District “engaged in unlawful racial discrimination against their daughter.”
The verification of their appeal, however, was signed by Demetria Booker, an individual whom the Commissioner said was not a party to the appeal.
The Commissioner said that the appeal had to be rejected on procedural grounds alone, commenting that “[w]here a petition is not properly verified, it must be dismissed.”