OVERVIEW TO PART 279 (as revised Effective January 1, 2017)

After you have prepared the Notice of Request for Review, Request for Review, and Affidavit of Verification, you should make two copies of the originals. You should keep one copy for your records. The other copy of the Notice of Request for Review, Request for Review, and Affidavit of Verification must be hand-delivered to the school district. This hand-delivery is a form of "service." This service must be made upon 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.

After a parent has served (by hand-delivery) the Notice of Request for Review, the Request for Review and the Affidavit of Verification on the school district as described above, you must also submit an Affidavit of Personal Service that is signed by the person who served the papers. If a school district is the petitioner serving the Request for Review on the parent, a similar rule applies and the school district is required to personally serve the parent when initiating an appeal.

1. Affidavit or Proof of Personal Service (Form E / Form E)

• What papers were delivered
• Who delivered the papers
• Where the papers were delivered
• The date and time the papers were delivered
• How the papers were delivered
• If given to someone, a description of the person and
• If papers were mailed based upon an agreement to waive personal service,* how and to whom they were mailed.

2. Filing with the Office of State Review

1. The original Notice of Intention to Seek Review and Case Information Statement
2. An Affidavit of Service showing the delivery of the Notice of Intention to Seek Review Review and Case Information Statement
3. The Notice of Request for Review
4. Request for Review
5. Affidavit of Verification of the Request for Review
6. A Memorandum of Law if any (this is optional), and
7. An Affidavit of Service for the Notice of Request for Review, Request for Review, Affidavit of Verification of the Request for Review, and any optional Memorandum of Law that you have served.

3. Improper Service/Filing of a Request for Review

If you do not serve your Request for Review upon the school district within 40 calendar days of the date of the impartial hearing officer's decision, your appeal may be dismissed. To avoid this outcome you must clearly state good reason(s) within your Request for Review explaining why you were unable serve it within the 40-day time limit (i.e. lengthy or unplanned hospitalization, catastrophic weather conditions/power loss).

Please note that the State Review Officer may, but is not required to excuse a party's failure to timely serve a Request for Review if good cause is shown within the Request for Review. Good cause generally includes situations that arise that are beyond your control, and generally does not include business/personal travel, lack of legal representation, or work/regular family obligations. Lengthy delays in receiving the IHO's decision may or may not be good cause depending on the circumstances and you should make your best efforts to comply with the 40-day time limit for serving the Request for Review even if your receipt of the IHO's decision was delayed.