| Siegel v Board of Educ. of City School Dist. of City of N.Y. |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 00104 [58 AD3d 474] |
| January 13, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Brian Siegel, Appellant, v Board of Education of the CitySchool District of the City of New York et al., Respondents. |
—[*1] Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel, New York (Alan G. Krams of counsel), forrespondents.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (William A. Wetzel, J.), entered September 5,2007, which denied the petition brought pursuant to CPLR article 78 seeking to annul thedetermination of respondents terminating petitioner's employment as a tenured teacher and torestore petitioner to his position with back pay, interest and lost benefits as of the effective dateof his termination, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The court properly held that respondents did not act arbitrarily and capriciously whenrejecting petitioner's belated request for a hearing pursuant to Education Law § 3020-a (2)(c) (see e.g. Matter of Pell v Board of Educ. of Union Free School Dist. No. 1 of Towns ofScarsdale & Mamaroneck, Westchester County, 34 NY2d 222, 231 [1974]). Respondentshad a rational basis for concluding that petitioner's explanation that his mental condition whichhad particularly manifested itself in May and June 2006, the time when he was served with thenotice of the charges against him, did not constitute a valid excuse for failing to timely request ahearing. The record reveals that petitioner was served with the charges personally and by mail,he had been represented by counsel during the investigation and had been told that charges wereforthcoming, and, during the period in which he claimed he was too stressed to properlyfunction, he was able to function by managing his day-to-day activities, including reporting tohis assigned work location, and signing time sheets so he could be paid.[*2]
We have considered petitioner's remaining argumentsand find them unavailing. Concur—Andrias, J.P., Nardelli, Moskowitz, Renwick andFreedman, JJ.