Labor & Employment Law

Applicant failing to meet deadline for teaching certificate must meet new standard

By Harvey Randall, Esq.

Applicant failing to meet deadline for teaching certificate must meet new standard
Matter of Bhatt v New York State Educ. Dept., 44 A.D.3d 1226, Appellate Division, Third Department [motion for leave to appeal denied, Court of Appeals, Slip Opinion No: 2008 NYSlipOp 70246

The New York State Department of Education told Guarang Bhatt that his application for a provisional teaching certificate in a particular science was deficient in a number of respects and that he had until February 1, 2004 to provide the necessary information. Bhatt did not submit the required materials necessary to ?cure the ? deficiencies until April 12, 2005.

In the meantime, however, more rigorous teaching certification standards went into effect and the materials Bhatt submitted in April 2005 were evaluated, and rejected, under these new, higher standards.

The Appellate Division affirmed Supreme Court?s dismissal of Bhatt?s petition seeking to have his application evaluated using the ?old standards? rather than the new ones.

The court said that Bhatt did not meet the requirements for the requested provisional teaching certificate when he originally applied for it, that he was given nearly 3½; years to cure all enumerated deficiencies and that he failed to do so by the deadline provided despite knowledge of the need that he do so.

Further, the new regulation provided that ?only those candidates who applied and qualified for provisional teaching certification on or before February 1, 2004 would be evaluated under the old scheme.? As Bhatt failed to submit a completed application until April 2005 he ?did not qualify for provisional teaching certification before February 1, 2004.? Accordingly, his application for the requested provisional teaching certificate was appropriately subjected to the new requirements.

The text of the decision is posted at

http://nypublicpersonnellawarchives.blogspot.com/2008/05/applicant-failing-to-meet-deadline-for.html

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on May 05, 2008 (boomark / email).