NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION’S (DOE’S) DENIALS OF PETITIONERS’ APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE CITY’S SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS (SHS’S) WERE NOT ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS (THIRD DEPT). ​

The Third Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Clark, determined the NYC Department of Education’s (DOE’s) denials of petitioners’ applications for admission to NYC’s Specialized High Schools (SHS’s) were not arbitrary and capricious. The opinion includes a detailed history of the SHS’s and detailed explanations of the criteria for admission of students deemed to be disadvantaged within meaning of the SHS’s Discovery program. The petitioners were not disadvantaged students. It is difficult to discern the precise nature of the petitioners’ claims from the opinion, but it appears petitioners were questioning the propriety of the implementation of the Discovery program for disadvantaged students. Matter of C.K. v Tahoe, 2022 NY Slip Op 05899, Third Dept 10-20-22

Practice Point: In this Article 78 proceeding the petitioners were students who were denied admission to NYC’s Specialized High Schools (SHS’s), The petitioners, who were not disadvantaged within the meaning the SHS’s Discovery program, apparently questioned the propriety of the implementation of the Discovery program for disadvantaged students. The Third Department held that the Department of Education’s denials of the petitioners’ applications for admission were not arbitrary and capricious.