DYCD
Primary administrative decision-makerWhat it can do
- Pause implementation
- Reconsider or modify an award decision
- Review a provider protest
- Release the administrative record
- Require transition, staffing, disability-access, and continuity plans
- Preserve or arrange interim services, subject to procurement law
What it cannot do
- Treat unanswered questions as resolved
- Reclassify every disability concern as merely a program inquiry
- Claim that appearance on the award list means every contract is already final and registered
What families are asking next: Pause disputed transitions, release the record, and issue reasoned school-specific reconsideration decisions.
Mayor's Office
Executive and political authorityWhat it can do
- Direct administration priorities
- Require DYCD leadership to review the controversy
- Press for a pause, records production, and reconsideration
- Coordinate DYCD, DOE, licensing, and transition agencies
What it cannot do
- Secretly substitute a preferred vendor outside lawful procurement procedures
What families are asking next: Direct DYCD to pause disputed implementation and conduct a documented school-by-school review.
NYC Comptroller
Contract-registration authorityWhat it can do
- Confirm whether a submitted contract is pending or registered
- Review a complete contract package
- Register, return, or object to registration
- Identify legal, funding, integrity, or documentation issues within the registration function
What it cannot do
- Choose the preferred provider
- Rescore proposals
- Directly award a contract to an incumbent
What families are asking next: Confirm each disputed contract's status and closely scrutinize any package submitted for registration.
City Council
Oversight and political pressureWhat it can do
- Hold oversight hearings
- Require public testimony
- Request records and explanations
- Apply political pressure
- Pass resolutions and legislation
- Refer concerns to the Mayor, Comptroller, DOI, or other oversight bodies
- Change future procurement rules
What it cannot do
- Directly reverse an individual award
- Select the provider for a school
What families are asking next: Press DYCD and the Mayor for a pause, demand the administrative record, monitor registration and implementation, and pursue legislative reforms.
CEC / PA / PTA / SLT / school leadership
Community evidence and governanceWhat it can do
- Establish the documented school-community position
- Pass resolutions
- Preserve principal and family evidence
- Collect parent, student, and worker impact
- Identify programs and relationships at risk
- Refer the matter to officials and oversight bodies
What it cannot do
- Cancel a City contract
- Order DYCD to award a particular provider
What families are asking next: Create a formal school evidence packet and adopt a written position before implementation.
Court
Judicial review — counsel requiredWhat it can do
- Review whether an agency violated lawful procedure
- Review whether a determination involved an error of law
- Review whether an action was arbitrary and capricious or an abuse of discretion
- Stay enforcement of the determination under review
- Annul an unlawful determination
- Return the matter to DYCD for lawful reconsideration
What it cannot do
- Personally select the winning provider
- Rewrite the procurement based only on community preference
What families are asking next: Counsel must assess whether a viable claim and request for a stay exist, who has standing, what determination is final, and what relief is supportable.
The campaign must target the institution holding authority at the next procedural stage — not simply the largest possible email list.
