Record Keeping for the DOE
In real estate, the mantra is, “location, location, location.” When you’re trying to get reimbursed from the Department of Education (DOE), the mantra is, “receipts, receipts, receipts.”
I have a client who came to us in a state of limbo between the DOE and the US Postal Service. It started when the DOE contacted her requesting all of the child’s evaluative materials. The mom did as asked, sending it by registered mail. She waited and waited, but never got a signed proof of delivery.
Not surprisingly, the DOE sent her another letter requesting the evaluations. Just like that, she was now juggling two snail-mail correspondences with two different DOE staffers. Not impossible but, for a working parent, hardly an ideal scenario.
Three weeks went by and the DOE employee she had originally dealt with emailed her and said, "I'm actually not with that CSE region anymore. They've moved me to another borough. You want to be emailing this [third] person, instead." No introductory email, just the feeling of being somebody else's problem.
After the mom — my client by this time — told me the story, I asked if she still had the email and she said yes. “In that case, we're good,” I told her, “We don't have to do anything else. If you really want to be thorough, forward the correspondence to the new person in charge saying, ‘Let me know what you want to do. I've mailed the evaluations twice. Please confirm receipt.’”
Yes, it really is as simple as that. Unless the law explicitly tasks you with getting something done (e.g. notifying the DOE of your intention to enroll your child in private school and seek reimbursement of her tuition), all you really need to do is keep the ball on the DOE’s half of the court. The trick, of course, is proving you’ve done so.
When it comes to dealing with any large bureaucracy, make sure to get everything that you can in writing.
If you’ve got a smartphone, you’ve got a scanner. The App Store and Google Play have a host of scanner apps that automatically convert a photo of a document into .pdf format. Every single time that you have a potentially relevant document, just scan it right off the bat. This is especially important for parents seeking reimbursement of transportation expenses. Don't crinkle that receipt up and put it in your pocket — the DOE’s personnel will put it at the very bottom of their to-do pile.
Along the same lines, if you're going to present something for someone at the DOE to read (and pay attention to), make sure that it's not folded over a bunch of times. That creased, coffee-stained evaluation? Get a clean copy. The more official it looks, the more readable it is. If anyone tells you that appearances don't matter for documents, invite them to photocopy a page of the New York Times, soak it in coffee, photocopy it again, fold it up a bunch of times, photocopy it a third time, and then try to read it.
For more guidance on the subject of record-keeping, don’t hesitate to contact us. Processing, storing, and retrieving valuable information on demand is a huge part of our job, so we’ve got plenty of tips and tricks.
Marc Gottlieb
Partner
195 Montague Street
14th Floor
Brooklyn Heights, NY 11201
Marc@GottliebFirm.com
(646) 820-8506