Parents who call school district offices in New York City to try to transfer their children out of failing schools have a nearly 1 in 2 chance of getting the wrong information, two reporters from the New York Daily News found. They made 69 calls to school districts with failing schools--schools out of which parents are now eligible to transfer their children under the No Child Left Behind Act. In response to their queries, various district staffers claimed (incorrectly) that the failing school in question was not on the state's No Child Left Behind list for transfers, gave callers erroneous guidance ("you have to have a clear reason to move the student from the school"), told callers there was no place to transfer in the overcrowded district, suggested that the caller check back in July or next Fall (when the next round of transfers would actually be over), tried to talk callers out of seeking a transfer, or simply disconnected the callers or transferred them to extensions that no one ever answered.
"They fail to connect," by Jose Martinez and Joe Williams, New York Daily News, February 10, 2003