Cutting class?

New York Times recently has been addressing the plight of students being "discharged" from school. These discharges force students to attend another school or drop out, but do not count as "dropping out" in the school's statistical profile.

One particularly egregious school was rather vicious in its pruning efforts:

"The school now has 3,200 students, down from 4,500 five years ago. Its official statistics show a striking decline in enrollment in the upper grades. As of last October, Lane's annual report said, there were 1,266 students in ninth grade, 1,070 in 10th grade, 341 in 11th grade and 325 in 12th grade."

How a school could deliberately dismiss almost three-fourths of its students is unconscionable. Where is the federal government in all of this? Where is the public outrage?