To withdraw your child from a New York City public school, you file a discharge at the school’s main office under Chancellor’s Regulation A-240. The NYC DOE discharge form and its supporting documents update your child’s status in the Automate the Schools (ATS) database so the child is removed from the active roster and isn’t flagged as absent or truant while moving to a new school, starting homeschooling, or leaving the city. Start as soon as you know the child is leaving.
Reasons the DOE Will Accept
You can’t discharge a child for any reason you choose. The withdrawal has to fit one of the categories in Chancellor’s Regulation A-240:
- Moving out of New York City to another part of the state, another U.S. state, Puerto Rico, or another country.
- Enrolling in a private, parochial, or charter school, or in a non-DOE program recommended by an Individualized Education Program.
- Voluntarily withdrawing a kindergarten child who turns five on or before December 31, with the intent to enroll in first grade the following year.
- Withdrawing a child from pre-K.
- Admission to a residential institution not staffed by DOE personnel — an Office of Children and Family Services placement, hospital, or foster care institution — when a court or government agency orders it.
A separate “cannot be located” category exists, but a parent doesn’t initiate that one; it’s handled internally by the Field Support Center Attendance Supervisor.
Information to Have Ready
Pull these together before you go to the school. Missing any one of them can delay processing and leave your child on the active roll longer than needed.
- The student’s full legal name, spelled exactly as it appears on prior school records or the birth certificate.
- The nine-digit OSIS number. It’s on any report card, the student ID card, or your NYC Schools Account (NYCSA). If you can’t find it, the parent coordinator can look it up for you.
- The full name and address of the receiving school, if the child is transferring.
- The new home address — street, city, and state, or city and country for an international move.
- A current phone number and email in case the school has questions during processing.
Supporting Documents by Reason
The school has to verify why the student is leaving, so the paperwork you bring depends on the discharge reason.
Moving Within the U.S. or to Puerto Rico
Bring written documentation of enrollment at the new school, along with the new street address, city, and state. A proof-of-enrollment letter from the receiving school or district is the clean version. If you haven’t finished enrolling yet, a signed lease or utility bill at the new address lets the school start the process while you wrap up enrollment on the other end.
Moving to Another Country
International moves need less paperwork. The school needs the new city and country plus a written statement from you confirming the family is leaving the United States. You can write the statement yourself, and school staff can help you put it together. No embassy paperwork or foreign school enrollment letter is required.
Transferring to a Private, Parochial, or Charter School
Bring written documentation of enrollment in the new non-DOE school or program — typically an acceptance letter or enrollment confirmation on the school’s letterhead showing the child’s name, start date, and grade. Without verified enrollment documentation, the school cannot complete the discharge.
Switching to Homeschooling
Homeschooling starts with a Letter of Intent emailed to letterofintent@schools.nyc.gov. Only a parent or legal guardian can submit it. The Letter of Intent is separate from the Individualized Home Instruction Plan, quarterly progress reports, and annual assessment that homeschooling also requires.
Where and How to Submit
Bring the paperwork to your child’s school in person and ask for the parent coordinator or registrar. They review your documents for completeness and enter the discharge into ATS, which removes your child from the active attendance roll and stops the absence alerts.
Ask for a signed copy of the discharge paperwork before you leave. That signed copy is your proof you initiated the process and the school accepted the documents. If an issue comes up later — a records request that didn’t arrive, a call from an attendance officer — you’ll want it.
The MySchools portal is for admissions and school searches. Discharges are not handled there.
Confirm It Went Through
Call the parent coordinator a few days later to confirm the ATS status was updated. If it wasn’t, your child may still show as enrolled, which triggers attendance flags.
On records: under FERPA, the DOE can forward your child’s educational records to the new school without separate parental consent once the student enrolls or transfers. If the new school hasn’t received records within two weeks of the discharge, call both schools. A proactive call from a parent tends to move things along.
If Your Child Has an IEP
For a child with an Individualized Education Program, the discharge carries extra weight. The DOE has to transfer the IEP and the related special education records to the new school so services continue. Federal law requires the receiving school to provide comparable services while it reviews the transferred IEP, but in practice, delays in getting the file over create gaps.
Before you leave the current school, ask the special education coordinator to confirm the IEP file will be sent and get a timeline. Keep your own copy of the current IEP rather than relying on the transfer. If the new school hasn’t received the file within two weeks, escalate with both schools right away. The longer the gap runs, the harder it is to restart services at the right level.
What Happens If You Skip the Process
Pulling your child out without filing for discharge creates real problems. The school is required to investigate absent students, starting with phone calls, letters, and home visits. If those efforts fail and there’s reason to believe you knew about the absences and didn’t address them, the school may file a report with the State Central Register for suspected educational neglect, which goes to the Administration for Children’s Services.
There’s no fixed number of missed days that triggers an ACS referral. The joint ACS/DOE policy on educational neglect looks at three factors together: whether the parent knew or should have known about the absences; whether the parent contributed to the problem or failed to address it; and whether the child’s education has been harmed or is at risk of harm. All three have to be present. But when a child disappears from the roster without explanation, those boxes get checked fast.
New York’s compulsory education law requires attendance from age six through sixteen, and districts including New York City can extend that to seventeen. Filing the discharge with proper documentation is how you show you’re complying. It takes less time than dealing with an investigation after the fact.