It's bad enough to tell kids they will be left back, but there have been some instances where teachers/school officials have actually said to kids "the school will close down, we'll lose our jobs, and no one will want to move here." Totally unwarranted. If I had a son or daughter in such a school system, they'd be out of there in a flash.
Unless you're like the people in my town. We only have one high school, and it didn't pass the No Child Left Behind Act standards. The parents options are 1) send the child to a failing school and hope for the best 2) homeschool, or 3) send to a private school. The nearest private school is 20 miles away and costs more to go there than a year at my state university did.