This archive report was first published on 1 November 2019.
Published on November 1, 2019, a California school district faced embarrassment after students who dialed a suicide prevention hotline listed on their ID badges instead reached a sex line.
The mix-up occurred at New Vista Middle School in Lancaster, a 90-minute drive north of downtown Los Angeles, where students were given a directory of emergency lines and other resources on the back of their badges.
However, due to a mistake with just one digit, a sex hotline number was listed instead of the correct suicide prevention number.
"Late yesterday we were made aware that the middle school student ID cards have the wrong phone number listed for the suicide hotline," the Lancaster Unified School district said in a statement.
"The phone numbers have two digits transposed and this is a mistake. The number listed on the card is actually a sex line," the statement added.
Parent Janene Lavelle expressed her shock and disappointment after her daughter, a middle school student, alerted her to the mix-up.
"I was just kind of flabbergasted. I was very surprised," Lavelle told the local ABC station.
"Someone who genuinely needs help like that, they shouldn't hear that kind of thing from what they thought was going to help them," the student was quoted as telling a local CBS affiliate.
