This article describes the response of one East Coast, urban high school district to the unexpected enrollment of large numbers of newly arrived immigrants who had not yet acquired basic literacy skills in any language. The analysis focuses on the district-level decision-making processes that led to the implementation of an alternative school for these students and its abrupt closure a year later, examines the ways in which various participants experienced and interpreted the consequences of these decisions within the complex social system of the district, and explores the implications of these findings for policy and practice.
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