They are designed to help new arrivals adjust not only to their new home, but to each other. Long Island's expanding immigrant population is fueling some talk about a similar program here. Though some educators oppose isolating immigrant students even temporarily, others say the demand is likely to grow as immigrant rolls increase and school standards rise. With the help of intense bilingual instruction and teachers who speak more than 20 languages, the students take the same academic courses and meet the same academic standards as at any city high school. Bilingual programs are offered in Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Bengali.
Students normally spend a year to two at the school before moving on to a conventional high school.
When they talk about the future, the teenagers share dreams born of pragmatism. They crave college educations, stable professional careers and a home, or even just a bedroom of their own. Inside the library, senior Halima Umme from Bangladesh giggles with Justina Kaczmarczyk of Poland. She's teaching her new friend Bengali slang. No one laughs at a mispronounced word, said school art teacher and college advisor Anne Kornfeld.