Now you see it; Now you don't - A district's short-lived commitment to an alternative high school for newly arrived immigrants

This article describes the response of one East Coast, urban high school di strict to the unexpected enrollment of large numbers of newly arrived immig rants who had nor yet acquired basic literacy skills in any language. The a nalysis focuses on the district-level decision-making processes that led to the implementation of an alternative school for these students and its abr upt closure a year later examines the ways in which various participants ex perienced and interpreted the consequences of these decisions within the co mplex social system of the district, and explores the implications of these findings for policy and practice.