A Brooklyn high school and NYC nonprofits team up to enroll older immigrants


The prospect of enrolling at a New York City school had begun to seem like a dim possibility for Amadou Sara Barry, an 18-year-old who arrived from Guinea five months ago.

Barry came to the U.S. by himself in February, determined to attend school to learn English and take the first step toward his dream of becoming an actor, he told Chalkbeat through an interpreter speaking Pulaar, an indigenous language of Guinea. But he’d hit a wall. Some schools told him he was too old, and others told him to come back in the fall, he said.

Under state law, students like Barry are allowed to attend public school through age 21. Yet he wasn’t alone in his struggles.

Few older immigrant students like Barry know where to begin the enrollment process. Those who do manage to make their way to schools or enrollment centers often wind up with referrals to schools that are ill-equipped to serve them or have no more room, advocates said. Others are directed to classes outside of traditional high schools that prepare students to take the General Educational Development test, or GED, a high school equivalency exam. In response, some groups are trying to ensure these students aren’t ignored or shunted away from what they want.

That’s how Barry’s situation changed on a recent sweltering Friday afternoon, as he and a group of seven other Guinean immigrant students sat rapt around a conference table at Brooklyn Frontiers High School while Principal Alona Cohen explained the registration process.

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Source: Chalkbeat New York