Portraits of Passage

Parents who've come to the United States legally may be wary of asking immigration-related questions for fear of jeopardizing their legal status.

While Principal Burrows is fond of saying her school is "democracy in action," it clearly does not always come easy. When Burke and the other teachers ask for volunteers to run as PTA officers, there are no takers. Democracy temporarily gives way to oligarchy as the teachers "recruit" parents.

Burrows hopes that more will follow the example of one parent whose child attended Newcomers High last year. That parent now serves on the PTA at neighboring William Cullen Bryant High School--a measure of empowerment she wants to build in immigrant parents who often are left...