Administrators at Riley Elementary assigned a Somali Bantu girl described as "very little" to first grade based on her parents' assurance of her age. She had no attention span and quickly became lost. She colored with markers on anything she could grab. The teacher started holding her on her lap to curb disruptions to the class. The school later determined she was 5 and put her in kindergarten.

At Mountain View, Erlacher has tried to avoid those situations by turning to a dentist friend. He recently had her check some of his refugee students' teeth to determine their ages.

Some educators have suggested teaching refugees in a separate setting in the building, a sort of school-within-a-school. They could learn at their own pace and not disrupt classrooms or demand so much of teachers' attention.

Brady calls that isolation. Willie, of the Salt Lake School District, finds it segregationist.

"What the schools can do is make a safe haven for kids," Brady said.

In that environment, she said, students will learn and blossom. "The best thing is to be a good teacher and help kids feel good about themselves."

While students appear to be absorbing whatever English or math is thrown their way, their parents — burdened by a host of new responsibilities — are slow to get involved in their children's education.

Story continues below Deseret Morning News graphic Seeking refuge at Northwest Middle School Requires Adobe Acrobat.

Arranging and holding parent-teacher conferences is a chore.

Mountain View hires interpreters not only for the meeting itself but to make the appointments. Sometimes that means driving to students' homes because they don't have telephones. Due to the language gap, conferences themselves last two to three times longer than the 15 minutes allotted.