Photos: Registration day for DeKalb's international students

Education

Registration day for DeKalb's international students

Signs in several languages greet families entering the center. Parents wait to register their students at the DeKalb County International Welcome Center in Stone Mountain Monday, July 27, 2015.

DeKalb County officials hope a new appointment system will fix years of trying to register international students .

The district boasts some 22,000 international students, more than a fifth of its total 101,000.

Getting bogged down by language barriers, missing documentation and long lines reminiscent of Black Friday sales shopping have all marked previous registration days for DeKalb's international students.

A man looks over documentation for adult English-as-a-second-language courses while waiting at the DeKalb County International Welcome Center in Stone Mountain.

Staff members check information and documents for families trying to register.

Muskan Virani, of India (left), talks with EL counselor Phoenicia Grant while trying to register for high school.

EL counselor Phoenicia Grant talks with Muskan Virani, of India (left), during international student registration day in DeKalb.

In August 2014, people camped outside a DeKalb school registration facility overnight, apparently because of a rumor that if they didn’t register by then their kids wouldn’t get into school. This is the sort of thing the district hopes to prevent this school year. -- Text contributed by Ty Tagami, AJC

Last year, nearly two hundred families with immigrant children had lined up to register by the time officials arrived around 7:30 a.m. The district registers students as they arrive year round, but the false rumor about 2014 registration caused frantic parents to swamp the building.

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Signs in several languages greet families entering the center. Parents wait to register their students at the DeKalb County International Welcome Center in Stone Mountain Monday, July 27, 2015.

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