Donggeon Im, an international student from South Korea, enrolled in the Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs during his junior year of high school. His plan was to graduate from this high school and go to college in America. His mom believed he could have a better life, go to a better school, and have a better future here in America.

Upon arrival, Donggeon was placed in a homestay where he did not feel welcome or comfortable. For him to live in that homestay, his mother had to pay the host mom the same amount of money as Waldorf tuition. This meant that Donggeon's mother was paying twice the amount of Waldorf tuition just for him to be in America. Things continued to worsen until Donggeon reached the point of deciding to switch his host family. Donggeon knew the Meltzer family through his affiliation with Waldorf. The Meltzer family quickly became like family to Donggeon and his mom was encouraging the idea of him moving into the Meltzer household. Donggeon questioned teachers at the Waldorf school if there was anything he had to do related to the school in order to switch homestays. He was only told he needed to provide the contact information of the new family. Many teachers even seemed excited for this prospect of a better environment for Donggeon. His guardian at the time did not mention about any problems when Donggeon told her he would be moving to a different homestay.

The day after the school year ended, Donggeon made the move into the new home. Everything was set up and comfortable and he finally received decent nights of sleep while there. However, one week later a letter arrived stating that Donggeon could no longer go to the Waldorf school due to his change of residence. This came without prior warning, and the families were told that this decision was final and unchangeable, and that Donggeon would not be allowed to reapply to the school. If asked for more clarification on the specific reason for expulsion, we could never receive an actual answer until after multiple meetings with many different board members. Only now are we being told that changing guardianship puts the school in an unsafe position. However, we have still not been told why reapplication under the new guardianship is not an option. We are only told, repeatedly, that the decision will not be changed.

The expulsion of Donggeon from the Waldorf school affects his Visa, as it was dependent on his enrollment to the school. If he cannot appeal to the faculty and gain back his enrollment to Waldorf, Donggeon will be sent back to South Korea. This means that he will be completely unable to finish high school, as he retired from his Korean high school to come to school in America. If Donggeon cannot gain his spot back in Waldorf, this will be a decision that could potentially ruin his whole life, and subsequently his mom's.

There is no reason why Donggeon Im cannot continue his senior year at the Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs while living in a much more comfortable place of his and his mother's choice. Waldorf Saratoga is a school which always insists on its responsibility and genuine care for its students, but now they are ruining a young boy's life without any communication with his mother or Donggeon himself.

Waldorf is not telling us the actual reason for Donggeon's expulsion from the school, or the reason why he cannot enroll again under the new guardianship. His mother in Korea has invested so much into Donggeon's future and is now so worried and desperate to fix this problem. Waldorf's foreign boarding student form - present on their website - does not mention anything about this and even seems to state that they are generally uninterested in homestay placement.

Donggeon leaves to visit his mom in Korea in only a few days. On July 5th he will be leaving America for two weeks, and we are terrified that he will now not be allowed back in.

Please help us convince the school board that this decision was unjust and must be revisited. Allow Donggeon to graduate from the Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs.