(Special) Education in Puerto Rico: “Here, All of the Parents are Desperate.”
In an age in which news is “new” for only a moment, it is easy for the unaffected to quickly move past profound issues that deserve attention on behalf of the neediest individuals in our nation– not just in the contiguous US– not just in US states– but also in US territories.
In September-October 2017, Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, a US territory that continues to suffer not only the effects of the storm, but also a terrible aftermath in which rescue and rebuilding are proving to be an American embarrassment.
As for education in Puerto Rico, prior to Maria, the island was being subjected to school closure, ostensibly related to the territory’s fiscal problems. Following Maria, school closure in Puerto Rico is a storm in its own right, one that feeds on itself as the population of the island has dropped.
In this post, I offer excerpts from three articles about the state of education in Puerto Rico, particularly the state of special education. I invite readers to follow the links and read the articles in their entirety. We must not forget Puerto Rico.
The first comes from the October 02, 2018, Learning English VOA News and is entitled, “Puerto Rico Students Still Suffer Effects of Hurricane Maria”:
One year has passed since Hurricane Maria struck the United States territory of Puerto Rico.But even before the storm hit, education officials had begun closing schools on Puerto Rico to save money.Last year, the territory’s government sought legal protection from creditors because it owed billions of dollars in debts that could not be paid.In the weeks and months after Hurricane Maria, the number of students on the island dropped as conditions worsened. Thousands of Puerto Rican families fled to the U.S. mainland. Many students ended up attending schools in Florida or other states along the East Coast.At the time, education officials reported that about half of Puerto Rico’s schools had lower than normal student attendance rates. Only about 60 percent of classroom seats were filled. The government ended up closing nearly 300 schools. Education officials said the move was necessary to meet budget targets.But the closures created problems for Puerto Rican students and their parents when the new school year started a few weeks ago. With many schools closed, some students had to travel outside their neighborhood to attend school. Their parents often were required to find transportation to and from the school. …
The effects of school closure in Puerto Rico segues into this September 28, 2018, Continue reading: (Special) Education in Puerto Rico: “Here, All of the Parents are Desperate.” | deutsch29
