San Juan, Puerto Rico
The school where Edmarie D铆az teaches in the Puerto Rican town of Comer铆o is still standing. But so much of what she counted on in life is gone.
As Hurricane Maria approached Puerto Rico over a month ago, she knew her house, made of wood and zinc, wouldn鈥檛 last long in the storm.
鈥淲e left and took refuge in my parents鈥� house,鈥� said D铆az. 鈥淲hen I went back, I found that the roof wasn鈥檛 there, everything was wet, there was too much damage, so I understood that I had lost everything.鈥�
Puerto Rico鈥檚 education leaders face two inseparable challenges. They have the opportunity to recreate, and not just rebuild, the U.S. territory鈥檚 long-struggling school system. But as long as teachers like D铆az and tens of thousands of Puerto Rican students and their families go without basic necessities鈥攁 daily struggle that will take weeks or months to resolve鈥攁 positive transformation for the island鈥檚 schools might be crippled before it can even start. Or never take place at all.
The storm shattered the island鈥檚 feeble power grid and ruptured its water supply. The 1,200 or so schools serving Puerto Rico鈥檚 350,000 public school students went dark for weeks and only a relatively small number have recently started to reopen to serve basic, community needs by providing food and water, and hosting events such as read-aloud activities.
The Category 4 hurricane hit Puerto Rico nine months into the tenure of Secretary of Education Julia Keleher, a reform-minded former Department of Education official and business consultant whose specialties include large-scale project management. Since arriving, Keleher was driving to break up the island鈥檚 unified school district into more nimble units. Keleher also sought to upend traditional classrooms and create new learning environments that encourage entrepreneurship. Puerto Rican students鈥� performance has lagged far behind their counterparts on the U.S. mainland.
For the moment, Keleher鈥檚 ambition has been narrowed to a goal of having all viable schools open by Oct. 23. But her larger appetite for remaking the system in Puerto Rico has only grown in the weeks since the hurricane roared through.
Today, she鈥檚 diving deep into the lessons of loss and opportunity in previous natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans in 2005, bringing major upheaval to that city鈥檚 public schools. She wants schools to partner with new organizations, new initiatives like Promise Neighborhoods, and other things she says aren鈥檛 innovative in the U.S. but could transform the island鈥檚 schools.
鈥淲e totally have a chance to redefine how education happens,鈥� she said.
鈥楽ee Rain and Start Crying鈥�
But making the most of that chance will be difficult. To say Puerto Rico鈥檚 educational system has a clean slate on which to build anew is at once a misnomer and, in some cases, too exact.
Some schools may never reopen due to extensive damage. Others may operate without power, and therefore without things like air conditioning and lights, for weeks or months.
The island is losing population, especially sought-after professionals like teachers, so schools that physically survived the storm may still wilt.
Replacing even basic materials, from notebooks to students鈥� academic records, could be a struggle. So will making up lost instructional time, which for many students will be a month or more.
Keleher acknowledges the challenge to 鈥渘avigate the pressure of returning to some sense of normalcy and providing hope and give the kids routine again, with not really being able to do something too quick.鈥�
The elements that have provided the foundation for other high-profile efforts to revamp schools and districts, including after natural disasters, are absent from Puerto Rico. Teach For America, for example, has no presence in Puerto Rico, and a spokeswoman said the corps has no plans to expand. And Puerto Rico鈥檚 charter school law expired nearly two decades ago. The island now has no charter schools, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
Finally, all such efforts must take into account the physical and emotional trauma of children and adults alike. Aida D铆az, the head of the Asociaci贸n de Maestros de Puerto Rico, the island鈥檚 teachers鈥� union, has been preoccupied with finding teachers and handing off supplies to them, from rice to diapers.
鈥淲e have students that see rain and start crying,鈥� D铆az said. 鈥淲e have to work with all of them. 鈥� We have kids that are in the shelter who say, 鈥業鈥檓 not going back to the school, I don鈥檛 have clothes, I don鈥檛 have shoes, I lost my books.鈥� 鈥�
Teachers have been granted a hardship waiver by Keleher鈥檚 department, and they have until early January to return to work. But some teachers are leaving for places like Orlando and Miami, where job opportunities could be especially easy to find.
In fact, Florida鈥檚 Orange County school system essentially created a welcoming committee at Orlando International Airport to receive new students and, where possible, to hire new employees. Fueled by family connections in these communities, and aided by the marketability of bilingual educators, the pipeline out of Puerto Rico鈥檚 education system and into the U.S. mainland is running full.
Seeking Relief
Hurricane Maria sent Puerto Rico鈥檚 public schools reeling. But they already were having monumental struggles amid tough financial circumstances for the island as a whole.
Statistics from Puerto Rico鈥檚 Department of Education and other sources show that 77 percent of children come from homes below the poverty line, as of the 2015-16 school year. Only one out of four teachers earns over $3,000 a month. On the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress math exam, more than 9 out of 10 8th graders scored at the lowest possible level. Fewer than two-thirds of students graduated from high school in Puerto Rico in 2012, the last time National Center for Education Statistics reported the figure.
The island is also treated differently than states by the federal government.
Puerto Rico had to submit a plan for the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, just as states did. But it has restraints on funding for disadvantaged students, as well as those learning the English language, that states don鈥檛 face. A 2016 report to Congress indicated that the cap on funding for disadvantaged children, for example, cost the island $51.9 million in aid it would have otherwise received, or 12.7 percent.
鈥淵ou haven鈥檛 always had the investment and commitment to public schools that you should,鈥� said John B. King Jr., a former secretary of education whose mother was Puerto Rican and who taught in San Juan for a year. 鈥淭hat is a challenge. It is a place where there is tremendous economic disparity. You鈥檝e got incredible poverty. And you鈥檝e also got folks who are incredibly wealthy.鈥�
Keleher is seeking funding as well as regulatory flexibility from various requirements, including those for special and adult education. And she wants people on the ground to help. 鈥淚f [Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos] were willing to share some help in terms of experts that could come down and train our folks, that would be really helpful,鈥� Keleher said.
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives approved a $36.5 billion aid package for Puerto Rico, as well as states impacted by other recent storms, that includes $4.9 billion loans for local communities to maintain essential services like schools.
The U.S. Department of Education is working on a school aid package to submit to the Office of Management and Budget by Oct. 25, department spokeswoman Elizabeth Hill said last week. She also said DeVos and acting Assistant Secretary Jason Botel 鈥渉ave been in close communication鈥� with Keleher about how to help Puerto Rico鈥檚 schools recover. Hill also said the agency is studying additional flexibility for the island.
鈥淭he Department鈥檚 short-term and long-term efforts in that territory will be based on assessed needs and at the request of officials on the ground there,鈥� she said, although she didn鈥檛 specify if the department had sent personnel to the island.
Educators Pitching In
As of the middle of last week, Puerto Rico had about 190 schools open, although the island鈥檚 education department was calling them 鈥渃ommunity centers.鈥� Formal teaching is not the focus鈥攊nstead, schools are holding read-aloud events and encouraging students to share their experiences of Hurricane Maria.
In some cases, schools are directly helping the broader recovery effort. Juanita Negr贸n Reyes, the director of the Bernardo Gonzalez Colon School in the mountain town of Utuado, oversaw the preparation and delivery of 500 hot meals to Judith Avivas Elementary School across town. She sat at her desk behind the locked school entrance, asking visitors to sign in just like a normal school day. Her classrooms needed to be mucked out, but a cleanup vehicle was out front, clearing away debris.
Collapsed power lines and poles lined a river bank in Utuado, where over a dozen bridges had collapsed and water and food was being brought in by helicopter to the town鈥檚 baseball stadium. Despite such obstacles, Reyes is optimistic.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to [recreate] the same school, or better. ... We can do it,鈥� she said.
Two of those meals from Bernardo Gonzalez Colon School went to Josh and Abdiel Rivera, brothers who were trying to keep up with English and math lessons while living in a classroom at Utuado鈥檚 Judith Avivas Elementary School. The school had been converted into a shelter serving about 100 people, and their beds and piles of clothes took the place of chairs and notebooks.
As Josh and Abdiel tossed a ball around in Judith Avivas鈥� courtyard, their mother, Glenda Ruiz, said she had a brother living in Ohio but hadn鈥檛 been able to get in touch with him yet. While she鈥檚 still hopeful that Utuado can be rebuilt, 鈥淚f we get the opportunity, we will leave鈥� for the mainland United States for work and for her children鈥檚 education, she said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an open question how they will manage the right size of their school system. It鈥檚 safe to assume you鈥檒l have accelerated migration over the next three to six months,鈥� said King, the former education secretary said.
Katrina and Maria
Paul Pastorek, the superintendent of Louisiana鈥檚 schools from 2007 to 2011, looked at what Puerto Rico鈥檚 educational system faces and weighed it against the challenges faced by New Orleans鈥� schools after Hurricane Katrina. He reached this conclusion: 鈥淭his problem is many times more difficult than the Katrina problem.鈥�
That鈥檚 in part because, in Pastorek鈥檚 view, Puerto Rico must act faster to piece together a school system that is much larger than New Orleans鈥� was鈥攖he Big Easy had about 65,000 students before Katrina hit. And Puerto Rico schools will attempt to recover with 鈥渁 large degree of risk that it won鈥檛 get the right attention because it doesn鈥檛 enjoy the same status as a mainland state.鈥� New Orleans-area residents weren鈥檛 living on an island; they could leave for cities like Houston and Atlanta and not come back for some time, he noted.
Back in 2005, Congress devoted $1.4 billion to helping schools and students recover from Katrina. That included $750 million in so-called 鈥渞estart aid.鈥� Keleher, in fact, cited that aid package in her wish-list for Puerto Rican schools. For New Orleans, that money could be used to pay for new textbooks, to replace some technology, to rent trailers to use as temporary educational spaces, and to redevelop curriculum. But it didn鈥檛 cover other costs, including major renovations and rebuilding.
New Orleans, which had roughly a tenth of the number of schools before Katrina hit as Puerto Rico did before Maria, had to wrestle with complex requirements surrounding federal aid, all while stitching together the 鈥渂are bones鈥� of an educational system in the first year after the 2005 storm, Pastorek recalled. The district spent a lot on stipends to attract teachers, but that approach may not have the same potency in Puerto Rico. And in contrast to the hardship waiver Puerto Rico鈥檚 teachers have received, New Orleans ended up firing its previous teachers as part of the district鈥檚 rebuilding process.
鈥淚f they have to face the same challenges we did, it is going to be a difficult and a long slog through no fault of their own,鈥� Pastorek said. 鈥淭here are few options that are easy, automatic, and elegantly right.鈥�
An Attraction to Rebuilding?
Puerto Ricans need to decide for themselves the best options for revamping their schools, Pastorek said. But he said the system should be open to a range of options, including expanded charters, private school vouchers, and online learning, to help the system get back on its feet. There might be a bigger practical challenge for Puerto Rico鈥檚 schools, however, he said.
鈥淓ven if an NGO [non-governmental organization] or nonprofit wanted to help, how do you mobilize arms and legs to go to Puerto Rico to help when it is not close?鈥� Pastorek said. 鈥淧eople will ask, 鈥榃ill I be able to live and do work there when there鈥檚 such devastation there?鈥欌��
There are already efforts afoot to broaden options for Puerto Rico鈥檚 students. Florida Gov. Rick Scott recently opened up 20,000 slots in his state鈥檚 virtual school to help with Puerto Rican students鈥� education.
That doesn鈥檛 do much of anything for students on the island without the internet. But Keleher said that鈥檚 not a deal-breaker. She鈥檚 looking for innovation anywhere she can so she can help it grow.
鈥淲hether I can get online or not, I take it. Why? Because I can say, if Florida virtual schools is giving me this, then I can go to Claro [a cellular provider in the Caribbean and the Americas] and AT&T and say, 鈥楥an you guys help me get online? What options do I have?鈥欌�� Keleher said. 鈥淎s soon as that first resource comes, you can start to line up everything else you need.鈥�
Closer to the classroom, Keleher is also trying to shift schools toward a project-based learning model. For example, they could be assigned to track and then report on the damage and recovery efforts in their local communities. In part, such an approach could ease the academic burden on teachers struggling to rebuild their classrooms. But for Keleher, it would also teach students to 鈥渆ngage their world as if it were a laboratory.鈥�
鈥淢y paradigm was, that if you wanted to get an education, you had to go to a room, sit at a desk, and the person stands in front of you,鈥� she said. 鈥淣ow I get to change that.鈥�
鈥榃e Can Handle Our Schools鈥�
Even with the widespread problems facing Puerto Rico鈥檚 schools, imposing centralized solutions will be problematic because they could ignore the very disparate needs of individual schools and communities, said Katherine Miranda, the managing director of education programs at the Flamboyan Foundation, which works to improve teacher preparation and early literacy in Puerto Rico鈥檚 schools.
鈥淭he students that are in the most precarious positions and whose schools have suffered the most will be the least able to have access to other options,鈥� Miranda said.
Both Keleher and Aida D铆az, the head of the teachers鈥� union, said they have a good working relationship. But that partnership might be tested.
D铆az praised Keleher鈥檚 efforts to give local administrators more power, and she said teachers are willing to be more flexible when it comes to the school calendar. But D铆az also cautioned that in spite of the prospect of mass migration from Puerto Rico to the U.S. mainland and the system鈥檚 historical struggles, what Puerto Rican schools need right now is money.
鈥淚鈥檓 concerned because every time something like this [happens] in the country, there are some people interested in changing what the good system has been doing,鈥� D铆az said. 鈥淲e can handle our schools. We are going to continue defending public schools. We don鈥檛 want a new idea of schools controlled by people who are not teachers, who are not educators.鈥�
D铆az said she 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 trust鈥� charter schools. And she questioned any real incentive for the private sector to get heavily involved in the island鈥檚 schools.
Whatever solutions are chosen by K-12 leaders, those involved in the school system make it clear that their resolve, whether it involves using machetes to clear school grounds or bringing new partners and programs to schools, shouldn鈥檛 be in question.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a tremendous amount of commitment on the part of teachers, and school directors, and the school community, to come together and rebuild,鈥� Miranda said.
