SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Jessika Reyes, a Spanish teacher at a public school in Puerto Rico, is proud of how her 11th-grade students have handled virtual learning during the pandemic. But the learning curve has been steep. Many struggled to access the internet. Others have stopped coming to class altogether or left school to join the workforce.
Yet despite the challenges, she does not think officials should reopen schools in the U.S. territory until they can show students and teachers will be safe. She visited her school recently and found no adjustments to take biosecurity into account.
"My classroom was just as I left it," said Reyes, who teaches in Vega Alta, a town on the island's northern coast with a poverty rate of almost 46%. "They have gone to paint the schools. As far as I know, paint doesn't attack COVID."
Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi signed an emergency declaration Wednesday to expedite preparations to begin in-person classes at the island's public schools almost a year since the first coronavirus case was detected in the American territory. He said he plans to authorize a gradual, partial reopening for March 1 of the public education system, devastated in recent years by earthquakes, hurricanes, and now the coronavirus pandemic.
But former secretaries of education, lawmakers, teachers, parents, and union leaders say that while opening the public school system is imperative, they do not believe the Puerto Rico Department of Education is ready to begin in-person classes in less than two weeks.
"The schools aren't ready. The governor's order confirms it," said Edwin Morales, vice president of the Teacher's Federation of Puerto Rico, a labor union of around 3,000 educators. "It is very premature, so we must continue with the preparations to later guarantee a plan where it is safe for the entire school community."
Coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in the island of 3.2 million have decreased over the last two weeks. However, over two-thirds of adult intensive care unit beds were occupied as of Thursday, raising concerns as coronavirus variants circulate globally. The push to reopen classes comes as President Joe Biden races to fulfill his pledge to begin in-person classes in the continental United States during his first 100 days in office.
Puerto Rico's public education system was already struggling before the pandemic. The system of 858 schools serves a student population where the majority live under the poverty level. In the 2019-2020 school year, the public high school dropout rate was almost 15%, according to the Department of Education, although experts say that number is likely much higher. Over 103,000 students have disabilities that require special education services. And hundreds of schools have shuttered as the island's population declines, according to a Hunter College study.
The island has also been hit by a series of natural disasters that have made it difficult to provide an education to the island's children. In 2017, Hurricane Maria destroyed dozens of school buildings and interrupted classes for weeks. A series of earthquakes that began shaking southern Puerto Rico in late December 2019 delayed the beginning of the 2020 spring semester across the island and left five towns in the region without functioning schools, according to the Puerto Rico Center for Investigative Journalism. The quakes also highlighted structural weaknesses in school buildings, prompting fears for children's well-being in light of unpredictable seismic activity.
When the pandemic began last March, schools shifted online in a public system where many students lack the safe housing, technological equipment, and the internet connectivity needed to continue with their academic work.
Empowered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's decree that schools could go back into session safely within strict guidelines, Pierluisi has aimed to open schools as soon as possible for lower elementary grades, high school seniors, and special education students, per the Feb. 16 executive order, which also acknowledged that due to the pandemic and the quakes, school grounds have not received adequate maintenance in the last year.
Former Puerto Rico Secretaries of Education Rafael Román and Cesar Rey told the Miami Herald the pandemic could exacerbate long-existing problems in the public education system, including worsening dropout rates, intensifying educational gaps, and deteriorating access to education for the island's special needs students, a community that has already fought for decades for better services.
"Everyone wants in-person education and understands it's the most adequate education," Rey said. "The impact I think remains to be seen. There is a potential danger again for young people who are being interrupted in their educational growth process."
Henry Neumann, a senator who represents the San Juan District, introduced a bill on Tuesday that will permit parents to request that their children be allowed to repeat a school year.
But despite the urgency, many, including the former education officials, contend a later start date is more realistic.
"From experience, having worked in the Department of Education for 18 years and having led the department, I see March as a rushed date," Román said.
With 10 days to go, it is still unclear which public schools or how many will be reopened. On its Facebook page, the Department of Education said that as of Feb. 13, around 24,000 public school employees had received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Many won't get the second until mid-March.
Acting Secretary of Education Elba Aponte has provided some preliminary details of safety measures that will be part of the school reopenings. According to the plan, classroom sizes will be limited to under a dozen students, cafeterias will not open, and schools will have nurses on site.
Sheila Angleró, the governor's press secretary, said that 172 schools in the public school system have been identified as being potentially suitable to open. On Thursday, the Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico, a professional organization and teachers union with around 17,000 members, said it was giving Aponte 24 hours to release details on the reopening so it could review the state of the school grounds and prepare returning staff and students.
The comments follow a Feb. 11 House of Representatives hearing that lasted 10 hours in which Aponte could not specify what the protocol would be if a COVID-19 outbreak happened in a school or what specific measures would be taken to protect teachers and students, according to a report from the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. She also did not lay out when the schools in the earthquake-stricken south of the island would reopen or give details about temporary classroom arrangements for students whose schools were damaged by earthquakes.
The legislative report recommended an August start date for the school system. It also noted a study from the Department of Health's municipal contact tracing system that said schools would likely become a "new focal point of infections" should they reopen.
"Bus drivers have not received training. They have not been vaccinated," said Rep. Deborah Soto Arroyo, a public school teacher with 20 years of experience who heads the House Education Commission. "The schools in the south area are destroyed."
Pierluisi postponed a conference Thursday morning where he was slated to announce details on the executive order to allow schools to reopen. As the government prepares to release its plan, students, teachers, and parents in the public school system said they remain distrustful of the proposed March school opening.
"I don't know how ready schools are when it comes to materials, masks, disinfectants," said Gilberto Reyes, a middle school science teacher in a San Juan area school. "I think this could cause an outbreak of infections. I don't see it as viable or as a considerate decision."
Alfredo Alemán, who has a son in the second grade who suffers from multiple chronic health conditions, said he plans to keep his child at home if his Humacao-area school reopens in March and will continue with virtual learning.
"It's unfortunate that our children are suffering, paying the consequences of bad decisions that the leaders of this country make. My son isn't going to school, no matter who kicks or yells," he said. "And that's the stance of many parents."
