After a year of study under the distance modality due to the covid-19 pandemic, students enrolled in public schools return today to their classrooms to take face-to-face classes in a completely different setting than they had in March 2020, when they did not have to use masks and even maintain physical distancing.
In this first phase, the expectation of the Department of Education (DE) is that about 30,000 students return to classrooms on a special schedule, which is at the discretion of each school. According to the initial plan, the students who will start today are kindergarten through third grade, special education, and grade 12.
In an interview with THE SPOKESMAN, the Undersecretary of Education, Héctor Joaquín Sánchez, said that it seeks to develop the academic skills of students in an effective way, but also guaranteeing the health of all these students.
“Each school was assigned a concept of how they should operate and the principal of the school with the school council basically what they did was they chose the modality of how they are going to be operating. One of the examples that was used or recommended is that the school operates Monday and Tuesday with 50% of the group and Thursday and Friday with the other 50% of the group from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm ”, Sánchez explained.
Under this model that he mentioned as an example, students would be taking courses entirely online on Wednesdays to prepare them for the following face-to-face classes. “Therefore, in addition, that Wednesday, deep cleaning is being recommended, which is required by the Department of Health to guarantee the safety of children,” said the official.
From today, according to Sánchez, a gradual arrival of students will be observed in schools. “We prepare for that amount (of 30,000 students). However, it is important to explain that starting tomorrow (today) parents observe how the protocols are implemented in schools … When they observe how the protocol is being established and how it is being executed, the students will gradually arrive ”, he asserted.
According to data provided by the Department of Health to THE SPOKESMANUntil yesterday afternoon, 15 final certifications had been issued for the reopening, of which six correspond to public schools and nine to private ones. It had also issued 170 preliminary certifications, of which 79 are private schools and 91 are public.
For his part, Governor Pedro Pierluisi said that the process is “walking”, as had been envisioned. “I already visited a school campus in Manatí a few days ago that was in the final stage of conditioning and they gave me a tour, they took me around the campus to evaluate it. I do not rule out visiting others, “said the chief executive, who anticipated that the process will go in stages.
Teacher complaints
Meanwhile, the Broad Front in Defense of Public Education (Fadep) has received information from hundreds of teachers who denounce that they were summoned to report to their schools in person this week, but these schools are not on the official reopening list. For this reason, there were reportedly many educators who were unable to connect virtually to teach their classes.
Precisely, the president of the Puerto Rico Teachers Association (AMPR), Víctor Bonilla, confirmed to THE SPOKESMAN that they have also received complaints of this nature.
“Today (yesterday) the secretary (of Education, Elba Aponte) is going to be handed over all those complaints that fellow teachers have made, indicating that they have to be well aware of the governor’s executive order (on covid -19), which is very specific ”, he mentioned.
In keeping with the resumption of face-to-face classes, the AMPR has taken on the task of visiting schools outside the metropolitan area, located in municipalities such as Naranjito, Comerío, San Lorenzo and Yabucoa. Bonilla explained that, for example, last Monday they were visiting two schools in San Lorenzo, including Antonio Fernós Isern, where teachers expressed concern about the hybrid model.
“What worries them (the teachers) is the hybrid form because there are students who cannot connect due to lack of internet connection. From the vocational school, I can indicate that we have to look at it differently and not like when a regular school is going to open. They work for workshops ”, he added.
Journalist Maricarmen Rivera contributed to this story.
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