Minors Have Less Time for Education due to Shortage of Correctional Officers

Minors in one of the two Social Treatment Centers of the Bureau of Juvenile Institutions (NIJ, in Spanish) must receive six hours a day of educational services, at least two hours of psychological services and meet with a social worker, according to an agreement between the US Department of Justice and the government of Puerto Rico. However, in 2021, the centers saw the departure of 36 correctional officers as the agency identified a need for 81 officers for fiscal year 2022. Classes are suspended whenever security staffing is insufficient to ensure the safety of teachers, minors and Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) staff. The solution for these suspensions has been limited “too often” to leaving homework and printed materials in their housing modules without instructions from teachers, according to the most recent report by federal monitor Kimberly Tandy. The Department of Education (DE) has 41 teachers assigned to teach classes in juvenile correctional institutions.

Menos tiempo para educarse debido a la escasez de oficiales de custodia

Los menores en alguno de los dos Centros de Tratamiento Social del Negociado de Instituciones Juveniles (NIJ) deben recibir a diario seis horas de servicios educativos, al menos dos horas de servicios psicológicos y reunirse con un trabajador social, según estipula un acuerdo entre el Departamento de Justicia federal y el Gobierno de Puerto Rico. Sin embargo, en 2021, los centros perdieron 36 oficiales correccionales al tiempo que la agencia identificó que necesita 81 oficiales para el año fiscal 2022. Las clases se suspenden cada vez que el personal no da abasto para garantizar la seguridad de los maestros, los menores y el personal del Departamento de Corrección y Rehabilitación (DCR). 

El remedio a estas suspensiones se ha limitado “con demasiada frecuencia” a dejarles tareas y materiales impresos en sus módulos de vivienda sin instrucciones de los maestros, explica el informe más reciente de la monitora federal, Kimberly Tandy. 

El Departamento de Educación (DE) tiene 41 maestros contratados para impartir clases en las instituciones correccionales juveniles. En el Centro de Tratamiento Social de Ponce, 20 jóvenes reciben servicios educativos, de los cuales siete pertenecen al Programa de Educación Especial. Allí la enseñanza no se interrumpió entre agosto y diciembre de 2021 según el informe federal, pero los pocos oficiales de custodia disponibles también doblaron turnos para garantizar los servicios.

School’s Budget Data Still Unclear Four Years After Educational Reform

The Department of Education (DE) officially allocates school budgets considering the size of enrollment, the school community’s poverty level, the school’s academic program and students needs, as well as compliance with the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). But most school principals don’t understand the Department’s process for setting the cost per student. This is the conclusion from the interviews that the Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI, in Spanish) conducted with a dozen school directors. If you look up Vimenti Alliance School’s cost per student on the DE School Profile webpage for 2020, it says $6,112. If you ask the Department’s Budget Office what the cost per student is for that same school for the same year, they’ll tell you it’s $3,241.

A cuatro años de la Reforma Educativa no están claros los datos sobre el presupuesto escolar

Oficialmente, el Departamento de Educación (DE) asigna los presupuestos escolares tomando en cuenta el tamaño de la matrícula, el nivel de pobreza de la comunidad escolar, el programa académico que ofrece la escuela y las necesidades de los estudiantes, así como el cumplimiento con la Ley federal de Educación Primaria y Secundaria (ESEA por sus siglas en inglés). Pero la mayoría de los directores escolares no entiende el proceso de la agencia a la hora de definir el costo por estudiante. Así se desprende de las entrevistas realizadas por el Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) a una docena de directores. Si busca el costo por estudiante de la Escuela Alianza Vimenti School en la página del Perfil Escolar del DE para el año 2020, le indica que es de $6,112. Si pregunta a la Oficina de Presupuesto de la agencia cuál es el costo por alumno de esa misma escuela para el mismo año, le dirán que es de $3,241.

Expensive Evaluation to ‘Transform’ University of Puerto Rico’s Medical Sciences Campus

Since Mayda Velasco Bonilla became chairwoman of the University of Puerto Rico’s (UPR) Governing Board (JG, in Spanish) in August 2021, the members have never voted to approve the contracts that add up to $1.2 million so far this fiscal year to cover the operations of the Office of Institutional Transformation (OTI, in Spanish), in charge of implementing the institution’s Fiscal Plan. The JG’s regulations establish that said contracts must be approved by its members, who were not consulted about the selection of the External Collaborators Committee members that evaluate the operations of the Medical Sciences Campus (RCM, in Spanish). The Committee was created to “identify deficiencies and areas of opportunity in the RCM,” as stated in a contract between the Governing Board and Cedrela Consulting Group, a company that would analyze the Committee members’ recommendations. 

Cedrela and Bluhaus Capital were the first companies to benefit from OTI contracts. Before being hired by the JG for $350,000, Bluhaus had contracts with the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (AAFAF, in Spanish) to develop the UPR’s Fiscal Plan and structural reforms, while the JG contracted Cedrela for $50,400 to advise in managing projects that could affect the Plan. The members of the External Collaborators Committee were chosen by Velasco Bonilla, who informed the JG about the only two in-person meetings that the group had had, which have cost the UPR $60,884.