A government-commissioned study found that LGBT+ teenagers face higher rates of depression, anxiety, substance use, suicidal thoughts and attempts, and bullying compared with their heterosexual peers.
The island’s Department of Education is losing students, in part, due to a cycle of constant school relocations, deteriorating facilities, and shortened schedules from noon to 5 p.m., which are stopgap measures that fail to address the core problem: an unrepaired infrastructure, despite the availability of funds.
As they move from Puerto Rico and between states, many Puerto Rican families face cultural, language and economic barriers while seeking better services for their children with special needs.
While the Governor downplayed the resignation of nearly a dozen experts he had convened to decentralize and depoliticize the agency, the federal government asked him to put the community’s needs at the forefront of the initiative and ensure the right voices are seated at the table.
An error in the interpretation of what “displaced student” means led the Department of Education to count students who did not meet the requirements of that definition and receive an estimated $6.5 million from the Emergency Fund after Hurricanes Irma and María to which it allegedly was not entitled.
