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Its been months since the category 4 storm, Hurricane Maria, has barreled through the island of Puerto Rico. The island is still out of power and cell service along with the destruction of roads, houses, and building. To try to put their lives back together after the storm, some Puerto Rican children are actually starting school. Teachers have been hard at work cleaning and fixing school buildings. In some areas however, school will not be opening anytime soon due to the fact families are using schools as shelters since their homes are still destroyed due to the storm. I chose to read about this topic because i think it is amazing that these people are resuming their normal lives after such a horrible storm. I also think more people in America should be helping the people of Puerto Rico more; they really need our help.

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"How we lived without power in Puerto Rico"

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"How we lived without power in Puerto Rico"

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This article from CNN is an opinion piece about how families live post hurricane. The author describes her experience with hurricane San Juan and compares it to her new experience with Hurricane Maria. She poses question on how Puerto Rico will be protected from mosquitoes and the heat. The author worries about the safety of people who cannot protect themselves like the young, pregnant, and elderly. I think this source is somewhat reliable because it does contain facts but it also contained personal experiences and opinions.

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Time has passed and though we now live in a world with more advanced technology with access to smart phones and wireless devices, people struggling on the island today in the wake of Irma and Maria are sure to face many of the same basic problems we did back then.

Puerto Rican authorities said they may not get power back for four to six months. I fear for the well-being of my elderly grandmother in Guaynabo, outside of San Juan, where the lack of a generator and access to power and water make the heat potentially dangerous. I remember those challenges well.

I was 13 years old when Hurricane Georges hit. But I can close my eyes and picture myself helping my parents put up the hurricane shutters at my grandparents' house. I can see my grandparents, parents, brother and sister huddling inside together while the storm hit. When the power went out, we sat in the dark, listening to the screeching of the wind and the sound of debris flying around and hitting things outside. It was a sleepless night.

The next morning, we discovered that the destruction from the storm was monumental. Countless trees and power lines were down. Rivers had flooded into roads, and you couldn't tell where either began or ended. Broken pieces of wood from patios lay on the ground next to shattered glass from car windows. Everywhere you walked, there were palm trees sprawled across the ground; it made driving impossible.

When the hurricane hit, we were living with my grandparents and had been planning to move into our own home that week. The house we were moving into ended up with a collapsed roof and flooding, making it uninhabitable.

What came next was even harder. The aftermath was worse than that one sleepless night. We were cut off from the electric grid and water supply for over three weeks.

My family was lucky enough to have a generator that supplied power. I was only a child, but I knew by the look of the three large fuel tanks that my grandfather had prepared well for the storm. He was able to provide power to two other neighbors. We also had access to a limited amount of water via a large cistern. We would collect the water and boil it on the stove, powered by the generator, to use for bathing and cooking. Eventually, we ran out of that water and had to find other ways to get some.

I attended school on a military base with its own water system. My father was in the US Army and both he and my mother worked on base, giving us access to supplies that other family members didn't have. Once the roads were partially cleared, my family spent weeks driving through debris every day to the base for showers and to bring water and food home for the family and for our neighbors.

Back then, for our family, life carried on amidst the destruction, as it will likely do for many struggling now after Maria and Irma. Businesses opened up -- but without power -- and employees would do everything manually, without the use of computers or technology. Receipts were given out by hand, cash was king and physical conditions in stores and buildings were uncomfortable at best.

Schools re-opened, and for weeks we attended class without access to air conditioning or fans. This is on an island where in September, temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s are normal. When it became too warm in the classroom, we would sit in the hallway with the doors opened on each side so students and teachers could stay shaded but cool down with the breezeway.

Access to food and fuel for the generator were limited. We didn't know how long it would last and if we could get more, since we were sharing with neighbors. The military had to ration our food and drink; there was no way of knowing when life would return to normal. Even diapers were rationed, so there would be enough for everyone.

My worry now, in the wake of Hurricane Maria, lies in what happens to the vulnerable -- the very young, the elderly, and pregnant women. What will they do without clean water and a reprieve from the intense heat and humidity that exists on our island?

How will a pregnant woman find refuge from disease-carrying mosquitoes that thrive in floodwaters and warm environments? One of my pregnant family members fears the Zika virus that has been so prevalent in that region and will likely be harder to avoid.

My grandmother could be struggling to stay well while facing extreme heat without water and power. The island's largest airport, Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, is expected to open to airline traffic on Friday, so it's possible we'll book her and other family members plane tickets to come stay with family in the United States.

There are people who don't have family they can flee to or the means to leave. You can help with donations to organizations providing basic necessities such as food and water. CNN has made it easy for you by identifying reputable nonprofits via CNN Impact Your World.

Even those who can leave temporarily realize that Puerto Rico could be without power for months. They still have jobs to go to, bills to pay and responsibilities to fulfill. Life for them doesn't stop because a hurricane destroyed their home. They have to find a way to live through it.

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how we lived without power in puerto rico  (opinion)  - cnn

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How we lived without power in Puerto Rico

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Time has passed and though we now live in a world with more advanced technology with access to smart phones and wireless devices, people struggling on the island today in the wake of Irma and Maria are sure to face many of the same basic problems we did back then.

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"Some Puerto Rico Schools Reopen, Making Due Without Power"

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"Some Puerto Rico Schools Reopen, Making Due Without Power"

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This article from the New York Times talks about how  schools in Puerto Rico are starting to reopen schools. Teachers have been working for weeks to repair schools and revise lesson plans. I think this is a reliable source because it is not opinion based and is strictly about news.

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"Puerto Rico: Reopening Of Schools Could Bring Small Measure of Normalcy"

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"Puerto Rico: Reopening Of Schools Could Bring Small Measure of Normalcy"

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This video from CNN talks about how in some parts of Puerto Rico, schools are finding it hard to reopen. Families are using schools as shelters due to the affects Hurricane Maria left on their home. Schools are still currently being repaired and lesson plans are being recreated. I think this is a reliable source because it was clean and professional looking with no spelling errors.

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His grandmother, Margarita Cosme Fuentes, 52, lives in the school-turned-shelter southwest of San Juan, along with other family members and friends. They sleep on cots in a brightly-painted classroom, where decorations still adorn the walls and a large plastic bucket surrounded by water jugs serve as the kitchen sink.

Classes begin Tuesday in regions on opposite ends of the island, in San Juan and Mayaguez, according to education officials.

But Ezequiel, 15, has no idea when he'll return to school.

"When school starts, the first thing I'm going to do is hug my friends," he said, standing outside the remains of his family's home in Corazal .

"I saw one of them and his home was destroyed. It collapsed like this one. He was happy to see me, then he started to cry."

'Starting from scratch'

For some of the US territory's 345,000 public school students, the resumption of classes next week -- after more than a month away -- could bring a small measure of normalcy.

Roughly 3 million Puerto Ricans, or more than 80% of the island's residents, have no power. About a third of households are without reliable drinking water.

Of the more than 1,100 public schools on the island, dozens were badly damaged, hundreds are serving as community centers and more than 70 others are used to shelter families who lost their homes.

In Corazal, drama teacher and actress Roxanna Miranda stood outside the small schoolhouse where she has taught for 10 years. A stack of water-logged books, notebooks, plays, costumes and make-up kits were piled high in one corner. It's unclear when schools in the storm-ravaged region will reopen.

"We are starting from scratch," she said. "We will receive these young people with joy. We will receive them with enthusiasm. We will thank God for being alive, knowing that any storm will only serve to purify us. We are starting anew."

Some schools to open October 30

Puerto Rico Education Secretary Julia Keleher this week said she wanted to resume classes for all as soon as possible but had to ensure the safety of students and teachers and that needed repairs were made.

"Schools are open as community centers around the island," she said in a video posted on the education department Facebook page. "This allows families to return to work and assures our children and members of school communities have access to a warn meal."

She said some schools in Bayamon, in the northern coastal valley, and in the southern city of Ponce are expected to reopen on October 30.

"Once we are certain that our students are safe," she said, "we will continue to open schools."

Keleher said the US Army Corp of Engineers has been evaluating school buildings. In addition, the education department has been consulting the teachers' union about recovering lost classroom time as well as state education officials in the US mainland about ensuring a smooth transition for students whose families have left the island.

'They will ... use the arts to heal'

In Corazal, clothes hang out to dry from the side of the local high school. Older people pass the time on small wooden chair desks. Ezequiel's grandmother sweeps the floor of classroom 204 like she used to in her own living room.

"One day we were in a stable place, which we called our own," she said. "Now we're here with nothing."

Still coping with the loss of his family's home and most of his meager possessions, Ezequiel said he looked forward to returning to school.

"That's where I saw all my friends, where I talked to them," he said. "Now we don't know when classes will start."

Still, the possibility that the school year could be extended past June to make up for lost time did not appeal to the teenager.

"If classes don't start, we won't have a summer," he said. "Summer is a blessing. We go to the beaches, to the river."

Miranda, the drama teacher, is also ready for school.

"I have wonderful and creative students," she said. "They will lift up our drama class and use the arts to heal us."

Linh Tran and Raphael Rodriguez contributed to this report.

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puerto rico: reopening of schools could bring small measure of normalcy  - cnn

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Puerto Rico: Reopening of schools could bring small measure of normalcy

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His grandmother, Margarita Cosme Fuentes, 52, lives in the school-turned-shelter southwest of San Juan, along with other family members and friends. They sleep on cots in a brightly-painted classroom, where decorations still adorn the walls and a large plastic bucket surrounded by water jugs serve as the kitchen sink.

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"The monumental task of Reopening Puerto Rico's Schools"

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"The monumental task of Reopening Puerto Rico's Schools"

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I agree with this interview from NPR because the interviewee, Julia Keller, claims that individual regions should be the ones to decide what to do about starting school and repairing their cities. I agree with this because i think every city has the right to make decisions instead of some political leader who has no idea what these people might be going through. I think this source is reliable because it is from NPR which is a widely known news and interview source.

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The schools in Puerto Rico are facing massive challenges.

All the public schools are without electricity, and more than half don't have water. More than 100 are still functioning as shelters.

But Puerto Rico's Secretary of Education, Julia Keleher, tells us that the schools that are open are serving as connection points for communities. They've become a place where children and their families can eat a hot meal and get some emotional support, too.

Yesterday we reported on two schools that have reopened - one public and one private.

And this week spoke with Keleher by phone about the challenges students and educators are facing. Our interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Broadly, can you give us an update on the state of public schools in Puerto Rico?
We have 345,000 students and 1,113 schools. Last week, we opened 22. This week we're opening another 145.

And then, I've identified 227 that, when we remove the debris, we can open.

So we've been making small gains, heading in the right direction I think, trying to give an opportunity for things to kind of look and feel like they're getting back to normal so kids and families have a place to go.

So I think the goal is, we're looking at Oct. 23 as the date to have school come back online. We're going to be making that a regional decision-making process.

So before, it was a unitary system and that means that all 1,113 schools follow the same set of rules but now we're going to have seven regions which would function more like districts. The idea is that part of the problem with this system previously is that it was all centralized. There's too much bureaucracy.

So what we're trying to do is push the decision making back down closer to the level where people are actually working.
And was that a decision taken after the hurricane, as a result of hurricane?
Before, and it's interesting that you ask that question, because what we're finding is that the reforms that we wanted to implement are even more relevant now. And we have more of an opportunity to move quicker with their implementation.
Are there any areas of the island where you think it's going to take longer to open up?
There are places where the storm entered and exited that were just significantly impacted. The move toward regional decision making helps us better isolate those problems, and figure out where they are and develop a localized response to it. San Juan is not representative of the rest of the island. So it is very important that the people who are in those other regions are able to make decisions and ask for resources based on what they're seeing. They have to have that autonomy, they have to have that responsibility, that they have that authority because I can't see from here what it is that they need.
What's the biggest obstacle to getting schools back up and running.
Electricity.
And what are you doing to deal with the trauma of the hurricane for kids and for teachers?
We brought in an [expert] from Miami-Dade and he came here for a week. We had a shared conversation with the Association of Private Schools.

We brought in the union leadership, we brought in senators, we brought in thought leaders in the community to make a public and an explicit statement that the department understands the amount of loss that people, that are, you know our family - our extended family - have experienced.

Teachers lost their homes and students saw their families lose their homes. So we wanted to give that its deserved space and respect people's experience.

Folks reached out and said, "Puerto Rico's going through this, can we help?" So now what we're working on is a way of scaling it.

So the important thing is that the message is there, and there will be continued support for it throughout the remaining part of the school year. One idea that [the Miami-Dade expert] mentioned was having an activity as part of a school day where you're doing breathing or you're focusing on wellness or there's yoga or some kind of sort of settling mindfulness experience. And so we're going to we're going to move forward with that.
I know it's difficult to speak generally but do you have a sense of how the kids are doing in terms of trauma following the hurricane?
The fact that we've opened up 20 schools last week and the 145 this past week - it's been a great experience. The middle school kids were cutting out and making traces of their hands and then putting on there things that they would do to help in their community. And the seniors made like a wishing tree but they had values and sort of made a promise of what they would do to help rebuild.

I think it's cathartic in a way. And I think it's a safe space. And I think the school being open even though it's not instructional time, it's not our calendar, we're not back online - it provides a safe space to be able to process. And we can also take lists of names, and an inventory of supplies or resources or clothes - things that people may need and try to figure out how to channel those quicker for them.
And are most of the schools that are open providing food and other support?
Breakfast and lunch, and we have social workers that are doing visits. See if people need medicine. You know it's functioning as a connection point, where if it's open and it's predictable and it's in the community and we can feed people and try to get a sense of what the needs are in a community, but then also have a way of coordinating that.

There were cases where there were no communications, the telecoms went completely down. It was very hard to find out what people needed. So having the school as a sort of hub is proving to be something that's having a positive effect.
It's hard to ask for resources if you can't even communicate. Have you been able to make contact with all the schools?
We're working through all of the regional directors, which would be the equivalent of a superintendent in the unitary system, and that that has helped. So I have data on about 73 percent of [the schools]. The hardest areas to collect information on the status of schools and damages has been Caguas and Humacao, and they were both regions that were more significantly impacted.
Do you feel like you're getting enough resources from the government?
Our budget, our state budget was reduced 10 percent because of the fiscal crisis. And you know, we've had a reduction in the number of teachers but I also have a teacher shortage. There's a reduction in the number that I can hire. And there's a reduction in the number of teachers that are here to hire, especially in hard to fill areas.
Do you anticipate getting any further resources from the federal government?
We need an aid package. I've made that request informally. If you look at a situation like Katrina, they got a huge amount of federal relief. And so not only are we looking forward to the federal funds that we'll receive as a result of damages reported to our buildings through FEMA. We're also looking forward to support with federal funds to impact the quality of schools and the number of options that we actually have here.
And what are you planning to do to make sure that kids don't fall behind as a result of lost school time?
We have a couple of options. It's hard to build consensus when you have 31,000 teachers. [And] we're not paying them well. A lot of them have second jobs and they have things to do after work. And traditionally the day has been 8 [a.m.] to 3 [p.m.]. So, I'm advocating for it being 8 to 5 and they use those two hours at the end, to focus more on these wellness activities and project-based learning.

It's about 40 instructional days [lost], between 35 and 40. It's about 270 plus instructional hours that we have to put back. We're also going to need to work a couple of weeks in June.

Typically, working in the summer months here has been sort off limits. But at this school I was out this morning, they were telling me that they didn't want to do the extended day because they had things to do after school and they would prefer to work in the summer.

It's interesting, the event has created conditions where I'm able to move faster with the kinds of reforms that I want to, because it's displaced so many things and it's broken the paradigm. And so things that we're never on the table are now on the table.

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The Monumental Task Of Reopening Puerto Rico's Schools

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The schools in Puerto Rico are facing massive challenges. All the public schools are without electricity, and more than half don't have water. More than 100 are still functioning as shelters. But Puerto Rico's Secretary of Education, Julia Keleher, tells us that the schools that are open are serving as connection points for communities.

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"These Puerto Rican kids are fighting to reopen their school after Maria"

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"These Puerto Rican kids are fighting to reopen their school after Maria"

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I strongly disagree with this article because it is from a non credible source. This website is full of click bate ads along with misspelled words. The article would not load any of the graphs or charts and included very little text. At the very end of the site, the fine print claims that there are no "human editors" which proves how uncredible this source is. In order to find a real news source, i would look for major news companies and sources that do not contain bias or grammar misuse.

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These Puerto Rican kids are fighting to reopen their school after Maria

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Trendolizer™ (patent pending) automatically scans the internet for trending content. The website you are looking at has no human editors at all: links to trending stories are automatically posted from a selection of the data Trendolizer™ picked up. If you are interested in using the Trendolizer™ engine, dashboard or API for your own projects, more information is available at get.trendolizer.com.

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I had a conversation with my friend Maggi Quigg  from Minnesota. We face timed to discuss how Puerto Rican schools are starting to reopen. I started out the conversation by explaining a quick overview of my topic and started asking her questions. Maggi said, "It's goof they [Puerto Ricans] are trying to get back on her feet. She posed the idea that if schools are still damaged and are being used as shelters, people should try to start classes in safe homes that survived the storm. We both agreed that teachers should try to resume their lesson plans in order to bring a sense of routine and normalcy but also focus on helping children with post hurricane anxiety.

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While researching i found a common theme of people agreeing and supporting the fact Puerto Rico is starting school. All people i have talked to think it would be beneficial for the children to have a scene of routine and normalcy in their now hectic lives. My position still remains supportive and i hope Puerto Ricans recover quickly.