Photo: CNS Catholic schools in the US are accepting students and enrolment inquiries from Puerto Rican families displaced to Florida after the devastating impact of Hurricane Maria.
An informal survey conducted in early October by the Miami Archdiocesan Office of Catholic Schools indicated that some 50 students from Puerto Rico had already been placed in Catholic elementary and secondary schools within the archdiocese and more enrolments are expected in the coming months.
“They are still in the process of arriving since flights out of Puerto Rico are difficult to get and very expensive. We expect to receive more students in the coming weeks,” said Hope Sadowski, coordinator of foreign students and administrative executive assistant in the Office of Catholic Schools in Miami.
Sadowski said the Miami Archdiocese is asking the schools to keep a tally of the Puerto Rican enrolments and to do everything they can to facilitate the emergency enrolments wherever possible. She said Catholic schools are working with the families on an individual basis to determine financial arrangements and in some cases may offer a waiver or partial waiver of tuition fees in the short term.
The situation draws comparisons to the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake when many families were resettled in South Florida and enrolled their children in local private schools, although Sadowski points out that the Puerto Ricans are US citizens who are able to access US public education and stay in the US mainland indefinitely if they so choose.
Puerto Rican students are generally fluent in English, making for a slightly easier transition to academic life in the US, she noted in an interview with the Florida Catholic, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Miami.