Support NeoGAF

[Tripon]

https://www.the74million.org/articl...dos-airport-with-nothing-they-left-with-jobs/

Districts across the country brace for thousands of new students fleeing Puerto Rico following the devastation from Hurricane Maria last month, the schools in Orlando, Florida, have a message for educators from the island: We’re hiring.

Among the Orange County Public Schools officials who have been stationed at the Orlando airport, greeting more than 100 families and helping displaced parents enroll their children in the city’s public schools, are district human resources personnel interviewing teachers — right there in the terminal.

“When they get off the plane, they’re told that there’s some assistance, that there are a group of people downstairs waiting for them,” said Bridget Williams, the district’s chief of staff. “To see the look on their face when they walk into the room, and to see a room full of individuals that are there to help, is powerful. Just the look on their face.”

Applicants visit briefly with school officials at the airport, she said, and then are instructed to fill out online applications and provide the district office with necessary paperwork, such as their teaching certificate. Assuming their background checks pan out, they’ve landed jobs. Already, seven teachers have been offered jobs within days, Williams said, pending background checks.

The seventh-grade Spanish teacher left behind a 12-year career with the island’s education department. When she landed in Florida, however, she didn’t expect all the pieces of her new life to come together so quickly. “It was really fast,” Villanueva told The 74. “My family is like, ‘Wow, that was really fast — you don’t mess around, girl.’ ”

In the coming months and years, estimates suggest hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans could leave the island for the mainland as a result of the storm. Although New York has long been the primary destination for a majority of Puerto Rican immigrants, they’ve increasingly flocked to Florida in recent years. Orange County alone could see as many as 100,000 new residents from Puerto Rico in the next few months.

Puerto Rico’s school district, one of the largest in the U.S., with roughly 350,000 students and 1,100 schools, was in a tough place even before the storm. Last spring, the district shuttered 179 campuses because of the island’s financial crisis. In recent years, enrollment in the district has dropped by nearly a third, as has the island’s population. Between 2006 and 2015, more than 700,000 Puerto Ricans left.

Puerto Rico schools have been closed for weeks, some since Hurricane Irma hit Sept. 6. Education officials aim to have all schools open by Oct. 23, excluding those damaged beyond repair.

Villanueva will also have to adjust to the changes, but she’s already identified one perk from teaching in Orlando: better pay.

“In Puerto Rico, with my salary, I wasn’t able to find a place for me and for my husband, and so that’s why we were staying with my father,” she said. “I’m pretty excited. I’m looking forward to learning about different cultures here and different methods of teaching.”

https://www.the74million.org/articl...dos-airport-with-nothing-they-left-with-jobs/

 

[aspaceman55]

~

 

[Lights and Waves]

That's great news. I just hope they spread to all parts of FL and not just the cities that are already blue...

 

[OceanBlue]

It sounds like a good thing, but I hope it doesn't have an adverse effect on the education system in Puerto Rico. I guess a lot of people are already going to be leaving PR and remaining in Florida anyway.

 

[skullmuffins]

It sounds like a good thing, but I hope it doesn't have an adverse effect on the education system in Puerto Rico. I guess a lot of people are already going to be leaving PR and remaining in Florida anyway.

I don't think it'll have that much impact while the administration is content to let Puerto Rico rot. People will be fleeing in droves regardless. Might as well give these teachers jobs in their field to get their families back on their feet.

That's great news. I just hope they spread to all parts of FL and not just the cities that are already blue...

Yeah, if we're looking at this politically, ideally the PR transplants will spread out a bit so we can flip some representatives or state legislature seats, but even if they cluster in central and south florida (which undoubtedly most will), it'll still help statewide races.

 

[Beartruck]

Trump's inability to give a shit about Puerto Rico is going to accidentally make Florida turn blue in 2020. Don't stop at teachers, bring everyone over!

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

That's awesome and also...

In the coming months and years, estimates suggest hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans could leave the island for the mainland as a result of the storm. Although New York has long been the primary destination for a majority of Puerto Rican immigrants, they’ve increasingly flocked to Florida in recent years. Orange County alone could see as many as 100,000 new residents from Puerto Rico in the next few months.

Puerto Rico’s school district, one of the largest in the U.S., with roughly 350,000 students and 1,100 schools, was in a tough place even before the storm. Last spring, the district shuttered 179 campuses because of the island’s financial crisis. In recent years, enrollment in the district has dropped by nearly a third, as has the island’s population. Between 2006 and 2015, more than 700,000 Puerto Ricans left.

.....hello and welcome my fellow Americans and giant potential voting block.

 

[Tagyhag]

That's awesome and also...



.....hello and welcome my fellow Americans and giant potential voting block.

And guess which party completely ignored them.

Karma is a bitch

 

[andythinkpad]

My brain read "hired" as "fired", nowadays I just expect the worst.

 

[Iceman]

Talking about politics is really infuriating to me in this situation. These are my people. That's my island. And it's destroyed. My family left it long ago looking for better financial prospects, not knowing what was ahead, only what we were leaving behind. These are lives, not pawns.

 

[Breads]

A group of people vital to the economic recovery of Puerto Rico are leaving in droves. Just got off the phone with my mom - people are shoulder to shoulder waiting inside the airport. It's bad.... even for people with the means to leave.

Fuck.

 

[Brock Reiher]

Talking about politics is really infuriating to me in this situation. These are my people. That's my island. And it's destroyed. My family left it long ago looking for better financial prospects, not knowing what was ahead, only what we were leaving behind. These are lives, not pawns.

A great way to send the message that they're lives, not pawns is to vote out the people who are complaining that they're asking for too much right now. Your feelings are misplaced.

 

[Kusagari]

A group of people vital to the economic recovery of Puerto Rico are leaving in droves. Just got off the phone with my mom - people are shoulder to shoulder waiting inside the airport. It's bad.... even for people with the means to leave.

Fuck.

The United States proper has forsaken them, anyone that has the ability can and should leave.

It's the smart thing to do.

 

[Lo-Volt]

A great story for educated, ambitious and well-meaning Americans fleeing a disaster made worse by imperial ignorance and racism (how ironic that they need to escape into the arms of the country that put them in this position but alright). A disastrous story for Puerto Rico, though. These people aren’t coming back.

 

[Kthulhu]

Glad they can find new jobs. It's a shame the had though.

 

[Pastry]

A great story for educated, ambitious and well-meaning Americans fleeing a disaster made worse by imperial ignorance and racism (how ironic that they need to escape into the arms of the country that put them in this position but alright). A disastrous story for Puerto Rico, though. These people aren’t coming back.

Right, the brain drain is going to have disastrous effects on the island.

 

[RobotHaus]

As a Floridian I say bienvenidos.

 

[Linkura]

It's pathetic that Florida has so many openings this late into the school year, but it's also awesome of them to quickly hire those fleeing from PR.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Yes, fill Florida with non Trump voters

 

[Violet_0]

ehm, is there a mass exodus going on in PR right now? A third of the population left since 2006?
e: hm, looked up wiki
2000 - 3.797.000, 2016 - 3.411.000 inhabitants

 

[Relix]

I mean, I am already working here. Got temporary relocation from my workplace but I am liking it so far. May just permanently move... And yes, I am voting Democrat. I guess most people that move will if the democrats can move them to vote.

Edit :not working here as a teacher though

 

[Dehnus]

That's great news. I just hope they spread to all parts of FL and not just the cities that are already blue...

Not for Puerto Rico, they kind of need teachers. If there is a braindrain there then it'll only get worse for that Island.

 

[DrROBschiz]

Not for Puerto Rico, they kind of need teachers. If there is a braindrain there then it'll only get worse for that Island.

This was my reaction....


Puerto Rico is so beautiful Im extremely pissed at how little we have valued it

 

[WillyFive]

Proud to be an OCPS alumni.

Not for Puerto Rico, they kind of need teachers. If there is a braindrain there then it'll only get worse for that Island.

As someone who would have loved to work as a teacher in PR, this is true; but giving people jobs and giving children teachers while the island is in chaos and being rebuilt has its merits.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Not for Puerto Rico, they kind of need teachers. If there is a braindrain there then it'll only get worse for that Island.

People were already leaving the Island for years, this is just gonna make the exodus worse. Really not much you can do, but the younger generation was trying to leave as soon as they could, opportunities on the island were already bad, they were having to go to the US for a chance at a future.

 

[SoRuffShoNuff]

Everyone is going to abandon Puerto Rico, unload their property, and people will swoop in like vultures to buy it up, develop the area, and make a nice profit.

Watch. Expect lots of nice vacation homes in the near future.

 

[Madness]

It sounds like a good thing, but I hope it doesn't have an adverse effect on the education system in Puerto Rico. I guess a lot of people are already going to be leaving PR and remaining in Florida anyway.

Puerto Rico is pretty much destroyed. Massive government debt, already shit infrastructure ravaged by the hurricane and floods. You are going to see brain drain and tons of skilled and unskilled labor flee the country. It isn't recovering anytime soon.

 

[Gai Murakumo]

Puerto Rico is pretty much destroyed. Massive government debt, already shit infrastructure ravaged by the hurricane and floods. You are going to see brain drain and tons of skilled and unskilled labor flee the country. It isn't recovering anytime soon.

I expect the entire social landscape of Puerto Rico will look totally different in the next couple of years.

 

[RDreamer]

Puerto Rico is pretty much destroyed. Massive government debt, already shit infrastructure ravaged by the hurricane and floods. You are going to see brain drain and tons of skilled and unskilled labor flee the country. It isn't recovering anytime soon.

Wasn't there already brain drain before the storm? I had been reading that the electrical company specifically couldn't do shit because everyone with training was leaving to make more money on the mainland.