At This Hartford School, Welcoming Puerto Rican Evacuees Is Personal
Nilda Medina, a first-grade bilingual teacher at Sanchez Elementary School in Hartford, teaches students about the seasons. About half of the students in the class are evacuees from Puerto Rico. Photo by Ryan Caron King for Connecticut Public Radio
A sprightly “Good morning!” awaited students and parents who approached Sanchez Elementary School on the Friday before spring break.
Maybe the school staff was in an extra good mood? But Merelys Torres, secretary of Sanchez’s parent-teacher organization, said it’s like this every morning. She noticed it right away when her family came to Hartford from Puerto Rico last fall — a sensitive time for her two kids.
“They receive you at the door. They tell you, ‘Good morning!’” said Torres, mimicking the peppy greeting. “Somebody tells you ‘Good morning’ in English, somebody else tells you, ‘Buenos dias.’ My kids, they feel a little bit scared, but they hear buenos diasand they just say, ‘Mom, I’m going to be OK.’”
Since Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico seven months ago, the ramifications have spilled onto mainland cities like Hartford that carry deep ties to the Caribbean. At least 1,800 displaced students enrolled in Connecticut’s public schools, including about 40 new schoolchildren at Sanchez Elementary.
In this neighborhood school just off Park Street, a thoroughfare that’s a pulse of the local Puerto Rican community, the influx meant rearranging classes and getting more bilingual tutors, Principal Azra Redzic said. But welcoming the evacuees was more personal.