Boston Public School Officials Think Out Loud To Prepare For Students Displaced By Hurricane Maria

WBUR covered a meeting of district officials planning for the arrival of students displaced from Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria:

Boston Public School officials say they are expecting many young Puerto Ricans to arrive in the district in the wake of Hurricane Maria. On Thursday, the district and its partners got together to anticipate the needs of those students and their families, and brainstorm how they could meet them….

Coping with student trauma is a fact of life for districts like Boston, with immigrant students arriving every week from parts of Central America and Africa marked by violence and poverty.

But then there are the big disasters that send hundreds of students into the district. The district arrived at this all-hands-on-deck brainstorming process — bringing in representatives from across the city’s civic leadership — after Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti.

But it’s not always easy. Farah Assiraj, the director of organizing at the Boston Teachers Union, says the district feels the pain of budget cuts especially at moments like this: “We need more social workers, we need more counselors, we need more psychologists — we need the resources.”

Read and listen to the full story on the WBUR website.