By The Star Staff
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia said Wednesday that the fans purchased by the Department of Education as a measure to deal with the heat in public schools “are not common fans.”
“I am aware of the measures that the secretary is taking and they seem right to me,” the governor said at a press conference in Carolina. “I have been kept informed of everything she has been doing, that is, the purchase of fans, because I endorse her. Here they started criticizing the cost of the fans, but they don’t even realize that the bidding process is being used. Bidders who are duly registered, registered with the government, are being used. The government’s auction process is a truly go-to-the-highest-bidder purchase and they are not ordinary fans that are being acquired, they are fans with certain specifications. So the purchase of the fans seemed like the right thing to do to serve the rooms that do not have air conditioning systems.”
“In the same way, I welcomed the change in the schedule in schools that do not have air conditioning or fans and the heat is at an unbearable level there,” Pierluisi continued. “Well, in those schools, if the school itself demands a change in the schedule, which is what the secretary has said. The time change takes place and then the work at that school is completed, basically a little after noon, at 2:30 in the afternoon. That makes sense, if the school is asking for it, if the school community is asking for it, [and] the school director, because again the school facilities require it. But I agree with the secretary that it made no sense to come and say now we are going to change the schedule in all schools. That didn’t make sense because you could be affecting the teaching process. It must be remembered that in Puerto Rico there are more than 600 schools that have extended hours, in which academic reinforcement is being provided to students in areas such as mathematics, English, Spanish, and science in schools. Thus the resources, art, sports are not what we want to affect because that is for the good, not only of the students, but also of their parents, because then that makes it easier for the father or mother to go to work without worrying … because the schools make it a point to be safe.”
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