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Hurricane Maria Brings Puerto Rican Students To Florida Schools

(Austin Landis/ WUFT News).
(Austin Landis/ WUFT News).

Schools in Florida are seeing an increasing amount of Puerto Rican students who are escaping the devastation left by Hurricane Maria on September 20.

Approximately 3,000 Puerto Rican students are now in Orlando, 600 in Miami and more than 100 in Ocala. Four new students from Puerto Rico are now enrolled in South Ocala Elementary School.

Tere Bini, a teacher whose family is still in Puerto Rico, has one misplaced student in her first-grade class.

"When I saw the student coming in, I could feel her needs, what she needed to be at school since that was my worry for my own family," Bini said.

About 122 students from Puerto Rico are now placed in schools across Marion County.

"We're happy to have them," Marion County Public Schools communications officer, Kevin Christian, said.

Educators face language barriers and are finding ways to help those students learn English.

Bini, who is able to speak to her students in Spanish, is happy she can help them learn in their native language.

Alexa is a reporter for WUFT News and can be contacted by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.