6 people dead last Sunday and b.r.s. Nathan Rott reports that authorities say the gunman had been sending threatening texts to his mother in law who was a church member there are still a lot of questions in Wilson County Texas but here's what authorities do know the 26 year old gunman had a history of domestic violence he was court martialed in 2012 by the Air Force for cracking his child's school and assaulting his wife and that history should have prevented him from being able to buy the weapons he used in Sunday's attack but the Air Force says it failed to enter his conviction into the federal crime database Authorities believe the gunman was having an ongoing domestic issue with his in-laws who attended the 1st Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs they do not know if that was the sole motive for the massacre the gunman died shortly after the shooting 8th and n.p.r. News Wilson County Texas the House Ways and Means Committee are heading into the 2nd day of deliberations on a broad tax code rewrite that Republicans say will cut taxes for the middle class N.P.R.'s Kelsey Snow reports the committee aims to approve the legislation this week committee members are considering an updated version of the legislation that includes more generous benefits for families and tighter regulations for businesses are neither of eyes Bill families could exclude up to $5000.00 a year from their reported income if they take advantage of certain child care benefits provided by their employer that provision would end after 5 years the updated plan also has new permanent rules to make it harder for international companies to full void paying u.s. Taxes and it would crack down on a loophole that allows private investment firms and hedge funds to avoid paying some taxes Democrats say the modest changes would do little to prevent some middle class families from seeing a higher tax bill Kelsey's now and p.r. News the Capitol officials at Scotland's Parliament buildings in Edinburgh say activity has returned to normal at Parliament some of the buildings had been evacuated earlier today after officials discovered suspicious packages Scottish emergency services now say the incident is over. You're listening to n.p.r. News it's election day around the country several cities from Seattle to Atlanta are choosing mayors voters in New Jersey and Virginia are choosing governors in New Jersey Republican lieutenant governor Kim Guadagno is facing off against Democrat Phil Murphy in Virginia Democratic lieutenant governor Ralph more of them is facing Republican and former White House advisor Ed Gillespie more than $5000.00 Nicaraguan immigrants stand to lose their temporary protected status that's due to a Department of Homeland Security decision announced late Monday N.P.R.'s Leila Fadel reports protected status was given to people already in the u.s. When their country was hit by Hurricane Mitch the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Elaine Duke decided to end that for Nicaraguans but they get an extra 12 months the delays to get Nicaragua time to get ready for their return in January 2019 senior administration officials say the acting secretary couldn't make a decision on under its meaning the status of some 86000 people will automatically renew for 6 months under ins and Nicaraguans were given the temporary status to live in work in the United States when a devastating hurricane ripped through their countries in 1988 but since then they've put down roots having children buying homes and actively participating in the workforce the Department of Homeland Security is expected to make decisions on the status of Haitians and Salvadorans in the coming weeks Leila Fadel n.p.r. News in Vietnam the death toll continues to rise from Typhoon Damrey it struck last Saturday and has left at least 69 people dead this is the 2nd deadly typhoon to strike Vietnam in just a few weeks I'm Korver Coleman n.p.r. News. Support for n.p.r. Comes from the not our creators of the Japanese made Dreamwave massage chair with shiatsu point detection and 16 preprogrammed massages and including morning and night times actions retail dealers nationwide more edge rain wave chair dot com. This is where we live I'm loosing all the tension it's been 6 weeks since Hurricane Maria and. Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico still without running water or electricity given that it's understandable why some Puerto Ricans have moved to the mainland or are planning to leave today where we live we check in on local efforts in Connecticut to help the displaced who are the people or the groups helping those who've moved here everything from rolling to schools to find a place to live coming up again update from w. N.P.R.'s news room on a story about a hard for the men who moved his 2 teenage boys here from the island and we'll find out how state colleges and universities are responding to display students looking to continue their higher education but have you helped move your relatives to Connecticut from Puerto Rico we know Maria an arm also devastated the u.s. Virgin Islands have you or your relatives also moved to the mainland what has been your experience on the conversation 860-275-7266 you can e-mail where we live at w npr dot org Find us on Facebook and Twitter at where we live now in studio with me now is Jacqueline ray of Thomas she's education reporter for the Connecticut mirror Jackie welcome back to the show thanks for having me you've been doing some reporting on the impact here in Connecticut schools and we understand that more than 6000 public school students have left Puerto Rican and started school in the mainland tell us about the number here in Connecticut sure so there have been 500 kids who have shown up in Connecticut schools that have been reported so far at least that many so the State Department of Ed last Monday did a survey of how many asking districts how many children have showed up here to your school from Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Maria and there are 500 people $500.00 children so far of the districts that responded only about half the districts responded but they were the larger districts industries that have historically had more students from Puerto Rico and so districts. Lake Harford had an additional $88.00 students Waterbury $86.00 New Britain $66.00 New Haven $64.00 Bridgeport $58.00 Wyndham $21.00 East Hartford 17 and Manchester 14 so you're talking about for some districts a pretty large influx of students from Puerto Rico in a very short period of time I should mention though that that's not the only flux the influx of students for some of these districts you know places like Hartford and New Haven they see a steady increase of students from all over the place on a regular basis it's a very transit population so they're a little more equipped to handle you know influxes of students I would say from the some of the conversations I've had they have welcome centers you know there's one in downtown Hartford right on my Main Street that are well equipped with you know some food onsite you know bus passes that sort of thing whereas you know some of your smaller districts it might be more sort of less scrambling howdah to really accommodate And coming up we're going to hear from representatives from both the heart for public schools and New Haven public schools about and as you mentioned Jackie the process that they've had already in place to to welcome children not only from Puerto Rico after this disaster but from many other situations but talk us walk us through the process we know that there's a McKinney Vento Act How does this law help this process along especially for children that are leaving situations where they may have lost paperwork important records for them as they transfer or so every Monday and Friday a flight directly from Puerto Rico comes to Bradley Airport in Connecticut on each of this flight there's about $150.00 people about 60 percent of those people the Department of Emergency Services and Public protections estimates are people who are displaced a large share of those they say are children and so those children need an education our federal laws say that we have to provide them unfettered access to our schools immediate enrollment there cannot be delayed. Was there waiting for immunization records there cannot be a delay because they're waiting for paperwork whatever sort of delay that might be in place from someone who is coming here potentially with nothing that can't be an obstacle so there are some very strict laws in place at the federal level to ensure that it's a seamless transition or should be ideally a seamless transition so last week I wrote a story about how many children have in fact showed up here and are enrolled in Connecticut schools and some of the responses and e-mails that I received are like why are we doing this and kind of ticket and so like my initial reaction as well because it's a federal law Connecticut doesn't really have a choice to enroll these students you know maybe they would make that decision because it's the right thing to deal but just as we have to enroll someone if they move here from Massachusetts or Ohio or name your state you know Puerto Rico is part of the u.s. So we have to enroll them just as we did anyone else and by the way. Students who are undocumented here illegally we have to enroll them too because of a u.s. Supreme Court decision so we our schools don't get to make that decision of who they enroll and who they don't on the phone with us now is Charlene Russell Tucker she's chief operating officer of the Connecticut State Department of Education Charlene welcome to where we live thank you very much for this and I have to be here I understand you're the point person for school district superintendents across the state who may have questions about the process walk us through what you've been hearing from districts both large and small. Thank you very much and Jackie did a nice job in talking about the federal law and so what we've been doing here is making sure that the districts all of them have all the resources and information that they need around the federal law including information so when Jackie talked about immediate enrollment even if you're lacking documents there is a question about immunizations I think that's one key question and so we have worked our Department of Public Health has done a really great job and it's were. With with Puerto Rico specifically and they provided information that we provided Tory districts on immunizations the Department of Public Health as provided information and a point person to assist district school nurses who wants to get information immunization history or record for students there's a process in order to get that because there's a Puerto Rico immunization registry for them trying to obtain information so I have been providing information and support for districts answering questions around McCain event so answering questions around immunizations and making sure the folks here in the agency who provide that direct support are available to answer those questions we heard Jackie say that is about 500 students from Puerto Rico that have moved here that are enrolled since Hurricane Maria what do you have the most up to date numbers showing you we now have as of this morning for those reporting we have over 600 and not all the numbers are in so the numbers are certainly climbing well with the influx I know it's spread out among districts so maybe it's not that many a lot of stress on one particular district but when you have more students there are more resources to handle but I'm just curious how the school districts are handling that in terms of figuring out which classroom they go into is that that they don't have a high number of students or if you have the right amount of teachers or resources for them and so those are all great questions and I believe that they're all grappling with that and as you know Jack you mentioned earlier some of our in centers are more prepared I would say and have resources but the questions that they're grappling with are exactly the ones looser that you just mentioned Hartford I know you're going to be talking to so districts are individually developing or they have individually developed plans what is the appropriate school maybe what's the appropriate classroom based on grade level. Will be more supportive and helpful to students and also working in partnerships with community organizations as well for additional resources and support the children and family may need Jackie Rob Thomas is here from the Connecticut near you mentioned some of the larger districts that have the processes in place but what about the smaller distribution hearing about any issues not any specific issues however understanding that I think most of them are really looking to district partners that can be supportive in their efforts the ones and twos and threes as you can imagine are probably a little bit easier to accommodate and to work with than the larger numbers that Jack you spoke about earlier so one thing that I have heard is that you know Hartford center its welcome center has a very small budget it relies really have a lead on donation outside donations and they and they have been receiving large amounts of donations but state and roll may count so when it comes to state funding for this enrollment counts are taken in October and so that's going to determine my understanding as of right now is that's going to determine how much state funding they get per student enrollment through the state's primary grant for education and then the other thing is if Connecticut decides to apply for federal money through Fema for suit for people who are coming here it's really important that they're registering through Fema and acknowledging that they're in Connecticut because that will also play a role in Connecticut potentially play a role in Connecticut's application and for people to to you know register with it also ensures them are not those in insure them but it sets them up to potentially get transitional housing vouchers for hotels when they move here if they don't have family members it potentially sets them up to get some unemployment assistance for if they've lost their job if they just need some help with mitigating the lost income that they're having. You know the obvious one is if their housing was destroyed back home and potentially get some some funding to help repair the damage and then for Connecticut the benefit is if we do apply for a few months distance emergency declaration or whatever it is that potentially helps to bolster application as well so Charlene it sounds like additional funds might become him but right now the districts are really working with what they got to help and as you said there's at least 600 new students from Puerto Rico that are enrolled across the state. That's the think they're actually right that they are indeed working with the resources that they have as best they can to the point that Jacki made it is important to note for your listeners that the state has actually I think done a great job in making sure that we have constant communication across all our state agencies and other groups for example 211 who put out a nice resource guide for families putting information out in Spanish in English not just for those coming in from Puerto Rico but also from the Virgin Islands I was as was mentioned earlier and so the issue of making sure their folks meet in the trains when they come in and and so state agencies and other entities we are on a call every week so we really have a good sense of what is occurring what's going on with housing what's going on basically across the system and so we're able to be agile in our responses and collaboration for for our rivals Jackie is also education reporter for the Connecticut mirror you've done some reporting on English language learners around the state how does that play into helping a lot of these students I'm Puerto Rico where English may not be their primary language so again these if you look at where students are going Harvard they have the largest number of English language learners than any district in the state already so they have by law if. If a district has or if a school rather has more than 20 students who speak whose primary language is another language that school is required to provide bilingual instruction so native and instruction in their native language so in Hartford there are a few programs like that it's a transitional rapid exit from those bilingual education programs to get them up to speed with their it so they can be learning in English again in the smaller districts it's not set up that way just because they haven't historically had to have bilingual instruction in their schools but that doesn't mean that they're not required to be provided services so there are they are still English language learners do have to be identified by law and there they do have to have some services offered to them not necessarily in their native instruction Sharleen Russell Tucker a chief operating officer for the Connecticut State Department of Education before we head into break I am curious for some of the school districts who may not have the a lot of these structures to depend on for English Language Learners What are some short term solutions there well you know so basically looking to see if there are other they can bring in a substitute It would certainly be an option to consider and sometimes you do have to staff and already in the school it's a matter of where they're placed and what it is that they are responsible for so I believe that folks are you know making those shifts I was necessary based on the number of students that they are bringing in I mean while we've heard from Southern Connecticut State University they have actually started a program to train more e.s.l. E.f.l. Instructors but that's over the long term So we'll have to check in with them to see what the outcome is there but I want to thank Charlene Russell Tucker again Chief Operating Officer of the Connecticut State Department of Education thanks for joining us thank you very much this is where we live I'm loosing all the Fanjul Jacqueline rave Thomas is in studio with me educate. Porter for the Connecticut mayor as we're looking at how Connecticut's been working to accommodate Puerto Ricans and others who've moved to the mainland after Hurricane Maria and other natural disasters coming up we hear from someone from the that we have p.r. News room that we N.P.R.'s Jeff Cohen who was report on a story of a local teenager from Puerto Rico now enrolled in Hartford Public Schools and later fulfilling the educational needs of new residents is important but what about other necessities like a place to live and employment we're going to hear more about that later we also want to hear from you have you helped a relative or others move from Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria what's been their experience here in Connecticut we want to hear their story 860-275-7266 Find us on Facebook and Twitter at where we live. Coming up next on point the Donna Brazil bombshells big the d.n.c. Rigged with Democratic primary for Hillary Clinton plus Washington Post foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius on the president in The Washington Post to his new thriller The spy he joins us that's coming up on the next point n.p.r. . This morning. Rex It is the big economic issue in the u.k. Predictions of financial doom and gloom a band. To the people see we've had lots and lots of opinion polls and assuming the results 5050 I'm car Ryssdal efforts to roll back the hands of economic times. Tonight at $630.00. Support comes from our members and from the Harriet Beecher Stowe see the freshly preserved stone house take the all new interactive tour explore the impact of Harriet Beecher. Tom's Cabin connect the past to the present and leave feeling inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe. Clouds move in this afternoon highs in 51 scattered showers tonight lows in the mid thirty's and mostly sunny on Wednesday icing 50. This is where we live I'm loosing all the things we're talking about how Connecticut's helping Puerto Rican 6 weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated the island Well a couple weeks ago w. N.p.r. Sent a reporting team to the island because the state's connection to Puerto Rico was strong nearly 8 percent of Connecticut's residents are Puerto Rican Have you experienced or are helping relit relatives or others move here what has been their experience we want to hear from you 860275766 you can find us on Facebook and Twitter at where we live joining us now is doubly N.P.R.'s news director Jeff Cohen one of the part of the team that went to Puerto Rico just a couple weeks ago now to try to I think we're back to a half weeks or 2 weeks so you may know a lot of different people we've been hearing your reports as well as additional reporter Ryan Karen King great visuals on our website some of the people you've met you followed them as they've come into Connecticut tell us about that sure and well I'll say one thing that was notable when we read there was we're going to try very hard to find people from Connecticut in fact in many cases we didn't try it all were at a stream where water was coming people come to get water and the guy one guy came down was from New Haven another woman lived in Hartford So these are these connections are very rich we did find on the plane down a man who had there was a class he was going to pick up his boys his story is that he had to sell his car in order to. Buy the plane tickets to bring his teenage sons back one of them is of high school age the other one is a little older and that you're going to Jomar started a week ago yesterday started his 1st day at Buckley high school here in Hartford So we went last Monday morning early. High school starts early but we want to go with Joe Moore in his 1st day of school and we spoke with him a little bit in advance of his house just about how he was feeling. A. Well there were 2. When Michael Leavitt with Dr Deborah what he was saying there was like look this is the 1st time I'm in a new school here I'm not used to school here I'm used to seeing my friends and saying a lot of them and I'm used to school and English and so he was straight up nervous and you could see you know and with a reporter at a microphone in the face that just adds to that that's why we didn't hang out too long at school because every 9th grader wants a reporter hanging out with I want to 1st day of school but you tell us a little bit more about his transition you talk you walk with him and saw the interaction between the teachers and what has been the response always interesting to me and we spoke about this in our reporting was this is a deeply personal deeply real and you were speaking rather striking before experience for this young one boy right he's never done this before on the flipside Buckley does this every day but we high school does this they have 40 welcome packets ready to go at any given time so this many school districts are very used to this sort of influx of kids by that point this was a week ago Buckley already had 17 kids I think from Puerto Rico they had based peak maybe 20 languages or so in the school so the school system was really well prepared and here's 111 teacher she's an administrator there Gretchen Levitz Here's how she talked about like you said we have so many students here from other countries that come here new every single day so it's nothing like he's the only one and we expect more and more especially from Puerto Rico as well we're ready for everybody. Good and so she is the program director for so she is checking in on how they're Who's were arriving and you mentioned the welcome packets give idea of what's in those I didn't get to your good editor I didn't get to see you know welcome back but. She functions she her role is sort of self describing she would say this was sort of a school mom that's how she how she has your pitch that a little bit. But you know it was interesting. And nice was as he arrived and we were in the big sort of entryway there at Buckley there were 2 teachers who came up to him to join Mark who started speaking in Spanish German asking where he was from and they were familiar with it and I could tell that as you go through that process that a little bit of the nerves because they're used to it right. That approach I think can calm the nerves of an individual student and it's hard being a new kid to any school that you mentioned hard for it's a very diverse school district there's kids coming from all over the world who maybe understand that experience maybe not from leaving because of the hurricane but know what it's like to be new and it's a new culture so that there are people Piers that get where he's coming from that's right in fact we met one young man right there that day just by chance actually and you wouldn't think it was by chance but it was a promise I think there was Sean and he was Shawn Green he was from Jamaica and he had been here less than 11 months and. You know spoke very frankly like I didn't know what a Puerto Rican person was before I got here and I thought he said I think you know they were speaking Spanish I thought they were they were speaking about me so and the 2 of them sort of linked up at the beginning of Trayvon was sort of an early morning Ambassador which was super adorable and it was just a great morning to see that how that transition works and you met Jomar through his father Guillermo in CLOs How's he doing you know I haven't checked in with him in about a week I think he's doing it right I saw on Facebook that his older son William. Got a I think he got some sort of beginning sort of work which is important because he finished school in Puerto Rico so but you know you're more clashes with us that morning as we went with them together and he could tell that his that his son Jomar was a little nervous too you could tell he's a little nervous but at the same time he's looking forward to that he was really excited he was asking Well don't forget tomorrow 7 o'clock and wake up with the alarm on my God you know. I think I guess the point you know. If we only understand people on the island through the lens of the hurricane but it's a very narrow understanding these are. Humans who have 1st day of school jitters in a new school district and parents who get nervous along with their kids and so it's it's deeply identifiable and I mentioned that this is part of a long term Reporting Project here at Delhi n.p.r. If people go to our website w npr dot org They'll see a box on the right hand side of the island next door tell us about what your future plans are and cover continue to cover the story Jeff thank you and happy to well we're building out a nice new pretty web site so you can look at that hopefully later this week and you can see a lot of the visuals that will have there. The plan is to if we can get there every couple months in person and the point is. To report on this as though we would report on a major catastrophe one town over because effectively for many people that is one town over in Connecticut and so we should tell that story it is still very much an emergency response story which is striking 6 weeks later or so right so we have to treat it as though it is a neighborhood story because it's very very much as and so will be back at least I think in the next couple 3 weeks we're back in Puerto Rico with a whole other set of stories thanks to the N.P.R.'s news director Jeff Cohen for time is a little bit about this one family profile of a Connecticut residents who are bringing their relatives to the state after Hurricane Maria this is where we live we've heard that there are now 600 students from the island now enrolled in school districts across the state including in Hartford where we heard a little bit from Jeff about Joe Marc Klaas being a student at Buckley high school on the phone with us now from Hartford is Martin Bentham senior executive director of Family Services an ombudsman at Hartford Public Schools Marta Welcome to the show thank you good morning now tell us about how many students from Puerto Rico and other places have been who have been displaced are now unrolled in the last month or so and you know how to walk us through the process how you welcome them Ok so we have a public school has a. I would say a great experience in welcoming students that I displaced or the difference with the students that I displaced now from the I don't know but it's illegal or the u.s. Virgin Islands I did this for us Americans and people. We're not used to that we have for public schools you we have had several rounds of of refugees from other countries that are coming in they're refugees so their need for a very different and because of the staff that we have of her for public schools we were able to make the difference immediately and follow up all of the things that the state and the u.s. Government had dictated for their recycling all of this students so we got prepared by knowing that the 1st thing that these families needed was a final a place where they all had to come through in order to receive the 1st thing that the children needed was which is the education so. The Fox building or. Nice 60 main with the Board of Education is in the 1st or there is a very big space very colorful where everything is seemed several languages anything like that and we were able to have prepared. A package. For all Iranian students right now I said yesterday We have registered 160 students and we have received 102 families and today we are in the presses of registering another 23 Jackie red Thomas is with us in studio Martin education reporter for the can't get near so just talking about some of the 1st day jitters that Jeff mentioned I sat in a new arrival summer program in Hartford over the summer and got to hear about a lot of the 1st aged or that they experienced and they are. Planed things like you know simple things like how do I find the bathroom when I get to school you know nobody's going to speak my language or you know how do I find the lunchroom or how do I you know understand what's going on in class and what each one of them sort of told me in their own way is I found a buddy or you know I found a teacher who understood what was going on so it ends in Hartford there was a system set up to make sure that you know someone who is like them is in their classroom has been in the district for a while or there's a teacher who's well aware that the students going to need to know simple tasks like where's the bathroom where the lunch room or or things like that because you know those are the things that this group of students told me is was on their mind and that's the only thing they could concentrate on is where's the bathroom you know something as simple as that what happens at the welcome center the family comes in and we do I look quick assessment where you come from to make sure that they are received with a welcoming to make sure that the staff that everybody receives him joyfully We're glad you're here we're knowledge that it has been difficult but then I need to find out what did you come with did you come with any papers from school no I didn't what was the last grade there you were in school I think it was 7th grade so I started to make this is says meant to say quick assessments. As to what they're going to need academically then they are going to with another 2 staff members of my Those that are going to need testing for Spanish those that are oh I used to use glasses I don't have glasses they broke through into a hurricane we need to make all those assessments and get all those needs met so that they can start school including getting them their uniforms their shoes their books their book bags their transportation. Finding a person is saved this school is fake. Santa Santa. Is going to be waiting for you on such a Saturday to register you and there's a sign I mean here is actually a Family Resource Center. Or he is social worker or she or he would check that will then into just a child to somebody will come to his body but that's that's the purpose of doing the these very quick very very gentle assessments as they come in some of them do not have a place to stay there stay with relatives you know how. Temporary sag going to be because then after we have settled a child a school then we start with the rest of the family that case a you are talking you know my class. Demographic we're in the press has a working with his oldest son who wants to get a job and her day was to go on to take a technical school so that's on the 2nd tier of assistance from the welcome center now Martin we heard from earlier from the State Department of Education you know state money federal money to help with this influx could be forthcoming but it's not here yet so how has how is that impacted the district and trying to to accommodate these 160 students. It is it has not come I don't know if it's going to come but I do know that hundreds of other schools superintendent Leslie voters are very good sadly it is very very early during this process and we shifted monies from some places and we shifted. I should not say money we shifted staff that was doing other duties I could be in classrooms with students. I brought in for. For students from University of Connecticut who want to be social workers and they're doing their field study here and they wanted to work with us on this so we're stretching the money until the State Department of Education comes up with some money or the said was over and so we're we're seeking this like just we can with the resources that we have in by being very creative with what the community is willing to give meanwhile I understand our public schools are looking at consolidating maybe closing some schools and a few months how will that impact the decisions made when you have the these new students in these are these neighborhood market Ok I don't think that guy's going to be impacted I guess I am or was sure Anika say this with quite a straight face I am almost sure the 9 other students are going to be impacted because of the number of students so we have that our students were ever what ever the consolidation looks like the people in our center are going to Visa students so the closer they should it is not going to impact this foods it may impact you know buildings with things seg Zack Snyder about girls in the education for students or impacting this students or any other students in Hartford Public Schools This is where we live on the phone with us Martha Bentham senior executive director of Family Services an ombudsman to Hartford Public Schools today we're looking at the systems in place in Connecticut to help displaced students and their families in studio with me is the n.p.r. News director Jeff Cohen also Jackie rape Thomas education reporter for the Connecticut mirror you can join the conversation 860275766 Jackie so I should mention that. All that we've been talking about are sort of the systems in place and how they should weight be working ideally so that's not to say that I haven't heard over the years from advocates and attorneys an individual saying you know I'm struggling to get enrolled primarily it's revolved around you know getting foster kids enrolled in school or kids involved in the j.j. System juvenile justice system or those who are undocumented so I haven't heard any cases specific to those displaced by by Hurricane Maria but they're protected under the same law and I have heard in the past that there are some shortfalls in ensuring a seamless transition so waiting on documentation or you need a Social Security number to enroll or you need these a musician schools have been very innovative to try to overcome those barriers by setting up you know medical health centers and schools to you know go here and you can get your shots for free or you know stuff like that so but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I have heard of some obstacles in some schools and getting kids and rolled I want to bring in another school district into this conversation New Haven has also been welcoming displaced students from Puerto Rico on the phone with us now is Will Clark chief operating officer of New Haven public schools welcome to the show Good morning thank you so how many students has New Haven public schools welcome to the last month or so from Puerto Rico we have about 86 and that number continues to grow from Puerto Rico Virgin Islands and actually a few from Mexico opposed to earthquakes and how are you addressing I mean New Haven is as much like hard for in terms of getting families from all over the world for many different reasons to talk us through some of the processes you already have in place you know it's true of New Haven is really blessed with diversity and has been a you know a district that's really embraced diversity during the immigration issues that rose after the presidential election and our mayor and superintended mayor are been superintendent Mayo. Stepped up and made sure we pulled a group of people together to be clear of our position with regard to welcoming students from all over the world and whatever their citizenship status is to welcome them and protect them and keep schools as a sacrosanct area and so all of those lessons and work and partnerships with our various community partners of Yale Law School and and and Iris and many others have continued and really provided provided a great framework for this work associated with Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and although they're citizens of the United States there and can be considered more essentially like transfers and so forth. We see a lot of similarities from the refugee immigrant population that we've dealt with over the years as far as what they're coming with and a lot of the information that your last guest from Harvard indicated is so similar experience here in New Haven one thing we have done to further address some of the needs is really try to connect some of those additional dots with our partnership with our local health department we have school based health clinics and as we try to enroll these kids we connect them with those services and try to put them in places that line up with their particular needs after we do a very similar assessment to what was described in Hartford the majority of our student population now is Hispanic so we have many programs including dual language and welcome centers and and so forth so that transition can be a bit easier but what we're finding is the layer of trauma and housing issues and other matters that were really related to the displacement is something we really need to be cognizant of and working with our legislative delegation and a group that the mayor has put together we're really meeting. Weekly and reviewing the the issues that we're all in countering trying to funnel folks through our registration process get them over to hunt so they can make sure they're registered through the fema process we work with the new and Housing Authority to try to accommodate as much as we can with respect to navigating that world of housing availability. And are our schools health clinics also have social workers and bilingual staff that can help with some of the residual trauma and other needs of the transition that the students and their families may be suffering and thankfully with those many partnerships very even how Cornell Scott Hill Health Center yell and others are really able to connect some of these resources many of which already exist but just a matter of lining them up and making sure these folks are aware we also really treat them as if they're coming in under the McCain event OAC and under essentially a homeless assumption that they don't have a permanent place so we've instituted those procedures and protocols immediately as well as for currently is on Danny Diaz and his team are there with backpacks and clothes and other donations to help folks feel comfortable. Feel accepted and connect some of those dots as well so that's some of the efforts we're putting in place now will you mention housing if there are not available places where people live like what is this many options that you're working very well with our cooperation with. And the New Haven housing authority you know I've sort of learned more about affordable housing in the last few months of the test that I had learned in the many years prior doing this but you know there are many save cards that are in place folks who have had Section 8 housing for example in Puerto Rico that can translate over and be accepted here and then they can get on a Section 8 voucher list. Here and get some housing for that program there's Fema support that allows for some temporary support and stay and then can if they're registered through the system can help those folks get some other resources whether that's temporarily or hotel while other more permanent placement is sought many folks we've found are connecting with family and folks that they're familiar with but that could complicate matters for that family based upon their particular lease or where their circumstances and can add a strain to them so what are the supports we can provide to those folks to not put them in any danger for their housing situation but also understand the need temporarily and potentially long term for these folks are really we've treated it like we do any other emergency so we the mayor has instituted our emergency operations center so refund Tana and his team are coordinating meetings and really that's just a method of making sure we're consolidating efforts communicating well getting resource information out there to the affected folks and making sure that information is available at our schools in our schools health clinics and so forth so it's available to folks who may need it well Clark is chief operating officer of New Haven public schools thanks Well you're welcome also thank the Marta band from Hartford Public schools in Delhi N.P.R.'s Geoff Cullen where we live I'm listening not the Santal coming up and rolling in schools one way to help displaced residents What about finding a home or other services we'll check in with the commission of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection and Jackie retirement with a whip that is where we live more after the break. On the next fresh air Pete Souza who was the official White House photographer for President Obama he took 1900000 photos in 8 years and 13 the famous one in The Situation Room as Obama Hillary Clinton and the national security team tensely watched the raid on Osama bin Laden Souza has a book of photos from the Obama years join us. Today at noon and tonight. I'm Jeremy Hobson voters head to the polls in Virginia and the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor say the momentum is on their side voters in New Jersey will elect a new governor to take a look at both races will there be a trump effect and what are the issues resonating with voters that's next time on here and. Today a to. Support comes from our members and from the foot school kindergarten through grade 9 independent school in New Haven nurturing curious and creative learners in a diverse community open house for grades k. Through to Saturday Nov 18th more information at foot school dog clouds move in this afternoon highs here 51 scattered showers tonight lows in the mid thirty's and mostly sunny tomorrow New 50. This is where we live I'm loosing up with Angela Today we're checking in on Connecticut's response to help Puerto Rican and others displaced after Hurricane Maria with much of Puerto Rico still without clean water and electricity some of left and moved to the mainland on the phone with us now is Commissioner Doris sure oh she's she leads the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner Shari'a Welcome to the show Good morning to tell us a little bit about how your agency is a leading the efforts or at least helping coordinate all of the efforts around the state that well we knew that this hurricane season was going to be especially active and it didn't for some time appear that anything could be more impactful than hurricanes Harvey and Irma and then Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico and the u.s. Virgin Islands the governor and to supporting that a large number of evacuees would seek shelter with family and friends here in Connecticut directed our agency to pull out all the stops and prepare the state to receive evacuees from the islands in response to this storm is very much the same as it is to all other storms and that means that we contacted all of our state agency partners and non-governmental. Friends that would include of course United Way 211 Red Cross and Salvation Army and together to activate a plan tailor a plan that would address the immediate and longer term needs of those folks who are finding refuge here with here in Connecticut so you're holding weekly calls with the different he's just about to say we we still confer on a weekly basis and in fact even as we speak right up on the 3rd floor of our building there is a group that's assembled to continue to focus on the area of housing which we recognize is going to be a continuing and in data a growing area of interest for for everyone to check you have Thomas in studio with us education port. For the Connecticut mirror we focused a lot of today's show on education because now 600 students are enrolled throughout the state from Puerto Rico but there are other needs as well Jackie so many of the people who are coming here also have very young children who are not school age so we're talking about daycare or preschool and so the office of early childhood has lifted the requirement that the school day centers have health care immunization records to enroll and for the family based providers they can call the Department of Public Health and they've circulated that phone number to easily have access to Puerto Rican health immunization records to get them and all when it comes to slots for you know subsidies for parents to actually help get some funding for it to enroll their kids however though there's a really long wait list about 8000 kids are currently on that wait list to not Puerto Rican people fleeing by just because of other state budgetary reasons and other other issues that have led to about 8000 people on a wait list to get subsidies for care for kids those who are coming from Puerto Rico are not given priority and that we list and when the waitlist does open which is expected soon the people at the who are already at the top of the wait list will come 1st followed by those who are coming from Puerto Rico so there's there's not exactly daycare help for for those with young children who need it can assure serial Besides you know these these day care concerns with not having a place to place their young children what are some other issues that you're dealing with with public housing whether what about Medicaid enrollment I'm just curious what are some of the issues you're hearing from your. Children want to become a phenomenal resource and if you go on their website you'll see a daily recap of the number of calls in and the kinds of questions and concerns that. Folks are raising as Jackie had mentioned there are quite a few inquiries about food which would include providing assistance for families who are assisting with the sheltering as well as eligibility for for government programs such as snap and WIC with the season changing there's there's interest in securing season appropriate clothing or getting questions about vaccinations so that pets that they brought with them can continue to remain here child care and schooling you've already thoroughly addressed there are quite a few questions about seeking employment as well as securing unemployment insurance because people are beginning to recognise it's going to be quite some time before they can go home of their very basic things like securing either Connecticut ids or replacing the ids that they left behind on the islands as well as obtaining back to backs Nations for either childcare facilities or to enter school as was noted and then ongoing health care. United Way 211 provider has a list that is in excess of 400000 programs and services in Connecticut and so it's a great go to resource for those who are coming from the islands as well as our families as well as all the state and local agencies that are involved trying to provide them. The assistance that they're seeking commissioner can I ask in terms of any additional support from female what is your agency hearing Well we're in regular Pontac with Fema and we've course have made regular inquiries about. Assistance but before I go any further and thank you for reminding me it's really critical that anyone whether And. They enroll for foreign assistance from senior. Before they left the Virgin Island or Puerto Rico that when they come to Connecticut that they refreshed that registration with their current address and if they did not register before they left that there that there is opportunity for them to do so here and it strongly encourage that they do that. That's step one to getting assistance before we ran a time Commissioner we did get a email from a listener who relocated to Cancun from the u.s. Virgin Islands they went to the Connecticut d.m.v. But because they don't have the necessary paperwork either fleeing that disaster area they were turned away what can you tell them. I would I would. Tell them or ask you to get there their name if you have it and we will make contact with them and see what we can do to to address that situation and I'll pass it on to the and they as well. As commissioner that it can Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection this agency is the point agency so to speak in this collaboration to help many people after hurricanes Maria and Irma commission sure I thank you for your time and my pleasure this is where we live we what we don't want to miss talking about the assistants in the higher education system on the phone with us now is a Serafin Mendez professor of communications at Central Connecticut State University surfin Welcome thank you all know we just have a few minutes but I wanted to ask you we've been hearing about different efforts I know central thank you so Universe has been working to help some of these displaced students from University of Puerto Rico continue their Higher Ed can you tell us briefly yes these was I need a ship the you launch by our president of the month old will. Be ghost. Their main barge will be devastation. And the aftermath of the storm. She asked who was going to leave to bring some relief to the displaced years from the 11 combos as only interested in what the legal and we will do there a. Being a forward comprise of many said doors in the university. The While allow some of these students on to Central Finis this semester because their semester has mean these Rupp that and they will not be able to finish the call and fall semester on to perhaps some point meet March and March so we flew they flew the quantity cut and we have 20 tool steel mills who have been able to receive the semester you see and you know one of the semester sessions that we have the busiest you all and they seem to we adopt the and integrating very well now we know this program called the u. P.r.c. Thi Su air bridge and only n.p.r. Education reporter David the Roche has covered this and has spoken with you we're going to link to our Web site that we npr dot org slash where we live also on Twitter for people to learn more about this program and therapy before we run a time how many students do you expect will this grow next semester. Well we know now we now we have 22 students. And we expect that a significant number of them will if they for to spring semester and we and then to make it available the board of regents for higher education have vowed to rise so I'm probably shows so that they will calm during the spring semester and most likely the fall of next year as well although the situation gets normalized at the university for the legal and Serafin Mendez professor of communications at the c.s.u. Thank you for joining us and again we'll send out that link for a listener to learn more. Thank you 2nd rate Thomas always great to hear from you thank you for your reporting education reporter for the Connecticut mirror Today show produced by Carmen bath thanks to the n.p.r. Interns. They're a blind eye or pinnacle producer. Executive producer is Kate Taylor ski you can learn more about the npr dot org slash where we live. Thanks for listening. This is w. When p.r. Connecticut's public media source for news and ideas w when p.r. And w. When p.r. H.d. One merit in at 90.5 w p k t w h d one Norwich at 89 point one. F.m. Stamford at 88.5 w.r.i. Southampton at 91.3 and w one p.r. Dot org. 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