ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- The scores are out and Orange County Public Schools “report cards” are showing not only district accomplishments -- breaking down data school by school -- but also a big trend when it comes to who is enrolling: Hispanic students.
- OCPS shows influx of Hispanic students
- Hispanic students now make of 41 percent of district
- County addressing influx via multilingual, ESOL teachers
“They’re our largest population within our total population," said Scott Howat, the district's Chief Communications Officer.
The district's "report cards" reveal that out of the 187 schools, the Hispanic population has grown since last year -- by 2.3 percent on average.
Hispanics now make up more than 41 percent of the district, outnumbering white, black, Asian or students who identify as multiple races.
Howat, who has been with the district for 27 years, said that Hispanic growth comes from many places: inside the state, from other U.S. states, from other countries -- as some escape political unrest, and from Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.
“We received close to 3,500 additional students from Puerto Rico who had evacuated," he explained.
Some of those who enrolled left the district for other districts elsewhere in Florida, in other states or returned back to Puerto Rico.
Displaced Puerto Rican students
In the end, OCPS netted around 2,300 students, with around 100 seniors graduating.
Victoria Hernandez Cruz was one of them.
“I came from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and I started everything from zero," she said. “New friends, new school, new staff, new environment.”
With no water, electricity, and her school without a reopen date on the calendar, Hernandez Cruz’s mother insisted she leave the island three weeks after the Sept. 2017 hurricane and live with her aunt in Orlando, finishing out her senior year at Colonial High School.
And the 18-year-old decided to stay in Central Florida, due in part to her experience at OCPS.
“At first it was shocking, because I missed my mom, my family, everyone back in Puerto Rico. But then the staff in the school helped me, and I wasn’t the only one," she said. “The teachers, the way they teach, everything online. For me, it was amazing."
Influx of students
It wasn't all roses for the district, who had to scramble to address the influx of students.
“The kids that arrived after October, there wasn’t funding for them because our funding period already ended. So a lot of the resources we had to provide through reserves," Howat said. “We used some reserves to fund additional positions at schools that needed them, if they needed a teacher here or there.”
He explained that funding each year is based upon full-time student enrollment in October and February. Those students weren't captured until the budget process in February, so the district reported the number of displaced students to the state, waiting for reimbursement.
In the interim, Howat said that The Foundation took in about $115,000 in donations, both in kind and cash; they used the money to purchase everything from school supplies to backpacks.
"It was a really was a huge lift for students coming here," he said. “We wanted our students to know when they arrived that they may have come here with nothing, but were going to have something to help them with school.”
Howat said that they’re meeting the challenge of changing demographics by expanding their multi-lingual program and ensuring all teachers are ESOL trained.
He also noted that they've translated key parts of the website, so Spanish-speaking parents can more easily access information.
But, other challenges remain for OCPS, including addressing the booming growth in general.
The district is growing by about 5,000 students a year, they said.
“With the amount of growth at we’ve had, to be able to fully staff all of our schools throughout the entire year is always a challenge," Howat said.
As for Hernandez Cruz, she's ready to start college at Valencia College in August with the goal of transferring to the University of Central Florida, and then one day, attending medical school.
She credits not only her dedication, but also the help of others.
“Not only from my family, but also the school staff. Because if it wasn’t for the school staff, maybe I (would be) back in Puerto Rico," she said.