The president of Puerto Rico鈥檚 teachers鈥� union has announced , after news reports highlighted her husband鈥檚 education contracts.
Aida D铆az, the president of the Asociaci贸n de Maestros de Puerto Rico (AMPR), said she had already planned to resign before questions surfaced in the Puerto Rican press about her husband Eusebio Rodr铆guez Oquendo鈥檚 contracts with the U.S. territory鈥檚 Department of 91制片厂视频. D铆az denied that her husband鈥檚 work represented a conflict of interest for her and her union leadership.
Questions about the Puerto Rico Department of 91制片厂视频鈥檚 contracts have dominated recent stories about the island鈥檚 school system, which educates roughly 300,000 students and is one of the largest districts in the U.S.
- Julia Keleher, the island鈥檚 ex-education secretary who led Puerto Rican schools in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, related to department contracts. Keleher, who resigned from her position in April, has pleaded not guilty.
- A U.S. Department of 91制片厂视频 office of inspector general report released not long after Keleher鈥檚 arrest reported numerous problems with .
In an interview with 91制片厂视频 Week on Monday, D铆az said that an independent process determined who would be awarded these contracts, which her husband first received in 2010 for after-school programs and has had renewed since.
鈥淭here is no intervention, nothing that I could do to make the Department of 91制片厂视频 approve those proposals,鈥� she said. D铆az also said she never spoke with her husband about these contracts or helped him draw them up: 鈥淭hey鈥檙e saying it鈥檚 a conflict, and I don鈥檛 see a conflict.鈥�
See Our In-Depth Coverage: Putting Puerto Rico鈥檚 Schools Back on Track
She also expressed the fear that after massive political protests forced former Gov. Ricardo Rossell贸 to step down recently, political forces in Puerto Rico would seek to take revenge on his opponents. (D铆az was a critic of Rossell贸's education policies.) But she also highlighted dissent within the teacher community over her work at AMPR鈥擣ederaci贸n de Maestros de Puerto Rico, a vocal educator advocacy group who opposed Keleher鈥檚 work, over the weekend.
Although she said she planned to step down soon from AMPR even before the recent news reports, she also cited concern for her husband after the stories as a factor in her decision.
Keleher and D铆az had high-profile disagreements about several issues, perhaps most prominently Keleher鈥檚 decision to close hundreds of public schools in the summer of 2018 due in large part to declining enrollment. They also clashed over the government鈥檚 decision to expand school choice on the island, including a new law passed by the legislature (also in 2018) that among several major changes allowed the opening of charter schools in Puerto Rico for the first time. At one point, D铆az鈥檚 union went to court unsuccessfully to try to block the new law.
In October 2017 shortly after Hurricane Maria, we highlighted D铆az鈥檚 efforts to locate and support teachers in the storm鈥檚 immediate aftermath. 鈥淭hey are cleaning the schools. They are cutting trees,鈥� she said of teachers鈥� efforts to get schools up and running again. 鈥淭hey are doing anything just to reopen those schools. No matter what they have in their private lives, they are doing whatever they can.鈥�
D铆az said one of AMPR鈥檚 biggest successes was to ensure schools reopened after the hurricane, as well as the union鈥檚 work to shore up the 鈥渕orale of the teachers.鈥� She also expressed gratitude for teachers on the U.S. mainland who provided assistance to Puerto Rico鈥檚 schools after the storm. 鈥淲e have continued helping the students,鈥� she said.
Improving low teacher pay, D铆az said, remains one of the biggest challenges for the union going forward. She wasn鈥檛 clear on when she will officially step down, saying it could come in the next few weeks or months.
D铆az is a 鈥渨oman of valor鈥� whose fight against Keleher and Rossell贸 proved her leadership qualities, AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement. (AMPR is an AFT affiliate.)
鈥淚 witnessed D铆az, AMPR and Puerto Rico鈥檚 loving, compassionate and dedicated teachers, work to reopen schools that had been devastated by the hurricane; for many schools, this was only possible because teachers cleaned and repaired them with their bare hands,鈥� Weingarten said.
Video: AMPR President Aida D铆az speaks with 91制片厂视频 Week in October 2017 about teachers鈥� initial efforts to recover from Hurricane Maria.