Puerto Rico slowly reopening schools

After a strong earthquake delayed the start of classes by nearly three weeks, just 20 percent of the schools in Puerto Rico opened on Tuesday. Engineers have certified only 177 schools as safe to open after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck on Jan. 7. Another 71 schools are scheduled to start classes on Monday, according to Puerto Rican Education Secretary Eligio Hernández.

What’s the issue? Many parents are concerned about the safety of their children. The initial quake flattened the top two floors of a three-story school in Guánica two days before classes were supposed to start, and several strong aftershocks have happened since. About 500 public schools on the island were built before 1987 and don’t meet new construction codes. Retrofitting the 756 school buildings that need it would cost up to $2.5 billion.

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report in The Stew about how officials in the U.S. territory have struggled to distribute federal aid in the wake of several natural disasters.