SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico\u2014As an after-school organization that provides supplemental education services to 15,000 mostly impoverished youths, Boys and Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico found itself in the crosshairs of Hurricane Maria. \u201cBefore the storm, we already had a storm in the education sector, so with the storm it gets more complicated,\u201d said President Olga Ramos in an update to attendees of a special session<\/a> at Beet Retreat 2018.<\/p>\n \u201cWe kind of fill the gap that the education system leaves in Puerto Rico,\u201d Ramos explained in a one-on-one discussion with Phil Cowdell, formerly Global President of Client Services at GroupM.<\/p>\n In Puerto Rico, nine out of 10 schools \u201care failing schools\u201d based on standardized tests, according to Ramos. Add to this some \u201ccrazy stats\u201d cited by Cowdell: Maria damaged 82% of the island\u2019s homes, 42% of the population had daily food shortages and 44% of children have a registered mental health impact from the storm.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s pretty cataclysmic and we\u2019re talking about this is part of the United States of America,\u201d said Cowdell.<\/p>\n The bottom line education-wise was that children in Puerto Rico missed a half a year of schooling in a system already burdened by systemic failure.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Puerto Rico, we tend to be short minded, so we forget really quick, and we will say that we reopened schools six months after and that we passed our students. We pass them,\u201d said Ramos<\/a>. \u201cHow do you insert those kids in the formal economy later on, ten years from now?\u201d<\/p>\n