1,200 janitors dismissed at the Department of Education

On July 3, 2026, Radio Isla reports that the president of the Puerto Rico Teachers Federation, Mercedes Martínez, gave account that the Department of Education dismissed 1,200 janitors from the public system, as the president of the Puerto Rican Workers Union, Ismael Marrero, had denounced. Of 2,900 janitors there had been through the previous day, Mercedes Martínez said, the Department dismissed 1,200, 41 percent of the staff, and was left with 1,700. In addition, according to that interview, they reduced that staff's work hours to four hours.

Mercedes Martínez framed the move in a plan to dismantle public education that, she said, began in 2009 with Act 7 of Luis Fortuño, when thousands of public workers were dismissed, janitors among them. The agreement then, she added, was that if positions opened they would be returned by seniority to the people laid off. "The Government, which has no word," used that as an excuse to privatize, she said. Today, according to her account, more than 80 percent of the custodial employees in Education are from private firms: they were not rehired by the Government, their hours, wages, and benefits were reduced. She voiced concern for school hygiene and said this also answers to the plan to establish more alliance schools. That is her voice on Radio Isla. The Department of Education does not appear answering in the extract this magazine opens.

In the same interview, Mercedes Martínez described as rushed the process to establish bilingual schools, whose number went from 36 to 119. The Department, she said, set up an academy for educators who wanted to join that roster. Radio Isla does not publish here how many took it up. The 36 to 119 stands. It is not converted into a census of campuses.

This janitor cut is not the school-food audit that Ey Boricua covered on July 1 nor the $118 million for special-education providers of July 2. On July 30, Radio Isla reported that Education would reduce security officers and maintenance because of budget cuts. That is another date and another personnel line. Here the fact is July 3: 1,200 janitors, 41 percent, four hours. The reader who wants the interview has the Radio Isla URL at the foot.

Source: Radio Isla. https://radioisla.tv/despiden-a-1200-conserjes-en-el-departamento-de-educacion1/