Education Secretary Eliezer Ramos Parés said Friday that the investigation into two school officials, the principal and a school counselor at the Belén Blanco de Requiera school in Loíza, is nearly finished after students were taken from the school to a political event. "The investigation is super advanced... at this moment I can tell you it is about to conclude. Testimony has been collected from everyone, there is a fairly clear scenario, and the determinations will be issued soon," Ramos Parés said in an interview with NotiCentro.
He said it is possible the two officials could be removed from the school or their posts. The investigation began after the mother of one of four students complained that the eleventh graders were taken from the Loíza school to a New Progressive Party (PNP) activity in Camuy without parental authorization, with parents reportedly unaware it was a partisan political event.
Senators Héctor Joaquín Sánchez, Marissita Jiménez and Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz took part in the event. Sánchez faces an investigation by the Department of Justice, to which the Department of Education referred the matter, because under the complaint the students allegedly traveled in the senator’s vehicle. Attorney Joel Osorio Chiclana said his client gave verbal authorization for her son to attend a tour, not knowing it was political, and that the minor arrived home late at night.
The controversy erupted after Sánchez posted a photo showing the minors alongside Jiménez Santoni and Rivera Schatz.