As a “creative act to get attention,” Education Minister Eliezer Ramos Pares cataloged this Thursday a viral photo of Rafael Adrover, principal of Andres Valcarcel High School in Trujillo Alto, urging students to enter their classrooms to take their courses.

According to the headline, there is a “public” problem at the school in which parents are allowing absenteeism or cutting lessons.

He noted that the Department of Education has action plans. Moreover, the principal went to the extreme by making a cardboard and allowing his photo to spread on social media with his appeal to students in grades six through eight.

“I need you to come into the classroom so you can upload your grades. I want to help you, but you have to do your part. If I catch you cutting class, I will suspend you for two days,” read the yellow card he used to file the lawsuit.

As can be seen on the school’s Facebook page, there have been problems with absences and reduction of classes since last year.

The publication for November 22, 2022 warns about the situation.

“The important message is that it is very important to make sure that students are in school. Allegedly, there are students outside it. We advise you to contact your children to check the status. The director goes around town to see if he can find them. Thank you for your help. Rafael R. Adrover,” the message reads.

Numerous parent involvement events are also highlighted on the Facebook page.

First hour tried to contact Adrover for an interview, but have yet to hear back.

When Ramos Pares was asked about the situation during a visit to the Nueva Escuela Institute in Rio Piedras, he said the principal had alerted the school’s inspector to the accidents he was concerned about and that the situation had been resolved.

“That’s what he brought up, he talked to the parents, they developed action plans and went into a creative act to get the attention of these young people and in some way, maybe raise a flag for the importance of them being human in school. Without a doubt, we support this director, the regional administration mobilized, contacted them. There is also the issue of family support, as well as the fact that it is the student’s responsibility to attend classes and be at school in person. I believe that no one doubts the importance of a child, a teenager, a young person fulfilling their main duty, which is nothing more than going to school, studying and training,” he said.

He noted that similar situations in schools are not common.

“Therefore, I could not come to the initial conclusion that the class is boring because the class is boring, because the curriculum is dysfunctional, on the contrary. The revision of the curriculum took into account providing the student with relevance in this educational process and transforming the problem into a more dynamic one. Likewise, I cannot say that in general I should place responsibility on all teachers. I think you should definitely look into it. But the problem that was brought to us is a community problem, maybe it’s a lack of support from mom and dad when it comes to making that commitment. It definitely works. Together with the region, the socio-emotional team of the region has an action plan, and if it is necessary to get a referral from the family (to the department for family affairs), we will do it,” he said.