ASHEVILLE, N.C. — When schools here reopen for the first time since Hurricane Helene unleashed a frightening deluge on western North Carolina, teachers won’t simply pick up where they left off in their lesson plans. They’ll also provide a space for students to discuss the life-altering effect the storm had on their region.
While all Asheville City Schools students and staff members have been accounted for, they are grieving the deaths of other members of their community. Some of them lost their homes. And for nearly three weeks now, many haven’t had electricity or running water.
“We’re not going to be able to just jump right into academics,” Asheville City Schools chief of staff Kim Dechant said. “We really need to address and help them process the emotions that they’ve experienced through this trauma.”
Asheville City Schools hope to welcome the district’s nearly 3,900 students back on Oct. 28 — just over a month after Hurricane Helene’s floodwaters inundated the region. Virtual learning hasn’t been an option while school has been closed because internet connectivity has been spotty.
School officials say they are trying to do everything they can to meet their target reopening date, including drilling a well at one elementary school so the students can have flushable toilets when they return. The city has restored water for toilets and handwashing at all other district schools, Dechant said.
Until the reopening, the district has found other ways to help the community: by serving students grab-and-go lunches and breakfasts every day; by organizing donations for families, such as shampoo, batteries, headlamps and blankets as the weather turns chilly; and, this week, by offering optional hands-on learning in a temporary classroom for a few hours each day. It has given children in grades K-12 a chance to do activities such as arts and crafts or board games, have meals and reconnect with other students.
On Monday in the temporary classroom, there were “a lot of hugs, a lot of tears, but very quickly turned into joy and just happy to be together,” Superintendent Maggie Fehrman said.
On Wednesday, kids were enjoying squishing slime between their fingers, playing outdoors and participating in music and drama at the classroom.
“It’s been amazing to see my friends,” said Trenton Williams, 10.
Added his sister, Rosalyn, 12: “It’s been good to see classrooms again and good to hang out with friends and teachers and get back to almost normal.”
But officials know Asheville students’ challenges won’t end once schools fully reopen. Some of their parents owned businesses that got washed away in Asheville’s celebrated River Arts District. Popular tourist parts of the city that normally fund schools through sales tax have been wiped out. School bus transportation routes will have to be modified for areas of the city that still aren’t passable.
And with schools being closed for over a month, teachers will inevitably have to account for students’ learning loss.
“Any learning loss troubles teachers,” said math teacher Elzy Lindsey, adding that the pandemic had already disrupted his students’ schooling. “They were already playing catch-up with Covid history.”
There are many logistics to account for before schools open their doors, such as securing enough bottled water for every student to drink each day, since the area is still under a boil-water advisory.
Nonetheless, Dechant said, the district is committed to reopening.
“We are full steam ahead, because we know our kids need to be in school with teachers,” she said. “They need to have a safe space.”
Kathy Park reported from Asheville and Elizabeth Chuck from New York.
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