Students return to school in Asheville, North Carolina, area as community faces Helene recovery

By Chris Boyette, CNN

(CNN) — As communities devastated by Helene in western North Carolina work toward a post-storm recovery and dare to picture a return to normalcy, students in the Asheville area have started returning to classrooms.

The Asheville City Schools district reopened on a modified schedule Monday.

Asheville operates an independent city school system in Buncombe County, where students went back to school Friday.

“Today has been a great start,” Kimberly J. Dechant, chief of staff of Asheville City Schools told CNN. “Teachers were engaged in lessons where students have the opportunity to circle up and talk about what they experienced and process all of those emotions together.”

The district is focusing on its students’ mental well-being after everything they’ve been through, Asheville City Schools Superintendent Maggie Fehrman said.

“We learned from Covid that we can’t just jump back in like everything’s normal,” she told CNN’s Amara Walker on Sunday. “So, we’ve developed lessons that are focusing on mental health, allowing students to share and express their feelings on what happened and how they’re going to move forward.”

Helene pummeled western North Carolina as a tropical storm almost exactly one month ago, causing devastating flood damage.

Over a three-day span, the storm dumped so much water over the southern Appalachians that it became a catastrophic, once-in-1,000 year rainfall event for the region, the National Weather Service said.

Helene unleashed a deluge of never-before-seen rainfall with amounts up to 30 inches, swelling rivers and dams, washing away almost anything in the water’s path. In Buncombe County, 42 people died, according to authorities – and others remain missing.

All Asheville City Schools students are accounted for, and there were no deaths reported among the district’s nearly 3,900 students or its staff, Dechant said.

None of Asheville’s schools were damaged in the storm, Fehrman said, and all have electricity, internet and running water. But the water from the pipes hasn’t been deemed drinkable – so the school system has partnered with an aid organization to provide clean water.

Despite the progress, many students are still struggling.

“We have several students that lost family members. We have staff members who lost family members,” Fehrman said. “We really stick together in Asheville City Schools, we’re a smaller district and it’s nice that we all know each other and can lean in and support each other, but many of our students are still struggling to fill basic needs with their families.”

Between 15 and 20 families still use the district’s resource center just to get basic supplies, the superintendent said.

“Since the hurricane hit, a lot of work and thought have gone into a reopening plan. As of (last week), non-potable water service, power and internet is restored to all 45 schools,” Buncombe County Schools said in an announcement.

“We have started delivering drinking water for staff and students to all schools. Maintenance crews are finishing repair and restoration work, and Technology teams are reconnecting security and communication systems.”

Classes in Buncombe County are operating on a two-hour delay to allow bus drivers time to navigate new bus routes and community stops due to storm damaged and washed-out roads and bridges, the school district said.

“We’re grateful for the opportunity for students to see their smiling bus driver, or walk into school and see their favorite cafeteria staff member, their counselor, their principal, their favorite teacher. Our (Buncombe County Schools) teammates will reassure them, make them feel safe, and help them reconnect their school family,” Buncombe County Schools Superintendent Rob Jackson said in a statement Monday.

But not everyone is sure the time is right to go back to the classroom.

Candace Duke has three children in Buncombe County Schools and was torn about sending them back, she told CNN affiliate Spectrum News.

“Yeah, school’s important. They need to be in school, but I feel like they’re rushing into things,” she said.

Others say the timing is right.

“We started back to school on Friday. It was great to see all the students and staff again,” Robby Parker, a teacher and coach at North Buncombe High School said in a Facebook post. “The stories that was told were very powerful to hear. The healing continues. Buncombe county schools got it right. What a great school system to work in.”

Student support services are a key part of the reopening plan the school district said.

“Our Student Services team has been working equally hard to prepare for the emotional well-being of our students and staff,” the district said in its statement. “Thank you again for your grace and strength.”

CNN’s Jillian Sykes contributed to this report.

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