Pender County Schools to welcome students Tuesday following hectic year disrupted by Hurricane Florence
BURGAW, NC (WWAY) — Students in Pender County return back to school Tuesday nearly a year after Hurricane Florence hit the region causing massive flooding and widespread damage.
“Many of our schools served as shelters as the storm raged on and the flooding continued for weeks,” said Pender County Schools Spokesman Alex Riley.
Students missed approximately 30 instructional days during the 2018-2019 school year.
“It was a year a lot of our folks would like to put in the rear-view mirror very quickly,” he said.
Despite damage to their homes, Riley said a large number of the staff worked long hours preparing their schools to house others who were displaced as a result of Florence.
“We had great dedication from our staff showing up to work those shelters, to help people out and be there for the community even when they didn’t have a home of their own to go home to they stayed there to help out in the face of crisis,” Riley said.
Prior to the storm, Pender County Schools had about 50 homeless students across the district and that number quickly rose to more than 1,000 as a result of the hurricane.
“We’re learning now, some kids that maybe at the time should have been identified for McKinney-Vento Assistance, which helps homeless students receiving aid from the federal government, we’re realizing there were even more kids out there that we didn’t get a chance to identify,” Riley said. “Its amazing to think about how widespread this storm was.”
Riley says mechanisms are in place to identify students who show up at school with housing or other needs.
“Our accountability office reaches out to people who have needed help and making sure this is the number or email you reach out to,” he said. “They’ve done a fantastic job of reaching those folks as quickly as possible.”
This will be the first full school year of operation for Penderlea School and the Surf City Middle and Elementary School campus.
Another major priority for the school district is improving security at all campuses.
“We’re trying to go keyless on the entry and we have given all of our staff ID badges that they scan at certain points of entry that way we can monitor who is coming and going and bus safety is a big thing,” he said.”
In October, the district will launch the Here Comes the Bus app which will track bus routes.
“It will let parents know when the bus is showing so the kids don’t have to stand in the rain or cold anymore,” he said.
Students return to class Tuesday. For additional information, go to the Pender County Schools’ website.
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