More than a month after Hurricane Dorian devastated large portions of the east coast, students on Ocracoke Island have been given a return date to portions of their school building.
Hyde County Schools Superintendent Stephen Basnight, who oversees Ocracoke, says it’s taken so long because Dorian brought more than 3 feet of water into the school.
"We have spent the last 25 days tearing out walls and floors," he said. "There’s actually one building on campus that has power right now.”
Basnight says the Ocracoke School that houses 174 pre-K through 12th-grade students will open on Monday. Some students will be at the main campus and others will have classes at three different locations around the island. Basnight says this configuration will have to do for now.
“We’ve lost a tremendous amount in that school," he said. "We’re starting from scratch. It’s a minor miracle that we’ve been able to set up off-campus locations to get a school started in this short period of time even though its been 25 days.”
Ocracoke students had been taking classes online. Basnight says no decision has been made about makeup days.
