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 days of school 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 says school staff worked long hours preparing their schools to house people 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 but that number increased to well over 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 children who still present to school with unmet 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.”

Two new complexes that will be open for the first time for the entire school year is Penderlea School and the Surf City Middle and Elementary School campus.

Another major priority for the 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 introduce 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 will return to class Tuesday and you can find more information about start times by going to the district’s website.