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Four schools took on so much damage during Hurricane Helene that their students needed to relocate. Some temporarily, some permanently.
Public schools in Henderson, McDowell, Watauga, and Yancey counties had to pivot once students returned after the storm. Here are updates on those buildings from the superintendents who oversee the districts.
Henderson County
Atkinson Elementary School’s campus is split by Perry Creek in Henderson County. The facility was built in 1982, and the gym sits on one side of the creek, the school building on the other. Due to unprecedented rainfall from Helene, the creek swelled, and both buildings took on two inches of water.
Henderson County Public Schools (HCPS) Superintendent Mark Garrett said the water receded within two hours, but the problem was time and electricity.
School leadership tried to work their way to the building once the storm passed, but with having to cut their way out of homes and unblock roads to the school, doors remained closed and moisture impacted the floors. Compounded by the lack of power to help with air circulation after arriving at the school, Atkinson Elementary would need to replace all the floors before reopening.
“It could have been much, much worse, but it was just enough that we had to relocate the students while we tore out the flooring and mitigated all the damage, and mud and things that came into the school as a result of the flooding.”
Mark Garrett, superintendent of HCPS
Garrett said initially they were going to have to divide Atkinson Elementary students amongst the school district, but a community partner intervened before he had to make that call.
“The coolest thing happened — the local Boys and Girls Club stepped out and asked if we could utilize their space at all,” reflected Garrett.
Kent Parent had been the CEO of the Henderson County Boys and Girls Club for one week, and immediately welcomed the entirety of Atkinson Elementary staff and students to the building.
“We were able to just retool the space, move our furniture and things that we needed into their facility. That way, all the families were able to stay together,” said Garrett.
“What a blessing to have an organization, which we partner with and we partnered with for a long time, but to really have an organization say, ‘Come here, use this space. We’ve got it available. We would love for you to use it.’ And we quickly got an MOU (memorandum of understanding) together. So those relationships, those community relationships, that you cultivate when times are good come in really, really handy when you come to a time of need.”
Mark Garrett, superintendent of HCPS
Flooring was essentially the only thing that needed to be replaced at Atkinson Elementary. If it wasn’t on the floor, it wasn’t impacted, said Garrett. Since the building was from 1982, the majority was carpeted. They ripped that up, replaced some asbestos tiles and drywall, and put in new flooring. Insurance was quick and easy to work with, and FEMA has come to discuss future proofing with mitigation funds for potential other natural events.
Atkinson Elementary students reported to school at the Henderson Boys and Girls Club on Oct. 15. Garrett’s aim was to have the school building ready to reopen by Christmas.
On Dec. 16, students were welcomed back to the Atkinson Elementary campus, a week ahead of Garrett’s goal.
“I think what I want people to know is our community was very gracious and understanding,” Garret said. “Our teachers and the principal there worked like crazy to make the Boys and Girls Club feel like home and feel like school to them. Then they had to move it all back.”
Garrett believed it was a “Herculean effort that they put forth,” and he couldn’t be more grateful.
McDowell County
Mill Creek sits behind Old Fort Elementary School in McDowell County. The creek was overrun with water, flooding the building and parking lot during Helene. The school building originally opened in 2020 and is still closed due to damage.
Old Forst for the time has merged with Pleasant Gardens Elementary School. Tracy Grit, superintendent of McDowell County Schools (MCS), said the goal is to open back up in the fall of 2025, and he believes they are on target to meet that timeline.
In early October, Grit assured a church full of Old Fort Elementary families that the building was “100% salvageable,” but it would take time to get there. The biggest challenges have remained environmental — dealing with humidity and the impacts of moisture on the building infrastructure.
“Part of it is getting a building not just clean, but dried out,” he said. The cleanup happened quickly, and they’ve slowly gotten their HVAC system back up and running.
They hustled to get two feet of mud out of the parking lot, gutters, and drain pipes to mitigate another flooding event inside the building had it started to rain again.
Grit credits the Army Corps of Engineers along with the MCS maintenance department on getting the exterior of the building cleaned so quickly.
Old Fort Elementary’s gym floor had been ripped up and was replaced by the second week of January, and the work to put flooring back in classrooms has just begun.
“There’s a lot of behind the scenes documentation that has to go into this,” Grit remarked. He praised working with the state on insurance, and while the district doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room in terms of money, the deductible is something that FEMA will reimburse.
“Right now we’re just in this documentation phase. If you can imagine itemizing every single item in a school, and then you got to catalog it and get it into a system,” Grit said.
The work is tedious, but Grit understands its how to get this school back up and running.
“When you have that much water in a building, you’re going to see power on, you’re going to see lights on, and you’re going to think, ‘Oh that building (looks open), we should be able to get back in there.’ Well, that’s not the case because you have to have the right climate before you can start putting down floors,” said Grit.
Grit praised the principals of both Old Fort Elementary and Pleasant Gardens Elementary, Jill Ward and Erin Rayfield, who are working together in one school to continue to educate their kids. He said the transition isn’t without its hardships and that the Old Fort Elementary staff are ready to get “home,” but he is so impressed by everyone at MCS.
“We’re seeing progress in our kids. The kids are so resilient. They’re so incredibly resilient. I just couldn’t be more proud of really the team, the teachers, and their willingness to just roll with it.”
Tracy Grit, MCS superintendent
Watauga County
At 2 a.m. on Sept. 27, Dr. Leslie Alexander, superintendent of Watauga County Schools, was at Valle Crucis School with the district’s assistant superintendent, the school’s principal, her husband, and five maintenance workers. They were using five pumps to remove incoming water from the basement of the school.
The school was constructed in 1935 as part of the New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA) and was prone to taking on small amounts of water. Alexander knew no one would stop working unless she told everyone to go home. Principal Dr. Bonnie Smith wouldn’t leave her school, so her husband and the other maintenance workers stayed on pumping until 7 a.m., and then the power went out.
They had it fairly under control, but then,”the rain really started coming in. And you know, right where we were standing, it got to be about 4 feet of water,” said Alexander.
The historic stone school is 66,000 square feet. Of that, 46,000 square feet took on water. There was already a new school being built for these students a quarter of a mile down the road, but due to construction issues and the hurricane, completion has been delayed. The new Valle Crucis School building will not be completed until summer of 2025. Leadership needed to figure out where it was going to put students for the foreseeable future.
“Bonnie and her staff, they were really pretty adamant. They wanted to keep the kids together as much as they could,” said Alexander.
Three community education institutions stepped in — Appalachian State University (ASU), Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute (CCCTI), and Valle Crucis Conference Center — to host the students in need of a temporary home.
ASU happened to have one preschool classroom that was already approved on campus, so it was a perfect fit for the littlest learners. The district has a great relationship with the Lucy Brock Child Development Lab at the university as well. K-5 students moved to the conference center, which was originally the community school.
The middle school students found a place at the local community college.
“The teachers talk about what a great fit it is when I’m over there. I mean, the kids just obviously feel very comfortable on that campus,” remarked Alexander. A silver lining to the storm.
“It’s just such an invaluable experience for them to be able to see themselves on a college campus with college students, around that whole environment,” said Alexander. “I really want to see what that next step looks like for those sixth, seventh, and eighth graders who’ve had that experience.”
The superintendent is really proud of all the educators from Valle Crucis and their ability to adapt.
“The kids are laughing and they’re engaged in their work, and they’re just very, very happy to be back with other students and their teachers,” Alexander said. “So just I commend that group of teachers and those employees for just really doing what’s best for kids.”
Yancey County
The Busick community sits off of NC-80 in Yancey County. Busick is in the South Toe Township, and 31 inches of rain were recorded there during Helene. Also along NC-80, and below Busick, is Micaville Elementary.
“A wonderful old rock school, a fantastic school for the Micaville community and Yancey County,” reflected district superintendent Kathy Amos.
The rain flowed down from Busick, swelling the creek behind Micaville, and flooded the building to the point of no return. There was already a consolidation plan for the district in place — the WPA school building was constructed in 1936 — and the plan was to close it for students, move them to newer schools, and use it in some way for the district or community. But the storm disrupted the established timeline.
Amos needed to determine where the 198 students and 30 to 40 faculty and staff members would go and for how long.
Three classrooms moved to South Toe Elementary. The school recently completed a renovation project, so they could take on the load. The other eight classrooms moved to Burnsville Elementary School, where they converted the media center into two classrooms, moved a class into the music room, and more to help with the additional students.
“Those teachers have been so helpful and gracious in this transition in just getting everyone settled,” said Amos.
With Micaville Elementary closed permanently, the expansion plans are underway to add 14 classrooms to Burnsville Elementary School and 12 classrooms to Blue Ridge Elementary School.
Burnsville’s new construction should be ready this fall, and Blue Ridge’s in the fall of 2026.
Yancey County has dealt with ongoing issues with weather, water, electricity, and infrastructure. Budgets in small rural counties are strained with the cost of recovery, and even with insurance and FEMA reimbursements, it is challenging to pay for those exorbitant upfront rebuilding costs.
Amos, however, remains ever grateful for all the help they have received, and resilient in the face of a future that may continue to throw her district curve balls.
“You just don’t know what the day is going to bring, you know? We are able to see our students, and we’re so blessed to have them back of the building,” Amos said.
