Wednesday, November 6, 2024

BC Schools seeks state’s help after storm impacts, 69 teachers slept at district facilities

16 teachers slept at Town Creek Elementary School on Monday night due to be stranded by the flood after tropical cyclone eight. (Port City Daily/File)

BRUNSWICK COUNTY — The Brunswick County school board met Friday to address the impact of Monday’s tropical cyclone and next steps toward reopening; the schools have been closed all week due to catastrophic flooding the unnamed storm caused countywide

READ MORE: Area schools district, board members weigh in on emergency protocol after Monday’s storm

It left multiple people stuck in schools and stranded due to rising floodwaters. In the district, only one school, Bolivia Elementary, is currently undergoing remediation due to flooding, but should be completed by next week. 

Other schools, including South Brunswick High, South Brunswick Middle, and Southport Elementary, experienced significant damage from flooding leaks. Southport Middle School also faces sewage backups, as the entire town was under a sewer advisory.

The school board revealed 69 teachers and staff slept in Brunswick County Schools facilities overnight after clocking in Monday for an optional workday; school was canceled for students.

The National Weather Service reported 6 to 8 inches of rain would fall, however, the region received almost 2 feet in a day, sending Brunswick County teachers and workers scrambling to get home before lunch Monday. The district uses information gathered from NWS to decide whether to cancel school, with Superintendent Dale Cole making the final call. 

Port City Daily learned of one teacher who lost her car to floodwaters and another whose home was flooded. Those who couldn’t reach home had to shelter in place at work or were stranded on U.S. 17 for hours as water pooled so quickly it shut down the highway for more than 12 hours.

Teachers who slept at the schools wouldn’t go on the record with Port City Daily due to fear of retaliation. According to the district, tallies included:

  • 26 people at BCS Central Office
  • 13 people at Bolivia Elementary School
  • 16 people at Town Creek Elementary School
  • 1 people Town Creek Middle School
  • 13 people at South Brunswick Middle School

On Friday, school board chair Steven Barger requested the board send a letter to the North Carolina General Assembly asking for staff compensation for Monday and Tuesday and to extend the five allotted remote learning days now underway, due to the impacts of the storm. While the school district lacks the authority to reimburse teachers or determine the number of instructional days on its calendar, the state can intervene at the district’s request. 

Brunswick County has planned for remote learning Sept. 23 through 27 and will reassess by midweek how it will move forward, depending on NCDOT’s updates to roadways. More than 130 roads were closed by the storm earlier in the week, with many collapsing or enduring damage due to overwash.

Before the unanimous vote to approve the letter, board member Steve Gainey raised concerns. He was worried staff would expect similar outcomes in the future and clarified the request for forgiveness had nothing to do with the storm’s severity. 

He described the following paragraph in the letter as “overdramatic”: 

“Forgiving the lost time would not only provide much-needed relief to our employees, but also send a strong message of support, compassion, and understanding from our state leaders.”

“My concern with this is that we are setting ourselves up to be expected to make this kind of request for any weather event that has a similar impact,” Gainey said. “How is the impact on teachers’ paychecks different?”

Barger noted the catastrophic loss of infrastructure makes this situation distinct from a typical rainy day or even another storm. Board member Harry Lemon reminded Gainey he had never seen a storm impact the community like this. 

“I don’t see it as any different than the relief days we granted for Matthew and Florence,” Lemon stated. 

Florence dropped 23 inches of rain on the region over multiple days, while Matthew brought more than 16 inches. The schools were closed for almost a month after Florence.

Gainey maintained his position, asserting the district faced challenges similar to those experienced by the rest of the county. Nevertheless, he signed the letter in support. 

Cole informed Gainey he believed Brunswick County government employees had also received time forgiveness due to the storm. Port City Daily reached out to the county to confirm but did not receive an answer by press. 

Teachers have spoken out on social media about the way the district handled the closing of schools, many wishing it would have been done differently. 

Second-grade teacher Gia Vasquez told Port City Daily earlier this week she never felt she had a choice but to work, seeing as her options consisted of going in the storm or not getting paid.

“I think we get it right most of the time — I think we got it right this time,” Cole told the school board Friday. “It’s just for the conditions that were projected, it turned into something completely different that no one saw coming.”

The district made its decision to offer teachers an optional workday on Monday, in accordance with district policy 7550. It addresses staff absences in inclement weather. 

According to the notice sent to teachers, the policy allows 11-to-12-month staff to choose how to proceed during an optional workday: report to work, use accumulated compensatory time, take annual vacation leave, use personal leave (for classroom teachers), take leave without pay, or arrange mutually agreed makeup time with their supervisor. 

However, some teachers noticed the district’s policy page omitted one option: telework in accordance with policy 7503. This led to questions among teachers about why teleworking wasn’t provided to them instead.

Barger emphasized on a phone call Friday the decision to make Monday an optional workday came from the superintendent. He wanted to highlight Cole’s decisions were rooted in a sense of “equity.” 

“Whether you’re a teacher, a janitor, or child nutrition staff in the cafeteria,” Barger described, “it’s not fair to let one person work from home if everyone can’t.”

At the meeting, Cole expressed a similar sentiment, stating he wanted everything “equitable and fair.” He also said he didn’t want teachers to have to use their paid professional leave unnecessarily. 

“What comes with this job is scrutiny in times of crisis, where people have hindsight, and, you know, I have to make the decision with the information that I have at the time,” Cole said at the meeting.

Schools reopening 

Friday, the board discussed the necessary steps to transition students and teachers back to in-person learning. A survey will be sent to staff at the beginning of next week to assess challenges teachers and other employees are facing in traveling to school. It will inquire about any changes in their commute times and the extent of those changes.

The district decided to wait until Monday to distribute the surveys to account for any potential roadwork completed over the weekend. NCDOT crews have begun correcting some collapsed bridges on N.C. 211 and reopened a portion of U.S. 17 on Thursday at Town Creek. However, as of Friday, the entrances and exits to Town Creek Elementary School and Town Creek Middle in Winnabow were closed, the district noted.

To mitigate the infrastructure challenges, the board discussed the possibility of establishing regional bus stops that don’t run through neighborhoods that are affected by road closures. Cole suggested the meeting spots could be located in parking lots of churches or volunteer fire stations. 

The board also discussed sending surveys to stakeholders to gather feedback on the calendar changes. Due to the school cancellations this week, it will affect the end of the semester — students will need to take their exams either before or after the district’s two-week winter break. State legislation sets parameters for district calendars, such as the number of instructional days and the start and end of the school year. 

Chief Operations Officer Larry Smith said the district would send out an online survey for feedback on when parents and other stakeholders of high school students would prefer exam testing — however, they decided the calendar changes would be decided by Oct. 1. 

The board aims to inform the public by Wednesday, Sept. 25, whether schools will resume in-person classes on Monday, Sept. 30.

“Everyone is not going to be happy with what we come up with, but we’re going to come up with the best solution we can for everybody,” Cole told the board Friday. “We don’t have to have 100% of staff, but we do have to have most of them.”


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