From Staff Reports

The Buncombe County School System will reopen for students on Oct. 25 – nearly a month after Tropical Storm Helene ravaged Western North Carolina.

Following an update at a Buncombe County Board of Education emergency meeting on Oct. 18, the board voted unanimously to reopen Buncombe’s public schools.

The school system announced four student deaths at the school board’s Oct. 11 meeting. However, not provided were the names, ages, or the schools the students attended. At the time, Buncombe School Superintendent Rob Jackson said the district is “continuing to search” for an additional 21 students.

However, at least two deceased students attended North Buncombe Elementary School — Felix Wisely, a 9-year-old third-grader; and his younger brother, Lucas, 7, a second-grader. They were killed when Helene wreaked havoc on the area, their father, Lance Wisely, told the USA TODAY Network Oct. 12.

Otherwise, school officials said, “all Buncombe students have been accounted for and no new deaths have been reported,” the Asheville Citizen Times reported on Oct. 18.

At the Oct. 18 emergency meeting, Jackson was quoted by the ACT as stating: “We’re in a very different place seven days later,” referring to the progress the school system has made since the board’s Oct. 11 meeting — when 32 of its schools were without water.

Indeed, Jackson told the board on Oct. 18 that all 45 schools now have power, non-potable water and internet access.

Also he noted, to reopen, the district created a ‘fire watch plan’ in coordination with the county’s fire marshalfor schools lacking adequate water pressurization for the fire suppression system to operate, the ACT noted. 

The newspaper added, “The Buncombe school district is also working with the North Carolina Department of Transportation on rerouting school buses.

“Before the vote, Amy Churchill, the board’s vice chair representing the Roberson District, asked that the first day be a ‘no pressure day’ — one devoted to reconnection following Helene. 

“In response, Jackson guaranteed all staff will approach the day with ‘love and grace,’ acknowledging how that first day will be one ‘fraught with emotion,’” the ACT reported.