BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. — Students and teachers returned to Buncombe County Schools for the first time since being dismissed because of Tropical Storm Helene's rainfall.

What You Need To Know

  • For the first time since classes were paused because of Helene's storms, classes resumed in the Buncombe County Schools Friday

  • The BCS chief communications officer said bus drivers took an innovative approach to safely getting children to school by drawing new bus routes

  • At least 200 school counselors from 45 school districts across N.C. were available at each campus 

Lines of cars wrapped around Cane Creek Middle School. A parent who is also an employee said faculty, administrators, general staff members and students have looked forward to this day for almost a month.

“There has been so much that we couldn’t control. So the Buncombe County Schools team went to work with what we could do,” said Ken Ulmer, the chief communications officer for Buncombe County Schools. 

“The first day back is really going to be an important day of reconnecting and leaning into the social and emotional needs of our students,” Ulmer said.

Part of meeting those social and emotional needs was to ask for help outside the school system.

Ulmer said Superintendent Rob Jackson turned to other educators across the state to do that.

“We have all had vastly different experiences, but this storm has impacted us all in some way. That’s why schools are really going to be spending a lot of time listening,” Ulmer said.

Ulmer said at least 200 school counselors from over 45 school districts were on every campus in BCS.

Schools are operating under a two-hour delay to give families and school bus drivers more daylight as they navigate roads on the way to school through Nov. 1.

Because of Helene, many roads were washed out, bridges wiped out and usual ways of getting to school were simply no longer viable. That meant schools had to roll with a new solution.

“We have a lot of bus routes, we have a lot of students, and we have a lot of roads in Buncombe County,” Ulmer said.

That meant bus routes had to be redrawn. Ulmer said school buses on a typical day travel 15,600 miles to and from school. Yet nearly a month after arguably the worst natural disaster in western North Carolina history, these are not normal times.

Ulmer said the transportation team, the school administrators and dedicated bus drivers developed a plan. He said bus drivers took it upon themselves to go into some of the hardest-hit communities to scope out new routes.

That might mean finding a community stop, where children go to wait for a bus in the morning in a visible, out-in-the-open location well-known to the community.

The first day is all about showing these children they have a home away from home with their school family. Ulmer said he was anxious to see how it goes as a dad of two school-aged children enrolled in the district.

“I am so glad that with school starting again we will be able to have that connection for all of our students and all our teachers,” Ulmer said.

He said BCS will continue taking bottled water into schools until the water supply is to safe to drink again.