On March 6, 2025, Gov. Josh Stein visited Micaville Elementary School in Yancey County with Holly Jones, the director of the Governor’s Western North Carolina Office.
They met Superintendent Kathy Amos and had a chance to talk — really talk — to Principal Melanie Bennett.
Four schools took on so much damage during Hurricane Helene that their students needed to relocate, according to previous reporting by EdNC. The students at Micaville are the only ones who won’t come back to their school building and can’t be kept together.
Once the district realized that Micaville needed to be closed permanently, Amos had to determine where the 198 students as well as faculty and staff would go and for how long.
Three classrooms moved to South Toe Elementary, a school that had completed a renovation recently so they could take on extra students. 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 found other ways to provide space for the additional students.
Renovations already underway at two schools will provide capacity for the students once completed.
Stein talked with Bennett about her experience, the future of the building, where the students were relocated, how their parents are doing, and the ongoing needs of students, educators, schools, and the community.
“Yancey County residents are supporting each other in inspiring ways,” said Stein. “Just as they are working together to recover, so must we help them rebuild schools, small businesses, and critical infrastructure.”
A dashboard to track recovery in WNC
This week, the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina (GROW NC) launched a dashboard for the public to track recovery in western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.
The website says, “The Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina (GROW NC) serves to facilitate collaboration, streamline communication, and accelerate recovery from Hurricane Helene. The work of this team is guided by Governor Stein with an emphasis on urgency, focus, transparency, and accountability. “
The leadership team of GROW NC includes Matt Calabria, the director; Emily Williamson Gangi, the chief deputy director; Scott Elliott, deputy director for engagement and the former superintendent in Watauga County Schools; and Jones.
The dashboard includes progress on housing, infrastructure, and revitalizing local economies.
A press release announcing the dashboard notes the following progress:
Temporary housing programs are serving 5,720 households, ensuring they have safe, warm shelter.
4,753,466 cubic yards of right-of-way debris has been removed from WNC roadways.
84% of impacted public roads in western North Carolina are fully reopened. Nearly 1,300 roads have been reopened since the beginning of the storm.
Interstate 40 reopened to traffic on Saturday, March 1st for the first time since Hurricane Helene swelled the Pigeon River and scoured large swaths of eastbound lanes last September. The N.C. Department of Transportation and contract crews have stabilized the remaining westbound lanes and prepared them to provide one lane of traffic in each direction.
The WNC Small Business Initiative has funded 989 loans for small business owners impacted by Helene to bolster economic recovery. The program is expected to award more than 600 additional grants to small business owners across western North Carolina in the coming weeks.
Half of all state parks and cultural sites impacted by the storm have fully reopened, and all but three are open for visitors in some capacity.
— Press release from the Office of the NC Governor
Stein has requested an additional $19 billion in federal funds and an additional $1.07 billion in state funds for the next phase of recovery.
Five months after the hurricane, an update on charters
by Kristen Blair
More than five months have passed since Hurricane Helene cut a swath of destruction across Western North Carolina, closing schools for weeks. East of Asheville, students at ArtSpace Charter School in Swannanoa missed 24 school days due to the storm, more than any other charter school in the state.
Some semblance of normalcy has returned. But many students are still struggling.
“We have a large number of students who hide under the tables when the wind blows,” said Dr. Sarena Fuller, the executive director at ArtSpace and the 2024 Wells Fargo Charter School Principal of the Year.
“At school, things are repaired,” said Jen Watkins, the executive director at Evergreen Community Charter School in Asheville. “The trees have been cleared. Campus looks good. Buildings are fine. The water is back on.”
“And no one has recovered.”
WNC advocates meet with legislators in Raleigh
by Ben Humphries, EdNC
A group of advocates, including school staff, educators, and parents, traveled from Henderson County and Buncombe County on Wednesday to meet with lawmakers and request state funding support in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
They drove through heavy rain and tornado warnings, which they said evoked the storm that devastated their communities and ultimately led them to travel to the Legislative Building in Raleigh.
The group also included members and leaders of local affiliates of the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) as well as NCAE staff.
Advocates arrived with two specific policy requests:
- That their local governments receive revenue replacements so schools can continue to be funded.
- That their school districts be held harmless for shifts in average daily membership (ADM) for three years.
The request for revenue replacement comes after Buncombe County estimated in January it would see a revenue shortfall between $15-$25 million this fiscal year (ending June 30) due to the financial impacts of Hurricane Helene. It then cut the budget for Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County Schools by nearly $4.7 million for this school year.
Shanna Peele, a special education teacher and president of the Buncombe County Association of Educators, said the cuts jeopardize school operations and hundreds of teaching jobs.
“If the Buncombe County government does not have enough revenue to continue to fund our schools, we’re going to have significant cuts to our programming, to student services, even to staffing levels and staffing salaries,” she said. “We’re already working on bare bones staff as it is. Our students need more, not less.”
Peele said a large number of students are displaced, living in temporary housing, and districts are unsure how many students they may lose next school year.
In North Carolina, a large portion of education funding is tied to enrollment, hence the request to prevent a decreased ADM, or average daily membership, from affecting state funding distributed to storm-struck school districts. Normally, if the student population decreases in a district, that district would receive less funding after one year.
Peele said in private meetings legislators had been understanding of the requests the group presented.
“So I don’t know that that quite puts me in a hopeful position, but at least it makes me feel like they have heard the problem,” she said. “But we will not stop advocating for our children until the future is secure. And so I know this will not be our last time that we come to Raleigh.”
Upcoming deadlines for individuals and businesses
By email, the Office of the Governor provided information about the following upcoming deadlines for assistance:
- March 8, 2025: FEMA Individual Assistance deadline for disaster survivors affected by Tropical Storm Helene. Survivors should apply for FEMA assistance online at disasterassistance.gov, by calling 1-800-621-3362, or by downloading the FEMA app. Available assistance may include funding for housing solutions, reimbursement for hotel costs, funds for repairs to your primary residence and privately-owned access routes, and reimbursement for disaster-causes expenses.
- March 10, 2025: The deadline to apply for Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) has been extended to March 10, 2025, for people in 39 North Carolina counties and for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina. This extension maintains consistency with the deadlines set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and allows the Division of Employment Security to continue to provide temporary financial support to people impacted by Hurricane Helene. Visit: des.nc.gov/dua; for English, call 919-629-3857 or Spanish 919-276-5698, Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
- March 29, 2025: DUA expiration date (last date for benefits to be paid). Visit: des.nc.gov/dua; for English, call 919-629-3857 or Spanish 919-276-5698, Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
- April 27, 2025: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is extending the physical damage loan deadline for disaster declarations affected by the 2024 federal funding lapse. Applicants may also call the SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or send an email to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services. Disaster assistance | U.S. Small Business Administration
- June 30, 2025: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) filing deadline to return economic injury applications is June 30, 2025. Applicants may also call the SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or send an email to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services. Disaster assistance | U.S. Small Business Administration
“Thousands of western North Carolinians have already taken advantage of these federal resources,” said Stein, “but there is still time to apply.”
