Good afternoon,
It was so good to see all of our students and community members at the Trick or Treating event on the Town Square last night. The kids were smiling, candy was flowing and the costumes were awesome! The event brought much joy to our community.
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for each of you who are doing the important work in our community. YCS employees collected and distributed donations on our school campuses, volunteered at the Red Cross Shelter at BRES and worked in each community as we continue to recover from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Your hard work and generosity have given so many families hope during their greatest time of need.
We want to update you on several areas as we work with our state, federal and local partners through this natural disaster.
Work began on Thursday, October 31 to the main water pipe to Blue Ridge Elementary School and Cane River Middle School. This process will take about two weeks to fix, test and repair as needed. We will monitor this important phase of the infrastructure work so we can set a realistic start date for YCS.
Our hope is for students to return sometime this semester so our seniors and mid-year grads can continue on with their future plans.
There have been many rumors concerning our return date. We have heard, when we return to school: we will have to go to school until the end of June, we will have to go to school 7 days a week, we are going to be out of school the rest of the year and retain students for the next school year in August. All of those plans and suggestions are not true.
We are also working on the plans for Micaville Elementary School. Inspectors and adjusters continue to assess the building. The MES faculty and staff are currently working and being housed at Burnsville Elementary School. We met with the faculty and staff yesterday to give them their school and classroom assignments. Teachers are talking with parents so they can discuss the options. Some students will attend South Toe Elementary School and other students will attend Burnsville Elementary school. We appreciate Principal Melanie Bennett, Principal Brent Laws, Principal Julia Silvers, Director Andrea Allen and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Heather Cox for their work on the transition plan. The school renovations are complete at South Toe Elementary School and the 14 classrooms in the building addition at Burnsville Elementary School will be complete sometime next summer.
The visit from Dr. Jeremy Gibbs of NCDPI, and two representatives from the US Department of Education went well. They toured MES and BRES. We have the opportunity to apply for federal grants based on our school system’s needs.
Incredible infrastructure work continues to be done throughout our community. We are grateful for the support from people all over the region, state and national level.
Yancey County Schools will be closed again next week, November 4-8, for students, and teachers will be on modified workdays. Thank you again for being patient, supporting each other and assisting our students and families as we recover from this devastating natural disaster.
Sincerely,
Kathy Amos
YCS Superintendent