Columbia County BOE meets for first time since Helene hit, students set to return Wednesday

EVANS, Ga. (WJBF) – Many of our local school systems are getting ready to return to the classroom—almost two weeks since Hurricane Helene hit the CSRA.

“It’s just a great feeling to have our staff back in place—the level of positivity and energy that they had trying to get ready to welcome back their students, and get some sort of normalcy back,” said Associate Superintendent Penny Jackson.

Columbia County teachers went back to the classroom Tuesday, but with plenty of debris left behind, the school system is offering shuttle buses for students in harder hit areas.

“If they miss their bus, we will do everything we can and pick them up to get them safely to school,” Jackson said.

School leaders also say they plan to be more lenient with students over the next two days, as families continue to face different challenges.

“We also recognize that each individual has a situation that they’re going to have to make a decision about,” said Jackson. “So, we will hold them harmless—they will not be counted absent. Exam exemptions, tardies, disciplinary action these next two days—we will be very flexible and work with each individual situation.”

Damage is easy to see in neighborhoods driving by, but leaders say the main damage to the schools are at athletic facilities at county high schools.

“We had some pretty extensive damage to a lot of our baseball facilities. None of our football facilities were messed up, but we had some extensive damages to some of our baseball facilities, and we’re going to get those taken care of before baseball starts,” said Athletic Director Chris Hughes.

Last week, the Georgia High School Association announced they will extend the football season by one week following Helene, with the South Carolina High School League following suit today.

“We have some teams that are in contention for region championships and playoff seedings, so it’s important to get those games in,” said Hughes.

Dr. Steven Flynt also gave a post-Helene update on the 10-year Building Program.

Jackson says despite the brief hiatus because of the hurricane, construction and renovations continue at North Columbia Elementary School, and Lakeside and Evans High Schools.

For Wednesday, October 9th, and Thursday, October 10th, the school district will also provide free Breakfast and Lunch to all students who are able to return to school.

As football teams prepare to get back on the field, school leaders say it will take more patience to clean the remaining debris.

“That will take a little bit of time, but we’re on it and have a plan in place. We’re already meeting with insurance folks and the right people to get that corrected so that we can move forward,” said Jackson.

Columbia County students will return to class starting Wednesday morning.

For a full list of where other school systems stand, click here .

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