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Two Weeks After Florence, NC Schools Still Trying To Recover

A child looks out a window at Knightdale High School, which has been converted into an evacuation shelter for people affected by Hurricane Florence in Knightdale, N.C., Sunday, Sep. 16, 2018.
Ben McKeown
/
For WUNC

As Hurricane Florence flood waters continue to recede, thousands of students are still out of school in North Carolina. Estimates show this storm caused three times as much damage to the state’s schools as Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

On Wednesday, the Department of Public Instruction said Florence cost school districts an estimated $40 million, mostly in flooding damage, mold, and mildew. In Tuesday’s special session, state lawmakers passed a bill giving schools flexibility in how they make up the days missed because of the hurricane. The North Carolina General Assembly also appropriated funds to pay school employees as though they worked during the storm.

Host Frank Stasio talks to WUNC education policy reporter Liz Schlemmer about how this legislation will impact North Carolina’s schools. Schlemmer also shares her experience visiting a school in New Hanover County in the wake of Hurricane Florence.

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Amanda Magnus is the executive producer of Embodied, a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships and health. She has also worked on other WUNC shows including Tested and CREEP.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
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