YANCEYVILLE, N.C. — Caswell County Schools leaders are hopeful they can get back to a normal schedule next week.
The district used its last two remote learning days Wednesday and Thursday after Yanceyville issued a Water Supply Emergency Declaration.
Interim Superintendent Lance Stokes said water is back at all schools in the county, but usage restrictions and quality concerns forced the district to hold off on allowing students to return to classes Friday.
“The information that we received from our Emergency Management System is that the systems need to flush and clear the line so we are looking to have clear water when we get those reports back,” Stokes said.
Caswell County Schools use the second-most amount of water in the county.
“Some parents were questioning why not just send them to school with a bottle of water, but you have to understand there is a water shortage. Most of our systems operate off of boilers for the heat and the HVAC,” Stokes said.
The state gives all school districts five days in the calendar year to operate remotely for unforeseen times like these.
Stokes said Caswell County used two this week and the others during the winter storms.
“We utilized three of our remote learning days during the inclement weather. It is very crippling when you have two systems coming back-to-back,” Stokes said.
Now that all the remote days are gone, Stokes said he will need to speak with the school board about ways to adjust their calendar.
“We would have to either amend the school day or the calendar or the very unpopular one — we would have school during spring break. That isn’t an option that we’ve had to explore yet, but it could be a possibility looking to take some instructional days and put them into spring break if we have any more inclement weather,” Stokes said.
He said they are adhering to local guidelines, providing water and working with agencies across the county to make sure students return to safe schools.
“When you have these types of crises, particularly in a rural area, you have to pull through it. We’re not one of the larger districts with more resources, so all of our agencies have to pull together and support our community,” Stokes said.
Stokes said their goal is for students to return to class Monday.
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Sasha Strong
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