Inside a Hillsborough charter school ravaged by flooding

Hallways of The Expedition School (TES), a charter school in Hillsborough, are still streaked with mud more than a week after the Eno River surged and flooded the lower part of the school’s campus.

Provisional U.S. Geological Survey data shows a river gage hit over 24 feet on July 7. The day before, it was just below two feet.

The school is divided between a K-4 Lower School and a 5-8 Upper School. The Lower School building, located within a few hundred feet of the Eno River, was ravaged. All of the school’s K-4 classrooms were destroyed, along with nearly all furniture, equipment, learning supplies, decorations, and personal effects.

The high water mark is visible on the bricks in this photo of the side of the Lower School. Ben Humphries/EdNC

TES serves roughly 380 students, over 200 of which are in grades K-4. The school originally planned to return from its summer break on July 31, but announced in a release that, following the flood, it now hopes to reopen on Aug. 25.

Kendall Cook, director of business and operations at TES, estimated the cost of the damage at $800,000. That figure does not include the extensive damage to the Lower School building, which school staff expects to be covered by the building owner’s insurance.

Scenes of destruction

The Expedition School in Hillsborough. Just behind the camera is the Eno River. Ben Humphries/EdNC

Opaque and muddy river water, the mildewy smell of saturated walls, and pallets of bottled water at TES evoke Hurricane Helene’s destruction of schools in four western North Carolina districts last year.

Tropical Storm Chantal, the system responsible for this flooding, hit the area by surprise, as did Helene.

“Unless you were in here, you don’t understand the extent of it,” said Randi Russell, a school support specialist, as she stepped through the Lower School.

Starting the morning after the storm, school staff, teachers, parents, and community volunteers started cleaning and recovering what they could. Dumpsters provided by local businesses were filled with debris in as little as 30 minutes. Not much was recovered.

Now, the building is eerily empty. Even the carpets have been ripped out, leaving behind a sticky residue.

“Luckily, no one was hurt,” Russell said. “That’s the biggest blessing.”

File folders fused shut by water in a makeshift office at TES. Ben Humphries/EdNC

Moving forward

As the Lower School is repaired, TES has been offered a temporary space connected to the Upper School to hold classes for the upcoming school year. Still, there are many organizational hurdles, Russell said. One of the largest: the loss of all of the paper records in the school office, including student files.

Not to mention the money the school needs, which school staff are working to raise. They said they have sought help from local and state leaders like Hillsborough Mayor Mark Bell, Gov. Josh Stein, and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis.

Russell said a state of emergency or disaster area being declared could open up funds to the school. Orange County previously declared a state of emergency, but there is no declaration from the state of North Carolina.

While Russell explained the damage to the TES administrative staff offices, a parent dropped by to donate supplies. Russell said the community support had been outstanding.

“We have an incredible team, an incredible crew,” she said. “We’ll be OK.”