Rutherfordton Elementary School News

As we continue to assess Hurricane Helene's impact and support our community's ongoing disaster recovery efforts, I want to share an update with you regarding school operations. We've defined a list of conditions necessary to safely reopen our schools following the storm, and we’re monitoring those conditions in real time on a site-by-site basis. Obviously, though, we haven’t satisfied those conditions, and it seems unrealistic to think that we will be able to reopen schools this week.

Rutherford County Schools will observe remote learning days for students and optional teacher workdays for employees on Wednesday, October 2, and Thursday, October 3. Those designations exhaust the number of remote learning days available to us this year. Therefore, our schools will be closed for students on Friday, October 4, with an optional workday for school employees on that date. Remote work remains authorized for eligible employees for the remainder of this week.

We recognize that remote work remains impossible for most and that other critical priorities still exist. No student or school employee will be penalized for not working remotely as we navigate unprecedented challenges together as a community.

Given ongoing infrastructure issues across our area, mass communication remains difficult. I hope sharing a single message outlining our complete plans for the rest of the week is helpful during these very difficult times.

We will continue to assess conditions for reopening schools and provide another update on school operations this weekend.

Thank you, and best wishes in the days ahead.

We continue to track progress toward reopening our schools using the eight criteria we identified earlier this week. Many of those conditions have improved considerably, and we are much closer to reopening than we were even a few days ago. We are optimistic that schools will reopen for students next week.

Our goal is to reopen schools for students on Wednesday, October 9. In anticipation of meeting that target date, schools will remain closed for students on Monday, October 7, and Tuesday, October 8. Both days will be required workdays for school employees. We are confident that those required workdays will give us the time and opportunity to ensure that we are fully prepared for students' successful return on Wednesday, and we are optimistic that, with continued improvements in the coming days, we can meet that goal. Once we do, we will share another update early next week confirming those arrangements.

We are pleased to let you know that our school nutrition team will be providing free school meals to all persons aged 18 years and younger on both Monday and Tuesday of the coming week. Drive-through meal pick-up sites will operate at Ellenboro Elementary School, Forrest W. Hunt Elementary School, and Spindale Elementary School from 11:30 AM until 1:30 PM on both days. We’ll share additional details about those free school meal services in a separate message.

Hurricane Helene caused widespread, catastrophic damage across our county and region as it passed through the area earlier this weekend. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers remain with every affected individual and family across our community as rescue, recovery, and restoration efforts continue over the coming days and weeks.

Given the widespread damage and destruction across our community, school operations are substantially disrupted. On both Monday, September 30, and Tuesday, October 1, Rutherford County Schools will observe remote learning days for students and optional teacher workdays for employees. Remote work is authorized for eligible employees on both days.

We recognize that remote learning and remote work are simply impossible for most students, employees, and families across our county given almost universal power outages and crippling disruptions to cellular and Internet services. Please understand that we are designating Monday and Tuesday as remote days only because that designation gives us the most flexibility as we navigate what may be an extended school closure. We recognize that remote work is impossible for most and that other critical priorities exist, and no student or school employee will be penalized for not working remotely as we navigate unprecedented challenges together as a community.

Our team will continue to monitor recovery efforts and assess damage to school facilities in the coming days. We will provide the next update on school operations no later than 4:00 PM on Tuesday, October 1.

We continue to monitor weather and road conditions very closely throughout the county. In anticipation of worsening travel conditions this afternoon, Rutherford County Schools will dismiss all students at 1:00 PM today.

Conditions are expected to worsen significantly overnight tonight as the remnants of Hurricane Helene affect our area, with excessive rainfall and wind gusts approaching 50 miles per hour. Given those dangerous conditions, Rutherford County Schools will observe a remote learning day for students and an optional teacher workday for employees on Friday, September 27. Remote work is authorized for eligible school employees tomorrow.

RCS is closely monitoring the progress of Hurricane Helene in anticipation of its impact on our region later this week. Current forecast models bring the storm into our area tomorrow night, and we expect weather conditions to worsen significantly by Friday morning. At this time, Rutherford County Schools will operate on a regular schedule on Thursday, September 26. However, all after-school events and activities are canceled tomorrow afternoon.

We will continue monitoring the storm’s progress throughout the day tomorrow and announce any necessary changes to Friday’s school schedule as soon as possible.