Hillsborough school creates temporary classrooms after flooding from Chantal delayed classes

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- School is back in session at the Expedition School in Hillsborough after the first day of school was delayed by nearly a month.

Tropical Storm Chantal brought historic flooding to the area in July, leaving the elementary school under feet of water.

Two months later, the school is back open and students are walking the hallways, but it took the community and volunteers to make it to the first day of school.

Tammy Finch, the founding director of education and curriculum at Expedition School, said without the community's help, the school year would have looked different

"Otherwise, we would not have been able to reopen really on time in this space. So it was very exciting to get the kids in a place that they know, and a place that the families know. Their playground is here, their teachers are here, their work is on the wall."

ABC11 stopped by the school and got a look at the work being done to repair the damaged building.

"They had to take the walls out to get rid of the wet walls and get everything dried out. And so you can see this is why we had to move our children to a new space," said Finch, pointing out the damage inside the elementary school.

Finch also showed the renovations to the building to get the school back up and running. The other side of the Cloth Mill, where the school is located, was converted into a classroom

"There is an event space that's connecting to our school that was unoccupied, but it was about to be rented by the town. And the town was very gracious to relinquish their lease on the space so that we could occupy it with temporary classrooms," Finch continued.

ALSO SEE Wake, Durham, Cumberland Co. superintendents talk school safety, more: 'We are not reactionary'

Temporary walls were set up, and desks were even donated by the area schools to create eight classrooms.

"98% of our items in the building were destroyed. And we've had a real outpouring of support from our community with donations and school supplies. We've been able to start school on a really strong foot because of our community support," said Finch.

Suzanne Kennedy was one of the parents who helped support the school following the flooding. She has a 5th grader who attends the Expedition School.

"Immediately, there was a flood of response with parents and social media and through texts about what we can do. Seeing the community response, that's when I was like, Oh, we're, we're going to make this happen," she said.

School was originally scheduled for July 31, but opened on August 25. Kennedy said that due to the damage, she was surprised school started as soon as it did.

"I was like, where are we going to be? What's going to happen? And, you know, I saw the images of Gold Park, the pavilion, like the water being up to the pavilion and thinking, where are people even going to park, and how are we going to all get here if they could get it open," she reflected.

The Expedition School typically operates on a year-round schedule; however, due to the flooding delay, classes are operating on a traditional calendar to make sure students receive enough instructional time.