New Okracoke Island school to be raised 7 feet, have nautical theme
Flooding from Dorian damaged current facility
OCRACOKE, N.C. — The only school that sits on the Outer Banks’ Ocracoke Island became a casualty of flooding from Hurricane Dorian.
Its replacement, a $9.5 million building set to be built early next year, will have a nautical theme: The front will look like an old Outer Banks Coast Guard tower.
The new school also will be better prepared than its predecessor for another storm like Dorian: The 18,030-square-foot building will sit more than 7 feet above sea level.
In September 2019, flood waters from Dorian rose to 7 feet in some places throughout Ocracoke. More than 300 homes and buildings were damaged. Water levels and layers of muck were more than a foot high inside the school building even though its floors were a few feet above ground level. Mold soon grew on the interior surfaces.
“My goal is to give the people of Ocracoke something they can be proud of and use for a long time.” — Steve Basnight, Hyde County Schools superintendent
Estimates to repair the damage climbed into the millions, so they decided to rebuild, said Hyde County Schools superintendent Steve Basnight. The price tag will be paid mostly from state funding; some federal assistance is expected to come later. The planned opening of the school is fall 2022.
“My goal is to give the people of Ocracoke something they can be proud of and use for a long time,” he said.
About 175 students from pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade attended classes in the old building.
The island’ s approximately 1,000 residents live within a small village at the south end of the island. With no cafeteria at the school, students and staff were given a break in the middle of the day to go home and eat lunch.
“The new school will be a great benefit to the community,” said Angela Todd, Ocracoke resident, business owner and member of the Hyde County board of education.
“We were already growing out of our old space.”
The gym, a media center and t he two-story elementary grade section will be salvaged and
connected to the new building with enclosed hallways.
Donations will help replace books and supplies. VS America, a school furniture manufacturer, plans to donate desks, chairs, book cases and similar equipment.
The new school will not get a full cafeteria, but will have cooking facilities in a common area. Students are taking virtual classes for now.