Asheville City Schools aims to reopen by Monday, Oct. 28

Asheville City Schools Superintendent Maggie Fehrman said the district is aiming to reopen its schools to students by Monday, Oct. 28.

“We hope that we can do that sooner, but we wanted to give our parents the date that we are working toward. Please know that that date may change depending on all these different factors that we have to consider, but we are hoping that that is much sooner,” she said at a Buncombe County media briefing Oct. 9.

Atop the list of must-haves for a school district to reopen is either flushing or portable toilets and hand-washing stations, said Fehrman, who met with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and the N.C. Division of Public Health on Oct. 8.

The district asked the county to order restrooms and handwashing stations from the state to place at every school. Spokesperson Kim Dechant wasn’t sure how much that would cost, but expected help from FEMA.

To supplement those, Fehrman, under consultation from the Asheville City Board of Education, decided to begin drilling wells at every school site in the district, which is entirely within the City of Asheville’s water distribution system.

“Some schools will be able to manage things on one well, and several schools may need two wells per campus,” Fehrman said. She estimated the district would need eight to 10 wells for its nine-school district.

So far, the county has permitted four wells for ACS. The district already drilled a well at Hall Fletcher Elementary, and plans to drill at Asheville High School next. Dechant wasn’t sure what other locations the district would prioritize.

The wells, estimated to cost about $100,000 each, will be paid for with district capital funds, but Fehrman said she hopes to get reimbursed from FEMA for their construction because “this is a response to an emergency.”

On Oct. 8 at Hall Fletcher Elementary, the district hit groundwater 465 feet deep. The well can produce 20 gallons of water a minute, Dechant said.

“We’re estimating a range of two to three weeks before we can take that water from the well to be used in our schools. We do plan on continuing drilling wells at each campus, so that regardless of what happens with our water system, we will always have a backup for our Asheville City Schools,” Fehrman said.

After the well is drilled, concrete must be poured around the wall of the well. It also must be hooked up to the school’s system and tested for cleanliness, accounting for the delayed timeline, Dechant said.

The two to three week timeline between the drilling of a well and the availability of water from that well, as presented by Fehrman, makes the Oct. 28 timeline for reopening  — just 2 1/2 weeks from the Oct. 9 media briefing — ambitious.

Fehrman stressed that the wells would be supplemental water, and not required to reopen, since the district would lean on the portable toilets and handwashing stations that are shipped in.

Dechant called the wells a “backup plan” that was deployed because the City of Asheville couldn’t provide a timeline for when municipal water would be restored, and the district wanted to get children back in classrooms as soon as possible.

Additionally, elementary school principals are meeting to consider combining school populations into buildings that may have access to water, such as through a well, Dechant said.

“We are looking at all our options,” she noted.

Fehrman added that the district will give parents and students 72-hour notice for when a firm reopening date is official.

In the meantime, ACS has set up a resource center for families at its William Randolph campus on Montford Avenue and started conducting bridge-to-learning activities for all students of any grade level from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Isaac Dickson and Hall Fletcher elementary schools Oct. 14. Meals are available for pickup at the same time, Fehrman said.

The Asheville City Board of Education met Oct. 14 after press time to further discuss its well digging program and other matters.