Helene closings: Charlotte-area school districts announce plans for Tuesday classes

Some public school districts across the Carolinas are still dealing with power outages and damage from Helene, which brought historic rain and flooding to the region.

Helene hit Florida as a Category 4 hurricane before dumping up to 29 inches of rain as a tropical storm on some North Carolina communities. On Sunday, more than 900,000 homes in South Carolina were still without power, with the majority of them in the Upstate region. More than 500,000 in North Carolina were without power.

Here’s what’s been announced and what hasn’t in Charlotte-area districts:

▪ Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools were closed Monday as issues from Helene linger, the district said Sunday afternoon. That’s a change from Friday when the district said it expected to resume normal operations. Monday instead was an optional teacher workday, and there will be no after-school enrichment programs at any CMS schools. The decision does not affect the rest of the 2024-25 calendar year, CMS said.

UPDATE, 5:18 p.m.: CMS schools will be open on Tuesday.

▪ Cabarrus County Schools hasn’t announced any closure plans. It rescheduled four varsity football games that would’ve been played Friday to Monday.

▪ Catawba County Schools canceled classes Monday. QUEST Childcare will also be closed, but teachers can come in for a workday.

UPDATE 5:48 p.m. Catawba schools remain closed Tuesday.

▪ Chester County School District in South Carolina canceled Monday classes but school resumes on Tuesday. It will have a weather-related make up day Nov. 25.

UPDATE 5:30 p.m. Chester County schools will be open on regular schedule Tuesday.

▪ Clover School District in South Carolina canceled Monday classes but opened Clover High School’s doors from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. Monday to allow people to charge cell phones and fill up water bottles.

UPDATE 5:49 P.M.: Clover schools will be open Tuesday.

UPDATE 5:30 p.m. Clover schools will be open on regular schedule Tuesday.

▪ Fort Mill School District in South Carolina resumed classes Monday.

▪ Hickory City Schools canceled classes Monday and again Tuesday. Teachers can come in for an optional work day “if it is safe... to do so.”

▪ Iredell-Statesville Schools will have a two-hour delay for students and staff on Tuesday. “This additional time will allow our bus drivers to have better visibility and our student drivers more time to use extra caution when driving to their school,” the district said in a Facebook post.

▪ Kannapolis City Schools hasn’t announced any closure plans

▪ Lancaster County School District resumed classes Monday.

▪ Mooresville Graded School District hasn’t announced any closure plans.

▪ Lincoln County Schools: No school for students on Tuesday due to power outages and damage. Staff will operate on an optional workday. Check your email for updates from your principal. The county was also out of school on Monday.

▪ Rock Hill Schools canceled classes Monday. It also said it cannot provide food service because its cafeterias “experienced losses” after the extended power outage.

UPDATE 5:30 p.m. Rock Hill schools will be open on regular schedule Tuesday.

▪ Rowan-Salisbury Schools hasn’t announced any closure plans.

▪ Union County Public Schools said it will operate on a normal schedule Monday.

▪ York School District 1 in South Carolina canceled Monday classes and announced a make up day Jan. 6.

UPDATE 5:30 p.m. York school district 1 in South Carolina schools will be closed on Tuesday, according to its Facebook social media. It will again provide lunch for its students’ families Tuesday in York Comprehensive High School’s band room, Jefferson Elementary School’s bus loop and Hickory Grove-Sharon Elementary School’s bus loop.

This story was originally published September 29, 2024 at 2:47 PM.