EKY superintendents weigh options for upcoming school year

EASTERN KENTUCKY (WKYT) - Following the devastating flooding, superintendents in eastern Kentucky are doing what they can to get students in classrooms, as quickly as they can.

“We will be going back to school on concrete floors, we do know that at this time,” Knott County Superintendent Brent Hoover said.

It’ll be a school year of adjustments and flexibility, but Superintendent Hoover said they are handling each new challenge as it arises.

“Air quality is a concern. We do have a sewage problem with the city sewer, all three schools are on that city sewer system,” Hoover said.

He said he looked into mobile classrooms, but they aren’t an option, because his three impacted schools remain in a flood plain.

At least 18 eastern Kentucky school districts were impacted by historic flooding last month. In Letcher County, they still don’t have a start date as they assess damage to buildings and come up with new plans, but they’re hoping for mid-September.

“Our hearts are broken but our spirits are resilient. We’re going to get through this and we’re going to take care of our kids. They’re going to be better, we’re all gonna be better. We just have to remind ourselves that this is temporary,” Superintendent Denise Yonts said.

Superintendent Yonts said of her 500 school employees, 40 of them lost everything in floods.

About 75% of her staff suffered some type of damage to their homes, cars or property. But she said it’s been heartwarming to see them still show up at donation events to look after their students and prepare for a new school year, whenever and wherever that may be.

“It’s all been, it’s overwhelming. You don’t know it, until you experience it, but it’s really, really humbling,” Yonts said.