‘Back in business’: Sarasota, Manatee schools reopen after serving as hurricane shelters

Herald-Tribune | By Heather Bushman | October 17, 2024

Homework folders and the upcoming field trip were the topics at hand in a fourth-grade science class at Ashton Elementary on Wednesday afternoon — a return to normalcy amid a three-week stretch that’s been anything but.

Days earlier, the school served as a shelter for 874 residents and 211 pets as Hurricane Milton approached. The community hunkered down as the storm made landfall the evening of Oct. 9, but as the Sarasota area took stock of the storm’s damage the next morning, all eyes in Sarasota and Manatee County school districts looked toward a reopening date.

Less than a week after Milton made landfall near Siesta Key as a Category 3 hurricane, class in Sarasota and Manatee Counties is back in session. Sarasota County public schools welcomed students back Wednesday after a week and a half of closures due to Hurricane Milton, and Manatee County schools reopened Tuesday.

They were two of the 50 school districts across the state that closed ahead of Hurricane Milton — all of which are now open and operational. Superintendent Terry Connor said a quick return was vital not just in terms of logistics, but also for the wellbeing of the students and families.

“Kids want the structure. Adults want the structure,” Connor said. “How fantastic that we can help accelerate bringing back some normalcy to our community.”

In a press conference at Booker High School Thursday, Gov. Ron DeSantis commended the districts for opening their doors as the state continues to recover. DeSantis announced the education foundations in both Manatee and Sarasota Counties — as well as those in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas Counties — will each receive $100,000 from the Florida Disaster Fund amid ongoing efforts.

“That’s a quick turnaround,” DeSantis said. “That’s a great job.”

Sarasota, Manatee schools received more than 20,000 residents seeking shelter during Milton

Staff in both the Sarasota and Manatee County school districts have played dual roles in the past few weeks, with their day jobs as educators on hold as they prepared their schools to receive residents. Essential employees — administrators, maintenance staff, and others pertinent to school upkeep and operations in the storm’s wake — worked 12-, sometimes 24-hour-shift to oversee shelters.

Like Sarasota County, Manatee County opened 17 schools as shelters and saw upwards of 11,000 residents utilizing them at the peak of the storm. Though Milton approached quickly, Manatee Superintendent Jason Wysong said the experience of district staff resulted in a speedy, organized effort to ensure schools were ready.

“They’ve been through many storms before,” Wysong said. “The prep of our campuses runs like clockwork.”

During the storm, school shelters served as both physical and emotional havens for the thousands of residents that evacuated. Ashton Elementary Principal Kristi Jarvis said she and her staff worked to create a safe, calm environment for evacuees who often arrived in distress, fearing for their safety and the status of their homes.

Sarasota Schools Superintendent Terry Conner and State Rep. Fiona McFarland chat with Ashton Elementary Principal Kristi Jarvis and Assistant Principal Xiomara Dearing. The school served as a shelter for almost 900 people during Hurricane Milton.

Ashton Elementary lost power as Milton rolled through, knocking out the air conditioning and stealing any chance of sleep for the already exhausted shelter staff. It was a long night, Ashton said, but serving as the “calm in the storm” was a privilege.

“When they’re fretting, you’re bringing them some peace,” Jarvis said. “You make memories.”

Sarasota, Manatee schools expedite return to normalcy

As Jarvis and her staff saw the last shelter guest leave, their focus shifted to getting students back in the classrooms. Ashton’s campus sustained minimal damage, with debris strewn across the grounds but the structure was still intact.

The story at Ashton reflects the sentiment across Sarasota and Manatee schools: they dodged a bullet. Milton’s storm surge wasn’t as severe as originally feared, mostly sparing schools from what could’ve been catastrophic damage and leaving buildings still standing.

A quick return to school was essential for more than just education, Manatee Superintendent Wysong said. Students in classrooms means parents can return to work, Wysong said, kickstarting the local economy and bolstering community-wide recovery.

“School districts are economic drivers,” Wysong said. “Schools getting back open is a sign that the community is getting back open.”

But the devil is in the details. Widespread power outages knocked out school refrigeration and left cafeteria food spoiled, fuel shortages meant Manatee County couldn’t power its maintenance vehicles and Sarasota district employees would’ve missed a vital paycheck if payroll staff hadn’t completed it early the Sunday before the storm.

Details like these were on Rep. Fiona McFarland’s mind after Milton passed. She called local and state officials like Superintendent Connor to assess the damage, knowing that reopening schools was a top priority for parents across her district.

Even with big-picture problems like structural damage mostly null, McFarland said she worried minor snags would hinder local schools reopening.

“Think about that from a logistical standpoint,” McFarland said. “Were teachers going to be able to show up to work? Or were they still evacuated across the state or dealing with a flooded house?”

McFarland found that the most pressing issues for families were power outages and spoiled food. Amid touring Ashton and Gulf Gate Elementary School, she announced Wednesday morning Walmart would donate $5,000 to the Education Foundation of Sarasota County to meet teacher needs as they transition back to work.

Makeup days in Sarasota, Manatee schools still in question

Now, the task at hand is recovering the significant instruction time — 10 school days in Sarasota County and eight in Manatee — lost to the back-to-back storms. Sarasota County has shifted the end of its first grading period from Oct. 18 to Oct. 25 in light of the missed time, but an exact plan to make up the days is still in progress.

State statute requires schools to operate for at least 720 instructional hours for kindergarten through third grade and 900 hours for higher grades. Each high school course must offer at least 135 hours of instructional time in a school year, with 67.5 of those hours required in the first half of the year.

Sarasota County’s last day for students is May 28 on its calendar, and the following seven weekdays are designated as hurricane makeup days. Manatee County’s school year ends May 29 for students, and its academic calendar does not designate hurricane makeup days.

At Tuesday’s Sarasota School Board meeting, Connor said the district will likely look to other designated holidays or professional days on the calendar to help recover the deficit. He will present a timeline to the district’s calendar committee this week and propose a formal scheduling plan in the coming days.

Proceedings look similar in Manatee County, as Wysong said the district will have a tentative proposal for recovering time by next week. He asked families to remain patient as his staff puts together the most effective plan possible.

“I know people want very fast answers. Sometimes slowing down a little bit and being more deliberate gets us to a better product,” Wysong said. “We want to be sure that whatever time that gets added back in is really quality time for instruction.”

Uncertainty still lingers, but both districts are largely back on their feet. Connor said it’s a relief to see students and teachers settle into their routines so quickly after the disruptions.

“The reports I’m getting from across all of our schools is, ‘We’re back in business,’” Connor said. “We’re just proud to get back to normalcy.”