Temple Hill Elementary School was flooded by Hurricane Helene. Now, students are in a wing at Unicoi County Middle School.
ERWIN, Tenn. — Things are a little crowded at Unicoi County Middle School. Hurricane Helene flooded Temple Hill Elementary School, the smallest in the county. Now, students’ new classrooms are in the wing of a middle school.
Alexa Transki, the elementary school’s principal, said the boiler room was especially damage and was completely flooded — tearing apart the building’s electrical work.
Students were out of school for over three weeks. Now, students, teachers and staff are adjusting to a “new normal” until Temple Hill Elementary School is ready for students to move back in August.
It has about 96 students, Pre-K through the fifth grade.
“We’ve obviously had some really hard challenges, some things that we’ve never encountered or faced before,” Transki said. “But at the same time, people just …