Cape Hatteras Secondary School will reopen on Monday, Sept. 16

Per a letter from Dare County Schools Superintendent John Farrelly, the Cape Hatteras Secondary School (CHSS) will be able to reopen to students and staff on Monday morning, September 16.

“Due to the AMAZING work of our maintenance team under the direction of Russ Gurganus, the CHSS staff, many volunteers and our wonderful leaders Beth Rooks and Annette O’Neal, we are in a position to re-open Cape Hatteras Secondary School this coming Monday, September 16,” the statement read.

“We are fortunately able to access the entire ‘new building’ as the CHSS staff has poured countless hours of time and effort into shifting classroom spaces around…

“My team, our Board of Education, supportive county government and elected officials are focused on mitigating all of the damage to the school and being in a position to begin reconstruction ASAP. In particular, we have an emergent need to begin putting a new permanent roof over the gym immediately….”

“In the meantime, as your students return to school, we have ensured that they will be in safe spaces and will not have access to areas that have been damaged and eventually in need of construction.”

Cape Hatteras Secondary School suffered significant damage during Dorian, as a large part of the roof flew off, and roughly a third of the building was affected by the storm. The gymnasium and media center in the older portion of the building took the brunt of the damage, and the school’s athletic fields were also destroyed.

The Cape Hatteras Elementary School suffered minimal damage from Dorian, and opened to students on Wednesday, September 11.