Groundbreaking for new Ocracoke School set for Friday

After more than two years from when the Ocracoke School was flooded Sept. 6, 2019, in Hurricane Dorian, officials will break ground at 1:30 p.m. Friday for the new building.

The groundbreaking will be held near the circle at the end of School Road.

The historic devastation Dorian caused flooded all campus buildings beyond use, except for the second floor of the elementary building.

School staff scrambled to find alternative locations for administration and classroom space in the Ocracoke Child Care building and at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) located in the large, former U.S. Coast Guard building beside the ferry docks at Silver Lake Harbor.

A modular unit was installed for middle and high school students, which has been in use since last year. Pre-K, kindergarten and elementary students are in the repaired and raised up elementary building and administration offices are in the Ocracoke Child Care building.

The innovative design of the new building will integrate all school departments — pre-K to 5, middle and high schools, and athletics.

“This building roughly follows the footprint of what’s there now,” architect Ben Cahoon, of Cahoon & Kasten Architects said in an earlier interview. “We’ve created a new commons area and moved the entrance.”

Because the building must comply with the new village flood elevation ordinance, it will be raised five and a half feet above ground level, or seven and a half feet above mean high tide.

Hyde County School Superintendent Steve Basnight will appear “What’s Happening on Ocracoke” on WOVV, Ocracoke’s community radio station Friday morning, 11:30 a.m. 90.1 FM and wovv.org.