Posted on 09/14/2019 2:27:01 PM PDT by Jacquerie
When classes resumed in August, a number of school districts in the Florida Panhandle found that many of their students never came back.
In Bay County (Panama City, Mexico Beach), the school district lost more than 3,200 students.
Weeks into the new school year, school officials in Bay and Jackson counties had to handle students who needed to be involuntarily committed under the Baker Act for mental health reasons.
“Before the storm, the Baker Act was not something we tracked. It was so unusual. It was something unfortunate that happened to a student,” said Sharon Michalik, spokeswoman for the Bay County school district.
The situation changed after Michael shredded the region.
High School Principal Britt Smith, who has worked with high schoolers for 16 years, says he sees the mental health crisis personified in the daily lives of his students.
In the past, helping students graduate and get into college had always seemed like an ordinary part of the job, he said. Then Hurricane Michael barreled through his community.
“It doesn’t matter that Hurricane Michael happened. It doesn’t matter that they are homeless or that they continue to struggle,” the principal said. “At the end of the day, it’s their GPA and their community service and other factors that colleges will consider.”
Smith’s high school is in the Bay County school district, which as of May 31 tallied 5,500 homeless students, a seven-fold increase since the hurricane hit, according to Michalik.
Hurricane Michael’s destruction of thousands of homes exacerbated a housing crunch that has fueled some of the issues already plaguing school districts, from student homelessness to a struggle to attract quality teachers unable to find affordable housing in the region.
“The housing shortage continues to be the biggest thing that is crippling us,” Michalik said.
(Excerpt) Read more at mypanhandle.com ...
Many owners of heavily damaged homes well-inland, up to the GA border, didn't carry wind insurance. Cat 5 Michael was still a Cat 3 when it entered GA.
The first couple of lines of the article provided no base for the article. What kind of monumental idiot wrote that? Aren’t there any more editors in existence?
They lived on the Gulf Coast and did not have wind insurance?
Involuntarily committed?
???
.
“...well-inland...”
That’s a clue to where homes lacking wind coverage were located.
Not inland enough.
They should have had insurance.
Florida Baker Act. The state can hold someone deemed to be a danger to themselves or others for up to 72-hours. At that point they either have to be released or the State can go to a judge for longer.
120 students who ate the corner out of their pop tarts.
My first thought upon seeing the headline was this was about a school to teach people how to panhandle.
In Bay County, the school district lost more than 3,200 students.
In rural Jackson County, 114 fewer students showed up than in the previous year.
And, in Calhoun and Gulf counties, school officials reported 83 and 32 fewer students enrolled, respectively.
I don’t see a problem here. I do see an opportunity to reduce school workforces by about 230 teachers plus untold other administrators. Do I think it will ever happen? NO.
I live here, and I see the problem firsthand. We also lost teachers and administrators, not just students. Many businesses where parents were employed were destroyed or so badly damaged that they are gradually being restored and reopened. Every day there are other homes bulldozed, more blue tarp needing to be replaced until a roof can be put on, more houses getting new roofs and RV’s and campers parked in front yards while people get their homes restored. Some schools have been closed and combined with another school. Churches are meeting in schools on Sundays because their buildings were so badly damaged.
Sad. Excuse my ignorance. When did this storm hit?? This year? Have you not seen many church groups attempting to help rebuild? Thank you.
In rural Jackson County, 114 fewer students showed up than in the previous year.
And, in Calhoun and Gulf counties, school officials reported 83 and 32 fewer students enrolled, respectively.
Isn't this what liberals demand? Smaller class sizes?
Probably a lot of insurers won’t do wind policies there. In central Florida many won’t do sink hole insurance. I have it because my policy was grandfathered but new policies forget about it. Flood insurance is hard to get too.
Hurricane Michael tore through here on Oct 10, 2018. We went to bed with it a Cat 3. By morning it had become a Cat 5 and the pictures of the Bahamas are reminiscent of what it looked like immediately after. It brought down millions of trees, destroyed thousands of homes and damaged thousands more. There have been church groups come to help with cleanup and repairs to homes. Samaritan’s Purse has helped as well as the Cajun Navy and other groups like them. Most of the churches require commercial contractors to be restored. Our church finally was able to come to a settlement with our insurance company about 6 weeks ago. That is a lot of the problem, insurance companies not stepping up. Unfortunately, there are many more like you who have no idea of the destruction because there was no coverage on national networks after the first week or so. We need all the prayers we can get. Thank you.
Sigh. If people don’t want to deal with the aftermath of a hurricane, then don’t live where hurricanes go!
As someone who once spent time in a disaster zone let me gently suggest that part of the reason the insurance companies might be taking so long is that there is one mother of a lot of fraud to weed out.
Abandon Houston.
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