ARKANSAS, USA — All schools in the North Little Rock School District were closed on Monday so staff could figure out a plan for moving forward and helping the school community.
The district hosted a community support event on Monday afternoon where folks came together to have a meal, use counseling services, FEMA services, and more.
The North Little Rock superintendent explained that taking the day off was the best call for his district.
"We felt it was important to bring as part of our phase into recovery is bringing our faculty and staff back first," North Little Rock Superintendent, Dr. Gregory Pilewski said.
Dr. Pilewski said students will return on Tuesday, with the exception of Amboy Elementary because it's still without power.
"We're trying to get them that community those students back to some kind of normalcy as fast as we can," Dr. Pilewski said.
He said about 15 percent of the school community was impacted, but he feels confident he has enough teachers and staff to keep class going.
"We want to work with those individual employees to make sure we meet those individual needs. And if they need to be out for a couple of days of staffing, we can prepare for that today. And it's given us that kind of luxury to be able to open successfully tomorrow," he added.
Over at the Pulaski County Special School District, class was back in session on Monday, except at Oakbrooke Elementary because of no power.
Superintendent Dr. Charles Mcnulty said those students will be back in class on Tuesday.
Like North Little Rock, PCSSD has also been helping out the families impacted.
"Right now we have about 110 families. We're looking at, you know, who have needs and around 25 professional staff," Dr. Charles McNulty described.
Now, they're gathering donations to help those families this week and the next.
"We're coming together as a community. It's really an honor to be part of," he said.
If you want to donate to PCSSD, you can make donations beginning on Tuesday, April 4. The donation centers are open on Wednesday, April 5, Thursday, April 6, and Monday, April 10 through Friday, April 14.
Donations can be dropped off at the following locations:
- Oak Grove Elementary (8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.)
- Mills Middle School (9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)
- Robinson Middle School (9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)
- Sylvan Hills High School (9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)