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By Robert Sorrell

Star Correspondent

The Carter County Board of Education voted Thursday to repair hurricane-damaged Hampton High School.

The school has been closed since September 2024, when Hurricane Helene swept through the region, causing extensive damage to southern portions of Carter County. The storm flooded parts of Hampton High School, destroying the school’s sewer system and damaging the grounds.

Director of Schools Brandon Carpenter said the school’s interior fared well. He said there was minimal damage inside.

“The actual floodwater, the back vocational school served as a wall,” Carpenter said. “The main school building is in very good shape.”

He said the actual classrooms at Hampton are in “very good shape.”

Since the school’s closure, students from Hampton have been attending classes at the former Keenburg Elementary School.

After Carter County Mayor Patty Woodby gave the board an update on destruction in the county, Carpenter discussed four options to move forward. Woodby informed the board that the governor has budgeted $20 million for the school, including repairs at the present location.

The fourth option, which the board approved unanimously, costs less than $1 million in local funding. It involves repairing Hampton High School at its current location and mitigation.

Carpenter said the mitigation efforts would help prevent flooding at the school and protect about 70 nearby homes.

Most of the funding for Hampton will come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and grant funding, Carpenter said.

Carpenter informed the board that repairing Hampton was not an option until recently. FEMA originally did not approve the repairs of the school’s sewer system. New policies from FEMA now allow the school system to move forward with the fourth option, he said.

“The mitigation part is key,” Carpenter said.

The director said he expects the sewer project to begin soon. If work begins in early summer, students should be able to return to class at Hampton after Christmas break in early 2026.

Board member Danny Ward, who has toured the building, said the school is in “good, stable” shape, but said a lot of cleanup still needs to be done.

Board member Keith Bowers made the motion to move forward with repairing the school. The vote passed unanimously.