School back in session thanks to generators

After an 11-day ice storm vacation, students of the Piggott school district were scheduled to return to classes today (Wednesday) thanks to generators provided by the Arkansas Air Guard. According to Superintendent Ed Winberry, classes will resume as usual and it will be up to the state how many of the missed days will have to be made up.

Monday morning a total of 19 generators were trucked to Piggott from Fort Smith from the 188th Air Guard. The generators were accompanied by members of the group and were set up at both the high school and elementary campuses.

"These guys came in and did a professional job and we appreciate them so much," Winberry said. "They left two technicians with us to keep things running smoothly." The generators were put into service late in the day on Monday and the call went out that classes would resume this morning.

Winberry noted that other districts have been conferring with the State Education Department and he hopes that some allowances will be made for both the days missed and the upcoming Benchmark exams.

He also added that not all students will be able to return to class right away. "We've had a lot of our kids displaced by this storm and forced to seek shelter elsewhere," he said. "It's going to be a hardship on some of them to try to return to the area for classes, and we'll try to take that into account."

School officials also were working to try to make up extracurricular events and have been hastily rescheduling them. The boys and girls basketball teams will be wrapping up their regular seasons this week, with the district tournament slated for next week at Tuckerman.

Tuesday night the boys and girls were scheduled to visit Harrisburg, and Thursday night they were slated to take on Brookland. Friday night a combination homecoming and senior night set was scheduled with the senior boys and girls hosting Manila.