Image courtesy Sarasota County Schools.

As classes return in most of Sarasota County, philanthropists aim to help a system impacted by Hurricane Ian to bounce back from the storm.

The Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation announced $230,000 in immediate relief for schools in the region, with $200,000 going into a fund for the Sarasota County School District and the remaining $30,000 helping DeSoto County schools. That’s part of $644,000 in storm relief funding announced by the Sarasota-based foundation.

“With our critical focus on education, we knew we wanted to target teachers,” said Teri A Hansen, president and CEO of the Barancik Foundation. “We have seen so much disruption in learning since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to do everything we can to minimize the further impact on our students from Hurricane Ian.”

Sarasota County was among five school districts in Florida unable to reopen between the days ahead of Hurricane Ian’s Lee County Sept. 28 landfall and now. Today, most of the schools in the county will re-open, including every school from Venice north. But a dozen schools do not plan to re-open until Oct. 17, including: Atwater Elementary, Cranberry Elementary, Englewood Elementary, Glenallen Elementary, Lamarque Elementary, Toledo Blade Elementary, Heron Creek Middle, Woodland Middle, North Port High, Suncoast Technical College’s North Port campus and charter schools Island Village Montessori and SKY Englewood.

School Superintendent Brennan Asplin released a video message stressing the importance of reopening schools while also assisting those in the community impacted directly by the hurricane.  

“We are now faced with arguably our biggest challenge— rebuilding our community,” he said in a video message. “Many of our friends and neighbors are hurting right now. Our children need the normalcy of school, and our families need time to settle back into their routines.”

A resource page has been set up by the school district to address questions and provide links to financial resources. There will also be a hurricane storm relief event for employees of the Sarasota County schools held at Suncoast Technical College’s North Port campus on Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Image courtesy Sarasota County Schools.