Follow the search for survivors in Florida after the destruction of Ian 3:05
(CNN) --
Schools in Southwest Florida preemptively closed ahead of Hurricane Ian to prepare for the destruction they knew was coming.
More than two weeks after the Category 4 hurricane hit the coast, those schools remain closed as families and school districts recover from one of the state's worst natural disasters.
It's the latest example of a growing trend that education experts are increasingly sounding the alarm about: Increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events are disrupting school systems across the country for weeks, months and , in some cases, years.
Fort Myers Beach Elementary School in Lee County is one of them.
Just a block from the ocean, the school was devastated by Hurricane Ian's powerful winds, which brought down walls.
The storm surge reached the top of the school gates, destroying almost everything inside.
Hundreds of homes in Florida are still under water, and this river is now expected to remain flooded by Thanksgiving.
When Melissa Wright saw her fourth-grade son's school for the first time after the storm, she could only utter two words: "OMG."
Her concern soon turned from physical damage to her 10-year-old son's educational future, as she hopes county schools reopen next week.
And she worries that he's falling behind in the midst of two back-to-back disasters.
"I feel bad for him and all the students that had to go through Covid a couple of years ago, and that completely turned everything upside down," Wright said.
"And now fourth grade, which is another pretty big grade, it's all up in the air again."
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Hurricanes and sea level rise are an especially high risk for Gulf Coast schools.
The Louisiana Department of Education told CNN that more than a year after Hurricane Ida hit the state, two schools serving nearly 900 students remain out of order.
But other forms of natural disaster affect students in other parts of the country.
In California, wildfires have been the leading cause of recent school closures.
The 2018-2019 school year set a record with more than 2,200 wildfire closures, according to data obtained by CNN from the California Department of Education.
More than a year ago, 17 inches of rain fell in just 24 hours across central Tennessee.
Torrential flooding devastated Waverly Elementary and Middle Schools.
Humphreys County Superintendent Richard Rye tells CNN that some students are still using an auditorium divided into classrooms as they wait for their schools to be rebuilt.
A classroom at Waverly Elementary School damaged by flooding in August 2021. Credit: Josie Norris/The Tennessean/USA Today
That disruption has had a direct impact on student grades, Rye says, with her students' test scores trailing the rest of the state.
Rye described the problem as a compound problem: not only was the school damaged, but students, staff and teachers also lost their homes to the floods, putting even more pressure on an already existing educational system. fragile.
"Last year we were on the 'needs improvement' list," Rye said.
"It's a struggle for us because the educational environment has been disrupted throughout our county. But we're doing the best we can about it."
See how extreme weather affects the world
A January study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that there have been more than 300 major presidentially declared disasters since 2017 across the United States, with "devastating effects on schools of basic education, including trauma and mental health issues among students and staff, loss of instructional time, and financial strain.
Laura Schifter, a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute, says America's schools are often old and unprepared for the most extreme weather.
And she stresses that schools that have already been affected must work to better understand their future climate risk and build more resilient structures as they recover, because "climate change will absolutely impact them."
"Our public schools right now have a D+ on America's infrastructure report card, so these impacts that we've seen in terms of flooded buildings and damaged classrooms are only going to continue to happen as climate change gets worse," Schifter told CNN.
A photo of Waverly Elementary School shows how far water rose inside the school during the August 2021 floods. Credit: Josie Norris/The Tennessean/USA Today
Schifter described the resilient school infrastructure as "equipped to absorb rainwater and reduce flooding within the school" and "equipped with solar and battery power to ensure lights can stay on."
In Florida, Melissa Wright's son will soon face a new learning environment.
The Lee County School District announced plans to house the stranded students at another school in the county.
And it expects to resume learning on a rolling basis starting this Monday, with other schools resuming on October 19 and 31.
Some schools will share a building and other students will temporarily learn virtually.
Reopening plans depend on school buildings meeting all safety criteria, Superintendent Christopher Bernier said at a recent school board meeting, including having reliable power and a safe supply of drinking water.
Bernier said hurricane-damaged school windows and walls will be sealed "as best we can."
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