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Haywood County Schools reports slight drop in district performance after Hurricane Helene; leaders highlight resilience
Summary
District leaders said the 2024–25 state testing cycle showed a 2.8-percentage-point drop in the district performance composite after schools missed 21 instructional days due to Hurricane Helene. Leaders emphasized strong rankings in several subject areas and plans to target support for schools that did not meet expected growth.
District officials told the Haywood County Schools Board of Education that the district's performance composite fell 2.8 percentage points from 65.4 in 2024 to 62.6 in 2025, a slide the superintendent attributed in part to 21 missed instructional days caused by Hurricane Helene.
"We dropped in performance composite, negative 2.8%," Doctor Putnam said during the board meeting, noting the loss of instructional time and urging the board to view growth measures with context. "We could reasonably anticipate some of these things based on the instructional time that we lost."
Putnam and other presenters highlighted areas of continued strength. The district ranked 11th out of 115 North Carolina school districts in overall performance composite; it ranked second in NC Math I, fourth in biology and third in ACT WorkKeys statewide. Regionally (Western Region 8), the district ranked first in performance composite and in multiple subject and grade-level measures.
School-level highlights included Tuscola High School, which exceeded growth for the second consecutive year and recorded the district's highest growth score; Pisgah High School, which exceeded growth for a fourth consecutive year; and Haywood Early College, which exceeded growth and posted high performance numbers including 100% proficiency in English II and NC Math I as reported to the board.
Board members and staff noted three schools did not meet expected growth and said concentrated support, coaching and materials would be provided to help those schools recover. Putnam said the system had already begun summer interventions to recover lost instruction and that the district would continue to prioritize both well-being and instructional recovery.
The report was presented as an informational item; no formal board action was requested at the time.
