Students. Staff. Parents. The Wright Brothers Memorial. Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. These people and places are all local sites affected by the government shutdown.

800,000 people were out of work, or fuloughed, across the country, but there was still a need for some essential workers. These essential workers will be repaid since the government has reopened, however, employees that work on federal land such as Oregon Inlet will not. Agencies that still have essential workers include the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Supreme and Federal courts and the Department of Transportation.

Some First Flight High School students and staff members have been affected by the shutdown. Freshmen Mariah Highnote’s father, a Coast Guard employee, is considered an essential worker.

“Honestly, it hasn’t affected us all that much since a bill was passed that still funds armed forces,” Highnote said. “But (because he is an essential worker) he does need to take care of the things that have been affected by the shutdown.”

Agencies that had the majority of their workers sent home include the Department of Labor, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Housing, and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency. Freshman Dylan Owens’ step-dad, the chief lifeguard for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, was furloughed.

“My step dad was furloughed, so he wasn’t allowed to work, and he wasn’t getting paid,” Owens said. “He also said that once the shutdown does end, the government will be deciding whether or not they will continue putting lifeguards on National Park beaches, like Cape Hatteras National Seashore.”

In order to operate correctly, the government must be funded each year with the passage of 12 appropriations bills. The House and Senate agreed on 12 appropriation bills which pay for, on average, 35-39% of the government. The 12 appropriation bills must be agreed upon to fund federal agencies before the government can be up and running again according to Senate.gov. The current shutdown was due to a disagreement between House and Senate Republicans and House and Senate Democrats on how the government should be funded. In addition, there is great debate over the Affordable Care Act and its implementation. The Affordable Care Act, passed by the House and Senate in 2010 under democratic majority, is also known as Obamacare.

This is not the first time that First Flight High School staff has been affected by government shutdowns. Math teacher Brandon Harris, whose father works for NASA, says he remembers a shutdown when he was a kid.

“The first time was for a little under a month and my two brothers and I were very young,” Harris said. “I can imagine that times were very stressful for my parents that month because of the uncertainty of a paycheck and not knowing when dad would be allowed to work again.”

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Revision: On Oct. 17, the federal government reopened after an agreement was reached in the House and Senate, late Oct. 16, regarding the debt ceiling and funding the federal government.The debt ceiling is the limit on the amount of the money that the government is able to borrow.