Three Wake schools need emergency repairs before school starts

Three Wake County elementary schools have structural problems that need to be repaired before students would be allowed to enter the buildings — raising questions about whether the school year will be delayed for those schools.

The school board plans to meet Monday to approve contracts for repairs to issues that "prevent safe occupancy by students" at Creech Road Elementary School in Garner, Davis Drive Elementary School in Cary and Durant Road Elementary School in Raleigh, according to an emergency school board meeting agenda made public on Friday.

Messages to families from the schools’ principals indicated that structural engineers found a fundamental problem at Creech Road Elementary, where certain walls, connections between walls and other parts weren’t constructed according to that school’s building plans. 

Davis Drive and Durant Road were constructed using the same building plan. Principals of those schools sent email messages to parents that said: “at this time, it appears some of the same concerns are present in our building structure, but we do not yet know the extent of these issues.”

Both principals said they had moved their summer Read to Achieve camps to other locations.

All three schools were built in the 1990s.

A school board spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to WRAL request late Friday for more information on the issues and how quickly they can be fixed but sent along the principals’ messages. 

The Monday school board meeting is intended to give workers as much of a head start as possible on the repairs.

Durant Road Elementary, as a year-round school, starts July 30. Davis Drive Elementary and Creech Road Elementary have traditional calendars and start Aug. 24. 

Melissa Schofield, a parent of a rising Durant Road fifth-grader, told WRAL News she’s worried the school year won’t start on time, causing her to need to find childcare.

“It's definitely concerning that there's potential structural issues in our school,” she said.

Wake County has been dealing with facility issues for years, namely with poorly functioning heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems that have caused early dismissals at dozens of schools on extreme temperature days. 

School board members have acknowledged the problems and set aside more funding for facilities, but have about $800 million remaining in deferred maintenance.

County building inspection records didn’t indicate any recent structural inspections at the schools, but county health department inspections note some concerns.

At Creech Road Elementary, health inspectors in April 2025 noted that exterior wall support beams, near the roof by an exit, had become "extremely rusted and deteriorated." 

Repair was needed to prevent "possible structural safety concerns for the upper wall above," the inspection states. The inspection also noted poorly functioning floor drains for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, causing sewer gas odors to enter the building and a backup. The inspection noted that needed to be fixed to prevent interior water damage and ceiling leaks for the floor below.

In an inspection two months ago, inspectors pointed out issues at Davis Drive Elementary, including "major leaks" on plumbing lines behind one bathroom, roof leaks in the cafeteria and media center, and deteriorating entry ramps on two trailers caused in part by rainwater not being carried away.

At Durant Road Elementary in September, health inspectors noted roof and ceiling leaks in one regular building classroom, the gym, a stairway, the cafeteria, the main lobby, the media center, four hallways, one breezeway and the special needs class kitchen.