Wake board approves repairs at 3 schools, questions whether they'll be ready in time for school year

The Wake County Board of Education approved 9-0 Monday emergency construction contracts --- for an still-to-be-determined amount of money --- at three schools with significant structural concerns that could affect the start of the school year.

Superintendent Robert Taylor will be able to enter into emergency contracts later this week, with the hope of the work starting by early next week. It's expected to be on a 24/7 schedule and last several weeks, casting doubt that the schools will start the school year on time.

Engineers this summer found problems with the connections between walls and other parts of the building at Creech Road Elementary School in Garner.

On Monday, district leaders told the school board that Creech Road Elementary first had a visible crack in a school wall in the spring of 2024. When district inspectors returned this spring, they found the crack has grown by an inch or two --- far faster than expected from a typical settling pattern, which can yield some cracks, Taylor said.

Durant Road Elementary School in Raleigh and Davis Drive Elementary School in Cary were built using the same design, prompting the district to examine those buildings as well. The found similar, but less severe, issues at those two schools. They didn't have cracks but had internal issues noted in wall X-rays. A fourth school was built using the same design but was not deemed unsafe, Taylor said.

That led to an engineer telling the school system that all three schools were unsafe to occupy.

"The engineer said that schools cannot be occupied without repairs," Board Attorney Rod Malone said. "This is very atypical, this is not the normal cracking you see in other places, not the cracking you see in your houses."

All three schools were built in the 1990s.

Messages from school principals Friday indicated the schools weren't built according to their building plans.

The buildings will need new and better connections within and between walls.

On Monday, school board members asked numerous questions about what the problem is at Creech Road, what the timeline is to repair each school, how the work will affect the start of the school year and how the district will conduct inspections going forward.

District officials answered many questions but not others. One major uncertainty: When students will be able to return to school and whether their year will start on time.

The most immediate concerns are at Durant Road, where students are scheduled to return to class July 30. Teachers are scheduled to return July 22.

The brief timeline is concerning for Taryn Murray, a parent at Durant Road Elementary School and the president of the school's parent-teacher association. It leaves parents uncertain as to whether their children really will be back in school on time.

"To hear that there are things that we may be should be concerned about that we can't see is a little disheartening for where our kids spend so much of their time," Murray told WRAL News.

District leaders aren't giving a specific timeline for when they think repairs could be completed, because the specs are still be worked out and because contractors could re-evaluate once they start the work. Each school has multiple buildings, and they will all need to be fixed.

Creech Road will take the longest, they believe, and could take six weeks from when the work starts. That work may not start until next week. Officials did not provide estimates for the other two schools. Some leaders, including Malone and Board Chairman Tyler Swanson, acknowledged Durant Road opening on time is unrealistic.

"Realistically with Durant starting on 7/30 there is no way that everything can be neatly packaged and put together and meet the schools' deadline to start," Swanson said.

Six weeks from next Monday would be Aug. 31.

"The problem is we need repairs that we don't even know exactly what they are yet, but we need those repairs to start as soon as we can to have any chance of getting this work completed before school starts," Malone said.

Taylor said he expects the timeline could change but would stay around the order of several weeks.

"We don't anticipate that increasing to several months," Taylor said.

Taylor and other administrators are working out alternative calendar options for all three schools in meetings starting Monday.

"This is an issue we know we have to address," Taylor said.

Wake County’s traditional-calendar schools are scheduled to begin classes Aug. 24.

Cost estimates are also not available, but district Finance Office Trisha Posey said the finance office is required to pre-audit any contract to make sure the district has enough money to sign them.

Going forward, the district plans to do a more thorough inspection at each of its 203 schools, rather than the routine inspections it typically does, Taylor said.

Swanson and Board Member Toshiba Rice additionally asked district officials how they planned to inspect buildings differently or hold builders accountable to prevent a repeat of what's happening now.

"It's a discussion that's going to be had with the structural team... what is it that we may need to look at in the future or for other buildings," said David Burnett, the district's assistant superintendent for facilities design and construction. 

Several Durant Road staff members, who asked not to be identified, told WRAL News that the building has experienced recurring leaks, roofing problems and HVAC issues for years. Those are unrelated to the issues being addressed now but are emblematic of concerns raised by families and inspectors for years at schools across Wake County.

"There has to be some sort of focus on keeping these buildings updated and making sure that our kids have a safe place to learn," Murray said.

Earlier this year, Crossroads Flex High School in Cary was forced to close because of violations of the state fire code. That building was not owned by the school district but leased. Its occupancy had exceeded its allowed limits.

Additionally, Wake schools dismissed students early or closed campuses in recent years due to HVAC and other building problems, including during the opening days of school.

Schools being unable to open in time for the start of the school year is rare but does happen. In Alamance County, more than a dozen schools did not open on time after mold was discovered in multiple buildings in 2023.