3 Wake schools deemed unsafe for students. Can they be fixed before classes start?
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- Three Wake County elementary schools were deemed unsafe due to settling and wall cracks.
- Board authorized the superintendent to enter emergency contracts at the three campuses.
- Administrators drew up contingency plans if the schools aren’t ready for the year.
Emergency repairs will be made at three Wake County elementary schools that have been deemed unsafe for students due to settling and wall cracking issues on the campus.
In a special meeting on Monday, the Wake County school board authorized Superintendent Robert Taylor to enter into emergency construction contracts at Creech Road Elementary in Garner, Davis Drive Elementary in Cary and Durant Road Elementary in Raleigh.
Administrators are drawing up contingency plans in case the buildings aren’t ready for the start of the new school year, which is July 30 at Durant Road and Aug. 24 at the other two schools.
Administrators didn’t have a price tag for the repair work, saying estimates of the scope of the work are still being drawn up. But Wake will pay construction workers to be on the job 24/7, which will increase the price tag.
“The problem is that we need the repairs that we don’t even know exactly what they are yet,” school board attorney Rod Malone told the board on Monday. “But we need those repairs to start as soon as we can in order to get this work completed, or to have any chance of getting this work completed before school starts, and that’s really what’s driving today’s meeting.”
Malone said he wants to have a closed-session discussion with the board about seeking potential legal claims over the construction work that resulted in the repairs needing to be made.
Problems found in walls at the three schools
All three schools date back to the 1990s and use the same prototype design.
In a letter Friday to parents and staff, Creech Road Principal Ralph Chew said a recent engineering review by structural engineers identified a concern involving the construction of certain walls.
“Specifically, the build of certain walls and connections between walls and other parts of our building were not aligned with what was called for in approved construction plans,” Chew wrote.
Davis Drive and Durant Road’s principals also sent letters to staff and families on Friday.
“Our school is one [sic] the schools constructed using the same building plans,” said the Davis Drive and Durant Road letters. “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”
Structural engineers have been at all three campuses to assess conditions. This caused Creech Road and Davis Drive to relocate Read To Achieve camps to other schools and Durant Road to move its camp to its modular units.
Schools not safe for student occupancy
Superintendent Robert Taylor said the problem of settling and cracks at Creech Road was first noticed in 2024. But he said engineers determined this spring the cracks had significantly advanced since then.
“This is not the normal cracking that you would see in any other place, and it’s not the cracking that you see in your houses,” said Malone, the board attorney. “You know, this is significant cracking for which the engineer said we can’t occupy the building with kids without these repairs being made.”
Wake checked other schools that used the same design as Creech Road. David Burnett, assistant superintendent for facilities, design and construction, said engineers also determined Davis Drive and Durant Road are not safe to be occupied by students until repairs are made.
School board chair Tyler Swanson said the district needs to have a discussion about checking on the condition other schools of similar age. School leaders have said not enough was spent on repairs and maintenance over the years due to the pressure to keep up with growth.
The school board has asked the Wake County Board of Commissioners to put a $680 million school construction bond referendum on the November ballot. Much of the money would go toward renovating schools.
How long will it take to make the repairs?
Creech Road is expected to require the most work of the three schools. Taylor said they’re expecting a six-week time frame.
While the repairs aren’t as expected to take as long at Durant, the time frame is much shorter there due to the year-round school beginning classes in two weeks. Taylor said Durant has the “highest priority.”
“We do want our community to know — both schools and parents and students — that this is an issue that we know we have to address immediately, particularly as relates to Durant,” Taylor said. “We know that there are several different options that we’re going to look at, and those are the things that we have to communicate not only to the parents but to the other schools that may be impacted by this particular decision.”
There was skepticism and concern about whether the work could be done in time for Durant.
“Realistically with Durant starting on 7/30, there is no way that everything can be as neatly packaged and put together to meet the deadline for schools to come back,” Swanson, the board chair, said.
This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 11:27 AM with the headline "3 Wake schools deemed unsafe for students. Can they be fixed before classes start?."
