Board reviews schematic for Wake Early College of Information and Biotechnologies and Parkside Middle School on constrained Morrisville site

Wake County Schools staff and the design team presented the schematic design for the Wake Early College of Information and Biotechnologies (WKIB) and Parkside Middle School, which will be built together on a constrained 36-acre site off Paramount Parkway in Morrisville.

The project will place the two schools within one building on a site limited by steep topography, multiple stream buffers and an airport overlay. Elizabeth Wakeford and Alice Reese, leading the presentation, said WKIB is planned to serve roughly 200 ninth- and tenth-grade students who will continue to Wake Tech RTP for grades 11–12, while Parkside Middle will serve about 936 students. Because of site constraints the design stacks three-story middle school wings stepping down the slope and keeps the two schools’ main entrances at opposite ends to maintain separation that district leaders requested.

Alice Reese described major constraints: roughly 40 feet of grade change across a narrow buildable width, multiple stream buffers that remove buildable area, and an airport overlay that restricts development in portions of the property. Reese said those features force retaining walls, a compact footprint and the placement of athletics and parking toward the lower portions of the site. The design locates the middle-school entrance at the high side with a one-story administration suite and locates the high-school (WKIB) entrance closer to Paramount Parkway.

Board members pressed staff and the architects on circulation, carpool and bus operations. Several trustees expressed concern about a single main driveway and the potential for carpool congestion and safety issues where pedestrians cross parking or access points. A trustee asked for more detail on bus routing after noting that the high school program may use express or shuttle transportation rather than traditional yellow bus routes; staff said most early-college students rely on express routes or town shuttles and that the high school side is not expected to generate standard student driving at this stage.

Staff noted mitigation measures: staggered start and dismissal times for middle and high school, separating parent carpool from bus traffic, likely “right-in, right-out” driveway restrictions at the town’s direction, a traffic impact analysis with Morrisville and traffic engineers, and a traffic management plan and principal coaching before opening. The presentation also said Wake Tech RTP refused requests to allow the district to use a road adjacent to Wake Tech for campus access because of Wake Tech’s student access concerns.

Architects and staff outlined site circulation: middle-school parent drop-off and bus loop on the high side, high-school carpool on the lower driveway, athletic fields toward the lower portion of the parcel, and shared kitchen facilities between the two programs. The schematic includes visitor parking, retaining walls to create usable field areas, and pedestrian plazas linking the campus to athletic spaces. The project schedule shown in the presentation projects construction start in May 2027 and campus occupancy in July 2029, with no staged occupancy planned.

Several trustees asked the design team to revisit the number and layout of bus loops and parking stacks to preserve flexibility; staff said they would re-evaluate options but cautioned that changing the separation of entrances or major circulation elements could delay the schedule and require redesign. One board member asked whether the district’s previous decision to keep middle- and high-school populations physically separate was a board policy; staff said the decision originated with academics seven years earlier and that changing the approach would be a district decision that could affect cost and timeline.

The schematic presentation will return to the board for formal schematic approval and later for construction documents and contract approvals as the project advances. Board members asked for additional traffic and parking detail and for clearer plans about parent drop-off and visitor parking for events.