Wake County superintendent orders $5.6 million emergency repairs after engineers find construction defects at three elementary schools

Superintendent Dr. Taylor told the Wake County Board of Education that contracted structural engineers identified original construction omissions — not routine age‑related settling — in parts of three elementary schools and that the district has begun repairs this week.

"This was my decision as superintendent in consultation with staff," Dr. Taylor said, describing a safety‑first judgment to complete repairs before students return. He said engineers found omitted rebar and grouting in shear walls and deficiencies at beam connections in roughly 12 classrooms and five non‑classroom spaces across the buildings. "The recommendation from the engineers ... was that the repair should be completed before students should occupy the building," he said.

Dr. Taylor gave itemized contractor bids: Durant Road $1,730,000; Davis Drive $1,710,000; Creech Road originally $1,710,000 with a later amendment, bringing the total repair estimate to about $5,600,000. He named the contractors selected for the work — New Atlantic Contracting at Creech Road, TA Lettings at Durant Road, and Consigli Construction at Davis Drive — and said independent verification firms (including Terracon) would perform follow‑up inspections at a cost of roughly $49,000 per school.

The superintendent said the board had granted him authority at a July 13 special call to issue contracts because of an abbreviated timeline. Dr. Taylor said the district will draw on the capital improvement (CIP) repair budget (about $22 million currently available) and expects to present CIP adjustments for board consideration in August. "We have an annual allocation of around $20,000,000," he said, noting trades‑offs will be required.

District schedule targets include reopening Durant Road on Aug. 17 and Creech Road and Davis Drive on Aug. 21; Dr. Taylor described detailed contingency plans if contractors fall behind, including temporary relocations to Abbotts Creek, Garner 9th Grade Center or, in more difficult scenarios, Morrisville High School. "There will be a landing page on our website for FD&C where anybody in the community can go and see the update that we have," he added, promising five‑day progress updates.

Legal accountability questions were raised by board members. Board attorney Malone advised that North Carolina law distinguishes the statute of limitations and the statute of repose and that the statute of repose for construction projects is typically six years, which generally now applies to public entities except in limited cases (fraud or willful and wanton negligence). "The statute of repose is the outside amount of time within which you must bring your claim ... and that is 6 years for construction projects," Malone said.

Board members acknowledged the disruption but thanked staff for quickly escalating the issue and protecting student safety. The board did not vote on the repairs at the meeting; instead, Dr. Taylor said contracts were being executed under prior authorization and that the board would receive regular updates.