Planned Wake schools in RTP will be delayed

The new middle school planned for the Research Triangle Park won’t up until the 2026-27 school year, a year later than planned, Wake County Public School System officials said this week.

The new high school, already in operation, won’t move to the shared campus with the middle school until sometime during the 2025-26 school year’s first semester, instead of the start of the year.

Students haven’t been assigned to Parkside Middle School yet, and the delay in opening may delay eventual student reassignment to the school.

Parkside Middle School’s opening is being pushed back because of delays in the designing process, system spokeswoman Sara Clark said. The school system uses outside firms to design schools, and there was a delay in developing a set of plans that matched permit requirements.

The Wake Early College of Information and Biotechnologies, which has already opened, is temporarily housed at Wake Technical Community College.

The new school building will be located next to the college.

The school system is still set to open five new schools for the 2025-26 school year, pushing the number of district schools above 200. All will be located in the southwestern corner of the county. They include four elementary schools and one high school in Apex.