Wake capping new elementary school, uncapping another school

One of the Wake County Public School System’s newest elementary schools is now capped to newcomers, because it’s already overcrowded.

Families who do not yet live in the Apex Friendship Elementary School attendance zone won’t be able to move there and send their children there under the newest capping plan approved by the Wake County Board of Education on Tuesday.

The board did remove a cap at Sycamore Elementary School, located off of Leesville Road in North Raleigh. That will keep the school system’s number of capped schools for next year at 25 — or about one in every eight schools.

Board members have lamented the change and are frustrated that the decision will require three new bus routes at a time when the district is already short on bus drivers. During the board’s facilities committee meeting last week, members urged the district to examine other solutions in the future, such as installing trailers when possible.

Board Vice Chairman Chris Heagarty said the district doesn’t have the funds to install trailers right now. He reluctantly supported the district’s capping recommendations.

“This is a serious problem, and we do need to look at all our options,” he said. Families move to

Board Chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey said more schools will open in the coming years in western Wake County.

But the district doesn’t have the capacity to build as many schools as are needed in fast-growing areas, Superintendent Catty Moore said. Where families move and where the district can buy land for a school aren’t perfectly aligned, she said.

Apex Friendship Elementary enrolled more than 750 students this year — its first school year of operation — with capacity for only 573 students. It doesn’t have any trailers for educating those extra students and does not have space to add them. New students moving into the Apex Friendship Elementary attendance area would be sent to Baucom Elementary.

Sycamore Creek Elementary has been capped since the 2017-18 school year but now enrolls below its capacity by more than 100 students. Students have been sent to Brier Creek Elementary since the cap was put in place.

The board also changed the overflow schools for two schools that are already capped. Students capped out of Olive Chapel Elementary would be sent to Turner Creek Elementary. Students capped out of Apex Elementary would go to Penny Road Elementary.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified which school students capped out of Apex Friendship Elementary would attend. It is Baucom Elementary, which is currently located at Woods Creek Elementary.