Contents
- 1 Knowing your base school isn’t enough in Raleigh, Cary and Wake County
- 2 Wake County has reassignment and capping
Knowing your base school isn’t enough in Raleigh, Cary and Wake County
by Marianne Howell Wright
Updated Jan. 29, 2019
Wake County has reassignment and capping
Read Wake County Reassignment for 2019-2020, in a more detailed post
The assignment plans and capped schools change yearly as new schools are opened.
Wake County is a county wide system and one of the largest school systems in the country. The Triangle Area is growing fast and Wake County is keeping up with the growth by opening new schools. If you look at the construction schedule of schools opening you can see that there will be lots of changes coming as the new schools open.

Every year, as long as I have lived in the Triangle (a VERY long time), the news is full of stories of parents protesting the latest assignment plan. Some neighborhoods have been reassigned to 10 different schools over the years. The thing to remember is that the schools in the Cary, Apex and Holly Springs areas are all good.
Wake County bases the reassignment plans on four factors, all weighted the same (they say).
- Student achievement. Income and test score diversity included.
- Stability. Keeping as many kids in their same school.
- Operational efficiency. Overcrowded schools vs under enrolled schools.
- Proximity. This is hard when schools are just a few miles apart. If you look at the attendance maps(here is the sought after Green Hope High attendance map) you can see that you can be across the street from a school and be assigned elsewhere.You can look up the assigned school by address here.
What are capped schools and overflow schools?

When a school is at or over enrollment capacity the school is capped. New people moving into the district are sent to an overflow school. Sometimes a capped school may have some openings so you don’t know for sure until you go to register at your base school. The overflow school may not even be the same calendar option (year around or traditional) as the base school. The capping situation just keeps getting worse. The State legislature reduced the number of students in k-3 from 21 to 17. There isn’t room at many schools for the extra classes so more caps for 2019-2020.
Capped schools and overflow schools for 2019-2020
From the Revised-2019-20-WCPSS-Capping-Plan Jan. 22, 2019. Test scores are from NC School Report Cards 2017-2018. Distances from Google Maps.
- The school board usually votes on capping around the 3rd week in January.
- Overflow schools can change so check with the school before you buy a house. No guarantees with Wake schools.
List of capped and overflow schools and distance from capped to overflow:
- Mills Park (overflow White Oak) -3.8 miles
- Holly Grove (overflow Holly Springs) -3.5 miles
- Highcroft (overflow Turner Creek)-3.6 miles
- Olive Chapel (overflow Salem)-4.5 miles
- Hortons Creek (Alston Ridge) -1.6 miles
- Scotts Ridge (Baucom and another TBD)-3 miles
- Weatherstone (Reedy Creek)-3.7 miles
- Fuquay-Varina (Buckhorn Creek) -6.6 miles
- Sycamore Creek (Pleasant Grove)-7.8 miles
- Oakview (Buckhorn Creek)-4.5 miles
- Vance (Rand Road)-3.6 miles
- Willow Springs (Rand Road)-11 miles
- Rogers Lane (Knightdale)-6.3 miles
- Yates Mill (Swift Creek)-1.4 miles
- Harris Creek (River Bend)-4.2 miles
- Baileywick (Lead Mine)-2 miles
- Combs (Swift Creek)-3.9 miles
- Cedar Fork (Reedy Creek)-6.8 miles
Capped Middle Schools:
- Mills Park (overflow West Cary)-9.4 miles
Capped High Schools:
- Heritage (Wake Forest-4.7 miles and Rolesville-5.8 )
- Panther Creek (overflow Green Hope-3.5 miles and Apex at Green Level-5.6 miles)
Capping is off for 2019-2020 at Carpenter ES, Wendell ES, Reedy Creek MS, Fuquay Varina HS
Neighborhoods in the Cary area with capped schools. This is just a general list. Be sure to check the address of any home that interests you.
Elementary
- 12 Oaks
- Addison Park
- Amberly
- Bella Casa
- Bellewood Manor
- Autumn Park
- Autumn Ridge
- Braxton Village
- Cameron Pond
- Cary Park
- Downing Glen
- Downing Village
- Forest Springs
- Garrison
- Greystone
- Hillyard Forest
- Highcroft
- Hamlet at the Park
- Holly Glen
- Holly Pointe
- Kildare Farms
- Oliver Creek
- Pirates Cove
- Providence Place
- Ridgemont
- Ridgefield Farms
- Savannah
- Scotts Ridge
- Town Hall Commons
- Troon at Kildare
- Twin Lakes
- Weldon Ridge
- Weston Estates
- Weycroft
- Wrenhurst
Neighborhoods in the Cary area (Morrisville, Cary, Holly Springs Apex) with capped high school
- 12 Oaks
- 55 James at Midtown
- Amhurst
- Arbor Commons
- Arbor Creek
- Ashley Downs
- Autumn Ridge
- Avent Acres
- Beckett Crossing
- Bella Casa
- Bishops Gate
- Bradley Park
- Bradley Terrace
- Braxton Forest
- Brookgreen Forest
- Brookstone
- Cameron Park
- Cobblestone Ridge
- Charleston Village
- Cotswold
- Crocketts Ridge
- Deveraux
- Dogwood Ridge
- Fair Hill
- Fair Oaks
- Forest Springs
- Garrison
- Haddon Hall
- Haddon Place
- Hallmark
- Hallmark West
- Harmony
- Holly Glen
- Holly Pointe
- Kalarney Pointe
- Kildare Farms
- Kildare Estates
- Lakeside
- Laurel Park
- Lexington
- McGregor Downs
- McGregor West
- Merion
- Miramont
- Montclare
- Myrtle Wood
- Newbury Park
- Oak Hall
- Oaks of Avent Acres
- Old Mill Village
- Olde Salem
- Old Mill Village
- Olive Chapel Park
- Oliver Creek
- Peakway Village
- Park Place
- Pemberley
- Perry Hills
- Remington
- Salem Oaks
- Salem Village
- Scots Laurel
- Scotts Mill
- Seagroves Farm
- Sommerset Farm
- Southchase
- St James Village
- Stonebridge
- Sunset Pointe
- Sunset Ridge
- Tatton Place
- The Groves
- The Villages of Apex
- Twisted Creek
- Valleyfield
- Waterford Green
- Weathersby
- Wescott
- Whitehall Manor
- Whitley Village
- Wibon Ridge
- Windcrest
- Windermere
- Woodcreek
- Woodlands at Oak Hall
Please let me know if you have more information to add! This is a very serious subject for my out of town clients and I want to provide the most complete information.