New Wake school board wants halt to Forest Ridge High

The new Wake County school board majority sent a joint letter today calling for the school district to immediately halt work on the new Forest Ridge High School in northeast Raleigh.

The four new board members elected this fall and current board member Ron Margiotta have questioned Forest Ridge High’s cost and have urged looking at alternative sites. But the current board and school administrators have said that any delay to Forest Ridge will push back the opening of the school and aggravate overcrowding in that growing part of the county.

The joint letter comes a day after John Tedesco easily won a runoff election on Tuesday to cement control of the new board. Although the new board members won’t take office until Dec. 1, they say in their joint letter that Wake should stop spending any money now on Forest Ridge.

“Whereas I completely agree that we need to go forward in a judicious and thoughtful manner on any policy change I think it incumbent upon us, and in this case I do speak for the coming majority, that we suspend any future or currently planned spending on the H6 site whether direct or indirect,” wrote new board member Chris Malone in the letter.

Malone’s letter is signed by Tedesco, Margiotta and new board members Debra Goldman and Deborah Prickett. The letter was addressed to the school board and county staff.

A joint committee of school and county staff is currently looking for alternatives to the Forest Ridge site, which is on Forestville Road near U.S. 401.But administrators have said they still feel that the current site is the best option.

Malone and Tedesco stressed that they're not necessarily saying Wake should abandon using the current Forest Ridge High site. But they said they wanted to stop spending any additional money while the review of alternative sites takes place.

Forest Ridge is scheduled to open in 2013. keung.hui@newsobserver.com or 919-829-4534

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