A Wake County specialty high school in Cary abruptly lost its physical campus on Jan. 5 after local fire officials concluded the building did not meet safety standards for an educational occupancy. Overnight, Crossroads FLEX’s roughly 149 students were pushed into remote learning while the district scrambled to pull together stopgap in‑person space and supports. District leaders say the program will land next school year at a compliant Wake County training center in Garner.
Documents obtained by WRAL show Crossroads FLEX opened in 2016 under a state Department of Insurance determination that let it operate as a “Group B” business occupancy, essentially office space, as long as no more than 50 people were in the building at once. A routine 2023 phone call from a school administrator asking about the last fire inspection brought the Wake County Fire Marshal out for a visit, led to a reclassification of the building as a school, and triggered a chain of inspections and violation notices…