It may have taken longer than anticipated, but beginning with the next school year, Rana Highsmith’s children will finally attend the long-awaited school adjacent to her Cary Park neighborhood.

“I was beginning to think it wasn’t going to happen,” said Highsmith, who was shown the school on a map of the neighborhood plan when she and her husband purchased their home six years ago.

“We were under the impression that it was going to happen a lot sooner.”

Mills Park Elementary is one of the many schools built in the past several years to accommodate booming growth in the area — specifically, the part of Cary west of N.C. 55.

The school, which already has an active Web site at millsparkes.wcpss.net, will open its doors to students in July. It is located off of Green Level to Durham Road, tucked near the back corner of the Cary Park development.

While many of the neighborhood’s residents were frustrated with construction delays over the past few years, Highsmith and other Cary Park residents said that talk has turned more positive as families look forward to the school opening.

“We’re looking forward to it,” said Amelia Boggess. Two of her children, Jeffrey, 9, and Lizzie, 4, will attend Mills Park next year. “Highcroft has been a great school, and Mills Park will probably follow track.”

While she has the option for Jeffrey to be “grandfathered” and stay at Highcroft next year, Boggess said she’s not too worried about her son changing schools.

“For Jeffrey because the neighborhood is going there it’s not a big deal,” she said.

The start of the new school year in July will mark a change for many Cary Park residents — the neighborhood’s families will, for the most part, attend the same school. The neighborhood is currently divided between Green Hope and Highcroft elementary schools.

“We’re looking forward to a neighborhood school,” said Linda Hughes, whose sons Connor and Spencer will attend the school next year in kindergarten and second grade, respectively. “The community schools are what we were used to in southern California. It does a lot. We’re looking forward to seeing our friends year-round instead of just in the summer at the pool.”