COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) – The Muscogee County school district will build a brand new school that will combine Dawson Elementary School and St. Marys Road Magnet Academy.

Architectural renderings were shared with the community by Muscogee County Super Intendent, Dr. David Lewis. Dr. Lewis presented the plans, details of the new school, and held an open forum for parents to address concerns.

The $25 million dollar project will consist of a three-story building just over 100,000 square feet that will be built on land already owned by the school district. The wooded land surrounding Dawson will house the new building, allowing for students to remain in their currents schools while the build takes place.

Dr. Lewis assured the community that no jobs will be lost during the process, the teachers will follow the students. The plan is to break ground in the Spring of 2022 and have the project completed in time for the 2023 school year.

Both current schools are housed in district four of the Muscogee County School District. Board Member and District 4 Representative, Naomi Buckner, attended Dawson Elementary herself growing up and she says, there has been positive feedback from the community to bring these two schools together.

News 3 spoke with Buckner following the presentation and she made a point to highlight the school’s plans to come together in the meantime, “Dr. Lewis, put an emphasis on the ‘we’ concept within the district, and for the year that is coming up, Dawson and St. Mary’s will start trying to combine activities for their schools, so that there will be a very smooth transition as well.”

Buckner will select a committee of representative stakeholders to submit non-binding recommendations for the naming of the school, those will be considered and voted on by the Board of Education.

The new location, on Kennedy Street, will also help reduce traffic on St. Marys road and improve safety for students walking to school. of the new school has not been determined yet. This entire project is being made possible, through the Education Special Purpose, Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) dollars.

An additional community forum will be held Tuesday, October 12th at St. Mary Magnet, to allow both schools to host and parents to ask questions.