Here’s what Muscogee County’s newest school will look like, plus other details of project
The Muscogee County School District has released more details about the $25 million project that will merge two Columbus schools into a new facility.
An artist’s rendering shows the new elementary school, designed by Hecht Burdeshaw Architects of Columbus, will be a three-story building on the property containing Dawson Elementary School. St. Marys Road Magnet Academy, 1 mile away, will merge with Dawson.
The yet-to-be-named new school is scheduled to open in August 2023. The construction contract is expected to be awarded in March 2022.
In April, the school board approved the project’s budget:
- $20 million for construction.
- $1.24 million for architecture and engineering.
- $460,000 for furniture, fixtures and equipment.
- $100,000 for survey and testing.
- $2 million for contingencies.
- $600,000 for demolition of Dawson if required.
- $600,000 for demolition of St. Marys if required.
Funding will come from the 1% Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax that Columbus voters renewed last year.
The project is designed to produce a 106,833-square-foot school with a capacity for 750 students in 46 classrooms: four classrooms for prekindergarten, six each for kindergarten and first grade, five each for grades 2-5 and seven for special education. Other spaces will be for music, art, gym, cafeteria and media center.
The student enrollment is 317 at 60-year-old Dawson and 458 at 64-year-old St. Marys.
Here are more details about the project, as presented by MCSD superintendent David Lewis and chief academic officer Keith Seifert during public forums conducted Oct. 7 at Dawson and Oct. 12 at St. Marys:
Why merge Dawson and St. Marys?
Merging the schools into a new building would provide more efficient and effective education, MCSD officials have said.
The consolidation will save an estimated $500,000 in operational expenses, Lewis said.
The new school will be situated on the Dawson property so traffic during the morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up times will be safer for cars and pedestrians, Lewis said.
Will the merger of Dawson and St. Marys mean layoffs for any employees?
The merger won’t result in any employee layoffs, Lewis said. Teachers will follow students into the new school, and administrators and support staff who don’t end up at the new school will be reassigned based on volunteering for open positions and their seniority in MCSD, he said.
What will happen to the video and technology magnet program at St. Marys?
The new school’s administration, staff and stakeholders will evaluate the magnet program to determine whether and how it will continue.
How will the new school’s name be determined?
Following the school board’s policy, District 4 member Naomi Buckner, as the representative for the Dawson and St. Marys area, will create a committee of stakeholders to recommend a name for the new school.
At a date to be determined, Buckner will present the nonbinding recommendation to the board. Then the board will vote on the committee’s recommendation or any others suggested via a motion during the board’s discussion.
What will happen to the Dawson and St. Marys school buildings after they are vacated?
The superintendent may recommend for the board to declare them as surplus properties. Then the board could list the buildings and land for sale or demolish the buildings to increase the amount of vacant land for sale.
Elementary schools traditionally are one-story buildings. Why will the new school be a three-story building?
Lewis told the Ledger-Enquirer it’s a matter of efficiency and the best use of the property so Dawson’s current school can operate while the new one is being built adjacent to it.
“It’s what we have room for,” he said. “… Also, with less slab and less roofing, it will be more cost effective.”
This story was originally published October 14, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
