By JAMES PENTLAND

HOLYOKE — A design firm has been chosen to draw up plans for a new middle school to replace the William R. Peck School.

The School Building Committee selected Mount Vernon Group of Wakefield following a four-month process of soliciting and reviewing proposals. The firm is expected to complete the design work in late April, according to a statement from the school district, so the plans can be submitted to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for funding consideration.

The proposed school will be designed to serve approximately 550 students in grades 6 to 8, more than enough capacity, along with the Joseph Metcalf School, for the city’s middle school needs.

According to the current timeline, in May or June, the mayor and the School Building Committee will submit a financial request to the City Council for the city’s share of the construction costs, and the state building authority would approve the project at the end of June.

If all funding is approved, the Peck School will be demolished at the end of this year and the new school will be built on the same site for opening in fall 2025 or 2026. Sullivan School, Holyoke STEM and Metcalf Middle School will serve all middle schoolers in the interim.

If the funds are not approved, the Peck School will continue to operate and the school district and city propose to upgrade it to the greatest extent possible.

Holyoke tried unsuccessfuly before to bring a school project to fruition. Voters in 2019 overwhelmingly rejected a ballot question asking for a debt-exclusion override for a proposal to build two new middle schools.

This time, the city’s aim is to bond for one school without the need for an override, under the “model school” program, which reduces design costs. Erin Linville, chief of strategy for the Holyoke Public Schools, said Mayor Joshua Garcia is working to ensure borrowing for the project can be financed without the need for a tax override.

The project has not been embraced by all on the City Council, however. A year ago, the council narrowly voted to bond for $475,000 to pay for a feasibility study for building a new middle school, a required early step to secure substantial reimbursement for the project from the MSBA.

Built in 1973, Peck has substantial problems, including internal classrooms with no windows, mechanical systems at the end of their design lives or missing vital components that are no longer made and unusable science labs, according to school district employees.

Mount Vernon Group has experience with numerous school building projects, including Chicopee High School, Minnechaug Regional High School and Athol Community Elementary School, according to its website.

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