SALEM, Ohio (WKBN) -- It's been over a year since voters in Salem approved a new school levy allowing the district to build a new kindergarten through 8th grade building and the project is on schedule.

The land where the new K-8 school will be built sits at the end of Whinnery Road in Salem.

"You'll see a little dirt moving, possibly in May or June of this year but really the groundbreaking is scheduled for August," said Salem Superintendent Sean Kirkland.

The new school will replace Buckeye, Reilly and Southeast Elementary. The School District has already hired the architect and the construction company.

Kirkland says they're on schedule and just about to move into phase two out of three of the design phase. Phase two is expected to last about eight weeks. The last phase is the interior design part.

"We'll really look at the mechanicals and what's going on in the building, refine some of the spaces we've kind of allocated already," Kirkland said.

The architect's preliminary designs of the school building sit behind Kirkland's desk. They show how different parts of the building will house different grade levels.

"What I think they presented in front of us is near exactly what we were asking for. So from that standpoint, very excited about it," said Kirkland.

The school district also bought another 24 acres attached to the field for about $159,000. Kirkland says they don't plan on developing it just yet but want to have it for future use.

"Because at some point, if we're able to, we can extend Merle Road all the way through as an exit and another entrance to the school system," Kirkland said.

The school district hopes to be finished with the project by 2027.