THOMSON, Ga. () – The new 115,000 sq. ft. school consolidates the old Maxwell Elementary and Thomson Elementary Schools.

The school has 37 regular classrooms, 4 STEM labs, a full-sized gym, an outdoor classroom and many more amenities.

Dozens of parents who have children going to the school were at the ribbon cutting and were able to get a tour.

Laura and Joel Furfari have two sons attending and say they were pleasantly surprised with the new build.

“Amazed, it is really incredible, it’s beautiful, you can tell they put a lot of thought and planning into it, we’re blown away,” said Laura Furfari.

Laura attended the old Maxwell Elementary School, and they are both very excited for their kids to learn through the McDuffie County School System.

Joel says they were happy to see the school ahead of the first day.

“We wanted to support the whole town’s effort, the whole county’s effort to build a new facility, have this nice, new school to open up and we wanted to support the school district, the school board and everyone involved in making it happen,” Joel Furfari said.

I spoke with Jamie Maddox, Principal at Maxwell Elementary School, about the growth of the McDuffie County School System as well as her thoughts on how many people were supporting the opening of the new school.

“We’ve included an area where we can build on each one of these wings additional classrooms expecting growth. The support of the community, we have the support of the parents, the students, the staff that you see, all of the business that are here, I really thing that’s what it speaks to, ultimate support of our school system we couldn’t be more proud of that,” said Maddox.

Maxwell Elementary School is opening its doors for Pre-K through 3rd grade students at the beginning of this school year on Monday.