SOUTH HADLEY — A proposal to construct a new Mosier Elementary School building is moving forward after the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s board of directors approved the project to begin its feasibility phase.

“We’re pretty thrilled,” Interim Superintendent Mark McLaughlin said. “We know what we want and what we think we need for our purposes, but then the partnership with MSBA will help us to understand what’s appropriate and possible.”

South Hadley School District put forward a plan for a new elementary school building for grades 1 through 5 to replace the current 54-year-old Mosier building. MSBA will partially fund a building for 590 students, according to its enrollment study for the district. McLaughlin predicts the site of the school will be along Mosier Street, but he won’t know for sure until the feasibility study identifies the best and least expensive land to build on.

“What’s left to be decided is where that new building will be, and that will be studied in the feasibility phase over the next year or two,” he said. “It may be that a new building is on the site of the current Mosier building. It may be deemed by MBSA that the consolidated building will be across the street at the middle school. It may not even be a grades 1 through 5 model.”

During this stage of the project, South Hadley’s Mosier Project Building Committee will hire an owner-project manager to represent the town on the project, then begin to survey both the current building’s condition and possible sites for the proposed project. The study will assess the design and cost to renovate the current building and compare that to the resources required to build a new structure.

“The Feasibility Study will carefully examine potential solutions to the issues identified at the school’s facility and will help us develop the most cost-effective plan to address those issues,” MSBA Chair Deborah Goldberg said in a statement. “We look forward to partnering with these districts to move the potential projects forward.”

The result, McLaughlin explains, is a cost-effective building option that will “maximize resources to get us what we want for our students.”

“I’m looking forward to what we’ll learn in this process and what that will mean for what will eventually become a much needed new school,” McLaughlin said.

Previously, South Hadley completed the 270-day eligibility period, where both the town and school district showed their commitment to the project by forming a building committee, providing enrollment data and entering into agreements with MSBA. South Hadley has saved $2.07 million to fund the study.

The minimum request being made by South Hadley is a new elementary school to teach first through fifth grades, while the district’s bigger request involves a new school that houses both elementary and middle school students. Should the new building happen, first graders would move to the school from Plains Elementary, and fifth graders would move to the school from Michael E. Smith Middle School.

“We are committed to working with the districts to help address the deficiencies in their schools,” said Mary Pichetti, MSBA executive director. “Our partnership with local officials will ensure the best solutions for the students in each of these districts.”

Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.