The Lubbock ISD Board held a meeting Thursday morning to vote on the name of the new magnet school that will replace Smylie Wilson Middle School.

The new school will be named Commander William C. McCool Academy, after the astronaut and pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia. McCool was born in California, but moved to Lubbock and graduated from Coronado High School in 1979.

William C. McCool died alongside six of his fellow astronauts on February 1st, 2003, when the space shuttle he was piloting disintegrated upon reentry into earth's atmosphere.

Lubbock ISD plans to open McCool Academy in the fall of 2020 to 6th and 7th graders, with plans to support 8th grade by fall of 2021.

Current students of Smylie Wilson will be transferred to either Irons or Mackenzie Middle School after the current school year ends.

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