MEXICO — An all-day discussion Friday on the future of RSU 10 brought forth two major ideas: build a regional high school and an elementary school for the Rumford-Mexico area.
About 50 community leaders, current and former school staff, and RSU 10 board members brainstormed and came up with a list of ideas. Judy Enright, an educational consultant from Skowhegan who had led RSU 10 in a strategic planning meeting a couple of years ago, led Friday’s visioning session.
RSU 10 has three geographic regions: Rumford, Mexico, Byron and Roxbury; Dixfield, Canton, Carthage and Peru; and Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner. Each region has a high school and at least one elementary school.
Superintendent Tom Ward said it’s never too early to apply for state aid for school construction. Among the ideas presented Friday were a new regional high school and a new elementary school for the Rumford area, which has two.
Other ideas included:
* Maintaining Mountain Valley High School in Rumford, Dirigo High School in Dixfield, and Buckfield Junior-Senior High School in Buckfield.
* Offering concentrations in the arts, math and science, and the humanities at a new regional high school.
* Combining a regional high school with the Region 9 School of Applied Technology in Mexico, similar to the combined Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School and Oxford Hills Technical School in Paris.
* Creating a master schedule for all three high schools.
* Having one high school and one elementary school in each region.
* Closing the Pennacook Learning Center in the former Virginia Elementary School and move the students to one of the Dirigo schools.
* Moving Canton elementary children from Dirigo Elementary School in Dixfield to Hartford-Sumner Elementary School in Sumner.
* Moving the University College at Rumford-Mexico in Mexico to a new regional high school.
* Keeping all three high schools, with each specializing in an area.
“There were a lot of ideas, but many liked 7-12 schools in each region and of eventually including Region 9 (School of Applied Technology),” Mountain Valley High School Assistant Principal Chris Decker said.
School board member Barbara Chow said the feasibility of some of the ideas could be really long term considering the current economy.
Assistant Superintendent Gloria Jenkins will compile the list of ideas for presentation to the school board on June 11.
“Some tough decisions will have to be made,” Patricia Duguay of Byron said. “We have to remember what’s best for the kids.”
“This was extremely important for the comments to come from all the communities we represent,” Ward said. “Everything came out that I had hoped.”
eadams@sunjournal.com
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- RSU 10 board member Barbara Chow, RSU 10 special education director Clarissa Errington and technology staffers Nick Waugh and Kevin Kaulback discuss long- and short-term plans at the Futures Cafe in Mexico on Friday.
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- RSU 10 athletic trainer and parent Aaron Perreault and Dirigo High School student Lindsey Crutchfield were among the 50 people at the Futures Cafe on Friday in Mexico. The group developed a list of ideas for the future of the school district.
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