RUMFORD — The Regional School Unit 10 board of directors Monday approved the name Mountain Valley Community School for the school to be built in Mexico.

Superintendent Deb Alden told directors meeting at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford that 71.9% of the community votes were for the winning name, while 28.1% were for Mountain Valley Elementary Middle School. The board of directors has the final say on naming the school, she said.

At their Dec. 12 meeting, the board decided to table the vote on choosing a name after Director Bonnie Child of Mexico said previously that she thought there wasn’t enough community involvement.

In the recent vote, which included voting locations at the Rumford Public Library and the Mexico Public Library, as well as online voting, 1,466 community members chose the winning name.

The school is planned for the site of Mountain Valley Middle School at 58 Highland Terrace and Meroby Elementary School at 21 Cross St., both in Mexico. It would replace those schools and Rumford Elementary School and serve more than 1,000 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade. The estimated cost is $91.8 million. It’s expected to open in August 2025.

RSU 10 includes Mexico, Rumford, Roxbury, Buckfield, Sumner, Hartford and Hanover.

In other business, Alden said the roof leaks and roof damage to Rumford Elementary School beginning the week of Dec. 23 while the school closed is a cause for concern.

A roofing company patched areas of the roof that needed fixing, but they told RSU 10 administrators that the building needs a new roof, Alden said. “Of course, we are looking at a little over two years to be out of that building,” she said.

In order to avoid the high cost of a new roof, the roofing company staff told administrators about “sealing around all of the seams and over all of patches that are up there,” she said. But Alden said she was concerned about continuing roof problems and about the possibility that communities would have to pay for a new roof later.

Director of Facilities and Transportation Devin Roberts and the Building, Grounds and Transportation Committee will meet to discuss more information about fixing the roof and the costs, Alden said.

In other news, Clarissa Fish, director of special services, Kasey Flagg, mental health coordinator, and Karen Wilson, a Title 1 teacher at Meroby Elementary School in Mexico, gave a presentation on a School Climate Survey given to students, families and staff to gauge their thoughts on subjects such as social support, school safety and order and discipline.

The surveys are given to students in grades 3 through 12 and their families, and staff members receive separate surveys twice a year, Flagg said.

Fish highlighted some results from Mountain Valley High School’s November 2022 survey. The 172 students rated subjects on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest. Social/civic learning was rated 3.44 and peer social support at 3.14.

“So, this isn’t negative or positive it just indicates places we should look further to see where we need to support students,” Fish said.

Wilson said the surveys are reviewed by leadership teams at the schools “that really look at the information and we can break it down by level, by gender, ethnicity so that we can really look at what groups we’re talking about here.” The results of the survey data allow the leadership teams to create an action plan and for them to see progress over time, she said.

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