RUMFORD — The Regional School Unit 10 board of directors Monday chose Landry/French Construction of Scarborough to build the $92 million Mountain Valley Community School in Mexico.
The company bid $70.3 million for the project at the site of Mountain Valley Middle School at 58 Highland Terrace and Meroby Elementary School at 21 Cross St., both in Mexico.
The other bidders were Arthur C. Dudley Contractor of Standish at $72.2 million and PC Construction Co. of Portland at $72.9 million.
Site preparation should begin next week, Superintendent Deb Alden wrote in an email Tuesday.
The winning bid was “low enough to be able to put back in all six alternative projects, including the track and bleachers, skylights, benches and better flooring, she told directors Monday.
The school will serve more than 1,000 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade. It will replace the middle and elementary schools and Rumford Elementary School. It’s expected to open in August 2025.
In other business, directors voted to request a waiver from the Maine Department of Education regarding school closings Oct. 26 and 27. The closings were prompted by the Oct. 25 mass shootings in Lewiston as police searched for the suspect.
“Students typically have to go to school for 175 days,” Alden said. “If they waive these two days, the total days they’d go to school would be 173 days.”
According to the district’s calendar, the last day of school is June 10, however, if the two days following the shooting are not waived, the last day of school would be June 12, “which would leave us a few other days for traditional snow days,” Alden said.
RSU 10 includes Mexico, Rumford, Roxbury, Buckfield, Sumner, Hartford and Hanover.
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