Mark Coleman, an engineer with Sevee and Maher Engineers of Cumberland, speaks Wednesday night at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford about the company’s air quality and mold findings at Mountain Valley Middle School in Mexico. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times

RUMFORD — Engineer Mark Coleman told Regional School Unit 10 officials and residents Wednesday that if the mold in Mountain Valley Middle School is as widespread as he believes it is, it would take hundreds of thousands of dollars and months to make it safe for people with compromised immune systems.

Coleman, of Sevee and Maher Engineers of Cumberland, told the roughly 30 attendees that in his over 30 years of work he felt “very strongly that there was a systemic and chronic problem with the building.”

He shared results of indoor air quality, water damage and mold contamination studies done at the school at 58 Highland Terrace.

The school, which housed 366 students in grades 5 to 8, closed Oct. 8 after tests from June 25 to Sept. 25 showed high levels of mold. Students switched to online learning Oct. 15.

About 30 people listen Wednesday evening at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford to an environmental engineer share results of air quality tests done in June and September at Mountain Valley Middle School in Mexico. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times

In Sept. 25 test, “elevations of airborne mold spores … were identified in a number of areas that did not have any prior history of airborne mold spore elevations,” according to a letter from the company to Superintendent Deb Alden.

The letter also said findings from visual assessments Oct. 7 showed the “building has several conditions that are affecting (it) as it relates to airborne bioaerosols, visible mold growth, and potentially widespread hidden/concealed mold growth.”

Alden asked Coleman what it would take to get it to make the building safe.

“If the building is in the condition and the mold is as widespread as I believe it is — I truly believe it is — you’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars and months of mold mitigation to bring this building up to a spec that would be safe to put students (and staff) in that are immune compromised. You know, we don’t want to put people that are at risk in an (unsafe) environment.”

The board of directors is reviewing plans to have fifth grade classrooms in the basement of the Apostolic Church at 9 Brown St., pending the board’s review of a list of safety upgrades, drafting leases, and agreement of the Office of State Fire Marshal.

The next steps for using the church building will be decided at the next board meeting at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 12 at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School.

Construction of the $92 million Mountain Valley Community School on Highland Avenue in Mexico is underway and is expected to open in August 2025. It will serve more than 1,000 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, replacing the middle school, Meroby Elementary school at 21 Cross St. in Mexico and Rumford Elementary School at 121 Lincoln Ave.

Regional School Unit 10 includes Mexico, Rumford, Roxbury, Buckfield, Sumner, Hartford and Hanover.