Regional School Unit 10 Director Peter DeFillipp of Mexico, second from left, expresses his frustrations Tuesday with the board’s decision-making process regarding policies and following Robert’s Rules of Order during their meeting at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School. From left are Dan Hodge of Rumford, DeFillipp, Ed Bulger of Rumford, board secretary Peggy Therriault and Superintendent Deb Alden. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times

BUCKFIELD — Regional School Unit 10 directors voted Tuesday to begin the process of moving Mountain Valley Middle School fifth grade classes to Rumford Elementary School and preparing the former Mexico police station on Recreation Drive for sixth grade students.

The middle school at 58 Highland Terrace in Mexico was closed Oct. 8 after air quality tests showed high levels of mold. Students switched to online learning Oct. 15. The school serves 366 students in grades five to eight.

At the board meeting at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School on Tuesday, plans to use the Apostolic Church at 9 Brown St. in Mexico were dropped, mainly because sixth grade teachers and middle school Principal Carrie Luce were concerned there is not enough space for classes and staff storage.

“I think we’re all feeling the urgency of needing to get our kids back in person, and the church would provide a quick fix,” Luce said, “but it would be at all costs, and that is not what is best for the students. We would be bursting out the seams in that space.”

The sixth grade has 104 students, Luce said, and they would be “squeezed together like sardines in a can.”

Mexico Town Manager Raquel Welch-Day told directors she received an email from Superintendent Deb Alden last week saying the district would not be using the former police station on Recreation Drive.

“I want this to be crystal clear to the school board, parents and citizens that the town of Mexico was very willing to work with RSU 10 to place students in our buildings,” she said.

She said that when she spoke with Alden about “overstepping her boundaries” in communicating with Good Shepherd Food Bank about whether the food pantry in the building could be moved to the first floor, Alden “took the building off of her list.”

As the board continued discussion, it became clear that the former police station was feasible for sixth grade classrooms.

Director Allison Long of Buckfield motioned to move forward with investigating the use of the police station contingent on the food pantry being approved to move into one of the trailers there.

Before it was unanimously approved by the board, Welch-Day said she had received a text message from someone watching the meeting online that using a trailer for the food pantry would not be a “cost savings.”

With that information, Welch-Day told the board that moving the food pantry downstairs in the building would be an option, thereby opening the upstairs floor for sixth grade classrooms.

Seventh and eighth grades are expected to move to Mountain Valley High School in Rumford.

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.

The next school board meeting is set for 6 p.m. Nov. 25 at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford.

Regional School Unit 10 Business Manager Leah Kaulback speaks Tuesday from the podium at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School in Buckfield, saying the district can move up to 5% of its budget between cost centers, if needed. The district used money from vacant positions and savings to clear Mountain Valley Middle School in Mexico of mold earlier this year. However, the building closed Oct. 8 after tests showed high levels of mold. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times