
An overview of the former Mexico police station at 3 Recreation Drive shows the traffic lanes and parking areas to be used when students begin attending classes there Tuesday. The town and Regional School Unit 10 signed a one-year lease for the space Monday. Submitted photo
RUMFORD — Sixth grade students in Regional School Unit 10 will begin attending classes Tuesday at the former Mexico police station, three months after Mountain Valley Middle School was closed due to high levels of mold.
Staff will begin moving into the building at 3 Recreation Drive on Friday, according to officials.
A lease between Mexico and RSU 10 was signed during the school board meeting Monday at Mountain Valley High School. According to the agreement, the district will pay $5,000 a month plus utilities through Dec. 31. The lease start date is Dec. 1, 2024.
About 100 sixth graders have been learning online since Oct. 15, 2024, since the middle school at 58 Highland Terrace closed. It served 366 students in grades five to eight and will be torn down. Fifth-graders moved to Rumford Elementary School Dec. 3, 2024. Seventh and eighth grades switched to Mountain Valley High School in Rumford in late October last year.
It is being replaced with the $92 million Mountain Valley Community School on Highland Avenue. It will serve for more than 1,000 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade and also replacing elementary schools in Mexico and Rumford. Groundbreaking was held Feb. 21 and the school is expected to open this year.
The district includes Rumford, Mexico, Roxbury, Hanover, Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner.
In discussion before the vote Monday, some raised concerns about the work being done on the former police station.
“As of right now, we will not be allowing any kids in the building until the fire marshal approves it,” Mexico Select Board Chairperson Randall Canwell said. “We will not be signing the lease on that building until we all come to an agreement because things have changed (since) the last time we sent you a lease.”
He added, “All of you go take a look and see the work that’s being done.”
Alden said the insurance company wanted a signed lease before children were allowed in the building, and the Office of State Fire Marshal had already approved the plans.
“But I will tell you right now the State Fire Marshal’s Office came in and walked through, approved the plan that was made with the specifications from the architect and Landry French (construction company),” she said. “I can’t speak for the State Fire Marshal’s Office, but I know that is what they have said.”
RSU 10 board Chairperson Greg Buccina added, “We have been in the building many times and it wasn’t much better before we got there. Let’s be honest. There wasn’t any investments in that building.”
Mexico representative Peter DeFilipp said the town should get a certificate of occupancy from the fire marshal or the code enforcement officer, to which Alden agreed.
“We’re using the contractor that the state approved,” Alden said. “The state is paying for this and therefore, we followed the state’s direction in what we should use and what we should do. And we also used the State Fire Marshal’s directive on what would make it so that we could be in there for six to eight months as we need to be.”

Mexico Select Board Chairperson Randall Canwell signs the lease Monday with Regional School Unit 10 to use the former Mexico police station for sixth grade classes. Presenting the lease is RSU 10 Business Manager Leah Kaulback. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times
Alden said she trusts Harriman Associates, who designed the plans to meet the state Fire Marshal’s specifications and was approved by Maine Department of Education, which is paying for the renovations and safety updates. “I also trust Landry and French Construction to carry out those plans and specifications,” she said.
She added that there have been additional things Mexico officials wanted that were not in the agreements with the state, for which “I have been concerned about the cost for the RSU 10 budget and taxpayers. Those things have slowed the process down but we are getting there.”
Alden said she was told Jan. 8 by Mexico Town Manager Raquel Welch-Day that the Select Board voiced concern about the utilities and wanted the school district to pay for all utilities in addition to the $5,000 a month rent. The original proposed lease had included utilities up to $2,100.
After a 45-minute executive session, Buccina made a motion to approve the lease for $5,000 a month plus utility costs, minus the $100 per month the Old School Food Pantry pays the town to use the building
Canwell signed the lease agreement with the updated terms, handed to him by RSU 10 Business Manager Leah Kaulback.
“I’m very thankful for the town of Mexico,” Sumner school board Director Kristen Chapman said. “I think this is going to be great space for the kids to be in.”
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