BUCKFIELD — Fire Chief Chris Reed is expected to meet with district officials soon to go over recent changes to classroom space for Mountain Valley Middle School students at the former Mountain Valley High School bus garage in Rumford.

Regional School Unit 10 Superintendent Deborah Alden told directors at their Feb. 10 meeting at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School that improvements were planned during February vacation week. Rugs have been installed and partitions added, she said. Also cubicles for student backpacks, hats, mittens and other items have been delivered.

Alden said Rumford Fire Chief Chris Reed has been through the classroom space with Devin Roberts, Buildings, Grounds and Transportation director, and asked for some changes, including widening a walkway and creating another space for one of the seventh grade rooms.

“They are also looking at different spaces that might be able to be utilized as another classroom,” Alden said.

She said Reed will meet with school officials after school vacation week.

The middle school at 58 Highland Terrace in Mexico served 366 students in grades five to eight until being closed Oct. 15, 2024, due to hazardous levels of mold. Students switched to online learning temporarily.

The seventh and eighth grades eventually moved to the high school at 799 Hancock St.

Sixth graders moved to the former Mexico police station at 3 Recreation Drive. The district will pay $5,000 a month plus utilities through Dec. 31.

Fifth graders have been attending Rumford Elementary School.

The $92 million Mountain Valley Community School on Highland Avenue is expected to open late this year to serve for more than 1,000 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade. It will replace elementary schools in Mexico and Rumford, and the middle school.

Resignations, appointments, hires

Resignations accepted:

• Pamela White, grade six teacher at Hartford-Sumner Elementary School in Sumner, who is retiring at the end of school year after serving for 26 years.

• Andrew ‘AJ’ Murphy, special education, Ed Tech III at the middle school, effective Feb. 10.

• Rossie Kyllonen, nutrition service worker at the Sumner school, effective June 30.

• Scot New, junior varsity baseball coach at the high school.

Appointments approved:

• Ashley Royster as the high school unified basketball coach.

• Cheryl Sevigny as the middle school unified basketball coach.

• Kristy Durgin as Buckfield Junior-Senior High School track and field assistant coach.

Hires approved:

• Raymond Collins as bus driver/custodian at Rumford Elementary School.

• Lee Farrar as special education, educational technician I at Meroby Elementary School in Mexico.

The board approved the transfer of Kitty Green from bus driver/custodian at the middle school to interim head custodian at Meroby Elementary School.