MEXICO — Regional School Unit 10 Superintendent Deb Alden announced to the board of directors and other Tuesday evening that the state has approved a new school for grades kindergarten to eighth grade.

Alden and other administrators learned of the approval from Department of Education representatives at Rumford Elementary School last week. The district has known since last year that it was one of the top three districts under consideration for funding.

RSU 10 has elementary schools in Rumford and Mexico and a middle school in Mexico. The new building would house those students.

“So, that was exciting and that was what we’ve been waiting for (in order) to really get our Building Advisory Committee really working (on the project),” Alden said. 

She also said that she and Buildings, Grounds and Transportation Director Scott Holmes will meet with DOE representative Scott Brown on Thursday morning to “get all the ins and outs and find out exactly what we should be doing next.”  

The district will have to find an architect for the project and voters of the school district will have to approve the final project, Alden said. She and school administrators plan to have a preliminary timeline for the process of building preparations at the next school board meeting at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 28 at Rumford Elementary School.  

In other matters, Mountain Valley High School French teacher Marie Lane and high school students Olivia Child, Lila Darling, Oliver Chase and Andrew Bishop were granted permission by directors to attend the Maine Youth Action Network’s Annual Youth Leadership Conference in Bangor in November.  

The students are participating in The Yellow Tulip Project and are “committed to smashing the stigma that surrounds mental illness and building a community where people realize there is help and hope out there,” Lane said.  

mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net

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