DIXFIELD — Residents of 12-town Regional School Unit 10 will have three opportunities during the next two weeks to learn about, comment on and possibly come up with a new reconfiguration of some of the 11 buildings in the district.
The first public forum takes place at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 28, in the Mountain Valley High School gym.
The other two forums are scheduled for Monday, Feb. 2 in the Dirigo High School gym and Tuesday, Feb. 10, in the Buckfield Junior-Senior High School gym. Both begin at 6:30 p.m.
An ad hoc Buildings and Grounds Committee, along with an architect, have devoted the past nine to 10 months to studying each of the 11 buildings for use, space, condition and a myriad of other factors.
The superintendent’s office mailed a newsletter with the three restructuring proposals to every household in the district earlier in the month so residents would have a chance to review the material.
Buildings now in use, year built and their enrollments are:
* BJSHS, 1990, 240 students
* Hartford-Sumner Elementary School, 1966, 1987, 1997, 313 students
*Dirigo Elementary School, Peru, 2007, 365
* Dirigo High School, Dixfield, 297
* T.W. Kelly Dirigo Middle School, Dixfield, 1980, 160
* Rumford Elementary School, 1956, 1958, 291
* Meroby Elementary School, Mexico, 1977, 281
* Mountain Valley High School, Rumford, 1969, 400
* Mountain Valley Middle School, Mexico, 1968, 291
* Dirigo East Campus, Central Office, (the former Dixfield Elementary School), 1959, 1965, 1990, no students, 11 staff, fitness center
* Pennacook Learning Center (the former Virginia Elementary School in Rumford), 1952, 31.
Each building is below capacity.
The three options are:
* Option 1 — Close RES, MVMS, PLC and Dirigo East; all three secondary schools would serve grades seven to 12; HSES, MES and DES would each serve grades prekindergarten to six; the Central Office, fitness center, PLC students would move to DMS; renovations or additions would be required at MVHS, DHS and MES.
* Option 2 — Close PLC, Dirigo East campus (Central Office) and RES; all three secondary schools would serve grades seven to 12; DES would serve prekindergarten to six; HSES would serve prekindergarten to six; MES would serve all Mountain Valley-region prekindergarten to third-grade students; MVMS would serve all Mountain Valley-region grades four to six; and the Central Office, fitness center, and PLC students would move to DMS. MVHS and DHS would require renovation or expansion.
* Option 3 — Close RES, PLC, Dirigo East campus and MVMS; all Nezinscot-area grades seven to 12 would continue at BJSHS and all area prekindergarten to six-grade students would attend HSES; all DHS and MVHS secondary students would attend MVHS; all MVMS and DMS grades six to eight would attend DHS; all prekindergarten to fifth-grade Mountain Valley-area students would attend MES; all prekindergarten to fifth-grade Dirigo-area students would attend DES; and the Central Office and PLC would move to DMS. Renovation or construction would be required at MES, MVHS and DHS.
The potential changes, if any of the options or another proposal is selected, would take place over several years and serve RSU 10 for several decades.
Participants will gather into groups of eight to 10 people led by a school board member, administrator or other school employee. The top one or two key ideas or suggestions generated by each group’s conversation will be reported out to the entire crowd.
King will then discuss the next steps.
He previously said the proposed restructuring could better serve students and has the potential to reduce or maintain school operation costs.
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