Regional School Unit 10 Assistant Superintendent Matt Gilbert and incoming Mountain Valley Middle School Principal Carrie Luce speak Tuesday night at the board of directors meeting at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford. The two administrators said a June 13 forum by staff and families focused on students’ physical and emotional safety and communication at the middle school. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times

RUMFORD — Regional School Unit 10 Superintendent Deb Alden told the board of directors Tuesday evening that the district is interviewing for assistant principal positions for Meroby Elementary School in Mexico and Rumford Elementary School.

Rumford school Principal Carrie Luce will become principal of Mountain Valley Middle School in Mexico and Meroby Principal Jodi Ellis will become the principal of both elementary schools July 1.

The two schools will close when Mountain Valley Community School in Mexico opens in August 2025. The new school is planned for the site of Mountain Valley Middle School at 58 Highland Terrace and Meroby Elementary School at 21 Cross St., both in Mexico. It would serve more than 1,000 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade. The estimated cost of the building project is $91.8 million, with 98% paid by the state.

Athletic Director Jeff Pelletier told directors the architects for the school asked him about colors for the gym and he decided to have cobalt blue and silver, the same as Mountain Valley High School in Rumford. He said students, staff and families might appreciate having them the same and being Falcons, the high school mascot, from prekindergarten through 12th grade.

“My big thing is just promoting Falcon pride in our community, I think that it’s awesome,” he said, “so right now we have Hawks gear and Falcons gear’ parents invest a lot of money in stuff.

“So I think that that would be better for our community, for families to go spend some money and get some cobalt blue and silver gear, and be able to wear it from preK on to 12 grade,” Pelletier said. “I think there is just some value in that continuity from where we start to where we end; we can all be Falcons.”

Board Chairman Greg Buccina of Rumford agreed, and Director Allison Long of Buckfield said she thought having the same colors throughout the school year would be “unifying” and “it will be really positive for our community.”

In other business, Luce and Assistant Superintendent Matt Gilbert spoke about a June 13 staff and family forum on students’ physical and emotional safety and communication at the middle school.

Alden said the forum at the high school included about 36 people, mainly parents, staff and administrators from the middle school.

Luce said people spoke about “feeling like there were positive connections happening, or the lack thereof of positive connections happening between staff and staff, staff and students, and also worrying about the climate of the building.”

“I feel like we may not have come up with solutions in the moment but the entire format of the roundtable was geared toward finding outcomes that would be useful for next year,” she said.

Gilbert said responsibility for change depends on school leaders and that it was important “being out there and listening and connecting with people.