MEXICO — Students and parents got a sneak peek May 1 inside the Mountain Valley Community School under construction on Highland Avenue.

More than 50 people, including some excited fifth and sixth graders, took part in the tour, which was limited to the cafeteria, the gym and a small area in the sixth grade wing.

Geoff Mitchell, project manager with Landry/French Construction in Scarborough, told the crowd, “I’m excited about where we’re at today.”

He cautioned it is still an active construction site.

He led the tour, along with Stephen Fraser, senior architect with Harriman architects of Auburn and Portland and a 1988 graduate of Rumford High School.

Fraser said construction of the $92 million school started in November 2023 and they’re hoping to have it pretty much completed by December.

It will serve more than 1,000 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade. It will replace Mountain Valley Middle School and Meroby Elementary School, both in Mexico, and Rumford Elementary School.

“The old middle school is now torn down,” he said. “We’re going to have a six-lane track with a football field, a baseball field, and a couple basketball courts. There will also be a separate bus route for parents to drop students off, with another route for the buses to drop students off. There will be a full-time health services program here, as well as a community fitness center.”

Carrie Luce, Mountain Valley Middle School principal, told those before the tour, “As you know, it’s been a very challenging year for our students, our staff and for you, and when you see this beautiful building, knowing you get to be inside of it, I feel like it helps remind us of what all this hard work and resilience is going to lead to.”

She noted, “We’ll have the most state-of-the-art school in the state of Maine, and we’ll all be under one roof and we’ll be a true community school again. And I ask you, just continue to keep the faith. Just six more weeks and then the first part of the next school year, and this is what we’ve been working so hard for.”