RSU 10 central office gets phone update

DIXFIELD — Residents of Western Foothills Regional School District 10 will now reach a voicemail message when they try to call the central office.

Superintendent Tom Ward told board members last week that the new telephone system would be up and running on Monday, said his assistant, Judy Houghton. With more than 30 extensions now within the central office, an automated system could no longer be put off, she said.

The telephone information was part of an update on the consolidation of the three central offices that once served the member districts now in the Western Foothills district.

Ward also said that re-labeling the more than 50 school buses is under way to show that students now attend the new district. SAD 39, SAD 21 and SAD 43 buses are now being labeled with Western Foothills Regional School Unit 10. Houghton said the re-identification work was divided among the three local businesses that do sign work.

In other re-organizational matters, all SAD 43 offices located in the former district's central office have been moved to the RSU's central office in the former Dixfield Elementary School. The SAD 39 central office, housed upstairs over the Buckfield Town Office, will be retained so that special meetings may be held.

Houghton said the Personnel Committee is currently interviewing or posting more than 20 full- and part-time positions open in the 3,000-pupil district.

Also at the last board meeting:

• Paul Swihart was re-appointed to the Region 11 School of Applied Technology Board. Vocational students from the former SAD 39 district attend such classes at the vocational school housed at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Norway, while those from the former SAD 21 and SAD 43 districts attend vocational training at the Region 9 School of Applied Technology in Mexico.

• Andrew Steck was appointed chairman of the special education department at Mountain Valley High School.

• Diana Rowe was transferred from special education educational technician to Title 1 K-3 educational technician at the Hartford-Sumner Elementary School.

Regular RSU 10 board meetings will be held on the second and fourth Mondays of each month at the central office. The next meeting is scheduled for Aug. 10.

eadams@sunjournal.com