LIVERMORE FALLS — Regional School Unit 73 directors voted 10-1 Thursday to approve a new administrative services assistant position in the Central Office to process human resources and data management in the district.

The wage for the position is $18 an hour for eight hours a day, 225 days a year, Superintendent Bob Wall said. It equals $32,400, not including benefits.

The district is not filling a payroll manager position vacated by Janice Cloutier on Oct. 14. It is also not filling an assistant superintendent position that was vacated by Sue Pratt in August when she went to serve as superintendent in RSU 40 in Knox and Lincoln counties. Pratt had a salary of $95,000 for the 2010-11 year, not including benefits.

Director Cindy Young of Livermore opposed the motion because she would rather see more resources going toward students, she said.

Director Tammy Frost of Livermore Falls said there is a strong feeling in the community that the district does not need any more help in the central office. She has also heard from others that there is a need, she said.

Some of the tasks in the job description would have been handled by an assistant superintendent, director Tim Madden of Livermore said.

“It's frustrating to us to have all the services we have and have no one to do it,” Wall said. “There is not enough time in the day.”

The work needs to be done and done right, he said.

The job description for the position states that the support assistant guides and manages the overall provision of human resource services, policies and programs for the district. Major areas of management can include: recruiting, staffing, record-keeping, correspondence and personnel files.

Among other tasks listed in the descriptions are organization, departmental planning, including the oversight of the RSU Power School/Power Teacher software and regional school unit information systems. The Power School will be the program that parents and students will be able to use to access student grades once it goes online late this year or early in 2012.

One of the primary objectives is to develop a superior work force through training, information processing and data collection.

The administrative services assistant will report to the superintendent. This is the type of assistance, Wall said, he needs.

With the consolidation of two school district on July 1, the combined district has more than 300 employees, Wall said.

dperry@sunjournal.com