RUMFORD – SAD 43 board members learned Monday that the bargaining units for administration and secretarial staff have given notice that they are prepared to begin negotiations for a new contract.

Superintendent Jim Hodgkin said Tuesday morning that the board’s Finance Committee will meet on Oct. 11 to review the contract and to begin the process.

The active three-year contract for the two bargaining units expires on July 1, 2008. Each unit represents about a dozen employees.

In other matters on Monday, Hodgkin and the board welcomed Liz Jorgenson as the newest representative from Mexico. Jorgenson had served on the SAD 43 board in the 1990s. She is filling out the unexpired term of Randy Canwell.

Also, the board approved the first reading of a policy that clarifies whether and when board members may volunteer in schools. Hodgkin said virtually all voluntary work is prohibited to eliminate the appearance of undo influence.

An exception allows board members to chaperone field trips or in other ways that do not include direct contact with students.

Also on Monday, the board:

• approved the payment schedule for the district’s $750,000 capital project. Hodgkin said the first payment of the five-year repayment schedule of $150,000, will be due during the 2008-09 budget year.

• learned that the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act have been met in the district’s elementary schools and in the middle school.