DIXFIELD – Members of the newly formed Western Foothills School District – RSU 10 – will review a list of potential positions to staff a consolidated central office, and likely choose a new assistant superintendent when they meet at 6:30 p.m., Feb. 24, at Dirigo Elementary School in Peru.

Regional School Unit 10 Superintendent Tom Ward, who will continue to serve as SAD 21’s superintendent until July 1, was hired for the superintendency at the first meeting of the board on Feb. 3.

The next step, he said Thursday afternoon, is to decide on an assistant superintendent, devise a job description for the position, and agree on job descriptions for other personnel that will go into effect on July 1.

Ward said he will recommend SAD 43 Superintendent Jim Hodgkin to serve as assistant superintendent.

Reached at home on Thursday, Hodgkin said an assistant superintendent has been tentatively planned for some time. He has three years remaining in his contract with SAD 43.

“I see the position as a transitional one. So much is needed to be done and the superintendent can’t do it all,” he said of the RSU.

Among changes to take place as SAD 21, Dixfield, SAD 43, Rumford, and SAD 39, Buckfield, and the town of Hanover merge are the writing of one policy book and the alignment of all labor contracts in the three existing districts.

Hodgkin has maintained throughout the development of a new RSU that he did not want the superintendency because he wants to work closer to students and staff.

“I’m hoping to share an office with a curriculum coordinator and to get with the kids more,” he said.

Ward said several central office positions will be eliminated when the merger is complete. An undetermined number of people will lose their jobs. Some positions will also be cut through attrition.

He said once the RSU board approves job descriptions for central office staff, those jobs will be posted in the three districts. Employees can then apply. Ward expects interviews to be conducted for the central office staff in March.

Although the position of assistant superintendent is new, Ward said the merger of the central office will save $260,000 in salaries, and additional savings by closing two of the central offices.

RSU 10’s central office is in Dixfield.

Rick Colpitts serves SAD 39 as its superintendent. He is contracted from SAD 17, where he serves as an assistant superintendent, to the SAD 39 position. He intends to stay on as assistant superintendent, 60 percent of the time, for SAD 17, and does not plan to seek additional employment.