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.

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