LIVERMORE FALLS — School directors voted 11-1 Thursday to increase the stipend for a substitute caller position for the Livermore and Livermore Falls school system to $2,500.

The board voted in June to set the stipend at $2,000, but new Superintendent Judith Harvey said she has had trouble finding someone to fill the position. She said she had heard from staff that if it was set at $2,500 there would be more interest.

“Isn’t that basically letting employees set the wage?” Director Denise Rodzen asked.

Interim Superintendent David Wallace said in June the teachers’ union had agreed to the proposal of $2,000.

Harvey said the position is needed.

Board Chairman Ashley O’Brien said that a neighboring school district pays more than that. to which
Rodzen replied that the neighboring school system pays more for everything.

However, the Jay School Committee, at Superintendent Robert Wall’s recommendation, eliminated the substitute caller position this summer due to budget constraints. Vice Chairman Mac Haynes said a secretary will now do the calling in Jay.

Rodzen opposed the increase.

In other business, directors voted to hire Craig Suttie of Fairfield as the new director of technology at a salary of $60,000. It will be prorated for 2009-10.

The former director of technology, who was classified as an education technician III made $64,000 a year, Harvey said before the meeting.

Suttie has a master’s degree in education with emphasis on curriculum development technology from the University of Phoenix Online, Phoenix, Ariz., according to his resume. He also graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington with a bachelor of arts degree in general studies.

He has worked as technology integrator/technician/information technology support manager at Good Will-Hinkley’s Averill/Alfond Middle School from September 1992 until he was hired Thursday.

The board also hired Jenna Collins Cote of Livermore as a high school special education teacher. She will be paid $30,900 beginning in August. Collins is a Livermore Falls High School and University of Maine at Farmington graduate. She did her practicum in Livermore Falls and Jay schools and had previously worked at the TW Kelly Dirigo Middle School in Dixfield.

Directors also hired Jaime Dalrymple of West Farmington as a science teacher at the middle school. Her salary is $30,900 beginning in August. She graduated from Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., where she earned a bachelor of science degree in biology and middle school education. She did her practicum at a Massachusetts middle school.

In another matter, the board voted to add four early release days to the school calendar. The calendar approved April 30 did not have any. The early release days are Thursday, Oct. 8, Thursday, Jan. 14, Thursday, March 18, and Thursday, May 20.

School starts for all students on Wednesday, Sept. 2.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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