POLAND — The Regional School Unit 16 Committee on Monday night approved hiring seven faculty members for the Whittier Middle School in Poland for the next school year.

The move follows the committee’s decision to move Mechanic Falls and Minot seventh and eighth grade students to the middle school to save more than $250,000.

 All the new hires come from within the RSU 16 system.

 English/language arts teachers Carol Ustach and Cathi Wood will move from the Elm Street School in Mechanic Falls to Whittier.

 Math teachers Hannah Bernier, currently at Poland Community School, and Sharon Goss, currently at Elm Street School, will also join the Whittier faculty.

 Science teacher Dan Knott will move from Elm Street School to Whittier Middle School.

 Social studies teachers MaryEllen Baizley and Alice Shea will move from Poland Community School to Whittier.

 Physical education teacher Gregory Rose, who was teaching half the time at Elm Street School and half the time at Whittier school, will teach full time at Whittier.

 The 2010-11 district budget of $17.2 million is $1.1 million less than this year. The budget will go to voters Tuesday.

 The teachers who will be losing their jobs due to the reduction in force include:

• Emily Foster at Whittier Middle School.

• Stephanie Scott, Norman Parks, Lisa Hines, Sarah Rose and Sara Riman at Elm Street School. Carol Lundberg’s position will be reduced to three-fifths time and Kellie Whitten’s position will be reduced to half time.

• Kim Caron, Jennifer Gagnon and Andrew Young at Minot Consolidated School. Sarah Johnson’s position will be reduced to half time. MaryBeth Koletsky will be a three-fifths time teacher, and Chris Willer will also be half time.

• Teachers Tammy Fraser, Lee Libby and Natasha Proctor at Poland Community School.

• Jessica Dibiase, Jonathan Doughty, Andrea Gallivan and Sally Motycka at Poland Regional High School.

 Other changes to the Minot Consolidated School will see middle school teachers Kim Bronk, Sandy Ferland and Cindi Levesque moving to fourth-, fifth- and first-grade classrooms, respectively.