FARMINGTON — RSU 9 directors voted to approve entering into a five-year lease/purchase agreement for four school buses at a principal cost of $367,372.

The board made the decision Tuesday after discussion with Superintendent Mike Cormier and Director of Support Services David Leavitt.

The agreement is with TD Bank Equipment Finance at 2.08 percent interest, making the total cost $382,651.42. Cormier said the district would ask that a $250 processing fee be waived once the board approved the package.

There were three other lending institutions that submitted proposals and all had higher interest rates.

Leavitt said the district is retiring six buses.

Directors also voted Tuesday, after a 34-minute executive session, to approve the salary and benefits for nonunion positions as presented.

The two speech therapists’ positions were formerly covered under the teachers’ contract but are no longer, Cormier said Wednesday.

The board approved a salary of $48,000 for Katherine Rogers, who works part time, he said.

They also approved $61,800 for Mary Castonguay, who is a full-time speech therapist, he said.

Directors also granted approval for Cormier to hire an additional teacher for a fifth/sixth-grade classroom at Cascade Brook School in Farmington. There are 26 or 27 students in sixth-grade classes and 24 or 25 students in the fifth grade. Having a multigrade classroom will lower the student-to-teacher ratio.

The board also authorized Cormier to hire an educational technician at the Mallett School if kindergarten classes increase to more than 18 students to one teacher. He is keeping a close eye on classroom sizes at that level to make sure there is enough support for students and teachers, he said.

In other matters, Cormier said the school board is interested in working with Maine School Management Association to find a new superintendent prior to July 1, 2013. Cormier, of Wilton, has been with the district for 20 years and will retire next June.

Cormier also said he updated the board on the sometimes uncomfortable heat in some classrooms on the second-floor of the Mallett School, which opened in 2011. A darkening film was put on the windows to alleviate the heat but it didn’t work, he said.

The Department of Education will not pay for air conditioning on the second floor of an elementary school but is willing to try ceiling fans in one classroom for a year to see if it makes a difference. The fans would go in the classroom that is most affected by the reflection of the sun off a white roof over the office section of the building.

“We continue to work on it,” he said.

Cormier said students in grades kindergarten through nine will start school Wednesday, Aug. 29. Grades 10 through 12 will start Thursday, Aug. 30.

The middle and high school will start 10 minutes earlier than last year. They will begin at 7:45 a.m., he said. They previously started at 7:55 a.m.

Teachers will start Monday, Aug. 27.

The Mt. Blue High School and Forster Career and Technology Education Center will open on time, he said. Furniture is arriving and the food court will be ready.

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