RUMFORD — The Regional School Unit 10 board of directors agreed that middle school students from outside the district will be allowed to play on the football team for $200 per player, Superintendent Deb Alden said Tuesday.

The board Monday night approved the same agreement as last year, allowing players from the RSU 56 towns of Dixfield, Canton, Carthage and Peru to join the team at Mountain Valley Middle School in Mexico.

RSU 56 eliminated its junior varsity sports programs and others because of cost,  after the towns withdrew from RSU 10 in November 2016.

In other business, the district is tentatively looking to hire another fourth-grade teacher for Meroby Elementary School in Mexico.

“We’re keeping a close eye on our numbers,” Alden said. There are 25 students in one fourth-grade classrooms and 26 in another, she said.

“Our numbers are up everywhere; not a huge number up but more than last year,” Alden said.

The student population in RSU 10’s six schools on Oct. 1, 2017, was 1,777. Last week, there were 69 more than that.

In other news, the board hired special education teacher Shawn Fanjoy for the Western Foothills Regional Program in Rumford. Fanjoy was previously special education teacher at Leavitt Area High School in Turner for nine years.

RSU 10 controls the business and financial aspects of the regional special education day treatment program, Alden said.

New hires approved during Monday’s meeting are:

• Abbey Pinkham, first-grade teacher for Rumford Elementary School. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Maine at Farmington. She has worked as an English as a Second Language teacher in Haiti, and as a long-term substitute for RSU 10.

• Tyler Leskowsky, second-grade teacher for Rumford Elementary School. He is a graduate of UMF and has taught elementary school in Kennebunk for two years.

• Bonnie Buckingham, kindergarten teacher for Rumford Elementary School. She is a retired kindergarten teacher who has maintained her certification. She received her degree in elementary education UMF. Buckingham taught at Dixfield schools and RSU 10 until 2010.

• Jeff Hawes, part-time social worker for Buckfield Junior-Senior High School. He has a master’s degree in social work degree from the University of New England in Biddeford. He was the social worker at Leavitt Area High School the past 10 years.

Opening day of school for staff is Monday with breakfast served by administrators.

Students at the three elementary schools, grade six at Mountain Valley Middle School, grades seven and nine at Buckfield Senior-Junior High School and grade nine at Mountain Valley High School will start Wednesday, Aug. 29. Students in grades 10 to 12 will start Thursday, Aug. 30. Prekindergarten students begin Tuesday, Sept. 4.

mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net

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