RUMFORD — The Regional School Unit 10 board of directors Monday approved more cuts to the proposed budget for 2024-25, including positions for Special Education director, four educational technicians, two teachers at Meroby Elementary School in Mexico and a teacher at Rumford Elementary School.

So far, directors have cut more than $2.2 million from the proposed $34.65 million for the coming fiscal year.

The budget for this fiscal year, which ends June 30, is $33.26 million.

Special Education Director Clarissa Fish is retiring at the end of August, Superintendent Deb Alden said at Monday’s meeting at Mountain Valley High School.

Alden is a certified special education director and said she will take the position and maintain her superintendent position if the district has two assistant special education director positions.

“I could not do it man-hour-wise if I didn’t,” she said. “I’ll try anything for a year, if it helps the cause.”

The board did not cut the Mountain Valley high School golf team or an athletic director at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School.

At the March 11 board meeting, high school senior Emmet Logsdon and freshman Max Spitzer of the golf team spoke, along with Logsdon’s mother, Meghan Logsdon. Emmet Logsdon said it means a lot to see community members and other golfers “interact with us and see us as people who matter in the sense of sports.”

His mother said at that meeting that the team should not be cut because golf “is a lifelong skill” that people can continue to play for much of their lives. She also questioned the board’s reason for cutting the program, saying it may be because there are few members on the team. “I just think that there was no consideration being made for these children whatsoever.”

The board did not cut an athletic director at Buckfield after Director Chad Culleton of Hartford read a letter from Buckfield softball coach Shawn Prokey of Hartford, who holds the position.

Prokey wrote, in part, “…I’m struggling to understand how this decision was justified. It does not seem equitable to me.”

Culleton said the position pays “essentially $29,000,” a year and for the number of events he covers “it’s hard to understand how you could have somebody that’s managing that amount” when there is a full-time athletic director at Mountain Valley High School.

“I just don’t see how that makes much sense,” Culleton said.

The $34.65 million budget represents an average increase of 7.98% for the taxpayers in Rumford, Mexico, Roxbury, Hanover, Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner.

Alden said in an email Wednesday that the district’s health insurance for next year will increase 9.43%, which is just under the budget.

The board of directors will have its final vote on the budget April 29 at 6:30 p.m. at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School.

The final budget will be presented for discussion and vote at a public meeting May 29 at 6:30 p.m. at Mountain Valley High School. A second vote to validate the budget is scheduled for June 11 at polling stations in each town.

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