Regional School Unit 10 Superintendent Deb Alden, third from left, explains to directors Monday evening at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School why a part-time nurse is needed this year, despite a budget freeze instituted in August. Nurses, she said, advised her that coverage is needed at schools where some students need daily injections. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times

BUCKFIELD — Regional School Unit 10 directors Monday approved hiring four Special Education educational technicians, but Superintendent Deb Alden said seven more are needed.

Andrew Murphy and Kyle Taylor were hired for Mountain Valley Middle School and Allie Baxter and Courtney Poulin were hired for Meroby Elementary School, both of which are in Mexico.

Alden wrote in an email Tuesday that Meroby Elementary and Hartford-Sumner Elementary in Sumner each need two more and Mountain Valley Middle School in Mexico, Rumford Elementary and Buckfield Junior-Senior High School each need one more.

At their meeting at the Buckfield school, the board also approved hiring Brett Butler as a science teacher for the Buckfield school. Alden said he has “done a great job” as an educational technician III for the past two years at the school. He has a bachelor’s degree and he’s eligible for an emergency teacher’s certification from the state.

The Maine Department of Education has a list of “emergency areas” such as science and math teachers “where they know that there are not enough people certified in that area for the amount of jobs there are,” Alden said.

In other staff additions, Ian Cayer was hired as an eighth-grade math teacher at Mountain Valley Middle School. Cayer has a bachelor’s degree in English and is qualified for an emergency teacher’s certification in math. “And last year he did a long-term subbing (in math) for us at the middle school,” so he and the students and staff are familiar with each other, Alden said.

The board approved adding a part-time school nurse position for this school year only.

Alden told the board her main concern about adding the position is financial.

“We’re in a budget freeze for a good reason; we’re concerned about making sure we have enough money to get through the end of the year,” she said.

The district had six school nurses — one for each school — during the coronavirus pandemic, which was two more than before the pandemic. However, last year marked the end of four years of government funding to pay for the two additional nurses and one of the positions was cut to trim the 2024-25 budget, she said.

In August, the nurses advised Alden that one elementary school has a student with Type 1 diabetes who requires shots during the day and the middle school has a student who requires four shots during the day. Alden said they were concerned the schools would not have a nurse some days, and therefore she was in favor of hiring one part time.

Chairman Greg Buccina of Rumford said the school secretaries’ contract is being finalized and they “aren’t going to be required to do the injections, or do the things that a certified nurse needs to do. So, we need to get the state to fund more nurses …” he said.