RUMFORD – The SAD 43 board welcomed three new members and elected a vice chairman during its annual organizational meeting Monday night.
Jeff Sterling is a former board member, current Region 9 School of Applied Technology board member and Sunday River Ski Resort employee. Tracey Higley is also a former SAD 43 board member and officer with the Rumford Police Department. Both men were elected by write-in ballot during last week’s primary election. They replace Diane Paterson and Michael Papsadora, who didn’t seek re-election.
Chris Brennick, a 2006 graduate of Mountain Valley High School who plans to attend the University of Maine at Farmington in the fall, was elected to represent Mexico, also by a write-in ballot last week. He replaces Frances deFilipp, who declined to run for another term.
Seats still needing to be filled are one from Roxbury that was vacated by Mark Touchette, who resigned in March to become a selectman, and one seat from Rumford, formerly held by Rick Gauvin. He resigned recently to take a position within the district.
Longtime board member David McKivergan from Rumford, a retired educator, was elected as vice chairman of the board, taking over from Papsadora.
Rumford representative Linda Westleigh, a local banker, was re-elected as chairwoman of the board.
Several professional appointments were made, including Kassie Burns, a Mountain Valley High School graduate, as third-grade teacher at Rumford Elementary School, and Christina Moore as third-grade teacher and Ty Giberson as fourth-grade teacher at Meroby Elementary School.
Superintendent Jim Hodgkin said more than 70 people applied for the elementary school positions.
Also appointed were Tonja Jacobs as a district literacy teacher and Briana Haynes as a mathematics teacher at the high school.
In other matters, the board overwhelmingly approved proposed changes to the cooperative agreement with the Region 9 School of Applied Technology. The major change was a significant reduction in charges SAD 44 must pay for the region’s adult and community education program. The change was made because SAD 44 operates its own adult education program.
Also on Monday, the board appointed several educational technicians to the district’s day treatment program known as the Pennacook Learning Center. They are: Jessica Casey, Tanya Vaughn and Kelly Arsenault.
The board will hold only one regular meeting during July. That will be on July 17.
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