DIXFIELD — Several new staff members were hired Monday night during the
Regional School Unit 10 board meeting.

Sarah Gervais and Chris Araujo were hired as special education teachers at
the Pennacook Learning Center. Mike Foley will be a special education
teacher for Dirigo Middle and Dirigo High schools, and Tim Goding is the
new counselor at Dirigo Middle School.

Also appointed was Jennifer Taylor as a Title I mathematics instructor at
Mountain Valley Middle School.

Interim Superintendent Michael Cornier said a plan for the former SAD 21 towns of Canton, Carthage, Dixfield and Peru to withdraw from the district has been approved by Maine Department of Education.

Residents of those towns will vote Nov. 8 on whether to withdraw. All four towns must approve the measure, if it is to succeed.

The other district towns are Rumford, Mexico, Byron, Roxbury, Buckfield, Sumner, Hartford and Hanover.

The board began the meeting with a moment of silence for former Assistant Superintendent Ann Bell, who died Aug. 12.. Her husband, Peter, will run in the upcoming Dempsey Challenge on Oct. 1-2, Cormier said.

The board held a closed-door session with a finalist for superintendent. The results were not immediately known.