FARMINGTON — Regional School Unit 9 continues to work through staffing shortages as the start of school approaches, Superintendent Christian Elkington told the board of directors Aug. 12.

Openings remain across the district, though Elkington said the number is steadily decreasing.

“We continue to have very good progress in hiring ed tech support,” he said. However, resignations in science and literacy at the end of July and in August have been especially hard to fill.

“This means we will need to keep trying to hire, while using long-term subs,” Elkington said.

He noted that while some elementary openings could theoretically be managed through multi-age classrooms, principals do not believe the current staff are prepared or experienced enough to move in that direction.

Elkington said he is hoping to have enough long-term substitutes to cover some of the vacancies.

“The best thing we can do is hope for long-term subs for some of these positions that need to be filled,” Elkington said.

He highlighted a fifth-grade opening at Cape Cod Hill School that has been difficult to address.

“We’re going to fill it with a long-term sub/student teacher who will finish and be certified by December,” he said. “We do have people who are willing to sub long term.”

On class size, Elkington said that the number of students moving out of the district this summer has been lower than in previous years. While positive overall, this has made it more difficult to predict where extra positions might be needed.