MEXICO — The board of directors of Region 9 School of Applied Technology approved $2.3 million budget Wednesday.
The vocational school’s director, Brenda Gammon, said health insurance costs were $47,000 less than expected for 2021-22.
The total budget is $2,314 less than this fiscal year, which ends June 30.
Residents of the 16 towns sending students to the school will vote on the budget at 6 p.m. May 5 at the school at 377 River Road in Mexico. The towns are Rumford, Mexico, Roxbury, Hanover, Bethel, Newry, Woodstock, Greenwood, Dixfield, Canton, Carthage, Peru, Andover, Byron, Gilead and Upton.
In other business during the Zoom meeting, the board approved hiring Mason King as a full-time IT specialist starting July 1. He has been working one day a week at the school.
“We felt the need to have a full-time person in this position because we were sharing the IT position with Dirigo (High School) and so, due to circumstances, we were lucky to find this young man,” Director Roberta Taylor of Bethel said.
The board also approved a new business program, Infinite Visions from Tyler Technologies, replacing the Power School program. Business Administrator Dawn Leahy said she thought Infinite Visions will increase the business department’s efficiency “more than I could have imagined.”
In another matter, senior Jasmine Dixon has been nominated as Region 9 Student of the Year, Gammon said. Dixon, a student at Dirigo High School in Dixfield, is in the building and construction program at Region 9.
“She is planning to go to Eastern Maine Community College and she will be in the fine woodworking and cabinetmaking program there,” Gammon said.
Gammon said Region 9 will hold an outdoor job fair for the public May 6. The storm date is May 13.
“We have 20 confirmed businesses so far that plan to attend, and there is a long list of others that are considering (attending),” she said.
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