Dirigo High School Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Nick Karavas addresses the Regional School Unit 56 board of directors Tuesday night at Dirigo High School in Dixfield. He received approval for overnight stays for the wrestling and ski teams in December and February, respectively. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times
DIXFIELD — The Regional School Unit 56 board of directors voted Tuesday to raise pay for substitute teachers and educational technicians by $5 a day beginning Jan. 1.
Educational technicians will receive $100 a day; teachers with less than two years of college experience will receive $100 a day; and teachers with two or more years of college experience will receive $110 a day.
Other substitute pay rates are school nurse $35 an hour; custodian $14 an hour; and bus driver $16.50 an hour.
Superintendent Pam Doyen said she recently spoke with Rumford-based RSU 10 Superintendent Deb Alden regarding raising rates to ensure it’s the same.
“So that we are on the same page as (RSU 10), because obviously, we want to support each other and not, you know, be outbidding each other for the substitutes,” Doyen said.
In other business, Sue Brennan, adult education director for Region 9 School of Applied Technology in Mexico, said total enrollment is about 39, with the majority from Rumford. She listed 12 programs and the three with the most attendance are the high school equivalency test, estate planning and yoga.
Brennan said adult education programs statewide are very popular “because of the status of the workforce in Maine.” The seven college success coordinators at seven community colleges in Maine are helping students succeed in college. “And it’s already really paying benefits because they’re like our liaisons to the (colleges),” she said.
The state has four adult education career success navigators and Region 9 School of Applied Technology is included in one of the areas being serviced, she said. “Their job, in a nutshell, is to help employers and job seekers in order to address the worker shortage in Maine.”
In another matter, Dirigo High School Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Nick Karavas received approval for overnight stays for the wrestling and ski teams during competitions. The wrestling team will participate in matches at Noble High School in North Berwick on Dec. 28 and 29. The ski team will attend the state meet near Fort Kent on Feb. 21 and 22.
The wrestling team and staff will stay at a hotel. Karavas said he is working with the University of Maine at Fort Kent staff to have the ski team and staff stay in dorm rooms during the university’s February break.
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