LIVERMORE FALLS — The first day of school is approaching and with it the beginning of a new school system.

Students and staff from the Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls schools will be working under the umbrella of Regional School Unit 73. Jay and RSU 36 systems merged on July 1.

“We have the privilege of having two new years,” Superintendent Bob Wall said Monday. “Everybody has one in January. We have one in August. We’re just as excited about celebrating our new year as celebrating New Year in January.”

The first day of school for students in kindergarten through grade 12 is Wednesday, Aug. 31. Teachers will have two workshop days on Monday, Aug. 29, and Tuesday, Aug. 30.

Pre-kindergarten students will start between Sept. 7 and 12 depending on what group students are in. Parents will be or have been notified about what day their students will attend.

“We’re all ready to go,” Wall said. “Of course, we’ll have fine tuning to do.”

Both the Spruce Mountain High School North in Jay and Spruce Mountain High School South in Livermore Falls will hold freshman orientation from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 30.

The high school in Jay will be led by interim Principal Gilbert “Specs” Eaton and the Livermore Falls school will have a new principal. Wall plans to nominate Steven Leunig of Hebron as the interim principal of the south campus at the 6 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 25, school board meeting at the Cedar Street Learning Center in Livermore Falls.

“One of the things that is very important is we have a new combined middle school,” Wall said. “We hope that this will be a very, very successful year for students in a combined setting. It allows us to offer more and a comprehensive effort.”

All students in grades six, seven and eight will attend the Spruce Mountain Middle School in Jay.

All signage in the schools will be changed to represent the new system by the time school starts.

“The staff has done a tremendous amount of work this summer working on curriculum and project-based learning,” Wall said.

Combined leadership teams at both high schools are working to ensure compatibility in course offerings so that students from both sites will have access to courses, he said.

The school schedule has been standardized to make sure students that take a course at one school can get back to their primary high school in time.

“We approved anyone who requested to go to one (high) school or the other but they had to apply,” Wall said.

The two sites have looked at compatibility of grades and how credits are achieved.

One issue involves busing. By moving the middle schools together, the busing logistics changed, he said. Bus schedules are listed at rsu36.org for three towns and schools. The new www.rsu73.org website is expected to be up next week, he said.

The buses have all been re-lettered to represent RSU 73 and the towns it serves.

“While we are new in our organizational structure, we are very much the same,” Wall said. “We are the same dedicated people who are committed to success for students.”

dperry@sunjournal.com

RSU 73 meal prices:

Reduced breakfast, 30 cents; lunch, 40 cents

Full pay prices:

High schools, breakfast, $1; lunch, $2

Middle school, breakfast, $1; lunch, $1.80

Elementary schools, breakfast, 75 cents; lunch, $1.75

Milk, 50 cents

Bus routes listed at www.rsu36.org