DIXFIELD — The RSU 10 board hired a Mountain Valley High School graduate as the district psychologist Monday night.

With two weeks remaining before the new school year begins, the board also made several other appointments and received nine resignations.

Monica Chenard, a 2005 graduate of Mountain Valley, was hired as the on-staff, districtwide school psychologist. She was a member of the first class from the doctoral program in psychology at the University of Southern Maine.

Chenard recently completed an internship with neighboring RSU 9 in Farmington.

Special Services Director Clarissa Fish introduced Chenard to the board.

Chenard said she knows the RSU 10 area well because she grew up there.

“I will not just test students, but also do classroom observations and always conduct a follow-up,” she said.

Previously, the special education department had contracted for psychological services.

In another major personnel change, the board agreed to create a stipend position for athletic director at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School.

For the past 14 years, the school has had a full-time position of assistant principal/athletic director at the school. Ann Bell resigned that position this year to become the first female principal at Telstar High School in Bethel.

Experienced teachers to fill in for Principal George Reuter when he is absent for meetings or other reasons will likely be needed, Superintendent Craig King said.

No action has been taken on that, but King said sufficient funds remain in the assistant principal/athletic director position budget to pay for such needs.

The new method for administering Buckfield Junior-Senior High School will be for  one year, then the board will decide whether to hire a full-time person or continue with the stipend situation.

“This would be a good time to look at (possible) changes in all administration,” King said.

The board also agreed to expand a half-time physical science position at Mountain Valley High School to full time.

King said the district may have cut too deeply into the science area when the 2014-15 budget was passed. That budget eliminated 44 full- and part-time positions districtwide.

He said funds for expanding the science position can come from money that had been earmarked for a high school English position that is not being filled.

In other personnel matters, Pamela Morin, a former teacher in the district, was hired to teach kindergarten at Hartford-Sumner Elementary School, as well as to teach K-12 English as a second language and K-3 early education.

Resignations were received from elementary teacher Tanya Perreault, Mountain Valley Middle School half-time math teacher Ty Giberson, Dirigo Middle School special education teacher Lucy Kochis, and Dirigo High School special education teacher Deb Melanson.

RSU 10 members towns are Buckfield, Hartford, Sumner, Canton, Peru, Dixfield, Carthage, Mexico, Rumford, Byron, Roxbury and Hanover.