PARIS – A former middle school secretary must spend more than half a year in jail and pay back more than $14,000 she stole from a school vault in Rumford.

Susan Lizotte of Rumford was sentenced Wednesday by a Superior Court judge to serve seven months of a three-year sentence and repay the $14,582 she took from the Mountain Valley Middle School vault between 2003 and 2005. The funds included $125 raised by students for Hurricane Katrina victims.

Lizotte, who is 50, pleaded guilty to a theft charge earlier this month. At her sentencing in Oxford County Superior Court, she apologized. Lizotte said she used the money to help her three daughters with rent and other expenses while they were in college.