Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part, as named in the project's dialogue file. No minutes exist online to check spellings against; identifications resting on inference are marked. Presiding officer first, then members, staff and the public.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Marjorie Erickson | SAU 6 chair (Unity) | Presided; explained why no nonpublic session would be held; reported the superintendent search survey and forums; drafted the school funding letter from the Hillsboro board's; led the evaluation-tool edit; asked how much of the compliance position serves Unity. Not named on this recording; identification medium, supported by the project timeline (elected SAU chair June 14, 2018) and her own references to Unity and to her "fourth year on this board". |
| Jason Benware | Claremont member | Asked whether purchasing is competitive; questioned using fund balance as "savings"; asked that the budget vote wait for the compliance-position item; moved the funding letter, the evaluation tool and the budget; argued for a stipend over an hourly rate. |
| Frank Sprague | Claremont member (Claremont chair) | Moved the agenda; gave income and tax statistics for the funding letter; proposed that the compliance monitor track why lunch bills go unpaid; seconded the evaluation tool. |
| Carolyn Towle | Claremont member | Pressed on the unexplained nonpublic item and on why the lunch debt was not on this board's agenda; asked for materials before meetings; asked about past write-offs; voted nay on the compliance position and requested the Abbey Group contract. |
| Michael Petrin | Claremont member | Said he now runs the Claremont School Board Facebook page and would post search information; asked about the former food service director. Identification medium-high. |
| Michelle Pierce | Claremont member | Moved to create the compliance position; seconded the budget and adjournment. |
| Sara Lowe | Unity member | One row: the amendment setting a salary range. The chair then calls it "the amendment, as Sarah read it"; the attribution is marked uncertain in the dialogue file. |
| Prudence [McCormick] | Unity member | Absent: reported ill by the chair. |
| Keith Pfeifer | Interim Superintendent, SAU 6 | Absent: injured and out of the office, per the chair. |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Absent: away, per the chair. |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator, SAU 6 | Presented the expenditure report, the proposed budget, revenues and the district apportionment; presented the food service compliance position. Surname from the roster. |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk (minutes) | Addressed by members as the minute-taker; not heard as a separate voice. |
| Jane Gilson | Citizens' comments, Claremont | Backpack program volunteer; offered vetted volunteers to help collect lunch debt and help families apply for free and reduced meals. Self-identified; spelling unverified. |
| Unidentified | Board members not named (Claremont and Unity) and short responses | 107 of 751 rows, including the mover of the minutes (a Claremont member) and a Unity parent-member who spoke on online lunch accounts. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted in any district share, so this list is reconstructed from the chair's transitions on the recording, which refer to lettered items. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:30 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | Roll called by the chair. |
| 0:02:05 | Agenda | Sprague moved to accept as presented; the chair explained there would be no nonpublic session; approved by voice at 0:04:27. |
| 0:04:43 | Minutes of September 13, 2018 | Moved by an unidentified Claremont member; approved by voice. |
| 0:06:22 | Citizens' comments | Jane Gilson on lunch-debt collection and the backpack program. |
| 0:18:26 | Budget review: expenditure report, proposed budget, revenues | Adoption deferred until after the compliance-position item at Benware's request (0:36:46). |
| 0:38:42 | Superintendent's report; search update | No report (superintendent absent). Survey live; forums December 1 and 5. |
| 0:44:05 | School funding letter approval | Benware moved; seconded; approved by voice at 0:49:55. |
| 0:50:55 | Superintendent evaluation process approval | Benware moved the tool with "appropriate" struck from one item; Sprague seconded; approved by voice at 0:58:08. |
| 0:58:58 | Item F: addition of a food service compliance monitor | Pierce moved, Sprague seconded; amended to a salaried range of $12,000 to $15,000 and to add tracking of why lunch payments are not made; amendment and amended motion approved by voice, Towle voting nay (1:19:18). |
| 1:22:18 | Item G: adoption of the budget for public hearing | $1,930,809 for 2019-20; Benware moved, Pierce seconded; approved by voice at 1:23:49. |
| 1:25:25 | Adjournment | Benware moved, Pierce seconded; approved. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological, from the dialogue CSV. Times are the start of the cited exchange, taken from the CSV's own second count. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped cell for the full entry.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:02:19 | Superintendent and assistant absent | Chair: "Corey's away for the weekend. And Doctor Pfeifer has injured himself and has not been in, I think, all week." He is "taking phone calls at home, but he will not be attending meetings". | |
| 0:02:41 | No nonpublic session | "Are we having a non public session tonight?" Chair (0:03:08): "Well I never got a request for a nonpublic. First off it was never brought to the chairs attention that we were to have a nonpublic." (0:04:04): "I can't have one without information." Towle (0:03:58): "It just leaves a lot still up in the air." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:05:57 | A commenter who cannot hear | Gilson: "I had a hearing disability, and this is really bad." The chair invited her to sit closer to the table. | POSITIVE |
| 0:06:45 | Citizens' comments: lunch debt | Gilson: "I'm involved in the backpack program." She offered "volunteers that are vetted that, that have experience in collections" and help signing families up for free and reduced meals (0:12:55). | |
| 0:09:02 | Whose issue is the debt | Chair: "At the current time, it's primarily an issue for Claremont School Board." (0:15:04): "The $32,000 is a Claremont issue." Towle (0:14:46): "It's administrative. It's s a you six. So I'm really confused here." Chair (0:17:13): "I read it in the newspaper. Right. So I think we have a communication issue." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:19:36 | Expenditure report | O'Neill: all salary and benefit costs are encumbered; about $100,000 of the unspent balance relates to position and benefit reductions (0:21:14). | |
| 0:21:58 | Proposed budget changes | Two changes: salary increases "totaling 10,000 186" and the proposed food service compliance monitor "at the value of 15,000 for salaries and 1147 50ft benefits" [$1,147.50 in benefits]. Health insurance rates not yet known (0:22:39). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:24:27 | Purchasing | Benware asked whether purchasing is competitive. O'Neill (0:25:31): government-rate computer buying and a supply deal under which the vendor will "match any price we can get anywhere else". | |
| 0:28:42 | How the SAU budget is apportioned | O'Neill: each district's share is based on "one half of the average daily membership" and "one half of the most recently published equalized valuation". Result (0:30:03): "Claremont of 89.47% and the percentage of portion to unity of 10.53%." $75,000 of fund balance used as revenue (0:31:24). Claremont's assessment "1,592,692, which is down 18,703 from last year" (0:31:40). | POSITIVE |
| 0:33:13 | Is it a saving? | Benware: taking fund balance to cover revenue "That's not really saving." O'Neill (0:33:03): "The expenditure budget is certainly down $15,000." | |
| 0:35:58 | Materials handed out at the table | Towle: "Is there is there any way we can get these before our meetings?" O'Neill (0:36:10): the superintendent was out and he had taken two days off. Benware (0:36:46): the budget includes a position "that we haven't even discussed", so "I don't think we can adopt anything yet on this until we've actually discussed item F." The chair agreed. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:39:41 | Superintendent search | Survey "live on Survey Monkey", with paper copies; responses by November 1; public forums December 1 and 5, one in each town, "open to anyone from either town." Petrin (0:41:55): "I have become in charge of the Claremont School Board Facebook page." Chair (0:43:16): the forum is "not a meeting. It's just a community open house." | |
| 0:44:05 | School funding letter | Chair: letters to "current legislators, as well as those running for office this year" (0:44:40), based on the Hillsboro school board's letter (0:46:03). Sprague (0:47:17) on Claremont wages "about $25,000 median less than the state average". Approved (0:49:55); the chair will "send it to everybody who's running for office." Sprague (0:50:45): "it's important who we vote for." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:50:55 | Superintendent evaluation tool | The tool had been before the board "for quite some time". Discussion of the item "provides appropriate information only when asked" (0:54:18); Benware's final motion (0:56:22): "We omit appropriate and provides appropriate information only when asked. And we make it provides information only when asked." Adopted. | POSITIVE |
| 0:59:14 | Food service compliance position | O'Neill: the position supports food service "that meet federal, state and local guidelines"; it is "very difficult for me with my current workload" to keep up (0:59:37); about one day a week (1:01:05). Budgeted at "$30 an hour" for 500 hours (1:04:22). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:02:22 | First look at the job description | Towle: "this is the first time I've seen this tonight as everybody." (1:06:03): "There's already a candidate. So this really isn't an open application. Correct?" O'Neill (1:06:20): "We've not made any decisions in hiring anybody." They had talked with someone with the experience, with no promises made. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:06:39 | Track why bills go unpaid | Sprague: "the critical piece of all this in my mind is why people are not paying." O'Neill (1:07:41): "you have $34,000 this year" in debt; if the person collects half, "they've paid for their own salary." Towle (1:08:18) asked what had been written off in past years; O'Neill: hard to say without a point-of-sale history. | |
| 1:09:18 | Hourly or salaried | Benware: "I believe the hourly rates too much" and preferred "a salary or a stipend". Sprague (1:10:22): "I would support a $15,000 stipend". O'Neill (1:11:56): regulations call for "an advisory board of parents, students and teachers". Chair (1:12:36) asked how much of this serves Unity; Sprague (1:13:18): Claremont bears most of the cost. | |
| 1:16:56 | Amendment and vote | Amendment for a salary range (first stated as "20 to $30" an hour, then as a stipend), settled at "12 to 15,000, 52 weeks a year." (1:17:46) plus "why lunch payments are not being made by families." (1:18:11). Amended motion passed; Towle (1:19:28): "I am not ready to do anything until I understand how we got to this point and why we're adding this on." She asked for the Abbey Group contract (1:19:54). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:21:21 | Former food service staff | The chair asked whether the district's former kitchen staff lost retirement coverage by becoming Abbey Group employees; O'Neill: all were offered interviews with the contractor. | |
| 1:22:37 | Budget sent to public hearing | Benware moved the budget; O'Neill restated it "for posting for the public hearing" at "1,930,809." (1:23:02). Approved. Chair (1:23:49): "this has been the clearest and most easy that this process has been." | POSITIVE |
| 1:24:32 | Next meeting, and a request | Next meeting November 8. Agenda requests should go to both the chair and the superintendent "Because there has been a communication issue". Action item: a copy of the Abbey Group contract for Towle (1:25:01). | OBSERVATION |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on October 18, 2018, cited from the 2018 codification or from texts whose source notes show no later change relevant here. They are not findings of violation, and nothing here is legal advice. Where no verified rule applies, the flag says so and is recorded as an observation. Six flags follow, ordered by severity.
OBSERVATION A nonpublic session appeared on the agenda that the chair had not requested and could not explain; she declined to hold it
Asked whether there would be a nonpublic session, the chair said she "never got a request for a nonpublic", that the request had originated in the SAU office, and that the superintendent had not followed through "with the request or any information regarding what it pertained to" (0:03:08); "I can't have one without information." (0:04:04). She added that she learned of another matter from the newspaper and that "we have a communication issue" (0:17:13), and asked that future agenda requests go to both her and the superintendent (1:24:32). In 2018 RSA 91-A:3, I(b) required any motion to enter nonpublic session to "state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II" and to pass by roll call. A board that does not know the subject cannot make that motion, so declining was the correct course. The concern recorded here is the agenda process: an item placed without the presiding officer's knowledge, with its subject still unknown on the tape. Whether the session was later held is for the November 8 record.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) (2018 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1).
OBSERVATION A new position was created the night members first saw its job description, and the proposed budget had already assumed it
The business administrator's proposed budget added "15,000 for salaries" for a food service compliance monitor (0:21:58) before the board had discussed the position. Benware had the budget vote held until after that item (0:36:46). When it came up, Towle said "this is the first time I've seen this tonight" (1:02:22) and asked whether a candidate was already in mind; the business administrator said no decision or promise had been made, though they had talked with someone experienced (1:06:03, 1:06:20). The board amended the terms on the floor (a $12,000 to $15,000 salaried range and a new duty to track why bills go unpaid) and passed it with Towle voting nay because she wanted to understand "how we got to this point" (1:19:28). Budget pages were also handed out at the table; Towle asked for materials in advance (0:35:58). No 2018 statute sets when a school board must receive materials, so this is an observation about deliberation. Mitigation: the superintendent was absent, the staffing gap had been exposed publicly by the missed lunch filing (see the September 19 page), and the members improved the proposal before voting.
Sources: Recording only; no verified rule on advance distribution of materials.
OBSERVATION Three weeks before the election, the board approved a school funding letter to legislators and every candidate for office
The chair adapted a Hillsboro school board letter on state school funding and asked to send it "to everybody who's running" (0:45:03); it was approved, and she said she would "work with the offices to copy this multiple times and send it to everybody who's running for office" (0:49:55). A member remarked "it's important who we vote for." (0:50:45). Public bodies may advocate on policy that affects them, and the letter as described was addressed to legislators and candidates, not to voters. In 2018 RSA 659:44-a barred public employees from electioneering in the performance of their duties or with government property, defining electioneering as acting "in any way specifically designed to influence the vote of a voter on any question or office"; RSA 273-A:1, IX excludes persons elected by popular vote from "public employee", so the statute does not reach board members. Nothing on the recording shows staff urging a vote. Recorded as an observation because office resources were used for a mailing to candidates, and the letter's text is not in any public record reviewed.
Sources: RSA 659:44-a, I to III (2019 codification; source note ends 2016, 176:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017, so the same text governed in 2018); RSA 273-A:1, IX (2019 codification; source note ends 2014).
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting are posted online
MAP.md section 84 records that neither district Drive share holds anything before July 2022 (checked 9/26/26). That is a limit of what the district posts online, not by itself evidence that records were never made: the board approves its September 13 minutes on this recording (0:04:43). Because the roll call is garbled, the minutes are the only place to confirm which Unity members attended, who seconded several motions, and the exact wording of the funding letter and the evaluation tool. In 2018 RSA 91-A:2, II required minutes to include "the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions", open to inspection within five business days. The limb applied is the online-availability observation.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2018 codification); Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 84.
POSITIVE The SAU budget went to a public hearing well before the statutory date, with the apportionment formula explained on camera
The business administrator walked the board and viewers through how each district's share is set, one half on average daily membership and one half on equalized valuation, producing 89.47% for Claremont and 10.53% for Unity (0:28:42 to 0:31:40), and stated each district's assessment and its change from last year. The board then approved a $1,930,809 budget "for posting for the public hearing" on November 8 (1:22:48, 1:23:49). In 2018 RSA 194-C:9, I required the SAU board to adopt its budget "At a meeting held before January 1" and set the same half-and-half apportionment; the section requires no public hearing. Holding one, in mid-November, gives the public time the statute does not guarantee.
Sources: RSA 194-C:9, I (2019 codification; source note 1996, 298:3; 2003, 279:1, so the same text governed in 2018).
POSITIVE A commenter with a hearing disability was accommodated, and the superintendent evaluation tool was edited and adopted in public
When a resident said she could not hear the proceedings, the chair invited her to sit at the table and members reminded speakers to use the microphone (0:05:57 to 0:06:41); her offer of volunteer help was received and answered (0:09:02 to 0:13:06). Separately, the board adopted the superintendent evaluation tool in open session after debating a single subjective word, striking "appropriate" from the standard "provides appropriate information only when asked" (0:54:18, 0:56:22). Neither step was required by statute; both make the board's work more accessible and its standards clearer.
Sources: Recording only; practice beyond statutory minimums.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 10059, "SAU#6 SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 10-18": Claremont Community TV. Every timestamp on this page links into this recording.
- No Drive material: neither the Claremont nor the SAU 6 share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023 (MAP.md, checked 9/26/26). No agenda, budget, job description, funding letter, evaluation tool or minutes were located.
- Related pages: Claremont School Board, September 19, 2018 (the missed lunch filing); Claremont School Board, October 3, 2018; Claremont School Board, October 30, 2018 (lunch debt plan, including the coordinator).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/10059 SAU6101818.mp4.CSV (751 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/10059 SAU6101818.mp4Input/Transcripts/10059 SAU6101818.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10059 SAU6101818.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 84
Laws and rules cited on this page