Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part, as named in the project's dialogue file, the clerk's opening roll (0:00:40 to 0:00:46) and the round of introductions (0:03:36 to 0:04:48). Where the dialogue file leaves a voice Unidentified, this page does too.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Marjorie Erickson | Chair, SAU 6 board (Unity member) | Presided. "I'm Marjorie Erickson. I'm the chairperson of the SA six school board." (0:03:36). Questioned the Lempster guests and the HR director; gave the superintendent search update (0:58:48); abstained on the November 8 minutes as absent from that meeting (0:02:59). |
| Frank Sprague | Claremont member; Claremont board chair | Moved the agenda (as attributed in the dialogue file, 0:01:53); questioned Lempster on costs and services; asked about the Stevens High School fire-inspection report (0:49:31) and about data from the new food service assistant (1:07:14). Heard in the opening roll as Greg. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Claremont member; Claremont vice chair | Asked Lempster about enrollment and services; asked for copies of the fire reports (0:50:06); reminded the chair that the nonpublic motion needed a roll call (1:11:08). Abstained on the November 8 minutes. |
| Jason Benware | Claremont member | Seconded the agenda; offered the "vice chair" correction to the November 8 minutes (0:02:36); moved the nonpublic session (1:10:52). Heard in the nonpublic roll as Jason Benoit. |
| Carolyn Towle | Claremont member | Asked for a description of the planned behavior program (0:18:13); raised cybersecurity terms in vendor contracts (0:45:41), adult education, and a standard collections letter for school-lunch arrears (1:08:08). Her introduction is garbled into Zullo's line as Carol and Tom (0:04:19). |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Claremont member (appointed November 7, 2018) | "I am Rob Lovett. I am on the school board for Claremont." (0:04:13). Answers the nonpublic roll as Love it. Yes. (1:12:54). |
| Michael Petrin; Michelle Pierce | Claremont members | Not heard in the opening roll or the introductions. Both are named by the clerk in the nonpublic roll call (Michael patron, 1:12:41; "Can I show Pierce", 1:12:51); whether either was present cannot be established from the recording. |
| Sara Lowe | Unity member; Unity School Board chair | Introduced herself as "the chair of the Unity" board (0:04:42); asked whether the SAU was out of compliance for having no SAU-level policies (0:46:38) and about the search timeline (1:03:04). |
| Prudence McCormick; Craig (surname not on record); Robert McDevitt | Unity members | Named in the opening roll (Who does McCormack, Greg. Shoot, "Robert McDevitt and Marjorie Erickson here", 0:00:46). None is identified speaking. |
| Dr. Keith Pfeifer | Interim Superintendent, SAU 6 | Superintendent's report (0:36:44 to 0:58:07): budget phases, policy review, curriculum cycle, a tentative agreement with the Claremont Administrators Association, Keene State practicum talks, building safety, adult education. Offered to stay past July 1 to help the next superintendent (1:04:39). |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Asked Lempster about federal accountability status (0:13:26); described the proposed in-district behavior program and SAU support services (0:18:29 to 0:23:50). |
| Michael O'Neill | Director of business and finance, SAU 6 | Introduced himself (0:04:35); no other speech is attributed to him. |
| Nathan (surname not on record) | Human resources director, SAU 6 | Reported on the SAU office performance-evaluation system and merit-pay pool, and distributed the organizational chart and job descriptions (0:29:01 to 0:36:37). |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk and recording secretary | Read the opening roll and the nonpublic roll call. |
| Unidentified (heard as Kelly Karen) | Chair, Lempster School Board (guest) | Led the Lempster presentation; "Michelle and Jim and I are the three subcommittee members." (0:14:34). The dialogue file leaves her Unidentified. |
| Jim (surname not on record) | Lempster School Board member (guest) | Described Lempster's history, the wind-farm payment in lieu of taxes, and asked the board to meet with Lempster's three-member group (0:25:37 to 0:27:11). Said he had served on the House education committee (0:05:04, 0:13:00). |
| Michelle (surname not on record) | Lempster School Board member (guest) | Described Lempster's federal grants (0:13:48) and student-information software; to contact Dr. Pfeifer to continue the discussion (0:27:52). |
| No citizens | Citizens' comments | "Seeing no citizens" (0:03:36). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted online, though the chair reviews one at the start. This outline is reconstructed from the chair's transitions. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:09 | Call to order; pledge; roll call | Roll read by the clerk (0:00:40 to 0:00:46); several names are garbled. |
| 0:01:13 | Agenda | Accepted as presented; motion attributed to Sprague (0:01:53), second Benware (0:01:55); voice vote. |
| 0:02:15 | Minutes of November 8, 2018 | Approved with one change naming Mike Petrin "vice chair" (0:02:36); motion by an unidentified member (0:02:45), second Benware; Zullo and Erickson abstaining (0:02:59). |
| 0:03:19 | Citizens' comments | None. |
| 0:03:36 | Welcome to the Lempster School Board | Introductions; Lempster's reasons for exploring a return to SAU 6 or a services contract; consensus for a small working group, with Lempster's Michelle to contact Dr. Pfeifer (0:27:19 to 0:27:52). No motion. |
| 0:28:25 | Action items: merit pay and performance evaluation update | Report by the HR director; job descriptions distributed. No vote. |
| 0:36:44 | Superintendent's report | Budget phases, policies, curriculum cycle, negotiations, safety, adult education. |
| 0:58:48 | Superintendent search update | Given by the chair. |
| 1:06:54 | Other business | Food service assistant data (Sprague); school-lunch arrears letter (Towle). |
| 1:10:52 | Nonpublic session | Motion Benware, second unidentified; roll-call vote begun at 1:12:41; answers audible are all Yes. The recording ends in the room at 1:13:37. |
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 |
|---|
| 0:02:15 | November 8 minutes | Benware: "Should be vice chair. It's very small." (0:02:36). Erickson: "I abstain because I wasn't here either. So note that Rebecca and Marjorie abstain." (0:02:59) | OBSERVATION |
| 0:04:48 | Lempster introduces itself | Lempster's chair (unidentified): "I'm Kelly Karen, chairperson of the Electric Normal program by chair of the school board." Its superintendent is "Planning to retire in a couple of years" (0:05:59). Jim: "we are not in any way unhappy with our present superintendent or our present model, but the model has to change because our superintendent is going to leave" (0:07:43). | POSITIVE |
| 0:08:49 | Lempster's size and costs | "We have just over 100 students within our K through eight school. We have 39 high schoolers"; most high schoolers attend Fall Mountain. The school was "running about $3 million" (0:11:01); "We renegotiated our bus contract, our food contract, all of our contracts." (0:11:21). The wind-farm payment in lieu of taxes "led to a loss of revenues, which led to an increase in tax rate for the school" (0:12:27). | |
| 0:13:48 | Lempster's federal grants | Michelle: "about, $50,000 in Ida, about, 40 to 50, depending on the year in title one and 10,000 in title two". Lempster's group plans an RFP: "our plan is to put together an RFP to put out to the source to see what they would charge" (0:14:34). | |
| 0:16:23 | Two options | Jim: "one of the options would be if we became part of this, say what would the cost be. And secondarily what would the services be." The other is "hiring or contracting for special ed services". Erickson: Unity contracts outside agencies for speech and language because Claremont "hasn't had enough staffing" (0:17:06). | |
| 0:18:29 | Claremont's proposed behavior program | LeClair: an "end district out of district placement" for students now placed out for behavioral and emotional needs, starting next year "with two elementary behavioral classrooms" (0:19:24). | |
| 0:25:37 | Request for a working group | Jim asked for "a subcommittee or a group or administrator, probably Mr. O'Neill and some other folks" to look at models before March, "because this is a two year process" (0:26:04). Erickson: "I like the idea of a small group" (0:27:38). No motion was made and no members were named. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:29:01 | SAU office evaluation and merit pay | Nathan: "the budget was passed with a 3% pool"; "It's real tough to get a perfect three." (0:30:26). Job descriptions and the organizational chart handed out; the chart shows a curriculum director position "not in the budget for next year" (0:31:11). | POSITIVE |
| 0:36:52 | Superintendent's report: budgets and policy | "We are about to end phase one of budget development." Phase two is warrants and hearings; phase three, in January, "the marketing of our budgets" (0:37:23). Policy review is under way for Claremont and Unity; a three-year curriculum cycle to be presented (0:38:56). | |
| 0:41:41 | Negotiations; recruitment | "we have a tentative agreement with the Claremont Administrators Association." Pfeifer met Keene State faculty about practicum placements (0:43:31) and is drafting a standard district contract for vendors with counsel Matt Upton (0:45:08). | |
| 0:46:38 | No SAU-level policies | Lowe: "this is my fourth year on this board, and we have not ever looked at policies for the say is." Pfeifer suggested an SAU policy book after the search (0:47:34). Zullo: "We're not out of compliance for not having any six board policies or anything like that. Right." (0:48:09). Erickson: "we haven't looked at policies" (0:48:37). | |
| 0:49:05 | Building safety | The deputy fire chief inspected all Claremont buildings; responses are complete "But Stevens, which is ongoing". Sprague: "If if Stevens High School is out of compliance, I'd like I'd like to hear more about that" (0:49:31). Zullo asked for copies (0:50:06). | |
| 0:51:43 | Budget calendar; adult education | "On January 2nd here we have a budget hearing." Pfeifer described the Timberlane evening adult-education diploma program he ran and proposed exploring one here (0:52:56 to 0:57:38). | |
| 0:59:02 | Superintendent search update | A search web page carries the job listing, a timeline and survey results; a draft status update reads: "A seven member search committee was formed in September" (1:00:58); "To date, nine applications have been received, but more are expected as applications will be accepted through January 15th, 2019." (1:01:30). Aim: a start "on the 1st of July" (1:04:04). | POSITIVE |
| 1:04:39 | Pfeifer offers a transition | "Very willing to, even without pay, to stay for a little while after July 1st". Erickson on the screening method: "the whole idea is to take the subjectivity out of it"; "But we are zooming. We have all learned how to, to do it from home." (1:06:24) | OBSERVATION |
| 1:07:14 | School-lunch arrears | Sprague: "I'm dying to know why people why people are going into arrears." Towle asked for "a standardized letter written with their letter, their letterhead" from counsel (1:08:08); Lowe suggested it is a Claremont board issue (1:08:38). | |
| 1:10:52 | Nonpublic session | Benware: "I'd like to make a motion that we go into nonpublic session for RSA 91-A colon three sub paragraph two." Zullo: "But we have to roll call." (1:11:08). The roll call follows at 1:12:41. | MEDIUM |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on December 13, 2018. They are not findings of violation, and nothing here is legal advice. Each flag names the rule it rests on; where no verified rule applies, it is recorded as an observation. Ordered by severity.
MEDIUM The motion to enter nonpublic session named no specific exemption
The motion as spoken was to go into nonpublic session "for RSA 91-A colon three sub paragraph two" (1:10:52). Paragraph II lists the separate grounds on which a public body may meet privately, (a) through (l) in the text then in force, and the statute required the motion itself to name the one relied on. No letter is heard on the recording, and nothing said before or after the motion indicates the subject. The board did correct itself on the second requirement: the chair began a voice vote, Zullo said "But we have to roll call." (1:11:08), and the clerk called the roll (1:12:41). The November 8, 2018 SAU 6 motion cited only "RSA 91-A colon, three" with no paragraph at all, so this reads as a pattern of the period rather than a one-off. MEDIUM: a probable procedural gap under a binding rule, where the minutes (not online) might record a more specific motion than the one heard.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and II (2017 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017): the motion "shall state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II", and the vote "shall be by roll call".
OBSERVATION Two committees of the board, one of them described as meeting "from home", with no public record of either
The chair described a seven-member superintendent search committee "formed in September" that includes SAU board members (1:00:58), and said of its work over the holidays: "But we are zooming. We have all learned how to, to do it from home." (1:06:24). A committee of a school board is itself a public body. In the text in force in 2018, a member could take part remotely only when attendance in person was "not reasonably practical", and "Except in an emergency, a quorum of the public body shall be physically present" at the noticed location. Whether the committee held its meetings by video, or members only did screening work from home between meetings, cannot be told from this remark. Separately, the board agreed by consensus, without a motion or named members, to a "small group" to meet Lempster's three-member subcommittee (0:25:37, 0:27:38); if board members sit on it, it too would carry the chapter's notice and minutes duties. No notices or minutes for either body are posted online.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (source note ends 2008, 354:1): a public body includes "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto"; RSA 91-A:2, III(a) and (b) (2017 codification; source note ends 2017, 165:1 and 234:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2018).
OBSERVATION The minutes of this meeting, its nonpublic session and the November 8 meeting are not available online
The recording shows that minutes of the November 8, 2018 meeting existed and were approved here with one correction (0:02:15 to 0:02:59), so this is not evidence that minutes went unkept. What is missing is online availability: the district's Drive shares begin in 2022 and 2023, and no SAU 6 website archive for 2018 was located. The recording ends in the room at the start of the nonpublic session with no return to public session, so the only record of what was decided, and of any vote to withhold those minutes, would be the minutes themselves. Under the law then in force, minutes had to be open to public inspection within five business days, and nonpublic minutes and decisions had to be disclosed within 72 hours unless withheld by a recorded two-thirds vote. Recorded as an OBSERVATION about online availability under the run's severity rule; the recording shows no statutory lapse.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification): minutes "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting"; RSA 91-A:3, III (2017 codification): 72-hour disclosure.
POSITIVE The superintendent search was reported to the public with a web page, a timeline and survey results
The chair reported a search page on the SAU 6 website carrying the job listing, a timeline "that we're hoping to adhere to" and "the results of the survey" (0:59:31), and a plan to post a status update "every every few weeks, every month, just to let the town know where we are in the process and who's involved" (1:00:04); she read her draft update into the record (1:00:31 to 1:02:28). No statute requires a school administrative unit to publish its search process; doing so exceeds the minimum and gave the public dates and application counts.
Sources: Practice beyond statutory minimums; no statute prescribes public reporting of a superintendent search.
POSITIVE A neighboring district's approach, and the SAU office's evaluation and pay system, were aired in public session
Lempster's request to explore rejoining the unit or buying its services, which could change the SAU's size and costs, was heard entirely on camera, with Lempster's enrollment, budget and special-education figures stated (0:08:49 to 0:13:48). The HR director likewise presented the SAU office evaluation process and "a 3% pool" for merit pay, and distributed every job description and the organizational chart (0:30:26 to 0:31:11). Personnel pay systems are often handled privately; these were discussed in public at the level of the system rather than individuals, which keeps the nonpublic exemptions for what they are meant for.
Sources: Practice beyond statutory minimums; compare RSA 91-A:3, II(a) (2017 codification), which permits nonpublic discussion of an individual employee's compensation but not of a pay system as such.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 10165, "SAU # 6 SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 12-13-18": 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 section 89, checked 9/26/26). The agenda, the HR handouts and the minutes were not located.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/10165 SAU6121318.mp4.CSV (541 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/10165 SAU6121318.mp4Input/Transcripts/10165 SAU6121318.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10165 SAU6121318.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 89
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II and III (2017 codification, text in force from January 1, 2017): nonpublic-session motion, grounds, disclosure of nonpublic minutes.
- RSA 91-A:2, II and III (2017 codification, text in force during 2018): minutes within five business days; remote participation and physical quorum.
- RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d): committees and subcommittees are public bodies.