Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part. Names follow the project's dialogue file and the 2015 to 2023 roster; no minutes exist online to check spellings against. Where the dialogue file says Unidentified, this page does too.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Michael Petrin | SAU 6 chair (Claremont) | Presided. Took blame for the slow superintendent contract; noted a whole-board exit session would have to be warned; said early-start pay for the incoming superintendent would be discussed in nonpublic session. |
| Michael Tempesta | Incoming superintendent (start July 1, 2019) | Introduced; described his transition from Central Mass Collaborative; asked that all three open posts be posted and that the HR function be kept staffed over the summer. |
| Cory LeClair | Acting Superintendent, SAU 6 | Presented her own resignation and Nathan Leavenworth's; described the open posts, the business administrator vacancy and year-to-date finances; introduced the data governance plan and the Primex rate cap. |
| Marjorie Erickson | SAU 6 vice chair (Unity) | Moved the March 28 minutes; corrected the April 11 minutes; proposed exit interviews; asked why the data plan says nothing about training. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Claremont vice chair; SAU 6 member | Corrected the April 11 minutes (there was no superintendent search subcommittee); volunteered for the exit conversation, then questioned its fairness to other departing staff. |
| Heather Whitney | Claremont board member; SAU 6 member | Objected that no policy governs exit interviews; asked that the incoming superintendent report at his first meeting; asked about data-plan compliance deadlines. |
| Frank Sprague | Claremont board chair; SAU 6 member | Moved the agenda, the April 11 minutes, the data plan and the Primex agreement; asked whether the business administrator post was advertised full time. |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Claremont board member; SAU 6 member (identification low-confidence) | Moved the exit-interview motion, then withdrew it; seconded the data plan; moved nonpublic session, reading both exemptions. The dialogue file identifies this voice by elimination only; Robert McDevitt or Gary Bader could be the speaker. |
| Josh Malloy | Director of Instructional Technology | Presented the data governance plan and its known gaps (unlocked server racks, no backup generators, locally hosted systems). |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk | Called the opening roll (mostly lost in the transcript) and the nonpublic roll. |
| Robert McDevitt; Gary Bader | Unity members | Heard only as yes votes in the nonpublic roll (Vader, Gary. Battered for Bader). |
| Unidentified | Members | Seconds, ayes and short remarks, including a member who asked about server battery backups. 53 of 338 rows (15.7%) are Unidentified. |
| Named, not speaking | Others | Nathan Leavenworth, assistant director of business and finance and director of HR, resigning about June 11 (spelling unverified); Prue and Shannon (Unity members McCormick and Popescu), suggested for the exit conversation. |
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. A written agenda existed: "We have an agenda in front of us." Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:07 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | Roll largely lost in the transcript. |
| 0:01:34 | Agenda | Sprague moved as presented; the chair seconded; voice vote at 0:01:44. |
| 0:01:44 | Minutes of March 28 and April 11, 2019 | March 28 (edited) approved as amended: Erickson moved at 0:02:01, chair seconded, voice vote. April 11 approved as amended after corrections by Erickson and Zullo: Sprague moved at 0:03:43, Zullo seconded, voice vote with one abstention at 0:03:50. |
| 0:04:00 | Citizens' comments | Opened and closed; none. |
| 0:04:07 | Introduction of the incoming superintendent | Michael Tempesta, start July 1. |
| 0:06:15 | Nominations and resignations | No nominations. Resignations of Nathan Leavenworth and Cory LeClair, no action required; accepted with regret at 0:20:09. An exit-interview motion passed at 0:12:58 and was withdrawn by its mover at 0:18:25. See flag 1. |
| 0:20:16 | Transition plan | Open posts, business administrator vacancy, the incoming superintendent's start. No action; pay for an early start deferred to nonpublic session. See flags 2 and 3. |
| 0:31:39 | Data governance plan | Draft approved as presented: Sprague moved at 0:40:45, Lovett seconded, voice vote at 0:40:51. See flag 5. |
| 0:41:24 | Primex contribution assurance program | Three-year cap of 7% a year on contribution increases, FY2021 to FY2023. Sprague moved at 0:42:41; seconded and voice vote at 0:42:49. |
| 0:43:22 | Nonpublic session, RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and (c) | Lovett moved, reading the exemptions; seconded at 0:44:04; roll call at 0:44:30, all present voting yes. Recording ends. See flag 6. |
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 |
|---|
| 0:00:07 | Call to order | Petrin: "I'd like to call the, March 16th saw sixth board meeting to order, please. 16th May. Yeah. May 16th." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:01:44 | Minutes | Chair: "We have the, edited minutes from March 28th. In the minutes from April 11th." Erickson at 0:02:01: "And make a motion to accept the March 20th minutes, as amended." Zullo at 0:03:24 on the April 11 draft: "it stated that there's, a superintendent superintendent search subcommittee. Just let her know that there wasn't a subcommittee for that." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:04:07 | Incoming superintendent | Petrin on the contract: "I think I can take some of the blame for that as far as being new to this whole process." At 0:04:47: "when it comes down to the fact that you have to get the whole board back together to, approve and make decisions". Tempesta at 0:05:25: "hopefully they're still working on my replacement back at Central Mass Collaborative." | |
| 0:06:34 | Two resignations | LeClair: "First, I have the resignation of Nathan Leavenworth as the sixth director, our assistant director of business and finance and the director of HR." and "And I also have my own formal resignation." Leaving "About June 11th." (0:09:27). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:07:10 | Exit interviews | Erickson: "One of the things that has been an issue in the past is exit interviews that we haven't done". Whitney at 0:08:36: "there's no policy in place for how that process would occur." Petrin at 0:09:51: "Corey's stepped up into the role of superintendent, which is our. Only position that we hire." and a session with the board "it'd have to be warned." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:12:46 | Exit-interview motion passed, then withdrawn | Lovett: "I make a motion that we elect Marjorie Erickson and Rebecca Zullo to conduct an exit interview for Corey Leclerc." Seconded; voice vote at 0:12:58. Zullo at 0:13:03: "I think it should just be a conversation." Lovett at 0:13:31: "I remove that and I make a motion that you have an informal conversation with Corey regarding her exit." At 0:13:41: "I don't know anymore. I'm just trying to move this along." LeClair at 0:17:12: "I don't want it to be any additional burden to what I'm trying to hold together right now." Lovett at 0:18:25: "So I'm revoking it." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:19:19 | Thanks; resignations accepted | Petrin thanks Nathan ("12 years with us") and LeClair. Sprague at 0:20:09: "We accept them with regret." | |
| 0:20:20 | Transition | LeClair: "Is there a possibility to bring Mr. Tempesta in early." Petrin at 0:21:28: an official start date is needed for system access, "for liability." At 0:22:56 three posts are open: "the director of business and finance, which is currently posted as a business administrator". At 0:23:46: "But the Bay position is one that I don't think we can." (then "Go without."). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:25:08 | No applicants yet | LeClair: the business administrator post "is posted on school spring." Petrin at 0:25:22: "Zero from zero." LeClair at 0:25:29: "My last day will be that last Friday in June." At 0:26:23: "The exiting individual did not have a 1.0 full time equivalent position, but it's being advertised as a 1.0 full time equivalent." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:26:38 | Early-start pay to nonpublic | Petrin: "Give, you know, like per diem pay or we have a non public leader that we can discuss that more freely." Zullo at 0:26:52: "Yeah I know what the nonpublic is." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:29:19 | Year-to-date finances | LeClair: "there is a year to date expenditure document for the saw. That's the cleanest of the three entities that we have right now." At 0:29:42: "The Claremont immunity documents, however, there's there's still some major question marks as to where we stand today in relationship to the end of the year". At 0:30:13 on banking: "who's authorized to talk to the bank". At 0:31:07: "My name is on a lot of things right now". | OBSERVATION |
| 0:31:55 | Data governance plan | LeClair: "It has to be completed and signed off on by June 30th of this year. Or we will effectively be breaking the law." Malloy at 0:32:35: "this all had to do with HB 1612, which is now RSA winning the 966." [RSA 189:66]. At 0:33:41: "There's little things like our all of our servers behind a locked door. Which they are not." | POSITIVE |
| 0:34:48 | Training and compliance | Erickson: "Training is not discussed in here anywhere". Malloy at 0:35:00: "there is no legal requirement that we have that in our plan this year." At 0:36:27: "There's absolutely no current current compliance or anyone looking at it". At 0:38:24: "our student information system is is hosted locally and open to the internet." | POSITIVE |
| 0:40:45 | Plan approved | Sprague: "Make a motion that we accept the data governance plan draft as presented." Lovett seconded at 0:40:49; voice vote at 0:40:51. | POSITIVE |
| 0:41:24 | Primex rate cap | LeClair: property and liability rates "Increased 5% from 16 to 17, 7% from 17 to 18, 9% from 18 to 19, and -6% from 18 to 20." At 0:42:34: "And it just guarantees that a maximum increase will not exceed 7%." Sprague at 0:42:41: "I make a motion that the Saw six accept the Prime X Contribution Insurance program proposal." | |
| 0:43:22 | Into nonpublic session | Lovett: "A motion that we go into a non public session. The RSA 91-8 colon three, subparagraph two a the dismissal, promotion or compensation of any public employee" and "as well as RSA 91, A three, subparagraph two C." Clerk at 0:45:20: "And Carolyn Charles is not here. So everybody that's here is in favor of it." LeClair at 0:45:29: "Can you please invite." | POSITIVE OBSERVATION |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on May 16, 2019, cited as it then read. 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 An exit-interview motion passed on a voice vote and was then "revoked" by its mover without a vote
Lovett moved that Erickson and Zullo conduct an exit interview with the departing acting superintendent; it was seconded and carried by voice (0:12:46, 0:12:58). Discussion continued, the mover offered an informal-conversation version (0:13:31), and after the acting superintendent said she did not want an additional burden (0:17:12) he said "So I'm revoking it." (0:18:25). No vote to reconsider or rescind is on the recording, so whether the board's recorded decision stands depends on how the minutes treat it; the minutes are not online. The exchange also shows the board applying the open-meeting rule correctly: the chair noted that a session involving the whole board "it'd have to be warned" (0:09:51), which is why a two-member conversation, short of a quorum, was proposed. That reading matches RSA 91-A:2, I, under which a meeting is the convening of a quorum. Rescission procedure is a matter of parliamentary rules, not statute, so this is an observation.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, I (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1): a meeting is the convening of a quorum.
OBSERVATION Six weeks before the new superintendent's start, the SAU business office was losing its second-ranking officer, its top post had no applicants, and Claremont's year-end position was unclear
The assistant director of business and finance, who was also HR director, resigned effective about June 11 (0:06:34, 0:09:27). The business administrator post was posted on SchoolSpring with, per the chair, "Zero from zero." applicants (0:25:08, 0:25:22). The acting superintendent, herself leaving at the end of June (0:25:29), said the SAU's year-to-date expenditure report was "the cleanest of the three entities" but that for Claremont and Unity there were "still some major question marks as to where we stand today in relationship to the end of the year" (0:29:19, 0:29:42), and that banking authority rested on her and the departing assistant director (0:30:13, 0:31:07). These are the speakers' accounts; no rule is engaged and nothing here is a finding. They are recorded because they bear directly on the district's later financial difficulties, and because the June 4 meeting went on to receive an adverse audit opinion on the SAU's FY2018 statements (June 4 page).
Sources: Cablecast show 10375 at the times given (speakers' accounts).
OBSERVATION The nonpublic session was previewed as covering pay for the incoming superintendent's early start; its outcome is not in the public record
During the transition discussion the chair said that "per diem pay" for an early start was something "we can discuss that more freely" in the nonpublic session scheduled for later (0:26:38). The motion then cited RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and II(c) (0:43:22). Paragraph II(a) covers the "dismissal, promotion, or compensation of any public employee"; whether a superintendent under contract but not yet on the payroll fits that phrase was not verified here, and the session may also have covered other matters. Any decision made in nonpublic session had to be recorded in minutes publicly disclosed within 72 hours unless sealed by a recorded two-thirds vote in public session with the statutory finding (RSA 91-A:3, III, 2019 text). The recording ends as the session begins; no nonpublic minutes, sealing vote or later disclosure was located.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and III (2019 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1 and 280:1): compensation exemption; 72-hour disclosure of nonpublic minutes.
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes are online; the opening roll is lost and the end of the meeting is not recorded
MAP.md section 103 records that neither district Drive share holds anything older than 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's own practice on this recording (approving and correcting two earlier sets of minutes, 0:01:44 to 0:03:50) shows minutes were kept, so the project's missing-records rule is applied on its online-availability limb. From the recording alone: the opening roll is almost entirely lost (0:00:52); the recording ends as the board enters nonpublic session, so the session's length, any return to public session and adjournment are unrecorded; and no approval of these minutes is heard on the June 4 or July 25 recordings. Zullo's correction that the April 11 draft named a superintendent search subcommittee that did not exist (0:03:24) is itself a reminder that minutes, not recordings, are the legal record and need to be right.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification): minutes open to inspection within 5 business days; Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 103.
POSITIVE The data governance plan was approved six weeks ahead of the statutory June 30, 2019 deadline, with its gaps stated openly
The acting superintendent told the board the plan "has to be completed and signed off on by June 30th of this year" (0:31:55), and the board approved the draft on May 16 (0:40:45, 0:40:51). RSA 189:66, V, as it read in 2019, required the plan to be "presented to the school board for review and approval by June 30, 2019" and updated annually. The presenter was candid that the plan records gaps rather than cures them: server racks not behind locked doors, no backup generators, a student information system "hosted locally and open to the internet" (0:33:41, 0:38:24), and no training requirement (0:35:00). Meeting a deadline early while telling the board plainly what is not yet in place is good practice. The statute requires each "local education agency" to develop a plan and present it to "the school board"; this approval covers the SAU entity, and whether the Claremont and Unity boards approved their own plans is not on this recording.
Sources: RSA 189:66, V (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 252:1, 2, eff. Aug. 11, 2018): data and privacy governance plan to the school board for approval by June 30, 2019, updated annually.
POSITIVE The nonpublic motion read both exemptions aloud and was carried on a recorded roll call that named the absent members
Lovett's motion cited RSA 91-A:3 and read the text of paragraphs II(a) and II(c) (0:43:22, 0:43:46); the clerk called the roll by name, recording McCormick, Benware and Towle as not present, and every member present voted yes (0:44:30 to 0:45:20). RSA 91-A:3, I(b), as it read in 2019, required the motion to state on its face the specific exemption relied on and to be decided by roll call.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) (2019 codification): motion states the exemption, roll-call vote.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/10375 SAU6051619.mp4.CSV (338 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/10375 SAU6051619.mp4Input/Transcripts/10375 SAU6051619.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10375 SAU6051619.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 103
Laws and rules cited on this page