Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part or being named in the roll. 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 Board chair (Claremont member) | Presided. Added the superintendent's report after citizens' comments; thanked central-office staff, who "stepped up into new roles" during the turnover; brought forward Marjorie's suggestion of standing Claremont and Unity reports; proposed October 10 for the next meeting; put the July 25 minutes over. Answered the roll as Mike pitching. |
| Frank Sprague | Board member; Claremont School Board chair | Noted that minutes approval was missing from the agenda; asked how the former part-time business administrator's pay compared with the incoming full-time administrator's and where human resources would sit; supported the restructured position; proposed early planning for the SAU budget; answered the Unity-attendance concern. |
| Carolyn Towle | Board member (Claremont) | Asked whether auditors recommend control improvements; raised thin Unity attendance; pressed for public communication about the administrative turnover; asked that minutes be sent before meetings; announced the education-funding listening session in Newport. Transcribed Carolyn Toll in the roll. |
| Rebecca [Zullo] | Board member (Claremont) | Named in the roll by first name only; a Here. follows. Surname from the roster, not the recording. |
| Heather Whitney | Board member (Claremont) | Answered the roll. No other speech is attributed to her in the dialogue file. |
| Jason Benware | Board member (Claremont) | Named in the roll (Jason. Benwell.); no answer is distinguishable and no speech is attributed to him. |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Board member (Claremont) | Named in the roll; no answer is distinguishable and no speech is attributed to him. |
| Shannon Popescu | Board member (Unity) | Named in the roll; the transcript records Seriously? Yeah. from an unidentified voice after her name. |
| Gary Bader | Board member (Unity) | Named in the roll (spelling from the roster, unverified); no answer transcribed. |
| Unidentified | Unity member(s) of the board | An unidentified Unity member asked whether the position change had come up at the Unity meeting: "Did this all come up at the unity meeting. I know I wasn't there, so I just wanted to make sure." Later a Unity member said "no one from unity will be there because we have our meeting that night". The dialogue file cannot say whether these are the same person, or who gave the unnamed first answer to the roll. |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Opening-of-school report; announced Richard Seaman's October 2 start as business administrator; reported the IRS closing letter and audit progress; presented the merged accountant and grants position and the SAU assessment savings; agreed to issue a regular superintendent's report to the community. |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk | Called the roll. |
| Unidentified | Board members | The member who moved the amended agenda and its seconder; the member who moved the position ("I make a motion that we approve this, grant slash accounting position.") and the seconder; a member who restated the grants-manager arithmetic and suggested a monthly superintendent's report like Lebanon's. 87 of 222 rows (39%) are Unidentified. |
| Named, not speaking | Staff and others | Richard Seaman (incoming business administrator; transcribed once as Richard Simmons); John Aubin, the part-time business staff member (transcribed Mr. Robin; the identification rests on the roster and is not certain); Mike O'Neill (former part-time business administrator); Jamie Young (central-office assistant); Ben Nester (Mr. Nestor); Marjorie [Erickson], credited with the standing-reports idea. Whether Marjorie was present is not clear from the recording. |
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 |
|---|
| 0:00:00 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | Roll by the clerk; see Board composition above. |
| 0:01:19 | Agenda | The chair added the superintendent's report after citizens' comments. Moved as amended by an unidentified member and seconded by an unidentified member; voice vote at 0:01:44. |
| 0:01:44 | Citizens' comments | "Seeing none under close citizens comments." |
| 0:02:01 | Superintendent's report (added) | Opening of school; administrators in schools daily; Richard Seaman starting October 2; student performances planned for future meetings. Informational. |
| 0:05:49 | Discussion: IRS closing letter; audit update | Chair's thanks to staff; the IRS closing letter reported received and included in the board's materials; Claremont FY17 audit closing, FY18 to start, Unity FY17 closed; auditors to be invited to the next meeting. Informational. |
| 0:11:28 | Discussion: accountant / grants position | One full-time position combining the grants manager and assistant business manager functions. Moved by an unidentified member at 0:21:25, seconded by an unidentified member; voice vote at 0:21:33, no audible opposition. |
| 0:21:44 | Update on business administrator | Richard Seaman to start October 2. Informational. |
| 0:22:49 | Future agenda items; next meeting | SAU budget planning; standing Claremont and Unity reports; next meeting aimed at Thursday, October 10, with members to be polled. |
| 0:29:24 | Other business: minutes of July 25, 2019 | Not distributed in advance; put over to the next meeting without a vote. |
| 0:30:13 | Other business: education funding listening session | Towle announced the Sullivan County public hearing and listening session, 6 p.m., probate courtroom, Newport. |
| 0:31:37 | Adjournment | Moved and seconded (unidentified); voice vote at 0:31:43. Towle: "That was the shortest meeting ever." |
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 |
|---|
| 0:00:47 | Roll call | The clerk reads Popescu, Bader, then the Claremont members; see Board composition. Only some answers are audible. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:01:19 | Agenda amended | Chair: "I'm going to make one change that we need to kind of get back on the regular schedule. The superintendent report. I'm going to add that in after citizens comments". | |
| 0:02:01 | Opening of school | Superintendent: "we are committed to spending at least four hours scheduled every day of the year in schools." At 0:02:55: "Richard Seaman is going to be joining us October 2nd full time". Towle at 0:04:09 on a freshman: "I got lost six times and I have to go all the way down the stairs for gym, but I love it". At 0:04:35: "We're hoping to have students from unity and from, Claremont occasionally come in and perform". | |
| 0:05:39 | Minutes missing from agenda | Sprague: "Approval of minutes is not on the agenda either." The chair takes the July 25 minutes up under other business at 0:29:25. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:05:49 | Thanks to central-office staff | Chair: "That office has gone through quite a turnover, as we all know." "People that probably could have ran when they saw what the turnover was happening, but people stepped up into new roles." | |
| 0:07:07 | IRS closing letter | Chair: "Yeah. We got good news from the IRS." Superintendent at 0:07:17: "basically it was a very, direct form letter that, you know, this matter is, is resolved". At 0:07:38: "But I guess that's how the IRS rolls." The letter was "included" in the board's materials; it is not in any public share. | POSITIVE |
| 0:08:06 | Audit status | "the auditors are closing the Claremont 17 audit now, they, they expect to start the the 18 next week." At 0:08:32: "the unity 17 is closed". At 0:09:36: the auditors to attend the next meeting, where "it would be great to hear from the third party folks who do that." Towle at 0:10:20: "Recommendations on how to improve systems or controls within." Superintendent at 0:10:48: "To make sure we have we have more controls over everything." | POSITIVE |
| 0:11:33 | Accountant / grants position: the numbers | At 0:12:39: "we estimated and we budgeted conservatively, that those teaching positions would be $60,000 in salary and then approximately $30,000 in fringe benefits." At 0:13:03: "with the actual salaries, with 36,030 7000." [figure garbled]; "we estimated that would be approximately 180,000. It was only 112,000." The departing grants manager: "we paid that person approximately $70,000 a year" (0:13:36). At 0:16:27: "the total reduction of the Saw assessment is 170,000." At 0:17:04: "The assessment Claremont is 89.5% of the overall assessment". | OBSERVATION |
| 0:14:05 | Why one full-time position | "I want to fill that with one position so that we have control over" the grants, with "a full time employee" rather than "a part time person coming, you know, in occasionally". A member at 0:17:53: "the previous grants manager was only a part time position at 70 K." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:18:42 | Business administrator pay; human resources | Sprague: "I'm assuming that there's a difference between what might was paid and what Richard will be paid." Superintendent: "The difference in salary is, is minimal. A few thousand dollars okay." On HR at 0:19:12: "the human resources piece is going to be primarily supervised by, by Richard Ian by myself." | |
| 0:20:13 | Sprague on the press and the IRS matter | "the Saw board and the administration is making taking every step to make sure that these errors don't happen again." At 0:20:49: "It sounds like there's a plan, with very fine mesh for things to." | POSITIVE |
| 0:21:25 | Position approved | "I make a motion that we approve this, grant slash accounting position." Seconded; chair at 0:21:33: "Any further discussion? All in favor?" Aye. "Opposed? All right." Mover and seconder unidentified. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:22:16 | Full-time business administrator | Sprague: "I asked the question last year when when we were having some issues is why isn't this why isn't that position full time." A Unity member at 0:22:36: "Did this all come up at the unity meeting. I know I wasn't there, so I just wanted to make sure." Superintendent: "We we spoke about all." | |
| 0:23:14 | SAU budget planning | Sprague: "Our budget for the saw is to December ish." He suggested planning at the next meeting "and maybe a subcommittee". Chair at 0:24:51: "We've never I don't when I've been here, we haven't had a subcommittee." | |
| 0:23:50 | Unity attendance | Towle: "We barely have unity members at the meetings." "I'm quite concerned about the lack of membership from the unity side." A member at 0:24:09: "I'm just wondering, is the SR six meeting optional?" Reply: "Not as far as I'm aware." At 0:24:21: "No policy on on this. You know, the city council has that. We don't have anything like that." Sprague at 0:24:43: "My response to that is then don't complain about the decisions that get made." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:25:18 | Standing reports; next date | Chair: "Something that Marjorie had brought up is maybe putting on the agenda on a regular basis is just a report from unity, a report from Claremont." Next meeting at 0:26:38: "Time frame work? October 10th." | |
| 0:27:15 | Communicating the turnover | Towle: "I've seen comments online that people think that the administration is essentially still the same." A member at 0:27:58 described Lebanon's "monthly superintendent report". Superintendent at 0:28:21: "So I'll do press release." | |
| 0:29:25 | July 25 minutes put over | Chair: "We have the minutes from July 25th." Towle at 0:29:38: "I have a question this was not sent out with. I didn't get this prior to the meeting. Was it sent out?" and "I would I would like to make sure that it is just so that we can read it before we get here". At 0:30:03: "So so that goes on the agenda for the next one? Yes. Okay." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:30:25 | Education funding listening session | Towle: "it's a public hearing and listening session regarding education funding." A Unity member at 0:31:15: "I will tell you that no one from unity will be there because we have our meeting that night". | |
| 0:31:39 | Adjournment | "All right. I made a motion to adjourn. One second." Voice vote. Towle: "That was the shortest meeting ever." | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on September 5, 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. Five flags follow, ordered by severity.
OBSERVATION The July 25 minutes had not reached members six weeks after that meeting, and approval of minutes was left off the agenda
Sprague pointed out at 0:05:39 that "Approval of minutes is not on the agenda either." When the chair took up the July 25, 2019 minutes under other business, Towle said she had not received them before the meeting (0:29:38), and the item was put over to the next meeting without a vote (0:30:03). RSA 91-A:2, II, as it read in 2019, required minutes to be "promptly recorded and open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting". The recording shows only that the draft had not been circulated to members; it does not show whether it was open to public inspection within five business days, and the board had been discussing meeting only quarterly (0:23:01). Recorded as an observation. The practical effect is that the board's written record of its previous meeting was still unapproved, and unseen by at least one member, when it voted the position change described in flag 2.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1): minutes open to public inspection within 5 business days.
OBSERVATION A new full-time SAU position was approved on a handout the public cannot see, with figures that the transcript garbles
The superintendent presented a document (re-created with the part-time business staff member, "I had a legal size one, and I blew it up") showing that the two middle-school teachers funded from SAU savings came in below estimate, that the part-time grants manager had been paid "approximately $70,000 a year" from a consultant line, and that merging that work with the vacant assistant business manager post into one full-time accountant and grants position still left "the total reduction of the Saw assessment is 170,000." (0:11:33 to 0:17:04). The key actual-salary figure is garbled in the transcript ("36,030 7000."), the new position's salary was not stated aloud, and the handout is not in any public share. The motion (0:21:25) carried by voice with mover and seconder unidentified.
No rule was identified that the approval breached. The SAU budget is governed by RSA ch. 194-C (apportionment adopted before January 1 under RSA 194-C:9, I), not by the RSA 32 transfer rules that bind a school district. The observation is about verifiability: a citizen cannot reconcile the stated $170,000 saving with the recording alone, and the October meeting that was to hear the auditors is the place to look for the reconciliation.
Sources: RSA 194-C:9, I (SAU budget and apportionment; ¶I text unamended since 2003, 279:1, the later 2024 amendment added ¶IV).
OBSERVATION Members said Unity's side of the joint board seldom attends; the recording cannot establish who was present
Towle: "We barely have unity members at the meetings." (0:23:50). A member asked whether attendance was optional and noted the board had no attendance policy, unlike the city council (0:24:21). At the August 21 Claremont meeting Sprague had said Claremont members had been carrying the quorum for SAU meetings (August 21 page). On this recording the roll names only two Unity members after one unnamed answer, and the answers for Popescu, Bader, Benware and Lovett are not distinguishable (0:00:54 to 0:01:07). All votes were by voice. That is not irregular: RSA 194-C:8 allows weighted votes, one for each 16 pupils of a district, only "upon the demand of a majority" of members present and voting, and none was demanded. But with no minutes online and an unclear roll, the recording cannot show whether a quorum was present or how each district's members voted.
Sources: RSA 194-C:8 (weighted votes only on demand of a majority present and voting; 1996, 298:3, unamended).
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting are posted online
MAP.md section 109 records that neither district Drive share holds anything older than 2022 (checked 9/26/26), so this page rests on the recording alone. That is a limit of what the district posts online, not by itself evidence that records were never made: the chair refers to an agenda "in front of us", the board had July 25 minutes in draft (0:29:25), and the IRS closing letter and the position handout were in members' hands. RSA 91-A:2, II required minutes naming "the members who made or seconded each motion"; here every mover and seconder is unidentified on the recording, so only the minutes could supply them. The project's missing-records rule is applied on its online-availability limb.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification): minutes content and five-business-day availability; Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 109.
POSITIVE The IRS outcome and audit status were reported in open session, and the auditors were invited to present publicly
The chair put the IRS closing letter on the agenda and the superintendent reported it plainly, including its anticlimax ("But I guess that's how the IRS rolls.", 0:07:38). He gave the status of each open audit (0:08:06) and endorsed a suggestion that the auditors attend the next meeting "particularly for the audience as well" (0:09:36). Sprague said on the record what he had been telling the press (0:20:13). No statute requires a board to hear its auditors in public session, so the invitation goes beyond the legal minimum. The follow-through is for the October 10 page to show; this page records the commitment only.
Sources: the recording at 0:07:07 to 0:11:07 and 0:20:13.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 10522, "SAU #6 SCHOOL BOARD meeting 9-5-19": Claremont Community Television. 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, packet or minutes for this meeting were located.
- Related pages: Claremont School Board, July 30, 2019 (SAU savings put toward two middle-school teachers); Claremont School Board, August 21, 2019 (this meeting's date chosen); Claremont School Board, September 4, 2019.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/10522 SAU6090519.mp4.CSV (222 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/10522 SAU6090519.mp4Input/Transcripts/10522 SAU6090519.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10522 SAU6090519.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 109
Laws and rules cited on this page
- New Hampshire statutes, as in force on September 5, 2019. RSA 91-A:2, II (minutes; 2019 codification). RSA 194-C:8 (weighted votes). RSA 194-C:9, I (SAU budget; ¶IV added 2024 and not relied on).