Participants
Everyone in the record, as named in the dialogue CSV. No agenda or minutes are available to confirm attendance or spellings; spellings follow the project roster, and the transcript's renderings are given where they differ. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Michael Petrin | SAU 6 Board chair (Claremont member) | Presided over the hearing and the meeting. Restated Marjorie Erickson's question about "a increase of 61, almost $62,000 in the business office" (0:09:34) and worked it through with the business administrator (0:13:57). Rendered Mike patron and Mike. Teacher. |
| Marjorie Erickson | SAU 6 member (Unity) | Relayed Unity members' questions: whether a business office position was added, maintenance figures, and that "we see line items for salaries, but we don't know who's covered" (0:08:55). Gave the Unity board update: teacher contract signed, Unity remote January 4 to 11 (0:45:48). Rendered Marge, the merger. |
| Frank Sprague | SAU 6 member (Claremont); Claremont School Board chair | Gave the Claremont update (0:43:54): Dr. Chapman's visit, and the Claremont budget subcommittee's "line by line examination" with one more meeting "next Wednesday" (0:44:43). Questions on health insurance, Unity's views and the PowerSchool scheduler are attributed to him with medium-low confidence; the business administrator answers one of them as "Jason, to address your question" (0:13:31). Rendered Frank, spread. |
| Jason Benware | SAU 6 member (Claremont) | Moved the agenda (0:26:20), the November 19 minutes (0:28:14), the budget (0:48:14; first read the fiscal year 2021 figure, then corrected) and adjournment. Rendered Jason. Bedwyn, Jason bedwell, Jason. Bedouin, Mr. Benoit. |
| Heather Whitney | SAU 6 member (Claremont) | Seconded the agenda, minutes, budget (0:49:04) and adjournment motions. |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | SAU 6 member (Claremont; remote) | Answers the roll (answers labeled Unidentified). Rendered Rob. Love it, Rob. Love. Trivia. |
| Carolyn Towle | SAU 6 member (Claremont) | Called on the rolls (In parallel and tall, Carolyn. Cole, Carolyn told); no answer of hers is transcribed. |
| Rocco Ruggeri | SAU 6 member (Unity; remote) | Called on the rolls (Rocco); the chair notes he had nothing to add to the Unity update (0:48:00). |
| Shannon Popescu | SAU 6 member (Unity; remote; first name only on the recording) | Named by the chair (0:02:57, 0:48:00); no speech attributed. |
| John Dempsey | SAU 6 member (Unity) | Called on the rolls (John. Jensen, John Dempsey); Erickson says "John's not been able to go to meetings this month" (0:08:27); whether he was present is unresolved (attribution report, open item 2). |
| Gary Bader | SAU 6 member (Unity; spelling from the roster) | Called first on the regular-meeting roll (Jerry Barber, 0:25:05), followed by "He's not here." Attendance unresolved. |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Superintendent's report (0:29:43): Dr. Steve Chapman's visit, COVID-19 data, the Goshen tuition agreement votes (0:36:49) and projections. |
| Richard Seaman | Business administrator, SAU 6 | Presented the budget (0:03:33): "the $45,000 increase in the budget, or 2.6%" (0:05:14); explained the business office change as a transferred position and a 0.2 FTE food service position omitted in error the year before (0:11:43, 0:12:33). |
| Jeff Small | Director of Technology, SAU 6 | Walked through the technology lines (0:15:32): student data privacy agreements, a hosted PowerSchool server, an inventory plug-in, AV work at the Dow, and accounting disaster recovery. His segments sit in the chair's diarization cluster and were reassigned (high confidence). |
| Donna Magoon | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | New quarantine and travel guidance (0:33:46). Rendered Don Donna McGowan. |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk and recording secretary | Called the rolls. Rendered Eric in the chair's requests. |
Rebecca Zullo, a Claremont member and so an SAU 6 member, is not clearly called on either roll; a call transcribed "Back to school" at 0:25:30 is unexplained. No member of the public spoke at the hearing or in citizens' comments.
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. The chair refers to "an agenda in front of us" (0:26:09). Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:25 | Public hearing: FY2022 SAU 6 budget | Pledge, roll (0:01:23), presentation by the business administrator and technology director, board questions, public comment (0:23:42: none), hearing closed (0:24:10). |
| 0:24:26 | Regular meeting: roll call | "I believe we we need another roll call for the regular meeting now." |
| 0:26:09 | Agenda approved | Moved by Benware, seconded by Whitney; roll call from 0:26:28. |
| 0:28:08 | Minutes of November 19, 2020 | Moved by Benware, seconded by Whitney; roll call from 0:28:36; audible answers Yes. |
| 0:29:34 | Superintendent's report | Dr. Chapman's visit; COVID-19 data; quarantine guidance; the Goshen tuition agreement. No questions (0:43:33). |
| 0:43:37 | Citizens' comments | "Again no one in the room and I don't see anybody online." |
| 0:43:37 | Board updates | Claremont (Sprague, 0:43:54); Unity (Erickson, 0:45:48). |
| 0:48:00 | FY2022 SAU 6 budget approval | Benware first moves "Fiscal year 21 budget of $1,727,004", then "I strike that" and moves "the fiscal year 22SA budget proposed budget of 1,772,000 and $143." (0:48:37); Whitney seconds; roll call requested at 0:49:06. Only one answer, Whitney's Yes, is transcribed (0:50:49); the chair then thanks staff for "Your hard work on the budget" (0:51:40) (flag 1). |
| 0:51:40 | Future agenda; next meetings | Next SAU 6 meeting to be determined; Claremont December 16; Unity January 12, 2021. |
| 0:52:15 | Adjournment | Moved by Benware, seconded by Whitney; roll call from 0:52:24. |
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 |
|---|
| 0:03:33 | Budget overview | Seaman: a "seven page document" emailed to members; controllable lines "squeeze[d]" back down; "There are no changes, as we had said, related to staffing." (0:04:49). Because Unity's share of average daily membership fell, "even with the $45,000 increase in the budget, or 2.6%, you see a reduction in the allocation to unity and an increase in the allocation to Claremont." (0:05:14). | POSITIVE |
| 0:06:39 | Health insurance | Question whether the health insurance figure is "a hard number"; Seaman: "that is now a hard number. Based on the guaranteed rate", reflecting an "insurance holiday" (0:06:50). | |
| 0:07:25 | Unity members' questions | Erickson: a member asked whether "there had been an addition of a position to the business office or they increased salaries" (0:08:08); "we see line items for salaries, but we don't know who's covered in each each one of those, items" (0:08:55); "there was no concern no great concern over the the budget" (0:09:21). | |
| 0:09:34 | The $61,871 business office increase | Petrin: "What is the 61,871 equate to" (0:10:52). Seaman: "There was a transfer of one position which last year was in the superintendent's office and was moved to the business office" (0:11:43); and a 0.2 food service position: "I did not include in the budget the cost of the food service" (0:12:33), "approximately a $20,000 number" (0:13:10). Petrin sums up at 0:13:57; Seaman offers the detailed staff listing (0:14:31). | |
| 0:14:56 | Technology lines | Small: the education cooperative "ensures that's a contract written between us and every company that they do not share or harvest our student information" (0:16:46); a hosted PowerSchool server after "this department got cut" (0:18:53); an inventory plug-in; AV updates "in the Dow building" (0:21:00); Tyler disaster recovery after "a pretty large issue with one of our servers" (0:22:12). | |
| 0:23:42 | Public comment at the hearing | "There's no public in the room, and I don't see anybody online." Hearing closed (0:24:10). | POSITIVE |
| 0:25:05 | Roll and routine motions | Roll with Unity members first; "He's not here." (0:25:12). Agenda and November 19 minutes approved by roll call. | POSITIVE |
| 0:30:07 | Dr. Chapman's visit; COVID-19 data | "Doctor Chapman is at the from the Chad group at Dartmouth-Hitchcock"; "New Hampshire has gone up to 51 cases. And you see the 156 in Sullivan." (0:32:20). Magoon: travel quarantine "changed to ten days now" (0:33:48). | |
| 0:35:48 | Goshen tuition agreement approved by all three boards | "Claremont voted a week ago. Seven unanimously to go forward with the agreement. Unity voted on Tuesday night 3 to 1 with with one abstention." Goshen "voted unanimously" (0:37:19). Expected "between 10 and 20 students", probably "closer to ten" in the first year (0:41:57); "nothing but revenue coming in for that offset" (0:43:00). | |
| 0:43:54 | Claremont update | Sprague: "Jason, Mike patron, and I have the meeting with administrators and building level people to work on the budget as well as do and doing our line by line examination of the budget." "We have one more meeting. I think next Wednesday" (0:45:10). | |
| 0:45:48 | Unity update | Erickson: "we signed our teacher contract that got signed on Tuesday night"; Unity's budget public meeting in February; "We've made the decision to go remote for a week after the Christmas break" (0:46:43), January 4 to 11, because teachers raised concerns (0:47:15). | |
| 0:48:14 | Budget adopted | Benware: "I move that we approve the fish. Fiscal year 21 budget of $1,727,004"; Whitney: "That again, please?"; Benware: "I strike that" and moves "the fiscal year 22SA budget proposed budget of 1,772,000 and $143." (0:48:37). Roll call requested (0:49:06); one Yes transcribed (0:50:49). | OBSERVATION POSITIVE |
| 0:51:40 | Next meetings; adjournment | "the next two six board meeting is to be determined." Adjournment roll call from 0:52:24. | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the state law in force on December 10, 2020, including the Governor's COVID-19 emergency orders then in effect. They are not findings of violation, and nothing here is legal advice. Each flag cites the rule it rests on; where no verified rule applies, the flag says so and is recorded as an observation. Four flags follow, ordered by severity.
OBSERVATION The SAU budget roll call is almost entirely missing from the recording's transcript
The motion to adopt the fiscal year 2022 SAU 6 budget was made at 0:48:14; the mover first read "Fiscal year 21 budget of $1,727,004", was asked to repeat it, struck it, and moved "1,772,000 and $143." (0:48:37). After the chair asked for a roll call at 0:49:06, the transcript holds a single answer, Whitney's Yes at 0:50:49, about 100 seconds later, and the next row is the chair's thanks for "Your hard work on the budget" (0:51:40). No tally is announced. The budget was very probably adopted, but the recording does not show by what vote, or whether weighted voting was demanded. Because the SAU budget is apportioned to Claremont and Unity taxpayers, the vote is worth having on the record; only the unposted minutes can supply it (flag 2).
Sources: no statutory rule is engaged by the gap itself; dialogue rows at 0:48:14 to 0:51:40; Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/11127 SAU6121020.mp4.md (open item 3).
OBSERVATION No agenda, notice or minutes for this meeting are posted online, though the recording shows minutes being kept
MAP.md records that neither district Drive share holds anything before July 2022 and that the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023 (checked 9/26/26). Because the SAU 6 share files a meeting's minutes with a later packet, a two-stage search would normally look in every later SAU 6 folder; here none of those folders is older than 2022, so the search ends at the same answer. The recording shows the board approving the November 19, 2020 minutes at 0:28:08, so minutes were being kept. In 2020, RSA 91-A:2, II required minutes "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting" recording "The names of the members who made or seconded each motion". Whether that was met, and whether the public-access notice required by Emergency Order #12 was given, cannot be tested. The limb of the project's missing-records rule applied is the online-availability observation.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1, so the text in force in 2020); Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 134.
POSITIVE The SAU budget was heard in public, explained line by line, and adopted three weeks ahead of the statutory date
The board opened a public hearing on the fiscal year 2022 SAU 6 budget (0:00:25), had the business administrator and the technology director explain it, answered a Unity member's question about a $61,871 business office increase with a specific account (a transferred position and a food service position omitted in error the previous year, 0:11:43), offered the full staffing detail (0:14:31), took public comment, and then adopted the budget in regular session on December 10. RSA 194-C:9, I as it read in 2020 provided that "At a meeting held before January 1, the school administrative unit board shall adopt a budget" and that the board certify each district's apportioned share "Prior to January 15". The recording shows the adoption meeting comfortably before that date; whether and when the apportionment was certified cannot be checked.
Sources: RSA 194-C:9, I (2019 codification; source note 1996, 298:3; 2003, 279:1, so in force in 2020; later amended 2024, 329:1): SAU budget adopted at a meeting before January 1, apportionment certified before January 15.
POSITIVE Votes in this hybrid meeting were taken by roll call, and the chair managed remote members openly
With Unity members and some Claremont members at home (0:02:57), the clerk called the roll for attendance at the hearing (0:01:23) and again for the regular meeting (0:25:05), and on the agenda (0:26:28), the November 19 minutes (0:28:36), the budget (0:49:06) and adjournment (0:52:24). The chair explained on the record how remote members should be recognized and why microphones were muted (0:10:25). RSA 91-A:2, III(e) as it read in 2020 required that "All votes taken during such a meeting shall be by roll call vote" whenever a member participated remotely. Emergency Order #12 waived only the physical-quorum requirement of III(b), on public-access conditions; whether those conditions, and III(a)'s statement of reasons in the minutes, were met cannot be checked (flag 2).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, III(a), (b), (e) (2019 codification, in force until 2023, 188:1); Emergency Order #12 (March 23, 2020, under Executive Order 2020-04).
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 11127, "SAU 6 Board Meeting of 12/10/20": 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, notice, budget document or minutes for this meeting were located; the seven-page budget presentation emailed to members is not public.
- Related pages: Claremont School Board, December 2, 2020 (Goshen agreement vote) and December 16, 2020 (Goshen report).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/11127 SAU6121020.mp4.CSV (212 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/11127 SAU6121020.mp4Input/Transcripts/11127 SAU6121020.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/11127 SAU6121020.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 134
Laws and rules cited on this page
- New Hampshire statutes, as in force on December 10, 2020. RSA 194-C:9, I (SAU budget adoption before January 1; 2019 codification, unamended until 2024). RSA 91-A:2, II and III (minutes; remote participation and roll-call votes; source note ends 2018, 244:1).
- Emergency orders. Emergency Order #12 pursuant to Executive Order 2020-04 (March 23, 2020), effective for the duration of the state of emergency, which lapsed at midnight on June 11, 2021 (NHPR, June 10, 2021, reporting).