Meeting summary generated from the Claremont Community Television recording and its speaker-attributed transcript; no agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting are posted in the district's online shares. In the joint board's first meeting since December 10, 2020, the superintendent opened the meeting and ran the election of officers, re-electing chair Michael Petrin in his absence and vice chair Marjorie Erickson, who then presided. The board approved the December minutes, heard members introduce themselves, received a report on the SAU office renovation and the summer programs, elected Steven Horsky treasurer, and reconstituted the superintendent evaluation subcommittee with a meeting set for August 4. Timestamps link to the same moment in the Cablecast recording.
Body
SAU 6 Board (Claremont and Unity school boards sitting jointly)
Date
Thursday, July 1, 2021
Start time
Scheduled time not stated in any available record. The superintendent opens at 0:00:12 with "It's a little past 635." The vice chair declares the meeting "adjourned at 730" at 0:55:49; the dialogue file ends at 0:56:27. No nonpublic session.
Location
Not stated in any available notice or agenda. The vice chair asks whether the August subcommittee can "meet in this building" and settles on "the teal Room", so the meeting was held in person; the building is not named.
None located in the district's public shares: neither Drive share reaches back before July 2022 (MAP.md section 146, checked 9/26/26). The board approves the December 10, 2020 minutes, as amended, at 0:04:22.
Board composition
Chair Michael Petrin absent. Unity members answering the roll: Marjorie Erickson, Shannon Popescu, Gary Bader, Rocco Ruggeri, John Dempsey. Claremont members: Steven Horsky, Joshua Lambert, Rob Lovett Jr., Heather Whitney, Nicholas Stone and Frank Sprague (Sprague introduces himself but is not clearly named in the transcribed roll). Weighted voting, if used, is not audible on the recording.
Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part or answering the roll. Names follow the project's dialogue file and the 2015 to 2023 roster; no minutes exist online to check spellings, so roll-call-only spellings are marked. Members are listed first.
Name
Role
Participation
Michael Petrin
SAU 6 Board chair (Claremont member)
Absent. Re-elected chair on Horsky's motion (Mike patron remains chair). Whitney later relays at 0:53:27 that he "wanted to know whether he was no longer chair because he was a no show."
Marjorie Erickson
SAU 6 vice chair, presiding; Unity School Board chair
Re-elected vice chair and presided from 0:02:43. Emailed the clerk three typo corrections to the December minutes; nominated Horsky as treasurer; asked for an update on Goshen tuition students; scheduled the superintendent evaluation subcommittee.
Shannon Popescu
Unity member
Unity soccer coach "for the last 15, some odd years". Seconded Horsky's nomination and the adjournment. Surname from the roster; transcribed Peskin in the roll.
Rocco Ruggeri
Unity member
"In the beginning of my first term." Asked whether the summer program was new. Surname from the roster; the recording has only Rocco.
Gary Bader
Unity member
Answered the roll (transcribed Gary. Vader; spelling unverified). No speech attributed.
John Dempsey
Unity member
Answered the roll. No speech attributed.
Steven Horsky
Claremont member
"I'm Steven, I am a returning board member." Moved the chair and vice chair elections; volunteered for and was elected SAU treasurer ("I can do math. We're good."); joined the evaluation subcommittee; moved to adjourn.
Heather Whitney
Claremont member; Claremont vice chair
"I'm the vice chair of the Claremont School Board. I'm into my second term." Asked where the renovation money came from; member of the evaluation subcommittee.
Rob Lovett Jr.
Claremont member
Moved approval of the December 10, 2020 minutes as amended. "Elected to the board in October by special session and then officially in March." Agreed to serve as subcommittee alternate; asked about COVID-funded SAU positions.
Joshua Lambert
Claremont member
"Also in the beginning of my first term." Joined the evaluation subcommittee.
Nicholas Stone
Claremont member
"I'm Nick Stone, lifelong" Claremont resident; "this is my second meeting".
Frank Sprague
Claremont member; Claremont board chair
"I'm the chair of the Claremont board". Paid tribute to Carolyn Towle (transcribed Carolyn Toll): "She was really a driving force and accomplished a lot on the school board." The dialogue file assigns his introduction and tribute by content (medium confidence).
Michael Tempesta
Superintendent, SAU 6
Opened the meeting and ran the officer election before handing the chair to the vice chair. Superintendent's report on the SAU office renovation, COVID recovery money, the summer program and community forums; Goshen tuition update.
Richard Seaman
Assistant Superintendent for Finance, SAU 6
Described the renovation (HR moving to an accessible first floor) and its funding; explained the treasurer's duties; described the "choice towns" problem for Goshen tuition planning.
Donna Magoon
Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 (identification by content)
Described summer program enrollment ("Some weeks we have like almost 200 students") and staffing. She is not named on this recording except in the superintendent's "Donna and I were at" the conference; the dialogue file rates the attribution low to medium.
Mary Woodman
Clerk
Called the roll. The last name in the transcribed roll, my teacher, is unresolved.
Jeff (surname not said)
Staff, running the slides
Asked by the vice chair whether any citizens were present ("Do we have any citizens? Jeff?"); the superintendent addresses "Mr. small" for the slides. The roster lists Jeff Small as Director of Technology; that he is this person is not established.
Unidentified
Members and staff
Seconders of the officer elections and minutes, the member who asked to add introductions, and several interjections (31 of 373 rows, 8.3%).
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted in any district share, so this list is reconstructed from the transitions on the recording. A written agenda existed ("We have agenda in front of us"). Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
Chair: Horsky moved that Michael Petrin remain chair; seconder not clear; voice vote. Vice chair: Horsky moved Marjorie Erickson; seconded by an unidentified member; voice vote. No secretary was chosen on the recording.
Lovett moved; the vice chair's three typo corrections were added and Lovett moved "to accept the minutes, as amended"; seconded by an unidentified member; voice vote.
Erickson and Whitney continue; Lambert and Horsky join, Popescu offers ("If you want me.") and Lovett agrees to serve as alternate. The vice chair's recap at 0:53:04 is transcribed "Heather, Josh, March and Mike". Meeting set for August 4 at 5:00 "in the teal Room".
Calendar notes; Lovett's question on COVID-funded SAU staff. Horsky moved to adjourn, Popescu seconded; voice vote; adjourned "at 730".
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.
Superintendent: "The first order of business is the election of officers. The last time we met was, believe, December 10th or so." Horsky: "Mike patron remains chair second." Superintendent: "All in favor? Aye." Horsky at 0:02:26: "I will make the motion to allow Marjorie Erickson to continue as vice chair."
"We have minutes from the previous meeting, December 10th. I know three of you at least were not there". Erickson: "Mary, I emailed you a copy of the minutes with just three typos highlighted." Lovett: "Make a motion to accept the minutes, as amended for December 10th, 2020."
Erickson: "I'm chairperson of the Unity School Board and also now vice chair of this August body." Lovett: "Elected to the board in October by special session and then officially in March." Sprague at 0:07:00: "Nick has joined us due to the unfortunate passing of Carolyn Toll."
Superintendent: renovation on Broad Street under way; "It was a tough negotiating such a small contract." Seaman at 0:13:13: human resources moves to the first floor because upstairs "does not have Ada access". A member at 0:13:39: the money comes from the Capital Improvement Committee, "it's not Covid money"; Seaman: "No, it's not Covid money. Correct."
"even though we have all this money, where unity has a large chunk of money." "Claremont has a large chunk chunk of money to use for remediation programs and the like in potential construction." Priorities so far: outdoor classrooms; "maintenance of equity versus maintenance of effort".
"Some weeks we have like almost 200 students." Superintendent: "this is a no brainer for the funding"; "the big purchase is the playgrounds." Interim Maple principal "Nicole Bailey who's from sunup".
Seaman: "We came out of the budget the last year when the state had provided us some additional ways." "We have not touched the capital of reserve fund yet."
Superintendent: "Basically just looking and signing off on bills reconciliations and the like". Seaman: "Jane Hunter is the treasurer for Claremont"; "the treasurer is responsible for reconciliation of the bank accounts"; "the treasurer's name is on all checks that will be paid out".
Horsky: "I'll throw my name into the hat". Erickson: "I make a motion to nominate Steve." Popescu seconded. "All those in favor of Steve is the SA treasurer. Say I."
Forums at Stevens and later at the elementary schools; Erickson: Unity would take part if a topic is "of general trust" and not "Specific to Claremont issues."
Tuition base "141 for K to five" and 153 for 6 to 12, "increased that 3% this year"; "there's still an outstanding 40 or so folks who haven't made a decision". Seaman at 0:43:40: in "choice towns" families have no "incentive for them to tell us beforehand."
Erickson: "Heather and I are both on that. And Rebecca was on it, which tells you how long ago we met. We haven't met. I think we met in the fall." Set for "August 4th at 5:00 in the teal Room" (0:51:47).
Next SAU meeting expected in "September. October timeframe for the budget." Unity retreat and meeting dates; "Claremont, I guess, is off until the 21st."
Lovett asked whether new SAU-level staff are tied to COVID funds; superintendent: "there's one position that we expanded." Horsky moved to adjourn; Popescu: "I would love to second that." "We are adjourned at 730."
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on July 1, 2021. 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.
MEDIUM The SAU board organized on July 1, after the statutory April 1 to June 1 window, and chose no secretary on the recording
RSA 194-C:5 provides that the board of each school administrative unit "shall meet between April 1 and June 1 in each year, at a time and place fixed by the chairpersons of the several boards, and shall organize by choosing a chairperson, a secretary, and a treasurer." The superintendent opened this meeting with the election of officers and said "The last time we met was, believe, December 10th or so" (0:01:45); the vice chair then presented the December 10 minutes as "the previous meeting" (0:03:14). On the record, then, the board did not meet in the statutory window, and it organized a month after it closed. It chose a chair and vice chair at 0:02:07 and 0:02:26 and a treasurer at 0:35:57; no secretary was chosen on the recording, and the vice chair, which the statute does not mention, was.
Mitigation: the window fell during the COVID state of emergency, which ran until June 11, 2021. This page did not identify an emergency order extending RSA 194-C:5, but it did not review every order, so this is graded MEDIUM rather than HIGH. The officers the board re-elected were the ones already serving, and the clerk may act as recording secretary in practice. No minutes are available to show whether a secretary was named on paper.
OBSERVATION The superintendent, not a board member, called the meeting to order and conducted the election of the board's own officers while the vice chair was present
The superintendent opened the meeting at 0:00:12, asked for the roll, took the motion for chair at 0:02:07, called the vote ("All in favor? Aye. Okay. All right. So? So move."), did the same for vice chair, and then handed over: "Vice chair. Marjorie, it's your your meeting right now." (0:02:43). The board's employee thus presided over the vote that re-elected his supervisors, one of them in absentia. RSA 194-C:5 does not say who presides at organization, and the board's own rules are not in any available record, so this is an observation. It is the kind of step a sitting vice chair would ordinarily take, and she was at the table. The votes themselves were voice votes with no audible dissent, and the recording does not identify who seconded the chair's re-election.
OBSERVATION The superintendent evaluation subcommittee is a public body; its earlier meeting and its August 4 meeting have no public record online
The vice chair said at 0:46:07 that the subcommittee last met "in the fall" and had done nothing since, and the board scheduled its next meeting for "August 4th at 5:00 in the teal Room" (0:51:47). A subcommittee of the SAU board is a public body under RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), which reaches "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto", and so owes notice and minutes under RSA 91-A:2, II. Nothing for either session is posted in the district's online shares, which begin in July 2022. As with the board's own records, that is a limit of what is posted online, not proof that notice and minutes were not produced. Setting the date, time and room on the public recording is itself a form of notice, and to the board's credit.
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting are posted online
MAP.md section 146 records that neither district Drive share holds anything before July 2022 (checked 9/26/26), so this page rests on the recording alone. The recording shows a written agenda ("We have agenda in front of us") and the approval of the December 10, 2020 minutes as amended, so minutes were being kept. In 2021 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", to record "The names of the members who made or seconded each motion", and to be open to inspection "not more than 5 business days after the meeting". Several seconds on this recording are not attributable, including the second on the chair's re-election, so only the minutes could show who made them. The project's missing-records rule is applied on its online-availability limb.
POSITIVE Public comment was offered, and the treasurer's duties were explained in public before the election
The vice chair asked whether any citizens were present before moving on (0:04:26), a year before New Hampshire required school boards to hold a public comment period (RSA 189:74, enacted 2022, 333:1). Before electing a treasurer, the board had the superintendent and business administrator describe the office on the record (0:33:08): what the treasurer reviews, how often, and that "the treasurer is responsible for reconciliation of the bank accounts". Explaining an office before filling it helps both the candidate and the public.
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, and nothing for the superintendent evaluation subcommittee, were located.
New Hampshire statutes, as in force on July 1, 2021.RSA 194-C:5 (SAU board organization; unamended since 1996). RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) and RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codifications, the text then in force). RSA 189:74, cited only to show it post-dates this meeting.