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 |
|---|
| Marjorie Erickson | Chair, SAU 6 Board (Unity) | Presided. Read a statement on her approach as chair; added the press release to the agenda; walked through the succession plan; questioned the buyout accounting; moved the succession plan and the interim criteria herself; held that Claremont had to name its committee member in its own open meeting. |
| Sara Lowe | SAU 6 Board (Unity; described as Unity's chair) | Advised on the agenda motion; confirmed NHSBA would help with the superintendent search ("We don't have a contract"); sits on the interim search committee. |
| Steven Horsky | SAU 6 Board (Claremont) | Asked whether an interim may apply for the permanent post; drafted the term-of-service wording; moved the search committee's composition and the press release; said the committee might not need to be warned. |
| Frank Sprague | SAU 6 Board (Claremont; Claremont chair) | Suggested reordering plan tasks; urged not closing the door on candidates eligible for certification; nominated a Claremont representative before the process was halted. |
| Michelle Pierce | SAU 6 Board (Claremont) | Volunteered for the search committee; asked whether the acting superintendent could stay on; objected after the vote that the committee composition was unfair. |
| Carolyn Towle | SAU 6 Board (Claremont) | Volunteered for the search committee ("I just wanted to put my name out."); asked for an "other business" item on future agendas. |
| Michael Petrin | SAU 6 Board (Claremont) | Proposed that certification be a preference rather than a requirement. Attribution rests on one cross-reference; medium-low confidence. |
| Prudence McCormick; [Bob] McDevitt; Craig (surname not established) | SAU 6 Board (Unity) | Named at roll. No separable speech. The transcript renders the last two as "Rob McDevitt" and "Craig shoe". |
| Rebecca Zullo | SAU 6 Board (Claremont) | Called at roll; no answer or speech captured. |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant superintendent, SAU 6 (acting superintendent from the following week) | Explained that grant work would slow; presented the interim criteria straw man; said she holds New Hampshire superintendent certification and would check the rules with the credentialing office; will distribute the press release. |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator, SAU 6 (surname from roster) | Presented the fund balance projection and the correction of an unrecorded revenue entry; explained the Cornish withdrawal refund and how the buyout was paid within appropriations. |
| Josh Malloy | SAU 6 administration (instructional technology, per roster) | Explained why the draft barred the interim from applying for the permanent job. |
| Nate | Human resources, SAU 6 (surname not spoken) | Warned that the board could not bar an interim from applying ("walking a fine line there, on the Department of Labor rules and discrimination"); advised stating the term as ending June 30. |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk | Called the roll. |
| Unidentified | Members and others | Seconds, votes and short remarks from many voices. 162 of 773 rows (21.0%) are Unidentified, most in one mixed cluster. |
| Citizens' comments | None | "Is there anybody that would like to speak before the board?" At 0:06:59: "Seeing no one." |
| Named, not speaking | Others | Middleton [McGoodwin], departing superintendent; Brianna Connell, administrative assistant leaving the next day; Diane Le gender (as transcribed), grant consultant; Colin (as transcribed), named by Sprague as a Claremont nominee. |
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 with lettered action items existed. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:44 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | See Board composition. |
| 0:02:35 | Chair's statement | Read before the agenda. Informational. |
| 0:04:43 | Agenda | Amended to add the draft press release and move the meeting time limit item to F; seconded; voice vote at 0:05:36. |
| 0:05:36 | Minutes of June 14, 2018 | Typographical corrections only; moved and seconded by unidentified members (0:06:30); voice vote at 0:06:42. |
| 0:06:50 | Citizens' comments | No speakers. |
| 0:07:22 | Succession plan (taken ahead of the budget item) | Amended in discussion. The chair moved "To approve the succession. Plan. As amended." (0:19:56); seconded (0:20:21); voice vote at 0:20:37. |
| 0:21:13 | A. Review of FY19 budget appropriations | Fund balance report. Chair: "we don't need to approve any of the how this gets spent." (0:42:53). No vote. |
| 0:43:12 | Interim superintendent position description and hiring criteria | Item ten (bar on applying for the permanent post) replaced by a term to June 30, 2019 "with the option to extend"; certification made a preference. Chair moved "We accept the superintendent criteria as amended" (1:13:31); voice vote at 1:13:44. |
| 1:13:52 | Interim search committee | Horsky moved (1:23:47) that it be the SAU 6 chair and vice chair and the Unity and Claremont chairs, with three administrators; seconded (1:24:49); voice vote at 1:24:51. |
| 1:27:11 | Press release (added) | Amended in discussion; Horsky moved (1:33:35); the chair read the final text (1:33:45); voice vote at 1:35:15. |
| 1:36:25 | F. Meeting time limits | Discussion; no time limits adopted. Members asked to give notice of absences. |
| 1:41:58 | Future agenda items | Towle asked for an "other business" item. |
| 1:43:36 | Adjournment | Moved and seconded by unidentified members; voice vote at 1:43:44. |
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 |
|---|
| 0:02:35 | The new chair's statement | "I hope we'll set the tone for my tenure as chairman. Probably should have read it last time when you. Before you elected me." At 0:03:00: "our decision making process must be deliberate, principled, transparent and conducted fully in the public domain." | POSITIVE |
| 0:08:39 | Press releases | Chair: "there have been several comments from the public that they don't know what we're doing", so the board should "take a proactive approach in generating press releases periodically". | POSITIVE |
| 0:10:14 | Succession plan tasks | Acting superintendent appointed; budget review; interim criteria and committee; the board's self-evaluation before the July 29 retreat; "the New Hampshire School Board Association visit on the 23rd of August" (0:12:01). Lowe at 0:15:36: "We don't have a contract, but we have said to them that we would like them to help with that." | |
| 0:21:42 | Fund balance corrected | O'Neill: indirect cost revenue for 2016-17 was posted to a receivable, and the matching revenue entry "was not made"; "I was off $60,000" (0:23:45). At 0:24:08: "that increased the revenues in 1617 by it ended up being $44,000." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:24:29 | Cornish refund | Under Cornish's withdrawal plan, the SAU must calculate the FY17 fund balance and arrange "its disposition calculated 11.4%"; the estimated payment to Cornish is "24,000 to 1637" (as transcribed, 0:25:27). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:28:34 | Audits behind | LeClair: "we actually got the final audit for the saw for, this year. Today". At 0:28:49: "we were behind and audits. We've gotten caught up." O'Neill at 0:29:02: "No, we just we just finished the 1617." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:30:38 | Projected fund balance | "a projected resulting fund balance at June 30th, 2018 of 1488796", less $55,000 used to offset FY19; remaining "85,000 8796" (0:31:00), both as transcribed. | |
| 0:31:45 | Buyout and search costs | O'Neill: the 2017-18 costs include "the buyout, the accrued vacation" and payroll taxes; search costs projected "at 25,000", so savings of "at least 24,001 5554" are needed (0:32:15). Chair at 0:33:27: "Do we need to do anything with approving that buyout cost coming from." Reply: No. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:33:47 | Authority to pay it | O'Neill: "every year you, you folks as a board approving us a you budget, that's all we can spend". The buyout was paid from appropriations not spent in prior years; at 0:34:24: "I can't spend a dime until you people tell me I can." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:38:09 | Grant work slows | LeClair: "pursuing new grant revenue sources will not happen for a period of time yet to be determined." At 0:39:00: "a little bit over 5 million in grants that we already have that needs to be managed." | |
| 0:46:52 | May the interim apply? | Horsky asks about item ten, "they're not able to apply for the full term, replacement". Nate at 0:50:47: "you would not be able to prevent them from applying to the full time superintendent position". At 0:51:13: "walking a fine line there, on the Department of Labor rules and discrimination." | |
| 1:02:42 | Certification | LeClair: certificates are "taking 4 to 6 months" (1:03:19). Petrin at 1:09:17: "Can we can we add preference given to those with current New Hampshire certification?" LeClair at 1:09:46: "Hampshire Superintendent certification. I don't 100% right now know how those rules work." Sprague at 1:12:13: "I just don't want to close the door on on a potential candidate that might be eligible for licensure." | |
| 1:04:38 | Term of service | LeClair reads Horsky's draft: "A party to fill position from higher date to June 30th, 2019." Final at 1:05:14: "from higher date to June 30th, 2019, with the option to extend". | |
| 1:13:52 | Choosing Claremont's member | Pierce and Towle volunteer; Sprague "was going to nominate Colin" (1:15:23). Chair at 1:15:56: "the Claremont board should be running that". At 1:16:46: "you have to do that in an open meeting." At 1:17:43: "You're not in a warranted Claremont board meeting." | POSITIVE |
| 1:23:03 | Committee changed to chairs | Horsky: "we can cut to the chase and we can eliminate needing to come back to another deliberation for Claremont and just make it chairs right now". Motion at 1:23:47; voice vote at 1:24:51. Pierce at 1:25:33: "Just felt it was unfair personally". | MEDIUM |
| 1:26:26 | Must the committee be warned? | Chair: "we'll need to define whether or not we have to warn those." and "I think that we want open meetings. We probably should." Horsky at 1:26:44: "Well, you don't have a quorum at those, so I don't know if you'd necessarily need to warn it." Chair at 1:26:49: "it's a hiring committee. And we would be looking at people's resumes." | MEDIUM |
| 1:33:45 | Press release approved | Chair reads: "All aspects of the succession plan will be followed in sequence and open meetings where citizen comments and feedback will be welcomed." (1:34:44). LeClair at 1:35:46: distribution to the two print papers, an online paper, school messenger and the city's listserv. | POSITIVE |
| 1:36:25 | Time limits | Horsky at 1:37:05: "I'm not going to stop a budget debate at 830 because it's 830". Chair at 1:40:08 on past trouble "getting a quorum for some summer meetings". | |
| 1:41:58 | Other business | Towle asks for an agenda item for other business. A voice at 1:42:51: "if a topic comes up and the board wants discuss it and make a vote, you need to warn it." | POSITIVE |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on June 28, 2018, 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. 4 flags follow, ordered by severity.
MEDIUM A search committee was created while members suggested it need not be warned because it "don't have a quorum"
The board voted a seven-member interim search committee into being (1:23:47, 1:24:51). Asked whether its meetings must be warned, the chair was uncertain ("I think that we want open meetings. We probably should.") and Horsky answered "you don't have a quorum at those, so I don't know if you'd necessarily need to warn it" (1:26:26, 1:26:44); the chair added that it would be reviewing resumes. As the law read in 2018, RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) made "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body" of a board a public body in its own right, and RSA 91-A:2, I defined a meeting as "the convening of a quorum of the membership of a public body", measured against the committee's own membership. So a quorum of the committee meeting on committee business is a meeting that needs 24-hour notice and minutes. The confidentiality concern had a lawful route: RSA 91-A:3, II(b) allowed nonpublic session for "The hiring of any person as a public employee.", on a motion stating the exemption and a roll-call vote. The misstatement is on tape and went uncorrected; what the committee then did is not on this recording (see the July 12 page, where it reports meeting on July 5). Graded MEDIUM under the project's rule: a probable process gap, mitigated by the chair's stated preference for open meetings.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (source note ends 2008, 354:1; in force throughout 2018); RSA 91-A:2, I-II (2017 codification, in force throughout 2018); RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and II(b) (2017 codification).
OBSERVATION A missed revenue entry, a year-late audit, a refund owed to Cornish and a buyout paid without a separate vote, all described orally from documents not in the public record
The business administrator explained that the fund balance projection shown on June 14 understated 2016-17 revenue because an entry "was not made", raising revenue by $44,000 (0:23:45, 0:24:08); that the SAU's audit for 2016-17 had arrived that day ("we were behind and audits", 0:28:49); that Cornish is owed its 11.4% share of the FY17 fund balance under its withdrawal plan (0:25:05); and that the superintendent's buyout and accrued vacation were paid from appropriations unspent in earlier years, so no vote was needed (0:33:27, 0:33:47). He stated the governing principle himself: "I can't spend a dime until you people tell me I can." (0:34:24). Nothing on the recording suggests the explanation is wrong. The observation is that the trial balances, audit report, withdrawal plan and buyout figures the board was handed are not in any public share, and several figures are garbled in the transcript, so a reader cannot check the arithmetic. This page did not verify an audit-deadline rule for an SAU of this vintage and makes no finding on timeliness.
Sources: the recording at the times cited; Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 73 (no Drive material).
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes are online
MAP.md section 73 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: these minutes were approved on July 12 and praised there, and this meeting approved the June 14 minutes with typographical corrections (0:05:36). RSA 91-A:2, II as it read in 2018 required minutes naming members and "persons appearing before the public bodies", open to inspection "not more than 5 business days after the meeting"; the mover and seconder requirement began only on January 1, 2019. Several motions here were moved and seconded by voices the transcript cannot identify. The project's missing-records rule is applied on its online-availability limb.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification, in force throughout 2018).
POSITIVE The new chair committed the board to open process, and held Claremont's choice of a representative to its own open meeting
The chair opened with a commitment that decisions be "conducted fully in the public domain" (0:03:00), proposed periodic press releases because the public "don't know what we're doing" (0:08:39), and the board approved one promising that the succession plan would proceed in "open meetings where citizen comments and feedback will be welcomed" (1:34:44). When Claremont members began choosing their committee member at this table, the chair stopped it: "you have to do that in an open meeting" and "You're not in a warranted Claremont board meeting." (1:16:46, 1:17:43). A member also reminded the board that a vote on an unlisted topic needs warning (1:42:51). The board later bypassed the Claremont choice by making the chairs the members (flag 1), but the instinct recorded here is sound.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, I-II (2017 codification): meetings of a quorum are open and noticed.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 9876, "S.A.U. #6 SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 6-28": 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, succession plan, fund balance packet, criteria draft, press release or minutes for this meeting were located.
- Related meetings in the corpus (pages named by recording): SAU 6 Board, June 14, 2018 (show 9853; the earlier chair election and committee discussion); Claremont School Board and City Council joint meeting, June 21, 2018 (show 9849; the chair's first public account of the transition); SAU 6 Board, July 12, 2018 (show 9906; these minutes approved; the committee's July 5 session reported).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/9876 SAU6062818.mp4.CSV (773 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9876 SAU6062818.mp4Input/Transcripts/9876 SAU6062818.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9876 SAU6062818.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 73
Laws and rules cited on this page