SAU 6 Board, December 13, 2018 | Regular meeting with the Lempster School Board

Participants

Everyone heard on the recording. There are no minutes to check spellings against; names follow the project's 2015-2023 roster and attribution report, with the transcribed form kept where it differs. Guests from Lempster are named only as far as the recording names them.
Name	Role	Participation
Marjorie Erickson	Chair, SAU 6 Board; Unity School Board member	"I'm Marjorie Erickson. I'm the chairperson of the SA six school board." and "I'm a Unity school board member." (0:03:36, 0:04:00). Presides throughout, questions the Lempster guests and the human resources director, and reads the draft superintendent-search status statement. Abstains on the November 8 minutes because she was absent from that meeting. The project roster records her election as SAU 6 chair on June 14, 2018.
Sara Lowe	Chair, Unity School Board; SAU 6 member	Introduces herself as "Sarah Lone, the chair of the Unity." "School board." (0:04:42). Asks whether the SAU board is out of compliance for having no policies of its own, asks about the search timeline, and suggests the lunch-debt letter belongs at a Claremont board meeting.
Robert McDevitt	Unity member	Answers the opening roll call ("Robert McDevitt and Marjorie Erickson here.", 0:00:46).
Prudence McCormick	Unity member	Called in the opening roll as "Who does McCormack." (0:00:46); spelling follows the project roster.
Craig (surname not established)	Unity member	Called in the opening roll as "Greg. Shoot." (0:00:46); the project roster reads this as a Unity member named Craig whose surname is unresolved.
Frank Sprague	Chair, Claremont School Board	"I'm Frank Sprague. I'm the." "Chair of the Claremont School Board." (0:04:09). Moves the agenda, questions the Lempster guests, asks about the Stevens High School fire-safety report, and asks for data on why families fall into lunch-account arrears.
Rebecca Zullo	Vice chair, Claremont School Board	"Rebecca Zullo, vice chair." (0:04:19). Abstains on the November 8 minutes; asks for copies of the fire-safety reports; reminds the chair that the nonpublic vote must be a roll call (1:11:08).
Jason Benware	Claremont School Board member	Introduces himself as "Jason. Ben. We're a member of the Claremont School Board." (0:04:16). Seconds the agenda and the minutes, offers the minutes correction, and moves the nonpublic session (1:10:52).
Rob Lovett Jr.	Claremont School Board member	"I am Rob Lovett. I am on the school board for Claremont." (0:04:13).
Carolyn Towle	Claremont School Board member	Introduced within Zullo's turn as "Carol and Tom. School board. Claremont." (0:04:19). Asks LeClair to describe the planned behavior program, raises cybersecurity terms for vendor contracts, asks about the moderator, and proposes a standard collection letter on the district attorney's letterhead.
Michael Petrin	Claremont School Board member; SAU 6 vice chair per the November 8 minutes correction	Presence not established. The minutes correction names him vice chair ("Vice. Chase. Mike." / "Peter. Yes.", 0:02:31); he does not answer the opening roll or introduce himself as transcribed. The clerk calls "Michael patron." in the nonpublic roll and an unattributed Yes. follows (1:12:41, 1:12:42).
Michelle Pierce	Claremont School Board member	Called in the nonpublic roll as "Can I show Pierce." (1:12:51); no answer is heard. Not otherwise on the recording.
Keith Pfeifer	Interim Superintendent, SAU 6	"Keith Phifer, interim superintendent of six." (0:04:26). Gives the superintendent's report and offers to stay past July 1, "even without pay", to help a successor (1:04:39).
Cory LeClair	Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6	"I'm the assistant superintendent for SB six." (0:04:31). Describes the planned in-district behavior program and SAU technology services to the Lempster guests, and offers to present the curriculum cycle.
Michael O'Neill	Director of business and finance, SAU 6	"I am Michael O'Neill, the director of business and finance, SEC." (0:04:35). Introduction only.
Mary Woodman	Recording secretary	"I'm Mary Woodman and secretary of the school board." (0:04:39). Calls the roll at the opening and for the nonpublic vote.
Nathan (Nate; surname not stated)	Human resources director, SAU 6	Introduced as "Nathan, I see you. Six hr director." (0:05:29). Reports on the SAU office performance-evaluation and merit-pay system and hands out the organizational chart and job descriptions.
Chair of the Lempster School Board (name not established)	Guest	Introduces herself in a passage transcribed "I'm Kelly Karen, chairperson of the Electric Normal program by chair of the school board." (0:04:48); the name is not usable as transcribed. Explains that Lempster, a single K-8 school of "just over 100 students", is exploring rejoining SAU 6 or contracting for services. Parts of her explanation are filed under the SAU 6 chair in the dialogue file (see the method note).
Jim (surname not stated)	Lempster School Board member (guest)	Says he has "been on the board sort of since God was a baby" and served six years on House education (0:05:04); describes the wind-farm payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement and asks for a working group "before March".
Michelle (surname not stated)	Lempster subcommittee member (guest)	Named by the Lempster chair as one of "the three subcommittee members" (0:14:34). Gives Lempster's federal grant amounts and its student-information system; is to be "in touch with Mr. Pfeiffer" (0:27:52).
Unidentified	Various	100 of 541 dialogue rows (18.5%): the Pledge, ayes, seconds, roll-call answers, and much of the Lempster chair's speech.

Order of business (reconstructed)

No agenda survives online. The chair says the board has an agenda and approves it, but its text was not read. The order below follows the chair's transitions on the recording.
Taken up	Item	What was said and done
0:00:00	Call to order, Pledge, roll call	The chair calls the meeting; the Pledge; the secretary calls the roll (0:00:40).
0:01:13	Agenda	The chair first thinks the Lempster item must move because "no one from Leinster is here", then sees the guests. "We accept the agenda as presented." (Sprague), seconded by Benware; carried by voice vote (0:01:57).
0:02:15	Minutes of November 8, 2018	Benware: in section six the request for a nonpublic session should name Mike Petrin as "vice chair". Motion to accept "with that one change for November 8th", seconded by Benware; carried, "So note that Rebecca and Marjorie abstain." (0:02:59).
0:03:19	Citizens' comments	"I was just going to go through the formality of the citizens comments. Although I don't see any citizens." None come forward.
0:03:36	Lempster School Board	Introductions, then a discussion of Lempster rejoining SAU 6 or contracting for services. No motion; members agree to a small working group and Lempster's Michelle will contact the superintendent (0:27:52).
0:28:25	Action items: performance evaluation and merit pay	Presented by the human resources director as an update. No motion or vote is recorded under this heading.
0:36:44	Superintendent's report	Budget phases, policy review, curriculum cycle, administrators' tentative agreement, Keene State practicum, vendor contracts, fire-safety reports, the moderator, adult education. Discussion only.
0:58:48	Superintendent search update	The chair reads a draft status statement for the SAU 6 website. Discussion only.
1:06:54	Other business	Sprague on lunch-account arrears data; Towle on a standard collection letter. Discussion only.
1:10:52	Nonpublic session	Benware: "I'd like to make a motion that we go into nonpublic session for RSA 91-A colon three sub paragraph two." Seconded. The chair starts a voice vote; Zullo: "But we have to roll call." The secretary's roll call begins at 1:12:41; the transcript captures only part of it. The recording ends 1:13:37.

Discussion timeline

Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/10165 SAU6121318.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording. Quotations are as transcribed; bracketed words are corrections, with the transcript's wording kept where the correction changes sense.

Chronological topics with the most concrete material first.
Time	Topic	What was said	Flags
0:02:15	November 8 minutes	Benware's correction: "Should be vice chair. It's very small." The chair abstains: "I abstain because I wasn't here either." The minutes themselves are not in any district share.	MED
0:05:43	Why Lempster is looking	"So the Leinster [Lempster] School Board decided to do in committee. We are a single school." Their superintendent is "Planning to retire in a couple of years", and the motive is "financial reasons and also just the support services". "We have just over 100 students within our K through eight school. We have 39 high schoolers" with "22% of special ed." (0:08:49). High school students go mostly to Fall Mountain, two to Newport.
0:10:33	Lempster costs since the split	Benware asks how much the tax rate rose when the two schools split. The guest: "Our school was running about $3 million" and "We renegotiated our bus contract, our food contract, all of our contracts." Jim: a payment in lieu of taxes with the "Lympstone Wind Farm" [Lempster] "led to a loss of revenues, which led to an increase in tax rate for the school" (0:12:27). He was "the one Republican on the House education who voted against retaining that bill" on stabilization grants (0:13:00).
0:13:48	Lempster federal grants	Michelle: "about, $50,000 in Ida" [IDEA], "40 to 50, depending on the year in title one" and "10,000 in title two". The Lempster chair: "this really is very preliminary for us. We haven't formalized an RFP." (0:14:34).
0:15:26	Two options	Jim: on the House funding committee he asked whether SAU consolidation saves money. The options are "if we became part of this, say what would the cost be" or "hiring or contracting for special ed services" (0:16:23). Erickson: Unity uses Claremont's special education director but contracts outside for speech and language (0:17:06).
0:18:29	Planned behavior program	LeClair: a proposal before the Claremont board for "two elementary behavioral classrooms" for next year; "Our goal for year one is to bring three students who we currently have placed out of district, back" (0:19:54). The model "has a 1.3 year return on investment" (0:21:56). It is "sort of a preview to next week's discussion" at the Claremont board (0:21:11).
0:23:58	SAU technology services	Erickson: Unity "just got in unity, fiber optic." through the SAU technology department's grant work. Pfeifer: the link raised "the speed and reliability multifold both here in Claremont where the hub as well as out to unity." (0:25:10).
0:25:37	Next step with Lempster	Jim asks for "a subcommittee or a group or administrator, probably Mr. O'Neill" to look at models, and says Lempster must "get some ideas before March to ask for from the voters a study committee to do this, because this is a two year process" (0:26:04). Erickson: "I think a dialog would be very beneficial"; Towle: "I like the subcommittee." No motion or vote; "So Michelle will be in touch with Mr. Pfeiffer." (0:27:52).
0:29:01	SAU office evaluation and merit pay	Nathan: managers met employees at the 90-day point "pretty much by the end of September"; the next milestone is "after the March vote" for peer reviews. "I believe the budget was passed with a 3% pool" and "It's real tough to get a perfect three." (0:30:26). He hands out the organizational chart and about 50 pages of job descriptions; a director of curriculum instruction on the chart "is not in the budget for next year" (0:31:11), and the food service assistant is a new position.
0:36:52	Budget phases	Pfeifer: "We are about to end phase one of budget development." Phase two is warrants and hearing timelines, phase three in January "the marketing of our budgets" (0:37:23). "We have talked with our moderator here in Claremont. She is well prepared and organized." (The SAU 6 budget itself was adopted at the November 8 meeting, on the record of that meeting's dialogue file.)
0:38:22	Policy review and curriculum cycle	Claremont and Unity "are either in section B or have completed section B" of their policy reviews. A three-year curriculum cycle: evaluate and research, write, implement (0:38:56). LeClair offers to present it at the next meeting.
0:41:41	Administrators' tentative agreement	"we have a tentative agreement with the Claremont Administrators Association." He describes the talks as "a cooperative communication back and forth."
0:43:31	Keene State practicum	Pfeifer met Keene State faculty about practicum placements under a "four plus one" model leading to a master's in special education; faculty "they're going to come up in February" (0:44:46).
0:45:08	District contract for vendors	With "Matt Upton" he is drafting "a systematic contract that's ours" because "Right now, we're signing theirs and their contracts protects them." Towle: "Yesterday we learned at the workshop, HB House Bill 61612 that the contract should include security of their, cyber security." (0:45:41). The bill number is as transcribed and was not verified for this page.
0:46:38	No SAU 6 policies	Lowe: "this is my fourth year on this board, and we have not ever looked at policies for the say is." "Are we. Way out of compliance." Pfeifer proposes looking at "an essay policy book" after the search (0:47:34). Zullo: "We're not out of compliance for not having any six board policies". Erickson: "We haven't and we haven't looked at policies." (0:48:37).	OBS
0:49:05	Fire-safety reports	"the deputy fire chief has gone through all of our buildings giving us a report. We acted to his report in all buildings. But Stevens, which is ongoing". Sprague: "If if Stevens High School is out of compliance, I'd like I'd like to hear more about that" (0:49:31). Zullo asks for copies; Pfeifer: "I have them all in a file" (0:50:10). A summer electrical project is planned in Claremont.
0:51:04	The moderator and the hearing	Towle: "Have you reached out to Mrs. Pope". Pfeifer: "we will begin to prepare draft warrants for you to review." and "On January 2nd here we have a budget hearing." (0:51:43).
0:52:56	Adult education	Pfeifer describes the evening adult-education division he built at Timberlane, where students "graduate with a Timberland Regional High School diploma", and commends "Scott Pope" for his work. Towle and Lowe speak for adult education.
1:00:31	Superintendent search	Erickson reads her draft status statement: the board "has contracted with the New Hampshire School Board Association"; "A seven member search committee was formed in September" (1:00:58); "To date, nine applications have been received, but more are expected as applications will be accepted through January 15th, 2019." (1:01:30). Evaluation will use a process from the Center for Secondary School Redesign; the goal is a start on July 1, hiring "by the March April time frame". She also says "I suggested one person that he included in the initial evaluation, the person who sent several emails telling me how great he was" (1:05:31).	POS
1:04:39	Transition offer	Pfeifer: "Very willing to, even without pay, to stay for a little while after July 1st".
1:07:14	Lunch-account arrears	Sprague: the new food service assistant has been on the job two weeks, and "I'm dying to know why people why people are going into arrears." Towle: "There is no reason in the world why we couldn't have a standardized letter written with their letter, their letterhead." (1:08:08), "Three strikes, you're out." Lowe: "Can I suggest that this be a Claremont board meeting issue?" (1:08:38). The Claremont board took the subject up on December 19 (December 19, 2018 page).
1:10:52	Nonpublic session	"I'd like to make a motion that we go into nonpublic session for RSA 91-A colon three sub paragraph two." After a second the chair asks "All those in favor."; Zullo: "But we have to roll call." The secretary's roll call follows (1:12:41). The chair keeps the session in the room: "When we stay in here and we're off air, the visuals still. They're just not the auditory." (1:13:21).	MED

Items flagged for review

These flags are a reviewer's aid, not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each one names the rule it rests on, as that rule read on December 13, 2018, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies. RSA 91-A:2, II as it read in 2018 did not yet require minutes to name the mover and seconder of each motion; that sentence took effect January 1, 2019.

MEDIUM No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting survive in any district share

MAP.md records no Drive material: neither district share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023. RSA 91-A:2, II, as it read throughout 2018, required minutes that "include the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions", open to public inspection "not more than 5 business days after the meeting". This page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule because the recording shows the board keeping minutes: it approves the November 8 minutes with a correction (0:02:15 to 0:02:59), and a recording secretary is present. What is missing is a public copy, and the online shares do not reach back to 2018. The absence still matters here: without minutes, the motion's exemption, the nonpublic roll call and anything decided in nonpublic session cannot be checked (see flag 2).

Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification, the text in force for all of 2018; source note ends 2017, 165:1 and 234:1)

MEDIUM The nonpublic motion, as transcribed, names paragraph II but no lettered exemption

RSA 91-A:3, I(b) required that "Any motion to enter nonpublic session shall state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II" and that the decision be by roll call. The motion as transcribed reads "RSA 91-A colon three sub paragraph two." (1:10:52), which identifies paragraph II but none of its lettered grounds. The project's attribution report reads the motion as II(a), but that letter is not in the transcript, and with no minutes there is no document to settle it. The automatic transcript may have dropped a spoken letter, which is why this is graded MEDIUM rather than HIGH. The board did take the vote by roll call after a member's reminder (1:11:08), as I(b) requires; only part of the roll is audible (1:12:41 onward), so the tally cannot be stated. The minutes of the nonpublic session were due for disclosure within 72 hours unless sealed by a two-thirds recorded vote under paragraph III; none survive.

Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and III (2017 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; 280:1)

OBSERVATION The SAU 6 board says it has never adopted policies of its own

Sara Lowe, in her fourth year on the board, asked whether the board was "Way out of compliance" for never having looked at SAU-level policies (0:46:38). Zullo answered that it was not; the superintendent proposed taking up "an essay policy book" after the search; the chair agreed "we haven't looked at policies" and linked the need to a possible enlargement of the SAU (0:48:37, 0:48:55). This page verified no statute requiring an SAU board to adopt a policy manual, so the point is recorded as an observation. It bears on the Lempster discussion earlier in the meeting: a third district would join a unit whose own board had no written policies.

Sources: Cablecast: SAU # 6 SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 12-13-18

POSITIVE The superintendent search is published on the SAU website, with a timeline, survey results and planned monthly updates

The chair reported a search page on the SAU 6 website carrying the job listing, a timeline and the community survey results, including the top three answers to its open-ended questions (0:59:31, 1:00:04), and read a draft status statement she plans to post and update "every month or so" (1:00:31). The statement gives the committee's makeup, the application count and the closing date. No statute requires a public body to publish a search in progress, so this exceeds the legal minimum. One remark cuts the other way: the chair said she had added to the initial evaluation an applicant who had sent her "several emails telling me how great he was" (1:05:31), as a test of the scoring process. She described the process as fact-based scoring meant "to take the subjectivity out of it" (1:06:24).

Sources: Cablecast: SAU # 6 SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 12-13-18

Appendix: source files

Official and public sources

Cablecast: SAU # 6 SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 12-13-18 (show 10165; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, the API returned 403 on 2026-10-02)
Google Drive: no agenda, packet or minutes. MAP.md: "neither share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023 (checked 9/26/26)." Not searched again for this page, per the run instructions for meetings with no Drive material.

Project files

Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.

Dialogue/10165 SAU6121318.mp4.CSV (541 attributed rows; the basis of this page)
Dialogue/10094 SAU6110918.mp4.CSV (the November 8, 2018 SAU 6 meeting, for the budget adoption noted in the timeline)
Input/Videos/10165 SAU6121318.mp4
Input/Transcripts/10165 SAU6121318.mp4.json
Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 89
Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10165 SAU6121318.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)

Laws and rules cited on this page

RSA 91-A:2, II, 2017 codification (source note ends 2017, 165:1 and 234:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2018): notice and minutes; the text in force for all of 2018, before the mover/seconder sentence of 2018, 244:1
RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and III, 2017 codification (source note ends 2016, 30:1 and 280:1): nonpublic motion states the specific exemption, roll call, 72-hour disclosure