Participants
Everyone heard on the recording, plus members called in the roll. Names follow the project's 2015–2023 roster and attribution report for this show; there are no minutes to check spellings against. Where the attribution report rates a label below high confidence, the row says so.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Michael Petrin | Chair, SAU 6 Board (Claremont member) | Never named on the recording; the attribution report rates the label medium, resting on the roster (elected SAU 6 chair March 28, 2019) and elimination. Presides; opens by recalling that at the Claremont meeting "someone that complained about not being able to hear well" and asks members to speak up (0:00:49); says the Abbey Group "has no role in filing for the lunch, reimbursement" (0:15:23); proposes waiting on the efficiency study so the new superintendent can "get his feet wet" (1:02:15). |
| Marjorie Erickson | Vice Chair (Unity member) | Label rated medium (a three-voice cluster). Asks that the March 28 minutes be corrected (0:02:27); says the SAU board "is lacking" policies (0:32:41) and had no policy on the chair's emergency authority (0:43:00); named to the policy subcommittee (0:47:07); argues for an efficiency study before the new superintendent arrives (0:49:59, 0:55:41). |
| Robert McDevitt | Member (Unity) | Seconds the agenda (0:02:02) and moves to table the minutes (0:04:08); says the Abbey Group transition left responsibilities unclear (0:15:44); asks that lunch debt be a separate agenda item for the public's sake (0:36:02); argues "The superintendent is hired by the school board" (0:53:03). |
| Shannon Popescu | Member (Unity) | Called in the roll (ASR Pascu, 0:01:13). The attribution report suggests one unidentified voice that offers to fill in on the subcommittee (0:45:59) and asks about the study's timing (0:59:44, 1:00:54) may be Popescu or Lovett. |
| Prudence McCormick | Member (Unity) | Absent: called ("McCormack", 0:01:08) with no audible answer; Erickson: "We could put Pru on. She's not here." (0:45:43). |
| Jason Benware | Member (Claremont) | Moves the agenda (0:01:59), nominates Towle for treasurer (0:48:31), seconds the study motion (1:03:07) and moves the nonpublic session (1:03:36); presses for a public timeline: "How do we make it two years?" (0:09:44); "the lunch debt has nothing to do with our lost revenue from filing incorrectly" (0:33:46). |
| Rebecca Zullo | Member (Claremont) | Reports that the superintendent contract is in negotiation (0:05:04); asks about the food-service compliance hire's role and the history of lunch debt (0:18:33, 0:23:34); moves to wait on the efficiency study "until Mr. Tempesta has started" (1:02:42). |
| Frank Sprague | Member (Claremont) | Asks "What is what is the explanation for it happening two years in a row?" (0:26:28) and where the 2017–18 loss was covered from (0:35:24); named to the policy subcommittee. |
| Heather Whitney | Member (Claremont) | Asks that the Abbey Group's role be made clear (0:14:55) and that a procedures manual be written for the food-service role (0:28:37, 0:31:09); on the study: "Our role is is to define the what, not the how." (0:58:42); named to the policy subcommittee. |
| Carolyn Towle | Member (Claremont); elected SAU 6 treasurer | Says she had asked for a public timeline (0:11:45); raises rising lunch-account balances (0:13:43); favors a policy subcommittee (0:44:38); accepts the treasurer nomination and asks that reconciliation be kept current (0:48:40); elected (0:49:17). |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Member (Claremont) | Called in the roll (0:01:22); no answer is audible and no speech is attributed to him. |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk and recording secretary | Calls the roll (0:01:08) and the nonpublic roll call (1:04:50); takes Erickson's minutes corrections (0:04:32). |
| Cory LeClair | Acting Superintendent, SAU 6 | Explains the tax effect of the lost reimbursement (0:06:12) and that the reported figure covers two years (0:10:20); describes the food-service compliance hire's duties (0:18:48); "we do not have a single adopted saw board policy at this time" (0:37:13). |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator, SAU 6 | Called Mike (surname spelling from the roster only). Offers a written timeline built from his corrective action plan (0:11:05); explains the 2018–19 delay as an RFP for Unity that "was not sent out in a timely fashion" (0:26:40); describes the treasurer's duties (0:47:30). |
| Bob Day (surname as heard) | Unity School District treasurer; speaker from the floor | "My name is Bob day. I'm coming treasurer of the District of of Unity treasurer." Says Unity's newest financial policies date from 2004, 2006 and 2009 (0:41:23). Whether coming means incoming is not clear. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives. The chair says "We have an agenda in front of us" (0:01:52), and members later note that lunch debt was not on it (0:36:21). The items below follow the chair's transitions.
| Taken up | Item | Disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:10 | Call to order; Pledge; roll call | "Meeting to order at 632." Roll call by the clerk (0:01:08). |
| 0:01:52 | Agenda | Accepted as printed: Benware moved, McDevitt seconded, voice vote (0:01:59 to 0:02:11). |
| 0:02:17 | Minutes of March 28, 2019 | Tabled for Erickson's corrections: McDevitt moved, the chair seconded (0:04:08, 0:04:13). |
| 0:04:43 | Citizens' comments | None (0:04:50). |
| 0:04:59 | Update on the superintendent search | Contract in negotiation; information to be reviewed by the board that night (0:05:04). |
| 0:05:37 | Food service: loss of revenue | Discussion; timeline promised within a week and placed on the Claremont board's April 17 agenda (0:12:48, 0:13:40). Lunch debt also discussed although not on the agenda (0:36:21). See flag 1. |
| 0:36:49 | Policies | SAU 6 has no adopted policies; subcommittee of Erickson, Whitney and Sprague named by consensus without a motion (0:46:02, 0:47:07). See flag 4 and flag 6. |
| 0:47:16 | Election of SAU board treasurer | Carolyn Towle elected: nominated by Benware, seconded by Zullo, voice vote (0:48:31, 0:49:17). See flag 2. |
| 0:49:36 | SAU efficiency study or forensic audit | Tabled from March 28. Motion to wait until Mr. Tempesta has started: Zullo moved, Benware seconded; passed, "Two nays. Everybody else was a II." (1:02:56 to 1:03:24). The two members voting no are not named on the tape. |
| 1:03:33 | Nonpublic session | Motion under RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and II(c), the text read in full (1:03:36); roll call, all audible answers Yes. (1:04:39 to 1:05:04); the recording ends as the chair invites "the board and, Cory, acting superintendent" in (1:05:06). See flag 7. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/10321 SAU6041119.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:49 | Audibility | Chair: "We had our Claremont meeting someone that complained about not being able to hear well at the back of the room. So if we just remember to speak up and if anybody is having trouble, they can pull a chair closer if you need to." He repeats the request at 0:11:00. | POSITIVE |
| 0:02:27 | March 28 minutes | Erickson: the minutes' account of the February 21 minutes is "a little awkward how how it talks about the roll call" for coming out of nonpublic; "I think it's two things that are merged in together" (0:03:48). Tabled. | MEDIUM |
| 0:05:04 | Superintendent contract | Zullo: "So we're in the process of negotiating a contract and I don't really have much to share. We have information that we're going to review tonight as a board." | |
| 0:06:12 | Tax effect of the lost reimbursement | LeClair: the loss "does have a tax impact on our taxpayers. It won't cause a scenario this year where we have to do a deficit." Appropriation; it is covered this year by unspent money from unfilled positions, including special education positions covered by a remote teacher through a contractor (0:07:25, 0:07:54), and by health and dental census changes, but "it will have a tax impact for future years, because we're not able to return as much to the taxpayers as we expected" (0:08:23). | MEDIUM |
| 0:09:24 | The public's questions | Benware: people want "a timeline as to how this all went down" and ask "Okay, I understand making the mistake one year. How do we make it two years?" (0:09:44). | POSITIVE |
| 0:10:20 | Size of the loss | LeClair: "the amount that is out there is for the two years, not just it's not 460, $60,000 for this year. That's the total amount for two years." She learned of it "this February". O'Neill will prepare a timeline from his corrective action plan "from July 1st, 2017 when we switched to Abby Group" (0:11:05), within the next week (0:12:48); LeClair will put it on the Claremont board's April 17 agenda (0:13:40). | MEDIUM |
| 0:13:43 | Lunch account balances | Towle: balances rose in February and March, "one account at $500 or more" (0:14:09). McDevitt asks that the two issues be kept apart for the public (0:14:37). | |
| 0:14:55 | Abbey Group's role | Whitney: people "are kind of blaming Abby group in part for the lack of filing". Chair: "the Abbey Group has no role in filing for the lunch, reimbursement" (0:15:23). McDevitt recalls that when the Abbey Group came in "nobody really knew what everything meant" (0:15:44); O'Neill: "there was certain expectations that I had that other people didn't meet" (0:16:19). LeClair: "based on USDA requirements, the school district cannot contract out certain filing, practices" (0:17:38). | MEDIUM |
| 0:18:48 | Food-service compliance hire | LeClair: a staff member hired, "I think it was November at the same level" (named on the tape as "Danielle Skinner", spelling unverified) handles family applications, payment plans, monthly board reports and claims. Before her arrival, "Has everything had to go through Mike. And he was the only one able to do some of those things. So it just for all intents and purposes, created a bottleneck" (0:20:33); roles were redistributed so "there's also as checks and balances in place so that not everything falls to one person" (0:20:56). | MEDIUM |
| 0:23:58 | Lunch debt and the substitute meal | O'Neill: "The major thing is the change in the policy at the federal government level, where we used to be able to basically give them a substitute meal, a sun butter sandwich or something like that. But when the regulations changed, we couldn't do that"; charges once stopped at $10, "But now they were $494. Still got to give them same thing." (0:24:28). LeClair: "the federal law changed about around what kind of meal you're required, offered every child." (0:24:48). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:26:04 | Why two years in a row | Sprague asks for the 2018–19 explanation. O'Neill: "The second year was based on an RFP that had to be sent out for unity. It was not sent out in a timely fashion." (0:26:40); confusion over how long an RFP is good for, "limited to three. Even though it was a five year RFP" (0:26:47); the process "takes 60 days" with 45 days' posting (0:27:11); "the day we awarded that contract is the day the application got approved" (0:27:29). LeClair: "It wasn't filed until January 30th." (0:28:23). | MEDIUM |
| 0:28:37 | Procedures manual | Whitney asks whether the new hire is writing a procedures manual; LeClair: "It's on her radar." (0:28:55); cross-training planned (0:30:44). Erickson: the SAU "should have a policy that covers having those procedures in place. And this is an area where the essay board is lacking." (0:32:41). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:33:46 | Debt versus lost revenue | Benware: "Lunch debt exists because people have not paid for food that they ate." LeClair: "Every child who does, you know." "Or needs a meal, whether they have a cold lunch with them or not, has gotten a meal." (0:34:41, 0:35:03). Sprague asks what covered the 2017–18 loss (0:35:24). McDevitt: "it should have been on the agenda and it should have been under a separate, area of the agenda" (0:36:27); LeClair: "I can make that correction." (0:36:37). | POSITIVE |
| 0:36:49 | No SAU policies | LeClair: "We don't we do not have a single adopted saw board policy at this time. Claremont and Unity each have their own respective policies." (0:37:13); the SAU should have "a, a procurement policy or a policy related to how grant funds are managed or time and effort" and personnel policies (0:40:38). Erickson: "what what authority and responsibility can the board chair take in the in an emergency? And we had nothing to go with." (0:43:00). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:41:23 | Unity treasurer from the floor | Bob Day: Unity's financial policies date from 2004, 2006 and 2009, "a total of 8 or 9 policies that haven't been looked at"; the chair notes that is "for the unity meeting" (0:41:59). | |
| 0:44:15 | Policy subcommittee | Chair asks for volunteers (0:45:26); asked "Do we need a official motion to accept them as our subcommittee?", he answers "All right. Everybody's comfortable with that." (0:46:02, 0:46:09); members: "Marjorie, Heather and Frank." (0:47:07). LeClair: "I will be in touch with those three individuals for a time when they're going to come visit me." (0:46:14). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:47:16 | Treasurer | O'Neill: the treasurer signs vouchers and reconciles cash monthly, because the auditor "wants to start with the treasurer's cash, not with my cash"; "And right now we don't have that being completed. And it's been a while since we've had a, an acting treasurer at the. Say you." (0:48:06, 0:48:22). Towle: "I would be willing to do it as long as I could set it up" so "the backlog gets taken care of" (0:48:40). Elected: "Congrats, Carolyn." (0:49:17). | MEDIUM |
| 0:49:36 | Efficiency study | Erickson: questions remain about "how things are done in the business office" (0:49:59). Zullo: "I'm in full support of an efficiency study. I just would like to see it done with," "His knowledge and his input." (0:50:33). Erickson puts the cost at $5,000 (0:52:35). McDevitt: "He works for us." (0:53:03); Benware: "Bob, my doctor works for me when I go to see him, but I go to him because he knows more about doctoring than I do." (0:53:40). McDevitt then refers to the Claremont board's handling of "the old superintendent" and Benware asks whether that belongs in public; Erickson: "Because I think we're about to get out of order." (0:54:38 to 0:55:33). Zullo says the incoming superintendent "even watched our last six board meeting" (0:57:12). | |
| 1:02:42 | Motion to wait | Zullo: "I would like to make a motion that we wait until Mr. Tempesta has started working for the SO6. Before we do an efficiency study." Benware seconds (1:03:07); "Two nays. Everybody else was a II." (1:03:24). | |
| 1:03:36 | Nonpublic session | Benware reads RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and II(c) aloud as the grounds. Roll-call answers (1:04:39 to 1:05:04), with the clerk calling "Jason. Benoit." [Benware], "Michael. Yes a Whitney." and "And Margery Erickson." The last row: "So at this point, we're just inviting the board and, Cory, acting superintendent, into our nonpublic." (1:05:06). | OBSERVATION |
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 April 11, 2019, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM Federal lunch reimbursement was lost two years running, the second time because a required food-service contract was not rebid in time
The acting superintendent said the loss reported in the press covered two years, "not just it's not 460, $60,000 for this year" (0:10:20); the figure as transcribed is garbled, and no exact amount is given on the tape. For 2018–19 the business administrator said an RFP for Unity's food-service contract "was not sent out in a timely fashion" (0:26:40), and the application was not complete until January 30, 2019 (0:28:23). For 2017–18 he pointed to the July 1, 2017 switch to the Abbey Group (0:11:05) and to a change in the state's handling, from "filing them in November before not getting any claims suspended to all of a sudden, you got to go back to the first day of the year to have it filed" (0:16:40). Until a compliance hire in November 2018, claims work "had to go through Mike", which the acting superintendent called "a bottleneck" (0:20:33).
Federal school-lunch rules require a school food authority that contracts with a food service management company to keep signature authority over its agreement with the state agency and over its claims, and limit such a contract to one year with no more than four additional one-year renewals (7 CFR 210.16(a)(5) and (d), 2019 edition), so a rebid falls due on a fixed cycle. The Uniform Guidance requires a recipient of federal awards to "Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award" (2 CFR 200.303(a), 2019 edition). Losing reimbursement in two consecutive years, the second time over a procurement step whose timing the rules fix in advance, is a control weakness on the record. The mitigation stated on the tape is also recorded: a dedicated compliance hire, redistributed permissions "so that not everything falls to one person" (0:20:56), a corrective action plan, and a written timeline promised to the boards. The business administrator's account of an RFP term "limited to three" (0:26:47) is his characterization; this page has not verified a New Hampshire rule to that effect.
Sources: 7 CFR 210.16(a)(5) and (d) (2019 edition; signature authority on agreement and claims; one-year contract, four renewals); 2 CFR 200.303(a) (2019 edition; effective internal control over federal awards)
MEDIUM SAU 6 had gone a while without a treasurer, and the treasurer's monthly cash reconciliation was not being done
Before the election the business administrator explained that the SAU treasurer signs vouchers and reconciles cash against his books each month, and that "right now we don't have that being completed. And it's been a while since we've had a, an acting treasurer at the. Say you." (0:48:22). The new treasurer spoke of making sure "the backlog gets taken care of" (0:48:40). RSA 194-C:5, I requires the SAU board to meet between April 1 and June 1 each year and to "organize by choosing a chairperson, a secretary, and a treasurer" (statute's wording). A period with no treasurer means a period with no independent reconciliation of the SAU's cash, the external control the business administrator described.
The board filled the office within the statutory window, on April 11, and Towle asked that reconciliation be set up so the backlog is cleared (0:48:40). How long the office was vacant, and whether a secretary was also chosen this year, is not on the tape; the minutes would show both. MEDIUM, as a control gap that the board corrected that night.
Sources: RSA 194-C:5, I (1996, 298:3, never amended; SAU board organizes between April 1 and June 1 by choosing chair, secretary and treasurer)
MEDIUM No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting are publicly available
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, in the 2019 codification, requires minutes that include the names of members, persons appearing, a brief description of the subject matter and final decisions, and the names of the persons who made and seconded each motion, open to public inspection within five business days.
This page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule because the record mitigates the gap: the board was correcting and tabling its March 28 minutes tonight (0:02:27, 0:04:08), so minutes were kept. No public copy can be found. Several facts on this page turn on them: whether Lovett was present, the names of the two members who voted against waiting on the efficiency study, any action taken after the recording ends, and the spelling of the floor speaker's name.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; minutes content, mover and seconder, five business days)
OBSERVATION SAU 6 had no adopted policies of its own, including procurement and grant-management policies
The acting superintendent said "we do not have a single adopted saw board policy at this time" and that the SAU borrows Claremont's or Unity's (0:37:13), and she listed procurement and grant-management policies among those it needs (0:40:38). The vice chair said the board had twice in two months met questions, including the chair's emergency authority, with no policy to apply (0:43:00). The Uniform Guidance requires a non-federal entity to "use its own documented procurement procedures" (2 CFR 200.318(a), 2019 edition). Whether SAU 6 itself, rather than its member districts, was the recipient of federal awards in 2019 is not established on the record, so this is an observation; the procurement point bears directly on the food-service RFP in flag 1.
Sources: 2 CFR 200.318(a) (2019 edition; documented procurement procedures)
OBSERVATION The rule against a substitute meal was described as a federal change; the rule on the books was New Hampshire's
Both the business administrator and the acting superintendent attributed the end of the "sun butter sandwich" substitute meal to a federal change (0:23:58, 0:24:48). From July 2, 2016, New Hampshire law required each district's meal-payment policy to ensure "no student will be subject to different treatment from the standard school lunch meal or school cafeteria procedures" (RSA 189:11-a, VIII, 2018 codification; statute's wording). The federal requirement was that school food authorities have a written meal-charge policy by July 1, 2017; USDA's guidance left the choice between a reimbursable and an alternate meal to local discretion. The practical point the speakers made, that the district must serve the standard meal regardless of balance, is correct; the source they named for it is not. The distinction matters to a reader trying to change the rule, since the State, not USDA, set it.
Sources: RSA 189:11-a, VIII (2018 codification; added 2016, 48:1, eff. July 2, 2016); USDA FNS memo SP 23-2017 (guidance; written meal-charge policy by July 1, 2017)
OBSERVATION The policy subcommittee was formed without a vote; as a subcommittee it is itself a public body
Asked whether an official motion was needed, the chair answered "All right. Everybody's comfortable with that." (0:46:09), and the acting superintendent said she would contact the three members about a time "when they're going to come visit me" (0:46:14). Under RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), a public body includes "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto" (statute's wording), so the subcommittee's meetings need notice and minutes like the board's. Nothing on the tape says how its meetings would be noticed. No verified rule requires a vote to create a subcommittee, so this is an observation.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (2019 codification; subcommittees are public bodies)
OBSERVATION The recording ends during the roll call to enter nonpublic session
The motion read the full text of RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and II(c) (1:03:36), and the roll call began (1:04:39); the clerk's calls are only partly audible, and the tape stops at 1:05:13. Anything after that, the vote to return, any decision, any motion to seal and the adjournment, is not in the public recording. Reading the statutory text aloud in the motion meets RSA 91-A:3, I(b)'s requirement that the motion state the exemption on its face. The board's subject is not stated; the superintendent contract was under negotiation (0:05:04), and if that was the subject, II(b) ("The hiring of any person as a public employee.") is the ground written for a prospective hire.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a), II(b), II(c) (2019 codification)
POSITIVE Members pressed for a public explanation of the food-service losses and for agendas the public can follow
The chair opened by acting on the April 3 complaint that the audience could not hear (0:00:49). Benware asked for a public timeline and an answer to "How do we make it two years?" (0:09:44); Towle said she had asked for the same (0:11:45); the business administrator agreed to prepare one within a week, and the acting superintendent put it on the next Claremont agenda (0:12:48, 0:13:40). McDevitt asked that lunch debt and lost revenue be listed as separate agenda items because the public has no paperwork in front of it (0:36:02), and the acting superintendent agreed (0:36:37). RSA 91-A:2, II requires notice of a meeting's time and place, not an itemized agenda, so these steps go beyond the minimum.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; notice of time and place)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: SAU #6 SCHOOL BOARD MEETING of 4-11-19 (show 10321; the Cablecast API refused this environment on 2026-10-02, so the recording's extent is taken from the last transcript row, 1:05:13)
- Google Drive: no packet folder, agenda 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/10321 SAU6041119.mp4.CSV (410 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/10321 SAU6041119.mp4Input/Transcripts/10321 SAU6041119.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 98Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10321 SAU6041119.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)Scripts/roster_2015_2023.md (board composition and name spellings)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 194-C:5, I (1996, 298:3, eff. Aug. 9, 1996; never amended): SAU board meets April 1 to June 1 and chooses a chairperson, secretary and treasurer
- RSA 91-A:2, II, 2019 codification (source note ends 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019): notice; minutes content including mover and seconder; five business days
- RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), 2019 codification (source note ends 2008, 354:1): committees and subcommittees are public bodies
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a), II(b), II(c), 2019 codification (source note ends 2016, 30:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; 280:1): nonpublic sessions
- RSA 189:11-a, VIII, 2018 codification (source note ends 2016, 48:1, eff. July 2, 2016): meal-payment policy; no different treatment from the standard school lunch
- 7 CFR 210.16(a)(5) and (d), 2019 annual edition: food service management company contracts
- 2 CFR 200.303(a) and 2 CFR 200.318(a), 2019 annual edition: internal control; documented procurement procedures
- USDA FNS memo SP 23-2017 (March 23, 2017; guidance, not regulation): unpaid meal charges and the local charge policy