SAU 6 Board — September 22, 2020

MEDIUM The board voted to go nonpublic on the employee-matters exemption, discussed a Goshen tuition contract, sealed the minutes with no statutory finding stated, and corrected the exemption only afterward

At 0:25:38 the chair moved to enter nonpublic session under RSA 91-A:3, II(a), reading its text aloud ("the dismissal, promotion or compensation of any public employee or the disciplining of such employee"), and the board voted by roll call. After the session he moved to seal the minutes ("That we sailed in the meeting minutes of the nonpublic for 76 years.", 0:29:50; the duration is as transcribed and may be garbled), again by roll call. Only then did he say: "I said the wrong RSA, so I'd like to correct that. The correct RSA is RSA 91A32K. Contracts to the regarding the Goshen School District." (0:30:41).

As in force in 2020, RSA 91-A:3, I(b) provided that "Any motion to enter nonpublic session shall state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II which is relied upon as foundation for the nonpublic session." The motion the members voted on stated II(a), not the tuition-contract ground. Paragraph II(k) covers "Consideration by a school board of entering into a student or pupil tuition contract authorized by RSA 194 or RSA 195-A" and adds that a negotiated contract "shall be made public prior to its consideration for approval by a school district, together with minutes of all meetings held in nonpublic session". Paragraph III allows minutes to be withheld only if, "by recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present taken in public session, it is determined" that disclosure would harm a person's reputation, render the action ineffective, or concern terrorism, and then only "until, in the opinion of a majority of members, the aforesaid circumstances no longer apply". The seal motion on the recording states no such determination and gives a fixed term instead; and a decades-long seal sits awkwardly with II(k)'s requirement that nonpublic minutes about a tuition contract be made public before the contract is approved. Whether II(k), written for "a school board", reaches the SAU board is a further question this page does not resolve.

Mitigation: the chair corrected the citation himself, in public, the same night, and the superintendent described the subject (0:31:26). Graded MEDIUM, consistent with corpus pages that grade a seal without a stated finding MEDIUM; the minutes, which might record a finding, are not posted.

Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a), II(k) and III (2019 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1 and 280:1, text in force in 2020).

MEDIUM With members on video, the agenda and the June 23 minutes were approved by voice vote

Shannon Popescu was online (0:01:09) and Frank Sprague and Carolyn Towle took part by video. The agenda (0:02:51) and the June 23 minutes (0:03:41) were each approved on "All in favor?" with no roll call. From the policies onward every vote was a roll call, the chair noting "We need a roll call for this" (0:16:31). As in force in 2020, RSA 91-A:2, III(e) provided: "All votes taken during such a meeting shall be by roll call vote." Governor Sununu's Emergency Order #12 waived only the requirement that a quorum be physically present (III(b)); it did not waive III(e). Graded MEDIUM as a probable process gap, lower than a corpus page where most votes, including substantive ones, were by voice; both voice votes here were routine and the remaining six were roll calls.

Sources: RSA 91-A:2, III(e) (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1); Emergency Order #12 (March 23, 2020): waives the physical-quorum requirement only.