Participants
Everyone heard or named as present in the recording. Names follow the project's 2015-2023 roster and the speaker attribution report for this recording, since no minutes survive; transcript renderings are noted where they differ.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Michael Petrin | SAU 6 Board chair (Claremont member) | Calls the meeting to order (0:00:12); notes the missing minutes (0:02:03); runs the budget discussion and future agenda (0:36:54); takes the motion to enter nonpublic session (0:37:22 to 0:37:57). |
| Frank Sprague | Member (Claremont; Claremont School Board chair) | Questions above-budget salaries (0:22:15 to 0:23:42), the food-service and technology lines (0:23:45, 0:25:12), the $100,000 for SAU office improvements (0:28:09) and the auditor line (0:29:56 to 0:32:06). |
| Nicholas Stone | Member (Claremont) | Answers the roll (0:01:45); seconds the agenda (0:01:59) and the nonpublic motion (0:37:57); asks about time-clock software support (0:26:45) and the merit line (0:32:47). |
| Steven Horsky | Member (Claremont), attending remotely | Asks about the merit pool (0:19:17); moves to enter nonpublic session (0:37:40). |
| Other members | Members (Claremont and Unity) | Not identifiable: the roll call is mostly untranscribed (0:00:59 to 0:01:45). |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Superintendent's report: curriculum alignment, the retreat and restructuring, dual enrollment, the tech center, COVID-19 (0:02:36 to 0:16:51); on SAU policies (0:36:43, attribution uncertain). |
| Dr. Mary Ellen Janeiro | Curriculum administrator, SAU 6 (name per the project roster) | Presents the curriculum alignment work (0:04:20 to 0:07:51). |
| Richard Seaman | Assistant superintendent for finance, SAU 6 | Presents the proposed SAU 6 budget (0:17:29 to 0:35:16); supplies the statute for the nonpublic motion (0:37:52). |
| Jeff Small | Director of Technology, SAU 6 | Answers technology-budget questions (0:26:04 to 0:27:17). |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk | Calls the roll (0:01:45); explains the unfinished minutes (0:02:19); relays Horsky's question (0:19:06). |
| Unidentified | Various | 5 of 188 rows (2.7%), including the agenda motion (0:01:56) and the question about statutory subsections (0:37:33). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives. The order below is reconstructed from the chair's transitions; the chair names the budget as the first of the “discussion and action items” (0:17:05).
Items in the order taken up, with dispositions as heard in the recording
| Taken up | Item | Disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:12 | Call to order; Pledge; roll call | “I'd like to call the November 18th.” (0:00:12) Roll mostly untranscribed (0:00:59 to 0:01:45). |
| 0:01:51 | Approval of the agenda | “Motion that we accept the agenda presented.” (0:01:56) (unidentified); Stone seconds (0:01:59); voice vote (0:02:03). See flag 3. |
| 0:02:03 | Minutes of the previous meeting | Not ready (0:02:03, 0:02:19). See flag 2. |
| 0:02:36 | Superintendent's report | Curriculum alignment; retreat and restructuring; dual enrollment and AP; tech center; COVID-19 and vaccination clinics. No action. |
| 0:17:05 | Citizens' comments | “I'll move on to citizens comments as no one's here.” (0:17:05) |
| 0:17:05 | Discussion and action: SAU 6 proposed budget | Presented and questioned; no vote; adoption planned for December 16 (0:36:54). See flags 5 to 7 and 9. |
| 0:35:42 | Policy update | Nothing to present; no SAU policy committee identified (0:36:03, 0:36:30). |
| 0:36:54 | Future agenda items | Next SAU 6 meeting December 16, to vote on the budget (0:36:54, 0:37:11). |
| 0:37:22 | Motion to enter nonpublic session | Horsky moves (0:37:40); exemption not stated beyond “91-A colon three.” (0:37:52); Stone seconds; voice vote called (0:37:57); recording ends. See flag 1. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/12033 SAU6111821.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
Topics in the order discussed
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:51 | Agenda; minutes not ready | Agenda approved by voice (0:02:03). The chair: “We don't have the October 20th minutes.” (0:02:03) The clerk: “Giant to break my ankle. And having a computer that doesn't work. I didn't get them done.” (0:02:19) The chair: “It's fine. We'll get them next time” (0:02:26). | HIGH MEDIUM |
| 0:02:36 | Retreat and restructuring | “We prepared a bunch of data for the retreat recently” (0:02:36); “that restructuring we did table that for those at home viewing.” (0:03:10) | OBSERVATION |
| 0:04:20 | Curriculum alignment | Dr. Janeiro: standards alignment, curriculum maps and scope and sequence (0:04:20 to 0:05:31); “61% of our teachers are new within the last three years” (0:05:54). | |
| 0:08:00 | AP, SAT and dual enrollment | Comparison with neighboring schools (0:08:25); a graduate's transcript shown with stated permission (0:09:16); “in 2020, we had 26 students, took 30 AP tests, and 11 of the students had qualifying scores” (0:12:52), against “So 125 students earned college credit” (0:13:37) through Running Start. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:11:00 | Tech center and Region 10 | After meeting business leaders, the superintendent says “there's no definitive, steps that have been taken to to pull out of the agreement with Newport.” (0:11:00) | |
| 0:14:35 | COVID-19 and vaccination clinics | “there's 362 yesterday active cases in Sullivan County, 167 cases highest that has been to date in Claremont.” (0:14:35) Thanks for the Veterans Day clinic at the fire station; next clinic “Sunday, December 5th, from ten to to 5 p.m. at the Claremont Middle School.” (0:16:03) | |
| 0:17:29 | Proposed SAU 6 budget | “There is really no change in the budget from last year to this year.” (0:17:29) The main increase is retirement, “increased by the state by 3%” (0:17:29); salaries modeled at 3 percent “because no one at the saw was a part of a negotiated entity.” (0:18:18) Receptionist cut “from a 1.0 FTE to a point five FTE.” (0:21:53) | POSITIVE |
| 0:19:06 | Merit pool in abeyance | Horsky (remote): “I believe we suspended that until we get a formula put together that works.” (0:19:17) Seaman: “nothing is going to be paid out as it relates to the merit pool.” (0:20:47) and “If we don't spend it, it just comes back down to the bottom line. And it's a surplus going into following years.” (0:21:16) | POSITIVE MEDIUM |
| 0:22:15 | Salaries above budget | “what would be the circumstances under which they would get paid? 55,000.” (0:22:15) HR coordinator, special education director and technology director raised to market (0:22:43 to 0:23:42). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:23:45 | Staffing lines | The data systems specialist also covers food service (0:23:54 to 0:25:02); a residual line for the former assistant superintendent (0:25:18); technology notes not updated (0:26:28); time-clock support “That's like buying insurance. Nick.” (0:27:43) | |
| 0:28:09 | $100,000 for SAU office improvements | “right in the middle of the page is 100,000. Sitting there.” (0:28:09) “We would have been favorable by 128,000. And the decision was made so as to do the additional improvements that the saw.” (0:28:32) | OBSERVATION |
| 0:29:56 | Audits behind | “They're about to finish up the s a year 19 audit. As you know we've been behind on audits and catching up.” (0:30:23) Goal: fiscal 2019, 2020 and 2021 done this year (0:30:59). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:34:11 | Apportionment | “of the apportionment, Claremont is going up by 37,000 and unity is going up in this case by four.” (0:34:19) “So we'll look to have an approval on the budget in December.” (0:35:02) | POSITIVE |
| 0:35:42 | No SAU policy work | Seaman: “We really don't have a committee or anyone working policies for the essay.” (0:36:03) The clerk: “I don't remember that we do have a policy committee for the.” (0:36:30) The superintendent will check (0:36:43). | |
| 0:36:54 | Next meeting | “our next six board meeting is December 16th.” (0:36:54) | |
| 0:37:22 | Into nonpublic session | “Any of the subsections. Or can we just.” (0:37:33) Horsky: “to go into public session. State and personnel.” (0:37:40) Seaman: “91-A colon three. There you go.” (0:37:52) The chair: “Set any discussion? All in favor?” (0:37:57); the recording ends at 0:38:03. | HIGH MEDIUM |
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 November 18, 2021, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
HIGH Nonpublic session entered on a motion that named no statutory exemption, by a voice vote, with a member attending remotely
At the end of the public meeting the chair said “We're gonna we gotta move. Closing activities after the nonpublic.” (0:37:22) Someone asked “Any of the subsections. Or can we just.” (0:37:33) Horsky then moved “to go into public session. State and personnel.” (0:37:40) (the context shows he meant nonpublic). The chair prompted “So you got the RSA.” (0:37:49) and the assistant superintendent for finance supplied “91-A colon three. There you go.” (0:37:52) The chair took a second from Stone and called “Set any discussion? All in favor?” (0:37:57), where the recording ends.
RSA 91-A:3, I(b), as it read on this date (the 2019 codification's text, unchanged by the 2021 amendments in these passages), requires the motion to enter nonpublic session to state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II relied on, and the vote on it to be by roll call. “State and personnel.” (0:37:40) is not an exemption: paragraph II separately lists, among others, the dismissal, promotion, compensation or discipline of a public employee (II(a)), the hiring of a public employee (II(b)), and matters likely to affect a non-member's reputation (II(c)). The question about “Any of the subsections.” shows the requirement was raised in the room, and the motion went forward without one. The vote was called as a voice vote; the recording ends before any roll call could be heard, so a roll call taken afterwards cannot be ruled out, but none was called. Separately, Horsky was attending remotely (flag 3), and RSA 91-A:2, III(e) requires every vote at such a meeting to be by roll call. No minutes of the session survive, so whether the nonpublic discussion stayed within an exemption, whether any decision was made, and whether minutes were disclosed within 72 hours under RSA 91-A:3, III cannot be checked.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a)-(c) and III (2019 codification; these passages are unchanged through the 2021 amendments); RSA 91-A:2, III(e) (2021 codification): all votes by roll call when a member participates remotely
HIGH The minutes of this meeting, and of the October 21 meeting, were not written within five business days
At this meeting the chair reported “We don't have the October 20th minutes.” (0:02:03), meaning the board's previous meeting of October 21 (the SAU 6 board did not meet on October 20), and the clerk explained “Giant to break my ankle. And having a computer that doesn't work. I didn't get them done.” (0:02:19) That was the nineteenth business day after October 21 (see the October 21, 2021 page). On December 16, 2021 the chair told the board there were no previous meeting minutes that night (show 12088), the nineteenth business day after this meeting, counting Thanksgiving as a legal holiday under RSA 288:1. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be open to public inspection not more than five business days after the meeting; for this meeting that was Friday, November 26, 2021. No minutes of either meeting survive in any district share.
The project's severity rule grades an absence MEDIUM where the record mitigates it, for example where someone on tape says minutes are coming. That limb was considered and rejected: the statements on tape establish that the deadline passed rather than mitigating it. The clerk's injury and equipment failure are recorded here for fairness; they explain the delay and do not change what the statute required.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2021 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019): minutes open to inspection within five business days; RSA 288:1 (legal holidays); the December 16, 2021 SAU 6 recording (show 12088)
MEDIUM A member took part remotely with no recorded reason, and votes were taken by voice
Horsky joined by video: the clerk told the chair “I think Steven has a question. Yes. Sorry, he's just on your screen.” (0:19:06) and he later made the nonpublic motion (0:37:40). RSA 91-A:2, III, as it read in 2021, allows a member to participate other than in person only when attendance is not reasonably practical, requires the reason to be stated in the minutes, requires a quorum to be physically present, and requires all votes at such a meeting to be by roll call. The governor's emergency order that had suspended the physical-quorum rule lapsed with the state of emergency on June 11, 2021. The agenda vote (0:02:03) and the nonpublic vote (0:37:57) were both called by voice; whether Horsky had joined before the agenda vote is not shown. Because the roll call is mostly untranscribed (0:00:59 to 0:01:45), this page cannot establish that a quorum was physically present, and because no minutes survive, it cannot check whether a reason for remote attendance was recorded. The MEDIUM grade reflects that the gap is probable on the record but the decisive document is missing.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, III(a), III(b) and III(e) (2021 codification); Emergency Order #12 (March 23, 2020), effective for the duration of the state of emergency; NHPR, June 10, 2021: state of emergency to expire at midnight June 11, 2021 (reporting)
OBSERVATION The superintendent reported a Claremont board retreat and the tabling of the elementary restructuring, neither of which has a public record
Opening his report, the superintendent said “We prepared a bunch of data for the retreat recently” (0:02:36) and “we had a we had a great retreat in, in Claremont” (0:02:36), and that “that restructuring we did table that for those at home viewing.” (0:03:10), because “the board felt it's not the time to do that. Right now.” (0:03:35) The Claremont board had scheduled a retreat for Thursday, November 11 (see the November 3, 2021 page). No recording or minutes of that session are in the corpus, and no public vote to table restructuring appears on the November 3 or December 1, 2021 Claremont recordings. This SAU 6 meeting is where the public first heard of the outcome. What was decided at the retreat, and how, is a gap in the record, not a fact this page asserts.
Sources: the recording; the November 3 and December 1, 2021 Claremont recordings (shows 12005 and 12056)
OBSERVATION Three SAU salaries were raised above budget after a market review; who approved the raises is not on the record
Sprague asked why a position budgeted at a lower figure was paid more: “what would be the circumstances under which they would get paid? 55,000.” (0:22:15) The assistant superintendent for finance said that for the HR coordinator “we did evaluate what does someone of like skills in our market get paid.” (0:22:43) and “there were conversations and approved that that position would be raised from what the budget was to what the market position is” (0:23:10), and confirmed the same for the director of special education and the director of technology (0:23:39, 0:23:42). RSA 194-C:5, III makes fixing the salaries of all SAU personnel the SAU board's duty. The record here does not say whether the SAU board approved these raises in a meeting, and the minutes that would show it do not survive.
Sources: RSA 194-C:5, III (2021 codification; 1996, 298:3): the SAU board fixes the salaries of all SAU personnel
OBSERVATION A $100,000 share of the prior year's surplus was committed to finishing the SAU office; the decision-maker is not named
Sprague found “right in the middle of the page is 100,000. Sitting there.” (0:28:09) The answer: “We would have been favorable by 128,000. And the decision was made so as to do the additional improvements that the saw.” (0:28:32) The money was put aside “because of the surplus from last year to put aside dollars in order to get that done and to have those contracts in place.” (0:29:15) for carpet, paint and conference-room furniture at the Dow building, and “made a decision to allocate that 100,000, which will be reconciled this year.” (0:29:44) Who made the decision, and when, is not stated, and no SAU 6 vote on it is on the October 21 or November 18 recordings. Elsewhere in the same discussion the assistant superintendent described unspent SAU money as returning to “the bottom line” as surplus (0:21:16). This page found no verified rule governing an SAU's carryover of year-end funds, so it records the facts and the open question.
Sources: the recording; the October 21, 2021 recording (show 11980)
OBSERVATION SAU 6 audits are years behind: the fiscal 2019 audit was still being finished in November 2021
Sprague noticed the auditor line went unused in two years (0:30:05). The assistant superintendent: “They're about to finish up the s a year 19 audit. As you know we've been behind on audits and catching up.” (0:30:23) and “And our hope is we're going to get 21 done so that by the end of this year, our audits are back on and where they should be.” (0:30:59) He estimated the cost “in the range of 7500 to 7000 500 to 9000” (0:31:20) per year and explained the $25,000 line as “25 would be three years, which are the remaining years that are outstanding.” (0:31:38) An audit for the year ended June 30, 2019, finished almost two and a half years later, gives the board little use as a control. This page found no verified rule fixing an audit deadline for an SAU, and did not establish whether SAU 6 itself expends enough federal money to need a single audit, so this is recorded as an observation.
Sources: the recording
OBSERVATION A former student's transcript was shown on camera on the strength of a stated permission
Making the case for dual enrollment, the superintendent showed the high-school transcript of a recent Stevens graduate: “I had permission to to share the transcript.” (0:09:16) and “We have permission to show it” (0:10:08). FERPA requires a signed and dated written consent before personally identifiable information from a student's education records is disclosed, except as 34 CFR 99.31 allows; for a graduate who has reached 18, the consent is the student's own. The recording does not show what form the permission took. This page does not describe the transcript's contents beyond what the superintendent said aloud.
Sources: 34 CFR 99.30(a) (2021 annual edition): signed, dated written consent before disclosure
POSITIVE Merit payouts held back as the board directed in October, with the original evaluation documents recovered
Horsky, attending remotely, asked about the 3 percent merit line: “I believe we suspended that until we get a formula put together that works.” (0:19:17) The assistant superintendent confirmed “What I understand has been put in abeyance is any payouts related to this merit pay.” (0:19:58) and “nothing is going to be paid out as it relates to the merit pool.” (0:20:47); the superintendent reported “we did find those original documents to to put that together. Yeah Ben found that.” (0:21:23) The administration carried out the October 21 vote (October 21, 2021 page) and said so on the record, which is the follow-through that vote asked for. The budget itself was sent to members electronically days ahead (0:17:29), with adoption planned for December 16, before the January 1 deadline in RSA 194-C:9, I (0:36:54).
Sources: RSA 194-C:9, I (2021 codification): SAU budget adopted at a meeting before January 1
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: SAU 6 Meeting of 11/18/21 (show 12033; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, the API refuses requests from this environment)
- Google Drive: no packet folder, agenda, budget draft or minutes. MAP.md: neither share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023 and has never held an SAU 6 file (checked 9/26/26). Not searched again for this page, per the run instructions for meetings with no Drive material.
- Other recordings cited: October 21, 2021 SAU 6 (show 11980; page), November 3, 2021 Claremont (show 12005; page), December 1, 2021 Claremont (show 12056) and December 16, 2021 SAU 6 (show 12088).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/12033 SAU6111821.mp4.CSV (188 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/12033 SAU6111821.mp4Input/Transcripts/12033 SAU6111821.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 156Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/12033 SAU6111821.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II and III, 2019 codification (the passages cited are unchanged by 2021, 48:7(I) and by the amendments effective Jan. 1, 2022): nonpublic motion must state the specific paragraph II exemption; roll-call vote; 72-hour disclosure of nonpublic minutes unless sealed
- RSA 91-A:2, II and III, 2021 codification (source note ends 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019): minutes within five business days; remote participation only when attendance is not reasonably practical, reason in the minutes, quorum physically present, all votes by roll call
- Emergency Order #12 (March 23, 2020), under Executive Order 2020-04: waived the physical-quorum requirement for the duration of the state of emergency, which ended June 11, 2021 (NHPR, June 10, 2021)
- RSA 288:1 (source note ends 1999): legal holidays, used for the business-day count
- RSA 194-C:5, III, 2021 codification (1996, 298:3): the SAU board fixes the salaries of all SAU personnel
- RSA 194-C:9, I, 2021 codification (source note ends 2003, 279:1): SAU budget adopted at a meeting before January 1
- 34 CFR 99.30(a), 2021 annual edition: written consent before disclosing personally identifiable information from education records