SAU 6 Board, April 21, 2022 | Annual organization and regular meeting

Participants

Everyone in the record. With no minutes, names come from the roll call, forms of address on the recording and the project roster; unverified spellings are marked.
Name	Role	Participation
Frank Sprague	SAU 6 Board member (Claremont); elected vice chair; presided	Nominated for chair and withdrew for Erickson (0:04:28); elected vice chair and ran the meeting from 0:06:37; questioned the financial report line by line (0:22:58); called the roll-call votes.
Marjorie Erickson	SAU 6 Board member (Unity); elected chair	Absent (roll, 0:06:51; first roll-call vote, 1:13:37). Nominated in her absence and elected chair (0:04:38); the superintendent reported she was willing to serve in either office (0:03:54).
Michael Petrin	SAU 6 Board member (Claremont); Claremont School Board chair	Nominated for SAU chair and declined (0:02:55); voted no on both merit-pay roll calls. Rendered Mike patron and Michael. Patrick by the transcript.
Steven Horsky	SAU 6 Board member (Claremont); treasurer	Asked whether the treasurer role is annual (0:07:43); moved to suspend merit pay (0:49:30), moved the 1.5 percent cap (1:17:28), moved to table (1:27:56) and to adjourn (1:37:12).
Heather Whitney	SAU 6 Board member (Claremont)	Reported on the superintendent evaluation committee (0:20:05); seconded the suspension motion (0:49:44); questioned the merit process and job descriptions (0:47:42, 0:58:51).
Whitney Skillen	SAU 6 Board member (Claremont)	Moved approval of the data governance plan (0:37:01); moved to release merit pay equally with an evaluation process by July 1 (1:15:39).
Joshua Lambert	SAU 6 Board member (Claremont)	Asked whether merit pay covers only SAU employees (0:56:41); asked for a review timeline (1:04:05); voted no, then yes.
Bonnie Miles	SAU 6 Board member (Claremont)	Seconded the release motion (1:15:53); voted yes on both roll calls.
Rocco Ruggeri	SAU 6 Board member (Unity)	Nominated for vice chair, then withdrawn (0:05:24); opposed suspending merit pay and favored leaving the amount to the superintendent (0:55:03, 1:20:08). Attribution in the dialogue file is medium confidence; the roll is rendered Rock over. Jerry.
Shannon (surname not spoken)	SAU 6 Board member (Unity)	Present at roll (0:06:51); voted no on both merit-pay roll calls. The project’s 2015–2023 roster identifies the Unity member as Shannon Popescu.
Tanya Hart (as heard)	SAU 6 Board member (Unity)	Reported on her way at roll (0:07:13); answered both roll calls. Spelling unverified; the roster carries Atonya Hart.
Gary Bader (as heard)	SAU 6 Board member (Unity)	Absent (1:13:47, 1:26:09). Spelling unverified.
Michael Tempesta	Superintendent, SAU 6	Called the meeting to order and ran the officer elections (0:00:26); reported on the Croydon budget cut and tuition inquiries (0:09:40); explained past merit-pool practice (0:44:34).
Richard Seaman	Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources, SAU 6	Presented the monthly financial report (0:20:51) and the merit evaluation template (0:38:21); gave the 2023 high school tuition rate (0:15:53).
Ben Nester	Director of Special Education, SAU 6	Raised a DHHS friend-of-the-court letter with special education counsel at Drummond Woodsum (transcribed Drummond, Woodson), with a June 13 sign-on date (1:34:39, 1:35:44).
Mary Woodman	School district clerk; recording secretary	Called the attendance roll (0:06:48) and both roll-call votes; explained the missing minutes (0:09:02).
Unidentified	SAU 6 technology staff	Presented the data and privacy governance plan (0:35:33). Not named on the recording.

Order of business (reconstructed)

No agenda for this meeting was located. Items follow the presiding officer’s transitions on the recording.

Order of business with the time each item was taken up and its disposition.
Taken up	Item	Disposition
0:00:26	Call to order; Pledge of Allegiance	Called to order by the superintendent. No start time is stated on the recording.
0:01:34	Election of officers	Chair: Marjorie Erickson (absent) by voice vote at 0:04:38, after Petrin declined and Sprague withdrew. Vice chair: Frank Sprague by voice vote at 0:05:56, after Ruggeri’s nomination was withdrawn. No secretary chosen; treasurer continued without a vote.
0:06:42	Roll call	Ten of twelve members present (Erickson and Bader absent; Hart arriving).
0:07:36	Agenda	No amendments; approved on a motion seconded by Whitney (0:08:17), voice vote.
0:08:22	Minutes of 10/20/21, 11/18/21, 12/16/21	Tabled: not in the packet.
0:09:27	Citizens’ comments	None.
0:09:40	Superintendent’s report	Croydon’s budget cut, its request to discuss tuition, Claremont’s two Croydon seniors.
0:19:51	Superintendent evaluation update	Committee meeting set for April 23.
0:20:24	Financial update	Monthly budget-to-actual report; questions on stipends, salary variances, retirement and copier lines.
0:35:22	Data and privacy governance plan	Approved on Skillen’s motion, Horsky second (0:37:13); voice vote at 0:38:04.
0:38:12	Merit pay proposal	Suspension motion (Horsky, Whitney second) failed 4–6 on roll call (1:13:34). Release motion (Skillen, Miles second) amended to a 1.5 percent flat cap 6–4 by show of hands (1:18:43); amended motion failed 5–5 on roll call (1:25:47). Tabled to the May meeting on Horsky’s motion (1:27:56).
1:28:50	Croydon budget cut	Discussed; carried to future agendas.
1:34:22	Other business	DHHS friend-of-the-court letter, in the packet but not on the agenda; discussed without a vote.
1:37:12	Adjournment	On Horsky’s motion; voice vote. The recording ends at 1:37:24.

Discussion timeline

Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/12353 SAU6042122.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording. Quotations are the transcript as it stands; bracketed words are editorial.

Chronological topics with what was said and related flags.
Time	Topic	What was said	Flags
0:00:26	Call to order	The superintendent opens the meeting and presides over the officer elections.
0:01:34	Chair election	Nominations of Petrin and Sprague. Petrin: “I have the Claremont chair at this point”. Superintendent on Erickson: “she would be willing for either nomination”. Sprague: “I'll withdraw if Marjorie wants to do it.” Erickson elected by voice vote (0:04:38).	MEDIUM
0:05:05	Vice chair election	Sprague nominated; Whitney nominates Ruggeri (0:05:24). Sprague: “we've always split the power between the two”. Ruggeri’s nomination withdrawn (0:05:56); Sprague elected and takes the chair: “That means you're actually running the meeting.”	MEDIUM
0:06:42	Roll call	Erickson and Bader absent; Hart on her way.
0:07:43	Treasurer	Horsky: is it “a annual duty or is it for the life of my turn”? Superintendent: “I guess for keeps”. No vote taken.	MEDIUM
0:08:22	Minutes not in packet	Three sets from October to December 2021 called for approval; “they're not in the packet”. Clerk: “I've been having very frequent, problems with my computer”. Tabled.	MEDIUM
0:09:40	Croydon budget	Croydon cut its school budget by 53 percent (0:10:04) and asked to discuss tuition (0:11:04). Croydon has an anchor-school agreement with Newport through next year; Claremont has two Croydon students, both seniors (0:13:01). The 2023 high school rate: “Just below 16, 59, 86.” [figure garbled in the transcript].
0:19:51	Superintendent evaluation	Whitney: “We are having a meeting on the 23rd”.	OBSERVATION
0:20:24	Financial update	“put a real restriction on expenditures going into the end of the year”. Merit pool encumbered so the surplus is not overstated (0:22:06).	POSITIVE
0:22:58	Stipends	Sprague: cell phone and mileage payments were not budgeted and “come to $16,000”. Seaman: “there was a decision that was made, at the superintendent level”. Horsky questions the amounts (0:25:18).	MEDIUM
0:28:10	Salary variances	Superintendent’s office $12,000 over after a replacement hire at a different salary (0:28:22); office supplies $13,000 over for start-of-year items (0:29:05); raises the superintendent “negotiated with his direct reports” (0:30:30).	MEDIUM
0:32:08	Retirement and copier lines	Sprague: the retirement line is about 25 percent; Seaman: “I may have an error in there”. Copier overrun unexplained (0:32:54). Legal fees: one SAU case, “now closed” (0:35:04).	OBSERVATION
0:35:33	Data governance plan	Presenter: “every year we should be presenting this to the board for approval”; “it's part of House Bill 1612”. Approved by voice vote (0:38:04).
0:38:21	Merit pay template	Seaman: the template is a copy of one approved about three years earlier; he points to a fundamental flaw: “I'm an employee and I've been working all year, and six weeks from now, I get the basis of which I would be evaluated” (0:41:40). Sprague: “It's a nonstarter to me.”
0:44:34	Superintendent on past practice	Tempesta: he learned of the merit pool mid-year; “the first year it was an easy year”; in both years the pool was given out uniformly.	MEDIUM
0:47:42	Job descriptions	Whitney: “our, job descriptions are non-existent”.
0:49:30	Motion to suspend	Horsky: “I'm going to make a motion to suspend merit pay for the 2122 year”. Whitney seconds (0:49:44).
0:55:03	Ruggeri opposes	Suspension “almost feels punitive to those that deserve this”; he would leave this year’s amount to the superintendent.
0:58:51	Whitney on process	“it almost seems like there is an emotional power play going on” (0:59:51).
1:07:16	Roll call 1	Sprague calls for a roll call. Suspension fails: yes Sprague, Horsky, Miles, Whitney; no Petrin, Shannon, Ruggeri, Hart, Lambert, Skillen (1:13:34). Seaman: “Six knows four yeses and two absences.” [six noes].	POSITIVE
1:15:39	Motion to release	Skillen moves to release the funds equally and adopt an evaluation process by July 1, 2022; Miles seconds (1:15:53, 1:17:24). Horsky amends to a 1.5 percent cap (1:17:28); amendment carries “6 to 4” by show of hands (1:18:59).
1:22:39	Reallocation request	Seaman asks for latitude to reallocate the pool; Horsky: “The whole point” is to flat-line it. Sprague: “The, the the motion caps it at 1.5%.”
1:25:47	Roll call 2	Amended motion fails 5–5: yes Sprague, Lambert, Miles, Skillen, Whitney; no Petrin, Shannon, Ruggeri, Hart, Horsky. Clerk: “Five yeses and five.” Hart’s answer is transcribed both ways; the 5–5 tally is the clerk’s.	POSITIVE
1:27:56	Tabled	Horsky: “I would like to make a motion to table this discussion until we have a frugal plan put together.” Carried by voice vote (1:28:26).
1:28:50	Croydon liability	Horsky asks about liability if a tuition district cannot pay; superintendent: “We won't we don't we don't have exposure.” (1:33:20). Sprague: right of refusal? Superintendent: We do. (1:33:47)
1:34:22	DHHS letter	Nester: “This made it into the packet but didn't make it into the agenda tonight.” Sprague: “we can talk about it. We can't vote on it.” Nester: “the state trying to downshift costs to the local taxpayer”. Horsky asks for it on the next agenda.
1:37:12	Adjournment	On Horsky’s motion.

Items flagged for review

These flags are a reviewer’s aid. They are not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each names the rule it rests on and the record behind it; where no verified rule applies, the item is labeled an observation. Statutes are cited as they read on April 21, 2022.

MEDIUM Minutes of three earlier SAU 6 meetings were not in the packet four to six months later, and this meeting’s own minutes were not located

The vice chair called for approval of minutes of October 20, November 18 and December 16, 2021 (0:08:22). Members had not received them: “I don't recall getting” / “We didn't get one.”; the superintendent: “they're not in the packet” (0:08:58). The clerk explained “I've been having very frequent, problems with my computer” (0:09:02). The three sets were tabled, 126 to 183 days after the meetings they record.

RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes, drafts included, to be open to public inspection within five business days; RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) names a school administrative unit as a public body. The recording shows the minutes were not available even to the board months later. For this meeting, a two-stage search found no minutes: the SAU 6 share holds no folder for April 21, 2022, and the later folders in its 2022 Meeting Packets archive (2. SAU SB 9.29.22, 3. SAU SB 11.16.22, 4. SAU SB 12.1.22) and the first 2023 folder (1. SAU SB 1.3.23) carry the minutes of later meetings only, per the inventories in MAP.md; title searches for 4.21.22 returned nothing, and the Meeting Minutes share starts in 2023 and has never held an SAU 6 file. The severity is the mitigated limb (MEDIUM): the clerk gave a reason on the record, and the SAU 6 archive begins with the July 24, 2022 retreat folder, so minutes posted elsewhere in spring 2022, or approved at the May 19 or June 16 meetings, cannot be ruled out from here. Drive search results are not proof that a document never existed.

Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1: minutes with names, subject matter, final decisions, mover and seconder; open to inspection within 5 business days); RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (2022 codification: a school administrative unit, and any committee or subordinate body of it, is a public body)

MEDIUM The annual organization chose a chair and a vice chair but no secretary, and the treasurer was continued without a vote

With the superintendent presiding, Michael Petrin and Frank Sprague were nominated for chair (0:02:15); Petrin declined, “I have the Claremont chair at this point” (0:02:55); Marjorie Erickson, absent, was nominated and Sprague withdrew in her favor (0:04:28); Erickson was elected by voice vote (0:04:38). Sprague was then elected vice chair after a nomination of Rocco Ruggeri was withdrawn on the point that “we've always split the power between the two” [Claremont and Unity] (0:05:33). On the treasurer, Steven Horsky asked whether the role is “a annual duty or is it for the life of my turn” and the superintendent answered “I guess for keeps” (0:07:43); no motion followed. No secretary was nominated.

RSA 194-C:5, I directs 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. Vice chair is not one of the three statutory offices. The window was still open on April 21, and the board met again on May 19, so this is a process gap on this record rather than a missed deadline. Whether the May 19 meeting chose a secretary or voted on the treasurer is a question for that meeting’s record.

Sources: RSA 194-C:5, I (SAU board meets between April 1 and June 1 and organizes by choosing a chairperson, a secretary and a treasurer; 1996, 298:3, unamended)

MEDIUM Stipends and raises for SAU staff were set at the superintendent’s level outside the adopted budget, though the SAU board fixes SAU salaries

Reviewing the monthly financial report, Frank Sprague found cell-phone and mileage payments that “come to $16,000” with no budget line (0:22:58). The assistant superintendent for finance explained “there was a decision that was made, at the superintendent level, that this was a part of the contract” (0:23:26). Negative salary variances in the superintendent’s office, special education administration and the business office reflected raises the superintendent “negotiated with his direct reports” (0:29:57). On the merit pool, the superintendent said that in earlier years “We did the same, a similar thing last year where everyone got the same” without the board-approved evaluation (0:44:34), and that he checked first with “both board chairs” (0:58:11).

RSA 194-C:5, III provides that the SAU board shall fix the salaries of all SAU personnel. Pay set by individual negotiation within a budget the board adopted may be defensible, and the superintendent says the board chairs were consulted; but stipends with no budget line, raises above budgeted amounts and a uniform distribution of the merit pool are pay decisions the record does not show the full board making. Sprague drew the same connection on the floor ({T(320)}). What would settle it is any SAU board vote or delegation approving the stipends, the raises and the earlier merit distributions.

Sources: RSA 194-C:5, III (the SAU board fixes the salaries of all SAU personnel; 1996, 298:3, unamended)

OBSERVATION Several lines of the monthly financial report could not be explained at the meeting, one possibly in error

Sprague asked why the business office retirement line equaled about a quarter of salaries; the assistant superintendent answered “I may have an error in there in the in the in the encumbrance” (0:32:34). He also could not reconcile the copier supply overrun with an empty equipment-lease line (0:32:54) or the business office salary overrun during a vacancy (0:31:09), and promised detail later. He described encumbering the merit pool so that the report would not overstate the surplus (0:22:06). These are budget-to-actual questions on an internal report; no audited figure is in the record, so no accounting standard is cited. The follow-up documents are the corrected report and the line detail promised for the next meeting.

Sources: RSA 194-C:5, III (SAU board fixes salaries and apportions their expense among the districts)

OBSERVATION A superintendent-evaluation committee meeting was announced for April 23; no notice or minutes for it were located

Under the superintendent evaluation update, Heather Whitney reported “We are having a meeting on the 23rd”, possibly at 3:30, depending on Marjorie Erickson’s availability (0:20:05); Sprague noted Rob Lovett had sat on the committee and Whitney answered “He was an alternate” (0:20:23). A committee of the SAU board is itself a public body under RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), with notice and minutes duties under RSA 91-A:2, II. April 23, 2022 was a Saturday. No notice, agenda or minutes for this committee are in any share this project could reach, which do not cover spring 2022; a superintendent’s evaluation may properly be held in nonpublic session under RSA 91-A:3, II(a), but that still requires a noticed meeting and a public motion.

Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (2022 codification: a school administrative unit, and any committee or subordinate body of it, is a public body); RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1: minutes with names, subject matter, final decisions, mover and seconder; open to inspection within 5 business days); RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and II(a) (2022 codification)

POSITIVE Both split merit-pay questions were decided by roll call, so each member’s vote is on the recording

Before the first merit-pay vote the vice chair said “I'm going to ask a roll call vote because it sounds like it's going to be split votes” (1:07:16). The motion to suspend merit pay failed 4–6 (1:13:34) and the amended motion to release it failed 5–5 (1:25:47), each with names called by the clerk. No statute required roll calls here: RSA 91-A requires them for entering nonpublic session and for meetings with remote participation, and RSA 194-C:8 weighted voting applies only on a majority’s demand, which no one made. Roll calls on contested pay questions give the public a record a voice vote would not.

Sources: RSA 194-C:8 (weighted votes used only on the demand of a majority of members present and voting); RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1: minutes with names, subject matter, final decisions, mover and seconder; open to inspection within 5 business days); RSA 91-A:3, I(b) (2022 codification: roll call required on a motion to enter nonpublic session)

POSITIVE The board received a monthly line-item budget-to-actual report with a written explanation of each variance

The assistant superintendent for finance said “there's an explanation on every line item” (0:21:25) and “I put this together every month”, adding “it is available as anyone would like to see it” (0:34:18). Members used it to question specific lines by number, which is how the unbudgeted stipends and the retirement-line error surfaced. No statute located requires a monthly SAU budget report to the board.

Sources: RSA 194-C:5, III (the board’s salary and apportionment duties that the report supports)

Appendix

Official and public sources

Cablecast: SAU 6 Board of 4/21/22 (show 12353)
No agenda, notice, packet or minutes located. Searched 2026-10-03: the SAU 6 Schoolboard Packets share’s 2022 Meeting Packets archive, whose first folder is the July 24, 2022 retreat; the later folders 2. SAU SB 9.29.22, 3. SAU SB 11.16.22, 4. SAU SB 12.1.22 and 1. SAU SB 1.3.23 (contents per MAP.md inventories: each holds the previous fall meeting’s minutes, none from April 2022); Drive title and full-text searches for the date; and the Meeting Minutes share, which starts in 2023. Drive search results are not proof that a document never existed.

Project files

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

Dialogue/12353 SAU6042122.mp4.CSV (733 attributed rows; the basis of this page)
Input/Videos/12353 SAU6042122.mp4
Input/Transcripts/12353 SAU6042122.mp4.json
Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md (section 165)