Participants
Everyone heard or named as present in the recording. No minutes were found, so names follow the project's 2015-2023 roster and the attribution report for this recording.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Marjorie Erickson | SAU 6 chair (Unity) | Presides; seconds the agenda motion herself (0:02:12); asks how removing merit pay affects the budget (0:19:00); sets the retreat date (0:32:54); describes the superintendent evaluation process (0:34:06 to 0:36:23). |
| Steven Horsky | Member (Claremont) | Moves to postpone the minutes and approve the amended agenda (0:01:33, 0:02:07); moves to remove the merit pay plan (0:18:46) and amends to freeze the funds (0:21:04, 0:21:24); supports the retreat (0:25:15); moves adjournment (0:43:34). |
| Frank Sprague | Member (Claremont); SAU 6 vice chair | Proposes an impartial outside review of SAU staffing (0:09:36 to 0:10:52); suggests teacher contract negotiation as a retreat topic (0:26:56). |
| Heather Whitney | Member (Claremont); superintendent evaluation committee | Asks whether the merit money could pay for summer help (0:19:48); asks for budgeting and school funding at the retreat (0:26:30, 0:27:35). Speaker label partly rests on the chair's recognitions (attribution report, medium confidence). |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Reports on Croydon's budget vote and recommends ending the merit pay pool (0:04:17 to 0:09:21); discusses SAU staffing (0:12:14 to 0:18:05) and the NHSBA retreat (0:22:47). |
| Richard Seaman | Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources, SAU 6 | Present; brief remarks (0:02:26, 0:02:28). Attribution rests on the chair addressing “Richard”. |
| Other members | Claremont and Unity | Names heard in the roll call besides the above: Michael (Petrin), Shannon (Popescu), Rocco (Ruggeri) and Gregory (unresolved). Joshua Lambert and Shannon Popescu are named as evaluation committee members (0:36:23); whether either attended is not clear. |
| Unidentified | Members and others | 70 of 287 rows (24.4%), including the roll call, every second and all ayes, and a member who asks for an SAU organization chart (0:40:07). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting was found. The chair refers to an agenda with lettered items (0:01:23, 0:02:37); the order below is reconstructed from her transitions.
Items in the order taken up, with dispositions as heard in the recording
| Taken up | Item | Disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:19 | Call to order; Pledge; roll call | Roll garbled (0:01:05 to 0:01:17). |
| 0:01:23 | Agenda amendments and approval | Item B (minutes) postponed: chair, “We still don't have minutes. Wow.” Horsky moves the amended agenda (0:02:07); the chair seconds (0:02:12); voice vote; the chair asks “Any not voting?” (0:02:18). See MEDIUM. |
| 0:02:37 | Citizens comments | None. “We don't do online.” (0:02:47) |
| 0:02:47 | Superintendent report | Unity school visit (0:02:57); Croydon budget vote (0:04:17); merit pay history and recommendation (0:05:09 to 0:09:21). |
| 0:18:26 | Merit pay plan | Horsky motion to remove it from the SAU 6 budget (0:18:46). Horsky amendment to freeze the funds until the board approves their use (0:21:24); unidentified second (0:21:34); voice vote, carried (0:21:39 to 0:22:00). Amended motion carried by voice vote (0:22:05). See OBSERVATION. |
| 0:22:35 | SAU 6 planning retreat | NHSBA seminar for both boards; tentatively Sunday, July 24 at 1:00 (0:32:54). |
| 0:34:06 | Superintendent evaluation and goals | Committee meets Monday, May 23; final evaluation due by end of June (0:34:06). See OBSERVATION, POSITIVE. |
| 0:39:06 | Next meeting; other business | June 16 meeting; staffing assessment expected (0:39:06); organization chart requested (0:40:07). |
| 0:43:34 | Adjournment | Horsky motion (0:43:34); unidentified second (0:43:36); vote called (0:43:39). |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/12400 SAU6051922.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
Topics in the order discussed
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:23 | Minutes not ready | Horsky asks to remove item B “while we're waiting for the updated tenants” [minutes] (0:01:33); chair: “We still don't have minutes. Wow.” (0:01:47). | MEDIUM |
| 0:04:17 | Croydon budget | Superintendent: Croydon's budget was restored, “377 voted to restore” (0:04:17), easing worry about tuition agreements (0:04:44). | |
| 0:05:09 | Merit pay pool | History: begun under earlier superintendents and “never fully adopted” (0:05:36); the SAU was “the only group that has a merit pool” (0:06:28). Recommendation to disband it and review staffing (0:07:03, 0:09:00). Amount “about 35,000” (0:19:18). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:09:36 | SAU staffing review | Sprague: “I would prefer an impartial evaluation of of the systems of people at the saw.” (0:10:26). Superintendent: SAU and technology staff were “22 FTEs” in 2017-18 (0:16:18) against “16.5” now (0:15:25); four positions left unfilled were moved into classrooms (0:08:33, 0:09:00). Assessment promised for June (0:17:53, 0:18:05). | |
| 0:19:48 | Audit backlog mentioned | Asked about using the money for summer help, the superintendent: “we also inherited, you know, six years of audits that weren't done” (0:19:51); temporary help with grant management is being sought (0:20:11, 0:20:34). | MEDIUM |
| 0:21:04 | Freeze amendment and vote | Horsky: “freeze those funds until board approves use of them” (0:21:04). Amendment and amended motion carried by voice (0:21:39, 0:22:05). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:22:47 | Joint retreat with NHSBA | NHSBA attorneys offered seminars (0:23:10). Erickson: Unity members “don't get terribly involved” in Claremont matters though Claremont is the “big driver” (0:24:46). Topics: budgeting, school funding, teacher contract negotiation (0:26:30, 0:26:56, 0:27:35). Tentative date July 24 at 1:00 (0:32:54). Members recall an earlier retreat with a pig roast at which “We talked about divisive concepts.” (0:29:56, 0:30:37). | |
| 0:34:06 | Superintendent evaluation | Committee meets May 23; evaluation due end of June (0:34:06). Chair: “The first year in which there has been a formal evaluation committee in at least eight years” (0:35:02); check-ins in September, December and February (0:35:49). Members: “it's myself, it's Heather, it's Josh and Shannon” (0:36:23). | OBSERVATION POSITIVE |
| 0:40:07 | Organization chart | A member asks for an SAU organization chart (0:40:07); the superintendent: historical charts are undated and being matched to payroll (0:40:44). | |
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 May 19, 2022, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM The April 21 minutes were not ready four weeks later, and no minutes of this meeting were found
The board postponed approval of its previous minutes because none existed: “Oh, we don't have minutes.” and “We still don't have minutes. Wow.” (0:01:44, 0:01:47). The previous SAU 6 meeting was April 21, 2022, so twenty business days had passed. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes, drafts included, to be "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting". No agenda or minutes of this May 19 meeting were found either. The search was two-stage, as the project requires for SAU 6: the SAU 6 2022 Meeting Packets archive, which begins with the July 24, 2022 retreat, and its later 2022 folders recorded in MAP.md (they file the minutes of September 29 and November 16, 2022, but nothing from May), then Drive title searches for SAU files dated before July 2022 (2026-10-03). MEDIUM under the project's severity rule: the chair refers to an agenda the members had read (0:01:23), so the meeting was noticed and packeted, and the record itself explains the April gap only as minutes not yet done. The absence leaves the movers, seconders and votes on the merit pay motion and amendment (OBSERVATION) with unidentified voices, and attendance unknown.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019)
MEDIUM The superintendent said the administration inherited "six years of audits that weren't done"
Answering a question about spending the merit money, the superintendent said: “we also inherited, you know, six years of audits that weren't done and all kinds of other work that we're working on” (0:19:51), and that the auditors could come to a later meeting “and talk about where we are and audits as well” (0:20:11). He did not say whose audits (the SAU's, Claremont's or Unity's) or which years. For a school district spending $750,000 or more in federal awards in a year, 2 CFR 200.501(a) requires a single audit, and 200.512(a)(1) requires it to be filed within nine months of year end; a backlog of that length would be a missed federal deadline. No located New Hampshire statute requires an annual audit of an SAU itself, though RSA 194-C:4, II(a) lists audits among the services an SAU must provide. The statement is a speaker's characterization with no figures, so this is MEDIUM, not HIGH. The Federal Audit Clearinghouse filings for Claremont, Unity and SAU 6 for fiscal years 2016 to 2021 would settle it.
Sources: 2 CFR 200.501(a), 2022 edition ($750,000 single-audit threshold); 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1), 2022 edition (earlier of 30 days after the report or nine months after period end); RSA 194-C:4, II(a) (audits among the services an SAU provides)
OBSERVATION Merit pay removed from the SAU budget and frozen by voice vote, with the fiscal year and the vote count unrecorded
The board voted to “accept the recommendation to remove the mayor pay plan” [merit pay plan] from the SAU 6 budget (0:18:46), amended to “freeze those funds until board approves use of them” (0:21:04, 0:21:39, 0:22:05). The amount was put at “about 35,000” (0:19:18). RSA 194-C:5 gives the SAU board the power to fix the salaries of all SAU personnel, so the board was acting within its authority. Two things are not on the record: which year's SAU budget the line sits in (the superintendent speaks of “June”, and the chair of how “move money around in the line items”), and how members voted. Both votes were by voice; RSA 194-C:8's weighted votes apply only when a majority of members present demand them, so a voice vote is regular, but with a garbled roll and no minutes the tally and the mover's second cannot be checked.
Sources: RSA 194-C:5 (SAU board fixes salaries of SAU personnel); RSA 194-C:8 (weighted votes only on demand of a majority present and voting)
OBSERVATION The superintendent evaluation committee is a public body, and its meetings left no record found
The chair described a four-member committee of the board (herself, Heather Whitney, Joshua Lambert and Unity's Shannon Popescu) that met with the superintendent in September, December and February and would meet May 23 (0:35:49, 0:36:23, 0:34:06). RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) makes “any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body” of a public body a public body itself, and RSA 91-A:2, I has no exception for evaluation sessions, so each meeting needed notice and minutes, with any nonpublic portion entered by motion under RSA 91-A:3. No notices or minutes of these sessions were found, but the SAU 6 archive does not reach before July 2022, so this records an absence in what can be inspected, not a finding that the sessions went unnoticed.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (2022 codification; source note ends 2008, 354:1); RSA 91-A:2, I-II (2022 codification)
POSITIVE A formal superintendent evaluation, the first in at least eight years by the chair's account
The chair said this was “The first year in which there has been a formal evaluation committee in at least eight years” and that the board was trying “to keep an open dialog with Mike moving forward, setting goals” (0:35:02, 0:35:25), with a rubric, periodic check-ins and a final evaluation by the end of June (0:34:06, 0:35:49). No verified statute sets a schedule for evaluating an SAU superintendent; the SAU board holds the power to remove superintendents (RSA 194-C:5), and a documented annual evaluation is the record that power depends on. Members were invited to send questions to the committee (0:36:37).
Sources: RSA 194-C:5 (SAU board authority to remove superintendents)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: SAU 6 Board Meeting on 5/19/22 (show 12400; run time not retrieved, the Cablecast API refuses requests from this environment)
- Google Drive: no packet folder, agenda, slides or minutes found. Searched in two stages: the SAU 6 2022 Meeting Packets archive (begins with
1. SAU SB Retreat 7.24.22, per MAP.md) and its later 2022 folders as recorded in MAP.md, then title searches for SAU files created before July 2022 (2026-10-03). MAP.md section 168 records no packet folder.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/12400 SAU6051922.mp4.CSV (287 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/12400 SAU6051922.mp4Input/Transcripts/12400 SAU6051922.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 168Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/12400 SAU6051922.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, I-II, 2022 codification (in force Jan. 1, 2019 to Oct. 2, 2023): meeting defined; minutes within five business days
- RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), 2022 codification: committees and subcommittees are public bodies
- RSA 194-C:4, II(a): services an SAU provides, audits among them
- RSA 194-C:5 (1996, 298:3): SAU board fixes SAU salaries; authority to remove superintendents
- RSA 194-C:8 (1996, 298:3): weighted voting on demand
- 2 CFR 200.501(a) and 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1), 2022 annual edition: single-audit threshold and deadline