Regular meeting of the SAU 6 board, the first under Chair Steven Horsky, with eight of twelve members present at the start. The board goes straight into a nonpublic session under RSA 91-A:3, II(c) and seals its minutes for fifty years, corrects the March 30 minutes, elects Arlene Hawkins SAU treasurer, reviews a budget report showing a projected surplus, hears about a forced accounting-software upgrade, adopts superintendent-evaluation policy CBI, sends exit-interview procedure GCQB-R to a third reading, approves the board calendar for the website and sets aside the policy subcommittee created two weeks earlier. Built from the Cablecast recording's attributed dialogue, the agenda, the packet and the draft minutes. Timestamps link to the same moment in the Cablecast recording.
Body
SAU 6 School Board (joint board of the Claremont and Unity school boards; twelve members: seven from Claremont, five from Unity)
Date
Thursday, April 13, 2023
Start time
Agenda 6:00 p.m.; the chair calls the meeting to order at 0:00:43. The minutes reprint the agenda's clock headings ("6:25 PM Return to the regular scheduled board meeting") rather than actual times. On the recording the chair notes Heather Whitney's arrival "at 730" (0:17:37), seventeen minutes into the tape, so about 73 minutes of the evening, almost all of it the nonpublic session, are not on the recording (flag 4). Adjournment is moved at 1:10:21.
Location
Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center (agenda); the nonpublic session moved to "the room across the way" (0:02:50)
Board composition
Present (minutes): Steven Horsky (chair), Frank Sprague, Bonnie Miles, Whitney Skillen, Arlene Hawkins, Jennifer Gallagher (arrived 6:07 per the minutes) and, from about 7:30 p.m., Heather Whitney (Claremont); Rocco Ruggeri (vice chair) and Kelly Simpson (Unity). Absent: Marjorie Erickson, Shannon Popescu and Atonya Hart (Unity). The minutes also list Whitney among the absent.
Recording
Cablecast: SAU 6 Board Meeting 4/13/23 (observed extent 1:10:30 from the last row of the dialogue file; the Cablecast API refuses requests from the build environment, so the run time was not confirmed). The nonpublic session is not on the recording.
Minutes
_draft SAU 6 School Board meeting minutes 4.13.23 (2).pdf, filed in the next meeting's packet folder, 7. SAU SB 5.11.23, and created on Drive Monday, May 8, 2023 (see flag 2). Submitted by Chelsea Weatherford. Nonpublic minutes sealed for fifty years.
Participants
Names follow the agenda masthead, the roll calls and the draft minutes. Where the dialogue file's speaker label conflicts with the minutes on who moved or seconded, this page follows the minutes and says so.
Name
Role
Participation
Steven Horsky
Chair (Claremont)
Presides; moves the nonpublic session (0:01:54); says there will be no June meeting unless needed (0:07:38); steps down as SAU treasurer and asks for a nominee (0:15:43); questions unspent training money (0:22:18) and proposes returning the merit-pool balance "To the taxpayer" (0:25:24); asks about the software's training hours and sunset date (0:34:21, 0:35:37); proposes posting the calendar on the website (0:38:43); reports a Claremont policy audit with "a nine month waiting list" (1:02:08).
Rocco Ruggeri
Vice chair (Unity)
Suggests a note that the whole calendar is at the board's discretion (0:42:49); asks whether any process reviews SAU policies (1:01:51).
Frank Sprague
Member (Claremont)
Seconds the nonpublic motion (0:02:17) and moves to return from it (0:04:45); moves the March 30 minutes as amended (0:08:00); seconds Hawkins as treasurer (0:17:33); asks for a staffing and salary report (0:20:58); notes the merit pool "was zeroed out" (0:23:18); moves GCQB-R to adoption and withdraws (0:44:38, 0:51:53); moves adjournment (1:10:21).
Arlene Hawkins
Member (Claremont); elected SAU treasurer
Moves the corrections to the March 30 minutes (0:07:12); nominated as treasurer: "I'm brand new to the board." (0:16:38), then accepts (0:18:13); moves the fifty-year seal (0:05:29); asks why the exit-interview form needs a name (0:53:38); promotes the 603 Bright Futures survey (1:08:15).
Whitney Skillen
Member (Claremont)
Moves the agenda (0:06:55); nominates Hawkins (0:16:34); asks whether the surplus could carry ESSER-funded positions (0:27:12) and whether the software was competitively chosen (0:32:29); writes the de-identification amendment to GCQB-R (0:54:35, 0:56:39); says an SAU policy subcommittee is premature (1:00:41).
Heather Whitney
Member (Claremont); arrived about 7:30 p.m.
Arrives during the treasurer item (0:17:37); asks about a capital reserve for the Dow (0:26:19); warns that posting a calendar the board does not keep could feed "public distrust" (0:39:23); asks whether the board will see exit-interview results (0:44:59); moves CBI's correction and adoption (0:58:44).
Jennifer Gallagher
Member (Claremont)
Seconds the motion to return from nonpublic session (minutes); asks whether GCQB-R already covers the board's use of the data (0:53:06); finds the "twill" typo in CBI (0:58:18) and seconds its adoption (0:59:11).
Bonnie Miles
Member (Claremont)
Present; seconds the seal motion (minutes). No row is attributed to her.
Kelly Simpson
Member (Unity)
Present; answers the roll calls (0:02:36, 0:05:04). The dialogue file gives her the seal second (0:05:35); the minutes credit Miles.
Marjorie Erickson; Shannon Popescu; Atonya Hart
Members (Unity)
Absent (minutes). The chair credits Erickson, "who's not here with us tonight", with the calendar and policy drafts (0:37:20).
Michael Tempesta
Superintendent, SAU 6
Reports that consultant David Jack will advise the accounts-payable committee (0:15:15); presents the budget report, which "came right from Tyler" (0:24:52); agrees to report exit-interview data only in aggregate (0:55:16); praises NHSBA's Will Phillips (1:04:22); offers a robocall for the survey (1:09:50).
Mike Koski
Assistant Superintendent
Curriculum update: coaching positions and June math training (0:08:52); reads the roll calls after the nonpublic session (0:05:03, 0:06:00).
Jeff Small
Director of Technology
Explains the accounting-software upgrade to ERP Pro (0:29:44, 0:31:31); credits Chelsea Weatherford with the new website policy buttons (1:05:33).
Unidentified
Various
38 rows are labelled Unidentified, mostly the pledge and single-word votes.
Named, not present on the record
Others
Richard Seaman (business administrator, retiring April 14); David Jack (consultant); Hannah Petrin (student representative, not present); Will Phillips (NHSBA); Chelsea Weatherford (minutes).
Agenda
Items and wording from the posted agenda (created on Drive Wednesday, April 12, 2023); dispositions from the recording and the draft minutes.
III. "Non-Public Session, RSA 91-A:3, II (c )" (agenda)
Horsky moves, Sprague seconds; roll call, eight yes (0:02:26). Return: Sprague moves, Gallagher seconds; roll call (0:04:48). Seal for fifty years: Hawkins moves, Miles seconds (minutes); roll call, eight yes (0:05:48). See flag 1.
V. General business: agenda; minutes; citizens' comments; student report
Agenda approved as presented: Skillen moves, Sprague seconds (0:06:58). The agenda lists minutes of "April 5, 2023"; Hawkins corrects the date to March 30 and the meeting day to Thursday (0:07:12); approved as amended, Sprague moving, Skillen seconding (0:08:16). No citizens' comments (0:08:25). Student representative absent.
Amended to add an annual March review and a note that the whole calendar is "subject to board discretion" (minutes); approved by consensus for posting on the website (0:43:34).
VI.5 Policies: a. GCQB-R, second read; b. CBI, second read
GCQB-R: Sprague's motion to adopt is withdrawn; Skillen moves a third reading with the de-identification amendment, Whitney seconds; voice vote (0:57:30). CBI: Whitney moves to correct twill and adopt, Gallagher seconds; voice vote; "CBI is an approved and adopted policy as of today." (0:59:22).
SRVRTC luncheon April 14; Claremont board April 19; NHSBA orientation May 2; Unity board May 9. Hawkins raises the 603 Bright Futures survey (1:08:15). Adjournment: Sprague moves, Hawkins seconds on the recording (1:10:24); the minutes name Skillen as seconder.
The chair: "I would like to call a nonpublic session pursuant to RSA 9183, article two" [RSA 91-A:3, II(c)] for matters that "would likely adversely affect the reputation of any persons other than a member of the school board itself". Roll call all yes; the board moves "to the room across the way" (0:02:50).
Sprague: "I'll make a motion to come out of the nonpublic." Hawkins: "I move that the minutes of the closed session be sealed for 50 years." (0:05:29). No reason is given; roll call all yes (0:05:48).
Hawkins: meetings "will take place on the second. Agree. That should say Thursday, not Tuesday". The chair: "there will not be a June meeting unless needed" because of graduation (0:07:38).
Koski: coaching positions advertised, "two elementary, one middle school and, one high school" at Claremont; a week of math training at the end of June (0:09:32). Sprague and Horsky ask how test items are weighted (0:11:07, 0:14:30).
Horsky: "I would be stepping down as treasurer so somebody else's signatures can be on the checks this year." The job is "making sure that there's a stack of stuff that tells you what checks were went out" (0:16:44). "It's not a forced position. But we do as a board need one. So it's not optional." (0:17:20). Hawkins elected (0:19:02).
Sprague: "This is definitely 24." Horsky: "Right. Fiscal year 22." Tempesta: "It is current" (0:24:50) and "This came right from Tyler" (0:24:52). Horsky to viewers: "the fiscal year is 22" because it "started July 1st of 2022" (0:21:18).
Tempesta: "it looks like it will be up about 180,000" (the minutes record $118,000.00; Horsky later says "if I see 118", 0:28:46). A surplus of 17,000 is noted against the software line (0:20:45). Staff training: "Budgeted was 15,000. Actual is 4866" (0:22:18).
Sprague: "the merit pool was zeroed out, and yet there it is." Horsky proposes "a motion to return that money right out of the gate" (0:25:24); "as a board, we decided that we had no intent to ever use the money for its intended purpose" (0:28:16). Whitney asks about a capital reserve for the Dow (0:26:19); Skillen about ESSER-funded positions (0:27:36). No motion is made.
Small: "they're not going to be supporting it soon"; the replacement is "called ERP Pro" (0:31:31) from "the same company that's doing the accounting software that we have now" (0:32:38). "I was concerned on the price increase" (0:33:29); "I think we can go another year at least" (0:35:40). Horsky wants a presentation before spending (0:32:06).
Whitney: posting it "would reduce, public distrust. But if we end up wobbling on this" (0:39:23). Ruggeri: "this whole agenda is at the board's discretion" (0:42:49). Agreed for posting (0:43:57).
Whitney asks whether the policy says results come to the board. Hawkins: "Why do we even have to have a name there?" (0:53:38). Skillen's amendment: "this information comma in a de-identified form" for "the governing body's analysis" (0:56:39). Tempesta: "As long as it's in the aggregate" (0:55:41).
Skillen: "my opinion is that we don't need one yet" (1:00:41). Ruggeri asks about any review process; Tempesta: "Not at the s a you." (1:01:59). Horsky: Claremont's policy audit has "a nine month waiting list" (1:02:08). Website policy buttons now exist (1:05:33).
These flags are a reviewer's aid, not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each one cites the rule it rests on as that rule read on April 13, 2023; check the recording and the primary source before relying on any of them. Severity: HIGH, a likely breach of a binding rule or a missed statutory deadline; MEDIUM, a probable process gap or control weakness; OBSERVATION, notable with no confirmed rule; POSITIVE, practice beyond the legal minimum. This page carries no HIGH flag.
MEDIUM Nonpublic minutes sealed for fifty years with no statutory determination stated
The entry was properly framed: the agenda printed "RSA 91-A:3, II (c )" with its text, the chair's motion recited the reputation ground (0:01:54), and the vote was a roll call, as RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires. The seal was not. RSA 91-A:3, III, as codified for this date, allows nonpublic minutes to be withheld beyond 72 hours only "by recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present taken in public session" when "it is determined that divulgence of the information likely would affect adversely the reputation of any person" other than a member, render a proposed action ineffective, or pertain to terrorism (statute). The vote was recorded and unanimous (0:05:48). No determination was stated: the motion was "that the minutes of the closed session be sealed for 50 years" (0:05:29), and the minutes record only the motion and the roll call. The II(c) entry ground points toward the reputation finding, but the statute asks for the determination itself. Fifty years is ten times the five-year seal the Claremont board voted eight days earlier.
MEDIUM The minutes reached the public share on May 8, about seventeen business days after the meeting
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting" (statute); for a Thursday, April 13 meeting that was Thursday, April 20. The only copy located was filed with the May 11 packet and created on Drive on Monday, May 8, 2023; the PDF's own modified time is the same morning, so nothing dates it earlier. The search was two-stage: this meeting's own folder, 6. SAU SB 4.13.23, holds no 4/13 minutes (its seven files are listed in the appendix), and a title search for 4.13.23 returned only that folder. By contrast, the March 30 draft was in its own folder within three business days. Drive's created time shows when the public could see the document on the share, not whether a draft could be inspected at the office on request; nothing in the record says one could. Because the meeting was noticed and packeted and the minutes exist, this is graded MEDIUM under the project's severity rule, not HIGH.
MEDIUM The board chose a treasurer but still no secretary
RSA 194-C:5, I requires the SAU board to meet between April 1 and June 1 and to "organize by choosing a chairperson, a secretary, and a treasurer" (statute). On March 30 the board chose a chair and a vice chair (an office the statute does not name). Tonight, inside the window, it chose Arlene Hawkins as treasurer (0:19:02), the chair stressing that the office is "not optional" (0:17:20). No secretary was nominated, and the agenda and minutes still carry a "Secretary Roll Call of Attendance" with no one in the office. The chair also announced there would be no June meeting unless needed (0:07:38), leaving one scheduled meeting, May 11, before the window closed. The project's later notes record the secretary's office still vacant in August 2023.
OBSERVATION About 73 minutes are missing from the recording, and the minutes print scheduled times as if they were actual
The minutes give 6:00 PM for the call to order, 6:05 PM for the nonpublic session and "6:25 PM Return to the regular scheduled board meeting", which are the agenda's own headings. The recording supports a different evening. The call to order is at 0:00:43; the board leaves for another room at 0:02:50; the transcript is silent until 0:04:34 and the motion to return comes at 0:04:45. Seventeen minutes into the tape the chair says Whitney "has arrived at 730" (0:17:37), and the minutes agree ("Arrival at 7:30 PM"). If the call to order was at 6:00, about 73 minutes of real time fall outside the recording, nearly all of it inside the nonpublic session, which on this reading ran from about 6:03 to about 7:17. A second spoken anchor agrees: reaching the 8:00 p.m. agenda item, the chair says "we're only 20 minutes behind" (1:06:19). Pausing the recording for a nonpublic session is ordinary; the point is that the minutes do not record the session's real length. They also list Heather Whitney as both present and absent.
OBSERVATION A budget report the public could not see, whose year the board could not agree on
The budget update was a report "right from Tyler" (0:24:52) that is not among the seven documents in the packet. Members disagreed about which fiscal year it showed (0:19:18 to 0:24:50), and the chair told viewers the year that began July 1, 2022 is "fiscal year 22" (0:21:18). The figures in the record do not match each other: the transcript has a surplus of "about 180,000" (0:20:06), the chair later says "if I see 118" (0:28:46), and the minutes record $118,000.00; the merit-pool balance is read as "36,190 and 41" (0:25:24) and recorded as $35,000. The chair says the board had eliminated merit pay, yet the line is still funded; his proposal to return it to taxpayers ended without a motion. No rule fixes how an SAU board reviews a mid-year report, so this is an observation; a monthly budget-to-actual report in the packet, which the board's own calendar now calls for, would let the public follow these numbers.
OBSERVATION The policy subcommittee voted into being on March 30 was set aside without a vote, and SAU policies have no review process
On March 30 the board voted, on motion and second, to set up an SAU 6 policy subcommittee. Tonight, under an agenda item to assemble it, no members were named, and the chair took "the favor of the board" that individual reviews go to the chair and vice chair instead (1:06:19); there was no motion to rescind or postpone. Asked whether any process reviews SAU policies, the superintendent answered "Not at the s a you." (1:01:59). Reliance on NHSBA's legal-update notices and on Claremont's pending policy audit is a reasonable choice for a body that meets monthly; the record of how the March 30 decision was undone is thin.
POSITIVE The board published its working calendar, and the website now leads to the policies
Two weeks after members complained on March 30 that the policies were hard to find, the website carries separate policy buttons, added by the minutes-taker after hearing the request (1:05:33). Tonight the board agreed to post its annual calendar of recurring business, including budget deadlines and the superintendent evaluation, "so the public knows what our intentions are" (0:38:43), with a note that it remains subject to the board's discretion. Neither step is required by law.
No budget report and no public notice for this meeting were found in the packet folder (verified 2026-10-03 against the folder's files listed in MAP.md).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.