Participants
Names follow the agenda masthead and the draft minutes. The dialogue file labels 67 of 313 rows Unidentified, including most roll-call answers, motions and seconds; movers, seconders and individual votes on this page follow the minutes.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Arlene Hawkins | Elected chair tonight (Claremont) | Elected 8 to 3 (minutes; 0:05:39); presides from 0:06:47; asks whether the audit will be presented publicly (0:18:54); asks whether teachers' retirement deposits have been fixed (0:19:32); requests future items on the Lupini report's HR recommendations, the board calendar and exit-interview data (0:21:52, 0:24:08). On the paper ballot: "We did, that's how we did elect a chair." (0:02:33). |
| Rocco Ruggeri | Vice chair (Unity) | Calls the meeting to order and runs the chair election (0:00:04 to 0:05:49); nominates Erickson (0:00:29); raises the point of order that the agenda must be amended before a nonpublic session (0:07:20); seconds the agenda motion (0:10:33). |
| Marjorie Erickson | Member (Unity) | Nominated for chair; abstains on entering nonpublic session (0:11:57); asks that Unity be told of the curriculum director's departure (0:15:06); moves policy BCB (0:21:01); reports on the superintendent-evaluation subcommittee (0:21:20). Rendered Harrison in the roll (0:11:55). |
| Frank Sprague | Member (Claremont) | Nominates Hawkins (0:01:07); proposes "a Australian ballot paper vote" (0:01:40); moves the agenda, the May 11 minutes and adjournment (0:10:30, 0:11:12, 0:28:15); casts the only No on sealing the nonpublic minutes (minutes; 0:13:30). |
| Heather Whitney | Member (Claremont; Claremont board chair) | Raises the point of order against a secret ballot (0:02:18); cites counsel Matt Upton's advice on the Claremont vacancy (0:05:00); moves to seal the nonpublic minutes for five years (0:13:08); asks Mary Henry for a public budget timeline (0:25:47). |
| Jennifer Gallagher | Member (Claremont) | Seconds Erickson's nomination, the nonpublic motion, the seal and policy BCB (minutes). |
| Whitney Skillen | Member (Claremont) | Moves the nonpublic session under II(a) and seconds the May 11 minutes (minutes). |
| Bonnie Miles | Member (Claremont) | Present; votes in each roll call (minutes). No rows attributed to her. |
| Kelly Simpson | Member (Unity) | Seconds Hawkins's nomination and adjournment (minutes). Called Kelly. Jensen. in the roll (0:12:02). |
| Atonya Hart | Member (Unity) | Present; votes in each roll call (minutes). No rows attributed to her. |
| Shannon Popescu | Member (Unity) | Present; votes in each roll call (minutes, which spell her Popesu once). No rows attributed to her. |
| Michael C. Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Superintendent's report (0:13:51); announces the curriculum director's move to Georgia (0:15:14); reports the audit timeline (0:17:50); on exit interviews (0:24:54). |
| Mike Koski | Assistant Superintendent | On new staff and workflows (0:14:15). |
| Mary Henry | Business Administrator (started July 1) | No budget update yet (0:16:31); the retirement deposits are rectified (0:19:48). |
| Chelsea Weatherford | Recording secretary | Submitted the minutes. |
Agenda
Items and wording from the posted agenda (created on Drive Tuesday, July 11, 2023, and modified on the afternoon of the meeting); dispositions from the recording and the draft minutes. The board added two items by amendment.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:04 | I. Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance (Rocco Ruggeri) | Called to order by the vice chair; pledge at 0:00:14. |
| 0:00:29 | II. Election of Board Chair (Rocco Ruggeri) | Ruggeri nominates Erickson, seconded by Gallagher; Sprague nominates Hawkins, seconded by Simpson (minutes; 0:00:29, 0:01:07). Sprague proposes a paper ballot (0:01:40); Whitney's point of order (0:02:18); show of hands (0:05:30). The minutes: "3 votes for Marjorie Erickson and 8 votes for Arlene Hawkins." The minutes do not record who voted which way. |
| 0:08:03 | III. General Business: roll call; agenda amendments and approval; minutes of May 11, 2023; citizens' comments | A first nonpublic motion is withdrawn after Ruggeri's point of order (0:07:20, 0:07:57). Roll at 0:08:14. Amendments: the August SAU 6 date corrected to August 17, an item 3 for the superintendent-evaluation subcommittee (Erickson), and an item 4 nonpublic session (Hawkins). Sprague moved, Ruggeri seconded; voice vote (0:10:30 to 0:10:36). May 11 minutes approved with two name corrections (Sprague moved, Skillen seconded; 0:11:12). Citizens' comments: none present (0:11:19). |
| 0:11:35 | IV. Nonpublic session (added): "Non-Public Session: RSA 91-A:3, II (a)" (minutes) | Skillen moved, Gallagher seconded (minutes); roll call ten Yes, Erickson abstaining (0:11:50 to 0:12:04). Return by roll call, all Yes (minutes; 0:12:53). Seal: Whitney moved "to seal the minutes for five years" (0:13:08), Gallagher seconded (minutes); roll call ten Yes, Sprague No (0:13:16 to 0:13:39). |
| 0:13:44 | IV (renumbered V). Superintendent Report | Report; no action. |
| 0:16:22 | V.1 Budget Update (Discussion), Mary Henry | No update yet; audit and retirement-deposit questions. |
| 0:20:48 | V.2a Policy BCB- Board Member Conflict of Interest- Second Read | Erickson moved to adopt as written (0:21:01), Gallagher seconded (minutes); voice vote, passed (0:21:10). |
| 0:21:15 | V.3 Superintendent Evaluation Sub-Committee update (added) | Committee meets July 19; to be a standing item (0:21:37). |
| 0:21:52 | VI. Future Dates/Future Agenda Items | Claremont 7/19, Unity 8/8, SAU 6 8/17, retreat 8/23. Items added: Lupini report HR update (Angela Vivian), SAU 6 board calendar, exit-interview data. |
| 0:28:12 | VII. Other Business; VIII. Closing Activities | Sprague moved to adjourn (0:28:15), Simpson seconded (minutes); voice vote (0:28:19). |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/15193 SAU6071323.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:29 | The chair is vacant | Ruggeri: "Steve is no longer with the Claremont School Board. Therefore, he is no longer the Saw six board chair. So the first item on the agenda is to elect a new board chair." | |
| 0:01:40 | A paper ballot? | Sprague: "I'd like to propose a Australian ballot paper vote." Whitney: "I'm not 100% sure we can do the Australian ballot. I it's my understanding that everything that we do in public has to be in public." (0:02:18). Hawkins: "We did, that's how we did elect a chair." (0:02:33). Sprague: "Australian ballots. A very common way of voting in public meetings." (0:02:45). Members search online (0:03:28 to 0:04:32). Whitney: on the Claremont vacancy, counsel advised "we couldn't do anything that was concealed, couldn't take it out of public. We couldn't do a secret ballot." (0:05:00). | POSITIVE |
| 0:05:30 | Show of hands | Ruggeri: "Anyone in favor for Marjorie?" then "Okay, we got three and Arlene. Two. Three. Okay." (0:05:39); "So we have a new chair elected." (0:05:49). The minutes give 8 to 3. | |
| 0:06:47 | Nonpublic, first attempt | The new chair: "I'd like to entertain a motion to request a non public session for the board members under RSA 91, a 32CA" (0:06:47). Ruggeri: "Point of order though. Are we allowed to deviate from the agenda." (0:07:20); "I think we got to get through general business and then update the agenda to accommodate the request" (0:07:41). The motion is withdrawn (0:07:57). | POSITIVE |
| 0:11:35 | Nonpublic and seal | Motion "to enter a nonpublic session under RSA 91. A dash 311 was. A letter." [RSA 91-A:3, II(a), per the minutes]. Roll call; Abstain. from Erickson (0:11:57). After the return, the chair: "And is there a motion about the minutes?" (0:12:58); Whitney: "So I'd like to make a motion to seal the minutes for five years." (0:13:08). One No. in the roll (0:13:30), Sprague's per the minutes. | MEDIUM |
| 0:14:15 | New staff; a departure | Koski: "we're trying to, just create a regular workflow for things as, as things are settling in". Erickson: "You need to make that announcement to the rest of the board, because unity is not in on that information." (0:15:06). The superintendent: "Stephanie has moved back to with her family, moved back to Georgia." (0:15:14). | |
| 0:16:31 | Budget | Henry: "I don't have a budget update for you because I've just been here basically" and has been working "to, get 23 in order for the SA this week" (0:16:31). | |
| 0:17:42 | Audits | A member: "how's the auditing situation." The superintendent: "I believe they put the, the final audits for us to be completely out into the spring of next year. But we'll be hearing more from Mike Campo on that for both unity and for, Claremont as well as for the SA." (0:17:50). "It got delayed. It was supposed to be this spring. But then with the turnover in the payroll staff, it got pushed out." (0:19:08). Public presentation promised "In the spring, by by the auditors themselves." (0:19:04). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:19:32 | Retirement deposits | Hawkins: "For the last 3 or 4 months who weren't getting their retirement funds, has that been rectified?" (0:19:41). Henry: rectified "as of last week" (0:19:48); "I know checks have cleared. I just making sure the funds are in the right places at this point." (0:20:02); interest computed with a state-level tool (0:20:14). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:20:48 | Policy BCB | Second read of the board-member conflict-of-interest policy; adopted as written (0:21:10). | |
| 0:22:22 | Board calendar | Members disagree whether an SAU 6 calendar was ever adopted. Ruggeri: "I can't say for sure I don't have the information in front of me" (0:23:33); Erickson will look in her records (0:23:37). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:24:08 | Exit interviews | Hawkins asks for exit-interview data, with no personal details, before the August retreat. The superintendent: "I think we have a least a dozen or so." (0:24:54). | |
| 0:25:47 | Budget transparency | Whitney asks Henry for "a set timeline of when things are going to happen and when discussions are going to happen" on the Claremont budget. Henry: "it's budget season right now, in my opinion." (0:26:48). | |
Items flagged for review
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 July 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 five years with no statutory determination on the record
RSA 91-A:3, III, as it read on 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" that determines divulgence "likely would affect adversely the reputation" of a non-member, would render a proposed action ineffective, or pertains to terrorism (statute). The vote was in public and by roll call, ten to one (0:13:16 to 0:13:39; minutes), which meets the two-thirds requirement. Neither the motion, "to seal the minutes for five years" (0:13:08), nor the minutes state any of the statutory determinations. The chair's question "And is there a motion about the minutes?" (0:12:58) and Whitney's "Yes we do. If we want them sealed." (0:13:08) show the seal treated as a choice rather than a finding. No decision from the session was announced. The ten-year review rule of RSA 91-A:3, IV did not take effect until October 3, 2023.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, III (2022 codification; source note ends 2021, eff. Jan. 1, 2022); draft minutes, item IV
OBSERVATION The audits for Claremont, Unity and SAU 6 are put off to spring 2024, a year past the original target
The superintendent reports that the auditors expect "the final audits for us to be completely out into the spring of next year" for Unity, Claremont and the SAU (0:17:50), and that the work "was supposed to be this spring" but slipped "with the turnover in the payroll staff" (0:19:08). The minutes record: "An update on the audits and presentation will occur in the Spring of 2024." Federal rules require a single audit of any entity that "expends $750,000 or more during the non-Federal entity's fiscal year in Federal awards", submitted within "nine months after the end of the audit period" (2 CFR 200.501(a), 200.512(a)(1), 2023 edition), which for a June 30 year is March 31 of the next year. An audit that was due in spring 2023 and is now expected in spring 2024 would be about a year late for the year concerned. The record does not say which fiscal years are outstanding for which of the three entities, so this page records the point as an Observation; the audit reports and the Federal Audit Clearinghouse would settle it. The same delay was reported to the Claremont board on June 7.
Sources: 2 CFR 200.501(a) (2023 annual edition); 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1) (2023 annual edition); June 7, 2023 page, flag 3
OBSERVATION Teachers' retirement money went undeposited for three or four months
Hawkins asks whether teachers "who weren't getting their retirement funds" for "the last 3 or 4 months" have been made whole (0:19:41); the business administrator says it was rectified "as of last week", with "checks have cleared" and interest calculated with a state tool, while she is still "making sure the funds are in the right places" (0:19:48 to 0:20:14). The record does not say which plan was affected (the state retirement system or a voluntary savings plan), how much was late, or who in the district caught it, and neither the agenda nor the minutes mention it. Money withheld from pay and not remitted for months is an internal-control failure on its face; this page cites no rule because the record does not identify the plan, and the governing rule depends on which plan it was.
Sources: draft minutes, item VI.1 (silent on this exchange)
OBSERVATION The minutes omit a member from the attendance line and record no times; the board could not say whether it had adopted its own calendar
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to "include the names of members" (statute). The Present line names ten members and omits Marjorie Erickson, whom the same minutes record as a nominee, a mover, an abstention and a voter in three roll calls. The minutes give no time for the call to order, the nonpublic session or the adjournment; the law did not require times until 2025, but without them the length of the nonpublic session cannot be recovered (see the Start time entry above). Separately, members could not agree whether the board had adopted an SAU 6 meeting calendar (0:22:22 to 0:23:37); Ruggeri: "I can't say for sure I don't have the information in front of me". At the February 16, 2023 meeting members were asked to send calendar suggestions to the chair for a draft; whether a calendar was later adopted is not settled by this record.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification); draft minutes, item III; SAU 6 Board, February 16, 2023
POSITIVE Minutes in the packet within five business days, with every roll call by name
The draft minutes were created in this meeting's own packet folder on the evening of Thursday, July 20, 2023, the fifth business day after the meeting, inside RSA 91-A:2, II's window. They name the mover and seconder of every motion, as that paragraph requires, give the chair tally, and record each member's vote on entering, leaving and sealing the nonpublic session, including Erickson's abstention and Sprague's No. Drive creation shows when the file reached the public share; it does not by itself prove when the minutes were written.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification); draft minutes
POSITIVE A point of order kept the chair election out of a secret ballot
RSA 91-A:2, II: "Except for town meetings, school district meetings, and elections, no vote while in open session may be taken by secret ballot." (statute). A board electing its own officer is not one of the exceptions. Sprague proposed a paper ballot (0:01:40); Whitney objected that "everything that we do in public has to be in public" (0:02:18), the board searched, and the vote went to a show of hands (0:05:30) with the tally in the minutes. Hawkins's remark "that's how we did elect a chair" (0:02:33) refers to the March 30, 2023 SAU 6 chair election, which the project's records show was decided 6 to 5 by paper ballot, so no individual votes survive from it. A show of hands with a count, as here, still leaves no record of who voted which way; a roll call would have.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification)
POSITIVE The board amended its agenda before going into nonpublic, and the motion named its ground
The new chair first sought a nonpublic motion before the roll call and before any agenda vote (0:06:47). Ruggeri's point of order (0:07:20) sent the board back through general business: the roll, an agenda amendment adding the session as item 4, and an agenda vote (0:10:30), before Skillen's motion under RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and a roll call (0:11:35 to 0:12:04). RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires the motion to "state on its face the specific exemption" and a roll-call vote (statute); the minutes record both, with each member's vote. The notice for a meeting covers a nonpublic session held at it, so the amendment was not legally required; doing it made the change visible.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a) (2022 codification); draft minutes, items III and IV
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/15193 SAU6071323.mp4.CSV (313 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/15193 SAU6071323.mp4 (local copy of the recording)Input/Transcripts/15193 SAU6071323.mp4.json (diarized transcript)Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 198 (video-to-document map)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- State, as codified for the meeting date: RSA 91-A:2, II; RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a) and III; RSA 288:1 (state holidays, for the business-day count)
- Federal, 2023 annual editions: 2 CFR 200.501(a); 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1)
- Mentioned for dating only: 2023, 189:1 (added RSA 91-A:3, IV, eff. Oct. 3, 2023)