Participants
Names follow the agenda masthead and the minutes; attendance follows the roll calls heard on the recording. The roll reader's voice is unlabelled in the dialogue file.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Arlene Hawkins | Chair (Claremont) | Presides; moves the agenda change (0:01:58), the nonpublic session (0:03:22), the subcommittee roster (0:07:30), the facilitator (0:09:10) and the suspension of policy CBI (0:10:48); asks whether the Tyler motion should carry an amount (1:16:12). Rendered Early Hawkins and Earlene Hawkins in the rolls. |
| Rocco Ruggeri | Vice chair (Unity) | Moves Sprague as NHSBA delegate (0:34:08); asks about Tyler's annual cost after ESSER (1:14:09, 1:15:25); questions the meeting-day rule in the pre-populated agenda (1:19:29). Rendered Gary in a roll call (0:06:20). |
| Atonya Hart | Member (Unity); chair of the evaluation subcommittee | Seconds the treasurer nomination (0:33:02) and the seal (the chair: "Oh, I'm sorry Tonya", 0:06:59); named subcommittee chair on Sprague's motion (minutes). Says the July 13 minutes wrongly listed her present (minutes; the voice is unlabelled at 0:02:45). |
| Frank Sprague | Member (Claremont) | Moves Hart as subcommittee chair (0:08:31); explains why an outside facilitator is needed (0:09:36); asks where departing teachers sat on the salary scale (0:16:08); volunteers as NHSBA delegate (0:33:58); questions HR on pay placement and emergency certifications (0:49:52). |
| Bonnie Miles | Member (Claremont); elected SAU 6 treasurer | Accepts the treasurer nomination (minutes; the dialogue file gives the acceptance to the chair's cluster, 0:32:56); seconds the Tyler motion (minutes; the chair first says "seconded by Bonnie", then "Oh, Tanya", 1:16:08). Rendered 20 miles in a roll. |
| Heather Whitney | Member (Claremont); Claremont board chair | Seconds the nonpublic motion (0:03:50); nominates Miles for treasurer (0:32:52); moves approval of the Tyler purchase (1:16:00). |
| Jennifer Gallagher | Member (Claremont) | Reads an exit-interview comment about parents swearing at CMS staff (0:15:10); asks about paraprofessional training programs (0:22:50); moves adjournment (1:22:11). |
| Candace Crawford | Member (Claremont) | Abstains on the July 13 minutes, "I wasn't a board member then" (0:02:58); echoes the CMS comment (0:25:02); asks that substitute pay go to the district boards now (0:49:21); moves the pre-populated agenda (1:19:20). |
| Marjorie Erickson, Kelly Simpson, Shannon Popescu | Members (Unity) | Absent by the recording: Erickson and Simpson are called in each roll with no answer; Popescu is not called in the roll votes. The minutes list Erickson and Simpson absent but Popescu present and voting (flag 3). |
| Whitney Skillen | Member (Claremont) | Absent: called in each roll with no answer. The minutes list her both present and absent and record her voting yes three times (flag 3). Appointed to the evaluation subcommittee in her absence (0:07:30). |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent | Absent (0:11:38). |
| Mike Koski | Assistant Superintendent | Gives the superintendent's report: exit interviews (0:12:18), organizational chart (0:26:19), staff transitions (0:30:11). Rendered Mr. Kosugi. |
| Angela Vivian | Director of Human Resources | Reports progress on the Lupini organizational study's HR findings and recommends the district pay new hires' background-check fee and raise substitute pay (0:35:28 to 0:46:55). |
| Mary Henry | Business Administrator | Presents the Tyler upgrade's features and says it was already bought with ESSER funds (1:12:19); gives a preliminary SAU budget picture (1:16:36). |
| Jeff Small | Director of Technology | Introduces the Tyler (iVisions) upgrade (0:58:02, 1:00:08). |
| Ben Nester | Director of Special Education | Answers on paraprofessional openings (0:20:17) and on the Medicaid specialist's funding (0:28:44). |
| Unidentified | Board member | Argues for higher paraprofessional pay after the exit survey (0:19:26 to 0:22:08); not named on the recording. |
Agenda
Items and wording from the posted agenda (created on Drive Tuesday, August 15, 2023); the board moved the nonpublic session and the subcommittee items to the front. Dispositions from the recording and the draft minutes.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:10 | I. Call to order, pledge | Called to order; roll before the pledge (0:00:29); pledge at 0:00:55. |
| 0:01:21 | II. Agenda; minutes of July 13, 2023; citizens' comments | Agenda reordered on the chair's motion, Whitney seconding, voice vote (0:01:58). July 13 minutes moved by Whitney, seconded (the chair says "seconded by Jen", 0:02:39; minutes: Hart), amended to remove a member wrongly listed present, approved with Crawford abstaining (0:03:02). No citizens' comments (0:03:22). |
| 0:03:22 | VI. Other business: Non-public session, RSA 91-A:3, II(c) (moved forward) | Motion stated on the record; seconded by Whitney (0:03:52); roll call (0:04:00). Not recorded. Return moved (0:05:39) and taken by roll (0:06:20). Seal "for two years" (0:06:53), roll (0:07:09 to 0:07:26). |
| 0:07:30 | IV.6 Sub-committee reports: Superintendent Evaluation Sub-Committee (approval); Policy Revision, Policy CBI (vote) | Ruggeri, Hart, Sprague and Skillen appointed by voice vote (0:08:08); Hart made chair on Sprague's motion (0:08:31). David Ryan hired "at a cost not to exceed $5,000" (0:09:10), voice vote (0:10:47). CBI suspended "for this evaluation cycle, since we're already passed the timelines" (0:10:48), seconded (0:11:27), voice vote (0:11:33); the minutes do not record this motion. |
| 0:11:38 | III. Superintendent report: a) telephone upgrade; b) exit interview results (Policy GCQ, Exhibit A); c) organizational chart (B); d) staff transitions (C) | Telephone item tabled (0:11:38). Exit interviews (0:12:18); organizational chart (0:26:19); staff transitions (0:30:11). |
| 0:32:12 | IV.1 Nominations: a. SAU Treasurer; b. SAU Delegate to NHSBA Assembly | Whitney nominates Miles (0:32:52), Hart seconds (0:33:02); Ruggeri moves Sprague as delegate (0:34:08); one vote for both, "It's unanimous for both" (0:34:57). The minutes record the treasurer nomination and acceptance but no vote. |
| 0:35:28 | IV.2 Human Resources Update (Exhibit D) | Vivian's report and recommendations; background-check fee and substitute pay referred to the Claremont and Unity boards (0:49:41). |
| 0:58:02 | IV.3 Tyler Software Update Presentation (vote) | Presentation by Small and Henry. Whitney moves "to approve the purchase of the Tyler software update" (1:16:00); seconded (Miles per the minutes); no amount stated (1:16:12); carried by voice vote (1:16:19). |
| 1:16:36 | IV.4 Budget update: a) financial update; b) proposed budget timeline | Financial update given; the timeline is postponed to the next meeting (1:18:08). |
| 1:18:23 | IV.5 Adoption of SAU6 Board Proposed Pre-Populated Agenda Items (Exhibit F) | Crawford moves (1:19:20), Whitney seconds; adopted by voice vote after Ruggeri's point on meeting days (1:21:05). |
| 1:21:05 | V. Future dates and agenda items; VII. Closing | Proposed budget timeline carried to the next meeting; adjourned on Gallagher's motion (1:22:11); minutes: seconded by Hart. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/15254 SAU6081723.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:29 | Opening roll | Read by an unlabelled voice: "Arlene Hawkins here. Over here. Marjorie erickson, professor Hughes here. Kelly Simpson. Tanya Hart here." The transcript cannot show who answered each name. | MEDIUM |
| 0:03:22 | Nonpublic session | The chair: "I would like to, entertain a motion to move into nonpublic session under RSA 91 a three to see [91-A:3, II(c)] matters which have discussed in public would likely adverse effect of the reputation of any person other than a member of the board. I believe that we need a roll call." Eight yes votes are heard (0:04:00). "And we will return to the public after the nonpublic session" (0:04:18). The chair calls for reconvening 56 recording-seconds later (0:05:14). | MEDIUM POSITIVE |
| 0:06:40 | Seal | "I would like to make a motion to seal the minutes for two years." (0:06:53); roll call with eight yes votes (0:07:09 to 0:07:26). | MEDIUM |
| 0:07:30 | Evaluation subcommittee and facilitator | Members "Rocco Ruggieri, Tanya Hart from Claremont, Frank Sprague and Whitney Skilling" [Ruggeri and Hart are Unity members] (0:07:30). Hire "David Ryan to work with the evaluation subcommittee to facilitate the evaluation process as set forth in the superintendent's contract, at a cost not to exceed $5,000" (0:09:10). Sprague: an outside person "will help us set up consistency" (0:09:36). | |
| 0:10:48 | Policy CBI suspended | The chair: "In light of the fact that the superintendent has not been evaluated in a timely manner. I'd like to move that we suspend the application of policy. CBI." Carried (0:11:33). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:12:18 | Exit interviews | Koski: "there were 47 resignations and retirements. We had eight people, fill out the survey"; "with only the eight respondents, it's it's kind of hard to draw too many conclusions." Recurring themes: salary, workload, staffing (0:13:25). Gallagher reads a respondent's comment about parents at CMS (0:15:30); Crawford: "I think the public needs to be aware of this" (0:25:02). | POSITIVE |
| 0:26:19 | Organizational chart and staff | Koski on new hires and color-coding by funding source (0:26:45). The Medicaid specialist is a Claremont employee paid from the SAU line; Nester refers to guidance from counsel in an earlier nonpublic session (0:28:44) and says it is "the only one that's in that sort of odd funding arrangement" (0:29:32). | |
| 0:32:12 | Treasurer and delegate | The chair on the treasurer's job: "go in once a month and initial vouchers" (0:32:12). Miles takes treasurer; Sprague volunteers as delegate; "It's unanimous for both" (0:34:57). | MEDIUM |
| 0:35:28 | HR progress on the Lupini findings | Vivian walks through the study's HR findings (0:35:28) including turnover (0:41:59). Recommendations: the district pay the background-check fee for new hires (0:44:39; $48.25 per the minutes) and raise substitute pay, now "$100 a day right now. That's our rate" (0:46:55). Henry: such decisions "should go back to the district" boards (0:46:48). | |
| 0:49:52 | Sprague's HR questions | Pay of a reassigned employee (0:50:21); evaluations: "Everybody, everybody's required to be" evaluated (0:52:02); emergency-authorization hires get "a second year" (0:53:02). | |
| 0:58:02 | Tyler software, bought before the vote | Henry: "We've already purchased this software through SRS" [ESSER] (1:12:19), on the strength of "David Jack had talked to you and he had come out and said that it was good to go" (1:12:31); "I know you haven't voted" (1:13:44). Cost: "it was 120,000" (1:14:47); Ruggeri: "That's all funded by Esser." (1:15:12); after ESSER, "28 every year after that" (1:15:25). Hawkins: "Did you put a financial"; Whitney: "No. Does not necessary" (1:16:12). | MEDIUM |
| 1:16:36 | SAU budget preview | Henry: "you guys are going to be okay on the fund balance side", with "anywhere from 10 to 20,000" surplus; "Encumbered purchase orders is about 35,000. I don't know how much of that is valid." (1:16:58). | |
| 1:18:23 | Pre-populated agenda adopted | The chair: the draft "was not finalized. So it has not appeared on the website" (1:18:23). Ruggeri notes the meeting follows the Unity board meeting, so it is not always the second Thursday (1:19:29). Adopted (1:21:05). | |
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 August 17, 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 A software purchase of about $120,000 in federal ESSER money was made before the board's vote, and the motion approving it stated no amount
The agenda listed the Tyler upgrade for a vote. Before the vote the business administrator said "We've already purchased this software through SRS" [ESSER] (1:12:19), relying on a prior discussion in which David Jack, who ran the business office before her, "had come out and said that it was good to go" (1:12:31), and added "I know you haven't voted" (1:13:44). She put the cost at "it was 120,000" (1:14:47), with about $20,000 to $28,000 a year falling on the budget once ESSER ends (1:14:13, 1:15:25). The chair asked whether the motion should carry an amount; the mover said it was not necessary (1:16:12), and the minutes record only "approve the purchase of the Tyler Software Upgrade" (minutes). Under the Uniform Guidance in its 2023 edition, a recipient spending federal award money "must have and use documented procurement procedures" and "must maintain records sufficient to detail the history of procurement" (regulation). Nothing in this meeting's record shows the quotes, sole-source justification or contract behind the purchase, or which entity bought it; those documents would settle the point. The flag is MEDIUM because it rests on the business administrator's own account and no rule is shown to require prior board approval for this purchase; it is a control weakness on the record, not a finding that the procurement itself was improper.
Sources: 2 CFR 200.318(a) and (i) (2023 annual edition); draft minutes, item VI.3
MEDIUM Nonpublic minutes sealed for two years with no statutory determination stated; the session's length is not recorded anywhere
RSA 91-A:3, III, as it read on this date, lets a public body withhold nonpublic minutes beyond 72 hours only by a recorded two-thirds vote of the members present, taken in public session, that determines divulgence "likely would affect adversely the reputation of any person other than a member of the public body itself, or render the proposed action ineffective, or pertain to terrorism" (statute). The seal vote was in public and by roll call with eight yes votes (0:07:09 to 0:07:26); the motion was only "to seal the minutes for two years" (0:06:53), and the minutes record no determination. The session was entered under II(c), the reputation ground, so a finding may be implied, but the statute asks that it be made. On the recording, 56 seconds of room chatter separate the entry vote (0:04:18) from the call to reconvene (0:05:14). That is either a session of under a minute or, more likely, a paused or edited recording; the project has found the second pattern on other SAU 6 recordings, and the tape cannot decide it. The minutes give no times, so the session's length cannot be recovered.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, III (2022 codification); draft minutes, item III
MEDIUM The minutes record two absent members as present and voting, and omit the vote suspending policy CBI
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to include "the names of members" and "The names of the members who made or seconded each motion" (statute). The draft minutes list Whitney Skillen as both present and absent, list Shannon Popescu as present, and record both voting yes to enter nonpublic session and Skillen voting yes to return and to seal. On the recording, each roll call names Skillen with no answer and does not call Popescu at all, eight yes votes are heard each time (0:04:00, 0:06:20, 0:07:09), and the chair says "we have four board members not present" (0:33:49). The minutes also omit the chair's motion suspending policy CBI, which was seconded and carried on tape (0:10:48 to 0:11:33), and record the treasurer nomination without the vote (0:34:57). The outcomes are unaffected (each vote passes either way), but the minutes are the only official register of who voted, and here it names members who were not in the room.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification, in force until Oct. 3, 2023); draft minutes
MEDIUM The board filled its treasurer's office in August but still has no secretary
RSA 194-C:5, I requires the SAU board to meet between April 1 and June 1 each year and "organize by choosing a chairperson, a secretary, and a treasurer" (statute). The chair opened the item as "two openings", treasurer and NHSBA delegate (0:32:12), vacated when she moved from treasurer to chair in July; the board filled both (0:34:57). No secretary was nominated. The agenda masthead lists only a chair and vice chair, while the agenda itself still reads "Secretary Roll Call of Attendance" (agenda), and the roll was read by an unlabelled voice. Recording the minutes is a staff task here (Chelsea Weatherford), which is not the statutory office.
Sources: RSA 194-C:5, I (1996, 298:3); agenda
MEDIUM The minutes reached the public share on the ninth business day
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be "promptly recorded and open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting" (statute). For a Thursday, August 17 meeting the fifth business day was Thursday, August 24. The draft minutes were created in the meeting's packet folder on Wednesday, August 30, 2023, the ninth business day; the modified time is the same evening, so the Drive record does not show earlier existence. Drive posting is evidence of when the public could read them online, not proof that no copy was available at the SAU office, which is why this is MEDIUM rather than HIGH (the meeting was noticed and packeted, and only timely minutes are in question).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II; draft minutes (Drive created August 30, 2023)
OBSERVATION The board suspended its four-month-old superintendent-evaluation policy because its deadlines had passed
Policy CBI, adopted April 13, 2023, requires a formal superintendent review "by the end of June of each year" and joint goals "before the end of August", with the evaluation subcommittee "elected each year at the first SAU Board meeting following elections" (Exhibit G). The chair moved to suspend it "for this evaluation cycle, since we're already passed the timelines" (0:10:48). The subcommittee was seated tonight, in August, with one member absent, and an outside facilitator hired for up to $5,000 (0:09:10). A board may suspend its own policy; the observation is that the June evaluation the policy promised did not happen, and the packet copy of CBI is marked "Revised 8/17/2023" (Exhibit G) while the action taken was a suspension that the minutes do not record (flag 3).
Sources: Exhibit G- SAU Policy CBI Adopted (1).pdf
POSITIVE Exit-interview results presented in public, and the nonpublic motion stated its ground with roll-call votes
The board heard its first year of exit-interview data in open session, including its limits ("with only the eight respondents, it's it's kind of hard to draw too many conclusions", 0:12:18), and members asked for experience and location fields next time (minutes). On the nonpublic session, RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires the motion to state the specific exemption and be decided by roll call: the chair's motion read the II(c) text (0:03:22), and entry, return and seal were each taken by roll (0:04:00, 0:06:20, 0:07:09).
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b); Exhibit A- School Board Exit Interview Results.pdf
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/15254 SAU6081723.mp4.CSV (689 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/15254 SAU6081723.mp4 (local copy of the recording)Input/Transcripts/15254 SAU6081723.mp4.json (diarized transcript)Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 203 (video-to-document map)
Laws and rules cited on this page