Regular meeting of the joint Claremont and Unity board, chaired by Arlene Hawkins. The board appointed Noelle Kronberg its clerk, heard the business administrator's first pass at the FY2025 SAU budget, adopted policy GBE, named a three-member policy subcommittee, and adopted four objectives with key results drafted by facilitator Dr. David Ryan for the superintendent's evaluation cycle. A minutes amendment about the suspended superintendent evaluation was accepted in softened words its mover called "a little whitewash". The page is built from the CCTV recording's dialogue transcript, the posted agenda and packet, and the minutes. Timestamps link to the same moment in the Cablecast recording.
Body
SAU 6 Board (School Administrative Unit 6: the Claremont and Unity school boards meeting jointly)
Date
Thursday, November 9, 2023
Start time
6:30 p.m. The chair: "Good evening at 630. I'd like to call the six board meeting to order." (0:00:06). The minutes record the item times (budget 6:39, goal setting 6:55, other business 7:30) and adjournment at 7:32 p.m.; on tape the adjournment is at 1:02:20, consistent with a continuous recording. No nonpublic session.
Location
Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center (agenda masthead); the agenda body also names the Goodrich Community Room
Recording
Cablecast: SAU 6 Board Meeting 11/9/23 (the transcript runs 1:02:33; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, the API refuses requests from this environment). The show number sorts among September 2023 shows; the meeting date is November 9.
Twelve members per the agenda: Claremont's seven (Hawkins, Sprague, Miles, Skillen, Crawford, Gallagher, Whitney) and Unity's five (Rocco Ruggeri, vice chair; Marjorie Erickson; Shannon Popescu; Kelly Simpson; Atonya Hart). Minutes: eleven present, Whitney from 6:35; absent, Whitney Skillen.
Participants
Everyone in the record. Attendance, movers and seconders follow the minutes. The dialogue file's labels differ from the minutes in several places; each row says where.
Name
Role
Participation
Arlene Hawkins
Chair, SAU 6 Board (Claremont)
Calls the meeting to order, moves the clerk appointment (0:02:24), the GBE adoption (0:20:50) and the goals (1:00:34); corrects the October 12 minutes (0:05:55); reads Dr. Ryan's credentials (0:25:11); asks that budget questions go to her and Ruggeri.
Rocco Ruggeri
Vice chair (Unity)
Present per the minutes, which credit him with moving approval of the October 12 minutes and seconding GBE and the goals. The voice that does those things on tape (0:08:36, 0:21:03, 1:00:43) is labeled "Jennifer Gallagher" in the dialogue file; see the method note.
Marjorie Erickson
Member (Unity board chair)
Per the minutes, asked that the October 12 minutes record the discussion of the suspended superintendent evaluation (voice at 0:07:02, unlabeled in the dialogue file). Asks about technology needs (0:55:10) and wants a timeline before voting on the goals (0:57:07).
Atonya Hart
Member (Unity); chair, superintendent evaluation subcommittee
Seconds the clerk appointment and the agenda (minutes; the chair: "Second. Tanya." at 0:04:52).
Kelly Simpson
Member (Unity)
Named to the policy subcommittee; seconds adjournment (minutes). Answers the roll (0:01:03).
Shannon Popescu
Member (Unity)
Present per the minutes; no answer to the roll is distinct on tape.
Frank Sprague
Member (Claremont)
Moves the amended agenda (0:04:49); asks for personnel detail with two years of actuals (0:14:21); says "Administrative positions have to be voted on by the board." (0:18:33). The minutes credit him with the adjournment motion; the dialogue file labels that voice Tempesta (1:02:14).
Candace Crawford
Member (Claremont)
Named to the policy subcommittee; reads GBE as ending Covid-era remote work (0:21:22); asks whether assessments will be written and about exit-interview response rates (0:51:06, 0:52:35).
Heather Whitney
Member (Claremont board chair)
Arrives 6:35 (minutes); abstains on the agenda; asks for a job description for the proposed assistant special education director (0:18:01).
Bonnie Miles; Jennifer Gallagher
Members (Claremont)
Present per the minutes and the roll (0:01:03). Neither is separately identified on tape; see Ruggeri above for the rows the dialogue file gives Gallagher.
Whitney Skillen
Member (Claremont)
Absent per the minutes.
Michael Tempesta
Superintendent, SAU 6
Introduces the clerk candidate (0:01:40); explains that the clerk post is "technically this is a Claremont elected position" (0:03:35); says the assistant special-ed director idea came from principals (0:18:45); asks who does the work in the key results (0:59:20).
Mary Henry
Business administrator
First pass at the FY2025 SAU budget (0:09:21); asks for a December 7 meeting so the hearing can be held December 14 (0:13:49).
Ben Nester
Director of Special Education
Describes the proposed assistant special education director role for the out-of-district coordinator (0:16:37).
Dr. David Ryan
Facilitator, superintendent evaluation and goal setting
Presents four objectives with key results (0:27:11) and recommends the evaluation subcommittee set the timelines (0:59:57).
Noelle Kronberg
Appointed SAU 6 board clerk
Introduced as "Claremont resident, an educator near right across the river in Vermont, has actually worked in unity." Appointed unanimously (minutes). Spelled Noelle in the minutes; "Noel Kronberg" and "Noel Cronenberg" on tape.
Unidentified
Various
34 of 334 rows (10.2%), including the roll reader (0:01:00) and a Unity member who notes "I just saw my name on there and I was like, I was not here." (0:06:41).
Citizens' comments
None
"Are there any citizens comments?" None (0:08:57).
Agenda
Items from the posted agenda (SAU 6 School Board Agenda 11.9.23) with dispositions from the recording and the minutes.
A first motion naming the SAU and Claremont clerk is withdrawn (0:02:45) after the superintendent says Claremont must vote separately; the motion to appoint Noelle Kronberg SAU 6 board clerk carries unanimously (0:04:05); minutes: Hawkins moved, Hart seconded.
Two corrections (GBE first-read wording; the superintendent-evaluation discussion, see flag 2); approved as amended, one abstention heard on tape (0:08:53); the minutes record it as unanimous.
Agenda: "Budget Review (Discussion) Mary Henry, Business Administrator". Minutes: "a 5.6% increase". Special meeting set for December 7 at 6:00 p.m. (0:20:10). No vote.
Four objectives with key results presented and discussed; the chair moves to "accept these objectives and key results for this remainder of the 2020 2324 school year" (1:00:34); carried on a voice vote (1:00:51); minutes: Ruggeri seconded, unanimous.
Tempesta introduces the candidate. A member asks "aren't those two separate positions?" (0:03:17); Tempesta: "So technically this is a Claremont elected position. Yes. So and so this position will be in place until election." Another: "I thought it was a separate position. That's what I thought too." (0:03:58)
A member asks to record "the discussion that we had as to why we're not following the superintendent's contract or our approved policy on the topic." The chair: "So a discussion about the board vote to suspend." The member: "It's a little whitewash, but I'll accept it." (0:08:21)
Health insurance "only 5.7%", dental 4.7%, a proposed 5% wage increase. Business office "$188,000" up, mostly a staff accountant "shifting from SRS into the general budget next year" at "a range of 65 to 75" (0:11:37). Contracted services from $5,000 to "around 25,000" (0:12:29).
Henry proposes moving "20,000 of that decrease" toward "an assistant special education director position". Nester would expand the out-of-district coordinator's role (0:16:37). Sprague: "Administrative positions have to be voted on by the board." (0:18:33) A job description is requested for the next meeting.
"we need to hold a public hearing on December 14th for this budget to be accepted by the board and put on the, warrants for unity and for Claremont." Special meeting December 7 at six.
Crawford: "this policy of puts an end to any, Covid generated out of district. I mean, out of office work." The chair agrees (0:21:49). The packet draft requires employees to "be physically present at work for all their contracted days".
"the subcommittee is moving forward with meeting with Mr. Tempesta and setting goals and dates and times"; the meeting with Dr. Ryan is "Right after this meeting. Right after this meeting. That's great. Perfect. Everybody's here."
Board members and administrators each submitted three priority areas; Ryan worked from the organizational study, strategic plan, retreat notes and exit-interview results; "All board members and superintendent received this draft document prior to tonight's meeting."
A system-wide communications plan; periodic surveys; employee input. Ryan's example of between-meeting contact: "if Chair Hawkins contacts Mr. Tempesta on a Saturday" (0:32:13).
Objectives 2 and 3: achievement and the central office
Longitudinal assessment reports; a professional development master plan; a written standard operating procedure manual for the central office (0:40:43); an updated employee handbook, which "your attorney, Matt Upton, would agree would be essential" (0:41:52); written evaluations of central office staff.
Taxpayers should be able to "go to say, the website and just act access in draft form, anything that has been presented to the board" (0:43:55). The chair notes key result five is missing from the screen version but is in the packet (0:44:54).
Supervision and evaluation as "a non-negotiable"; a recognition program; growing administrators from teacher leaders; reviewing exit-interview data under policy GCQB-R.
Crawford asks whether to set a target percentage. Ryan: "I used the word all exit interview data on purpose, because the only way that you'll have data is if the exit interview is completed." (0:54:00)
Erickson: "It's it's lovely to have goals, but without a timeline it doesn't mean anything." She summarizes: "this is the what. And then the superintendent's subcommittee decides to how and the when." (0:57:58)
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 November 9, 2023, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM The superintendent evaluation subcommittee was to meet off camera right after the board; no notice or minutes were located
The chair reported that the evaluation subcommittee (chaired by Atonya Hart) was meeting with Superintendent Tempesta and facilitator David Ryan "Right after this meeting" (0:24:33), and at adjournment: "it's going to be a meeting after this in one of the other classrooms" (1:02:20). The minutes confirm the subcommittee was "meeting with Superintendent Tempesta and David Ryan". A subcommittee of the SAU board is a public body: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) reaches "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto", and RSA 91-A:2, II requires notice at least 24 hours ahead and minutes open to inspection within five business days. The board's own agenda does not notice the session. No subcommittee minutes were found in this meeting's packet folder or in the document lists MAP.md records for the later SAU 6 folders (December 7 and 14, 2023; January 11, February 15, April 11 and September 12, 2024), and a Drive title search for evaluation documents created between November 2023 and June 2024 returned nothing, a result that by itself proves little. The Claremont Meeting Minutes share has never held an SAU 6 file. This page applies the MEDIUM limb rather than HIGH because the record shows the session announced and scheduled, not that a quorum of the subcommittee convened: the tape ends at adjournment. If it did convene, the absence of notice and minutes is unmitigated.
OBSERVATION A minutes correction about not following the superintendent's contract was recorded in softer words
A member, Marjorie Erickson per the minutes, asked that the October 12 minutes record "the discussion that we had as to why we're not following the superintendent's contract or our approved policy on the topic" (0:07:02) and, as proposed wording, "the current methodology being followed by the school board not aligning with the superintendent's contract or the policy that was approved" (0:07:33). The chair recast it as "a discussion about the board vote to suspend" the superintendent evaluation; the member replied "It's a little whitewash, but I'll accept it." (0:08:21). The approved minutes read: "Marjorie Erickson wishes for the minutes to include a note under section IV (School Board Work Session) that there was a discussion pertaining to a vote to suspend the superintendent evaluation." RSA 91-A:2, II requires only "a brief description of the subject matter discussed", and the board adopted the wording with the member's assent, so this is not a violation. The October 12 draft minutes in this packet show what was suspended: a motion "to suspend the application of Policy CBE - Superintendent Evaluation and Goal Setting for this evaluation cycle since we are already past the guidelines". The board terminated Tempesta's contract on January 11, 2024.
OBSERVATION The budget summary now in this meeting's folder is a later version than the one the board reviewed
The minutes record that the business administrator "presented a summary of the budget and noted a 5.6% increase". The only budget file in the packet folder, Proposed SAU6 FY25 Budget Summary.PDF, was created in Drive on November 30, 2023 and is stamped "Printed: 11/30/2023"; it shows FY2025 at $2,590,674.91 against $2,396,000.00 budgeted for FY2024, an 8.12 percent increase, and includes lines such as School Board Secretary wages ($3,600) not mentioned on tape. So a reader of this meeting's packet sees a document three weeks newer than the meeting and cannot see what the board reviewed. The facilitator's own key result asks that taxpayers be able to see "in draft form, anything that has been presented to the board" (0:43:55). Separately, Sprague said "Administrative positions have to be voted on by the board." (0:18:33) of the proposed assistant special education director; no rule was cited on tape and this page has not verified one, so the point stands as his characterization pending the job description the board requested.
POSITIVE Prompt, detailed minutes and a published draft of the goals
The minutes reached this meeting's own packet folder on November 14, 2023 at 8:51 a.m., the third or fourth business day after the meeting depending on whether Friday, November 10 counted as the Veterans Day holiday, inside RSA 91-A:2, II's five-day window. They record clock times for each section, the mover and seconder of each motion, and the abstaining member by name, which is more than the statute requires for 2023. The draft objectives and key results the board voted on were posted in the packet, and the chair said every member and the superintendent had them before the meeting (0:26:21). Board members' budget questions were routed in writing through the chair and vice chair (1:01:41).
Evaluation subcommittee session announced for after this meeting: no notice or minutes found in this folder, in MAP.md's document lists for the later SAU 6 folders through September 12, 2024, or by a Drive title search (checked 2026-10-03). Not found, which is not the same as never existing.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.