Participants
Everyone in the record. Names follow the agenda masthead and the draft minutes; attendance is from the minutes, checked against the four roll calls on the recording. Six members have no separately attributed speech because their roll answers fall inside the reader’s transcript rows.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Arlene Hawkins | Chair; Claremont member | Presided (46 of 78 rows). Read the first two roll calls herself; presented both policies for the policy committee; moved the termination at 0:06:15 and the appointment at 0:08:11; had the first motion re-read into a telephone at 0:07:04; declared “The motion passes” twice without a count. |
| Rocco Ruggeri | Vice chair; Unity member | Moved BGAA adoption (0:02:25) and the ACN first read (0:04:55); seconded both superintendent motions, the second after the roll had been called (“I snuck it.”); moved to adjourn. |
| Marjorie Erickson | Unity board chair; by telephone | “Present via phone” per the minutes, no reason given. At 0:06:58, called on the termination: “No idea what’s being voted on. I can’t hear you.” Voted no on both superintendent motions, the only votes against. Seconded the adjournment on tape; the minutes name Hart. |
| Shannon Popescu | Unity member | Not separately attributed. Seconded BGAA (chair at 0:02:38: “Shannon. Shannon. Seconds. Got it.”; the minutes agree). Abstained on both superintendent motions; “I’m abstaining from this” at 0:07:52 sits in the clerk’s row. No audible answer on the seal roll (flag 9). |
| Kelly Simpson | Unity member | Not separately attributed. Recorded yes on both superintendent motions. |
| Atonya Hart | Unity member | One attributed row, Yes. on the appointment roll at 0:09:06. The minutes name her seconder of the agenda amendment, the ACN first read and the adjournment. The transcript renders her slot “Tanya. Hurt.” and “It’s on your heart.” |
| Frank Sprague | Claremont member | Moved to leave nonpublic session at 0:00:11: “Like, make a motion that we come out of nonpublic.” The minutes also name him seconder of the motion to enter it (off tape). Recorded yes on both superintendent motions. |
| Bonnie Miles | Claremont member; SAU treasurer | Not separately attributed. The minutes name her mover of the thirty-year seal; on tape the motion is inside the chair’s row. Recorded yes on both superintendent motions. |
| Whitney Skillen | Claremont member; chair of the Claremont policy subcommittee | Noted the BGAA copy lacked a title (0:02:43); raised the unmade option choice in ACN (0:05:08); asked the deliberative session’s time (0:10:04). Recorded yes on both superintendent motions. ASR: “Whitney. Skilling.”, “Whitney. Sealing.” |
| Candace Crawford | Claremont member | Not separately attributed. Recorded yes on both superintendent motions. |
| Jennifer Gallagher | Claremont member | Not separately attributed. Seconded approval of the December 14 minutes (off tape, per the minutes). Recorded yes on both superintendent motions. |
| Heather Whitney | Claremont board chair | Not separately attributed; her appointment-roll answer shares the row at 0:09:15 with the chair’s declaration. The minutes name her mover of the agenda amendment and the December 14 minutes, and seconder of the seal. Recorded yes on both superintendent motions. |
| Noelle Kronberg | SAU #6 School Board Clerk | Read the two superintendent roll calls after the chair’s cue at 0:06:45. Author of the minutes. Her name is not spoken on the recording; identified by role and cue. |
| Michael C. Tempesta | Superintendent of Schools; subject of the first motion | Not present on the recording. Named only in the text of the termination motion. |
| Christopher Pratt | Appointed interim superintendent; subject of the second motion | Not present on the recording. Named only inside the appointment motion. Then principal of Stevens High School; no office of his is named in this meeting’s records. |
| Michael Koski | Assistant Superintendent | Not heard. The minutes say he took the roll call to enter nonpublic session. |
| Ben Nester, Jeff Small, Angela Vivian, Mary Henry | Special education, technology, HR directors; business administrator | On the agenda masthead. Not heard or named on the recording or in the minutes. |
| Unidentified | In the room | Three rows: the Aye. on adjournment, “This is for abstentions.”, and a closing “Thank you. Our lane. Yes. Thank you. Oh.” Also a man holding the telephone, thanked by the chair at 0:07:04 (“Thank you sir.”); not named here. |
Agenda
Items as posted in “SAU 6 School Board Agenda 1.11.24” (created in Drive January 9, 2024, about 2:27 p.m.), with dispositions from the draft minutes and the recording. Items before the return from nonpublic session are not on the recording and show the scheduled time.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 5:30 p.m. (scheduled) | I. Call to order | Agenda: “5:30 PM Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance”, under a heading reading 6:30PM. Not recorded; the minutes give no time (flag 12). |
| 5:35 p.m. (scheduled) | II. General business | Agenda: “Secretary Roll Call of Attendance of Board Members”. Minutes: eleven present and “Present via phone: Marjorie Erickson”. Agenda amended to table the budget update, “Heather Whitney moved to approve the agenda as amended, Atonya Hart seconded; unanimously approved” (minutes). December 14 minutes approved “as written”, Whitney/Gallagher (minutes). “Citizens Comment- none” (minutes). Not recorded. |
| 0:00:11 | III. Nonpublic session | Agenda: “Non-Public Session RSA 92-A:3,II”, with the text of exemptions (a) and (c) beneath. Minutes: moved by Hawkins “under RSA 92-A:3,II”, seconded by Sprague, roll call by Koski. Exit moved by Sprague at 6:48 p.m. (on tape at 0:00:11); minutes sealed thirty years, Miles/Whitney, roll call (0:01:12). See flag 3, flag 4. |
| 6:45 p.m. (scheduled) | IV.1 Budget update | Tabled when the agenda was amended. Not taken up. |
| 0:01:55 | IV.2a Policy BGAA (second read/adoption) | Ruggeri/Popescu. Skillen noted the missing title; adopted by voice vote at 0:02:54. Minutes: “Vote taken: unanimously adopted”. See flag 2, flag 14. |
| 0:03:19 | IV.2b Policy ACN, Nursing Mothers (first read) | Moved by Ruggeri at 0:04:55, seconded by Hart per the minutes. Committee recommended option two (paid nursing periods). Voice vote at 0:05:45; minutes: “unanimously approved; moves to second read”. See flag 15, flag 19. |
| 0:06:03 | IV.3 “Superintendent” | The agenda item is that one word. Termination of Tempesta’s contract under “paragraph nine”, six months’ severance, effective January 12 (Hawkins/Ruggeri, 0:06:15); appointment of Pratt as interim, effective January 12 (Hawkins/Ruggeri, 0:08:11). Each carried on roll call: ten yes, Erickson no, Popescu abstaining (minutes). See flag 10, flag 11, flag 16. |
| 0:09:23 | V. Future dates / future agenda items | Agenda lists Claremont 1.17.24, SAU 2.8.24, Unity 2.13.24. The chair added the Claremont deliberative session, which the minutes record as “Budget Deliberative Session 9:00am 2.3.24 (snow date of 2.10.24)”. No future agenda items (0:10:23). See flag 20. |
| 0:10:40 | VI. Other business / adjournment | No other business. Ruggeri moved; Erickson seconded on tape (0:10:41), Hart per the minutes. Voice vote; adjourned at 0:10:51. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological topics from the dialogue transcript (78 rows). Quotations are the transcript as transcribed; bracketed text is an insertion or correction. The recording is continuous; add about 6 hours 48 minutes to a position for the clock time.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:07 | Return from nonpublic session | Chair: “Thank you folks for your patience for us to return, Mr. Sprague.” Sprague: “Like, make a motion that we come out of nonpublic.” The minutes time it at 6:48 p.m. and name Ruggeri as seconder, which is not audible. | |
| 0:00:21 | Roll call to return; the telephone member cannot hear | The chair reads the roll. At Erickson’s name a voice in the chair’s row: “You’re gonna have to say it loud or she can’t hear you.” Erickson at 0:00:39: “I vote yes.” The rest of the roll runs inside the chair’s row; Skillen’s slot (“Whitney. Candace. Crawford. Yes.”) draws no separate answer. | HIGH |
| 0:00:41 | Motion to seal for thirty years | “Do I have a motion to seal the minutes? I like to make a motion. We feel [seal] the minutes for 30 years. For what, 30 years? 30 and second. Second. Heather. Okay.” The question gets no answer, and no ground under RSA 91-A:3, III is stated. The minutes name Miles and Whitney. | MEDIUM |
| 0:01:12 | Roll call on the seal | Read by the chair. Erickson’s slot: “Marjorie Erickson. No. No. Yes, it is now. Yes. Yes.” Popescu’s slot: “Shannon.” then straight to “Kelly Simpson. Yes.” The minutes: “all members voting yes”. | OBSERVATION MEDIUM |
| 0:01:55 | Budget update tabled; policies introduced | “We had earlier amended the agenda to table the budget update. … There are two policies tonight in your packet. And you did receive them electronically prior to tonight’s meeting.” Both policies were in the public folder from January 9. | POSITIVE |
| 0:02:25 | BGAA moved and seconded | Ruggeri: “I’ll make a motion to a, adopt and as a second read and adopt policy BG a a policy development, adoption and review.” Chair: “Shannon. Shannon. Seconds. Got it.” The minutes name the same two. | |
| 0:02:43 | “It needs to have the title of the policy at the top” | Skillen: “Don’t know what the if the if the online version looks like this printed version, but it needs to have the title of the policy at the top.” The packet copy is headed only “SAU#6 School Board Policy BGAA”. | OBSERVATION POSITIVE |
| 0:02:54 | BGAA adopted by voice vote | “As chair of the Claremont Policy Committee, you’re very much in tune with that. … Any other discussion? All in favor? Opposed. Abstention. Policy is adopted on January 11th, 2024.” No roll call, with a member on the telephone. | HIGH |
| 0:03:19 | ACN introduced as legally required | “The policy is required as of the federal and state legislatures for 2023.” The minutes: “Policy is required by state legislature”. The state statute took effect July 1, 2025. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:03:46 | Committee revisions to ACN | “The purpose of that highlight is to change the word district to read essay [SAU]. Since this is an essay [SAU] policy, not a specific district policy.” At 0:04:14: school-building, principal, student and nurse references struck, and “the other revision that the policy committee for the essay [SAU] discuss and felt that we would not include was the a a district provided saw provided hospital grade pump.” At 0:04:48: “Based on the conversation and recommendation from the policy committee.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:04:55 | ACN moved | Ruggeri: “I’d like to make a motion to accept a c n nursing mothers as a first read second.” The trailing second is a second voice in the same row; the minutes name Hart. | |
| 0:05:08 | Option one or option two | Skillen: “Bring this to discuss if we want to choose option one or option two. And for under section C, of the.” Chair at 0:05:20: “The committee reviewed this and is recommending option two, where the mother will be paid during the nursing periods, and they will not be required to make up the time related to the time used for nursing pumping.” | POSITIVE POSITIVE |
| 0:05:45 | ACN to second read by voice vote | “All those in favor of the motion with the recommended changes? All in favor? I posed abstentions [Aye. Opposed? Abstentions.]. So this policy will move to a second read for our next meeting.” | HIGH |
| 0:06:15 | Motion to terminate the superintendent’s contract | Chair: “I’m going to make a motion that, in accordance with paragraph nine of the contract between the board and Michael Tempesta, that the Saw [SAU] board terminate his contract by paying six months severance pay and benefits, with the effective date of separation being January 12th, 2024. Do I have a second?” Ruggeri seconds at 0:06:42. No reason stated; no member speaks to it. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:06:45 | Roll handed to “the secretary” | “The secretary take a roll call. Vote, please.” The clerk reads it from 0:06:49: “Roll call. Vote to approve the motion. Arlene. Hopkins. Yes. Rocco. Jerry. Yes.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:06:58 | “I can’t hear you” | Erickson: “No idea what’s being voted on. I can’t hear you.” At 0:07:04 the chair: “Motion into the phone. Right into the phone. Thank you sir.” and re-reads the motion. Erickson at 0:07:41: “Okay, I vote no.” Chair: “Did the secretary record that? Thank you. I’m going to leave this here for the next one.” | HIGH |
| 0:07:52 | Rest of the roll | “Shannon, you. I’m abstaining from this. Kelly Simpson. Yes. Yes. Frank Sprague. Yes. …” Chair at 0:08:11: “The motion passes.” No count announced. The minutes list the vote by name. | OBSERVATION POSITIVE |
| 0:08:11 | Appointment of an interim superintendent | “I move that the Saw [SAU] board appoint Christopher Pratt as interim superintendent of schools effective January 12th, 2024, and authorized the chair of the Saw [SAU] board and legal counsel to negotiate a contract with him for subsequent approval by the SA [SAU] board. We need a roll call. Vote, please.” Ruggeri’s second follows at 0:08:40; “I snuck it.” | OBSERVATION |
| 0:08:50 | Roll on the appointment | Clerk: “As a vote to approve the motion to appoint Christopher Pratt.” Erickson at 0:08:59: No. “No. Shannon. Abstain. Kelly. Simpson. Yes.” Hart at 0:09:06: Yes. At 0:09:15: “Yes. The motion passes.” The motion was not re-read to the telephone this time. | HIGH OBSERVATION |
| 0:09:23 | Deliberative session moved to a Saturday | “Then Claremont will have the deliberative meeting. It is being moved from midweek to Saturday, so that more members of the public may be able to attend and have their voices be heard.” At 0:09:50: “There is a snow date of February 10th at 9 a.m.. I believe it’s at the high school.” Next SAU meeting given as February 8. | POSITIVE |
| 0:10:23 | No future agenda items | “Do we have any future agenda items or any other future dates from anyone present this evening? Any board member or the administration?” At 0:10:34: “No future agenda items.” | |
| 0:10:40 | Adjournment by voice vote | Ruggeri moves; Erickson: Second. “All those in favor?” One Aye. Adjourned at 0:10:51. Chair to the telephone at 0:10:57: “Well, I’m glad you’re able to be a part of the meeting.” | HIGH |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer’s aid. They are not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each flag cites the rule it rests on, in the version in force on January 11, 2024; an Observation rests on no confirmed rule.
HIGH A member attended by telephone with no reason in the minutes, and twice could not hear, once at the vote removing the superintendent
RSA 91-A:2, III(a) allows remote attendance only when in-person attendance “is not reasonably practical”, and “Any reason that such attendance is not reasonably practical shall be stated in the minutes of the meeting” (statute text). The minutes say only “Present via phone: Marjorie Erickson”. III(c) requires that each member be able “to simultaneously hear each other and speak to each other” (statute text). At 0:00:21 a voice says “You’re gonna have to say it loud or she can’t hear you.” At 0:06:58, called on the termination, Erickson says “No idea what’s being voted on. I can’t hear you.” The motion was then read into the handset. Whether she could hear the preceding nonpublic session cannot be known from any public record.
Mitigation: III(b) was met, since eleven of twelve members were physically present; and the chair stopped the roll, had the motion re-read, and left the handset in place for the second motion. Graded HIGH because the missing reason is a plain omission of a binding requirement.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, III(a)–(c) (2023 codification; 2023, 188:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023); draft minutes SAU 6 SB 1.11.24.
HIGH Five of ten motions were decided by voice vote at a meeting where every vote had to be a roll call
RSA 91-A:2, III(e): “All votes taken during such a meeting shall be by roll call vote” (statute text), meaning a meeting at which a member participates remotely. The minutes label five motions as roll calls (entering and leaving nonpublic session, the seal, both superintendent motions). The other five were not: the amended agenda and the December 14 minutes (off tape, “unanimously approved”), BGAA at 0:02:54 (“All in favor? Opposed. Abstention.”), ACN at 0:05:45, and adjournment at 0:10:40. One of them adopted an SAU policy. No outcome is likely to have differed; the defect is that individual votes of a member who could not always hear were not captured.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, III(e) (2023 codification); draft minutes SAU 6 SB 1.11.24.
MEDIUM The nonpublic session was noticed and minuted under “RSA 92-A:3,II”, a chapter that does not exist
Agenda item III reads “Non-Public Session RSA 92-A:3,II” (agenda text). The minutes repeat it in the clerk’s own sentence: “Arlene Hawkins motioned to move into non-public under RSA 92-A:3,II, Frank Sprague seconded” (minutes text). Title VI of the RSAs has no chapter 92-A; nonpublic sessions are governed by RSA 91-A:3. This page does not repair the citation for the district. RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires the motion to “state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II” (statute text), and the only record of the motion names a nonexistent statute. Mitigation: the agenda printed the text of exemptions II(a) and II(c) under the heading, so the grounds relied on are identifiable. The same citation appeared on the December 14 agenda, whose minutes had it right; here the minutes carry it too.
Sources: RSA Title VI chapter list (no chapter 92-A); RSA 91-A:3, I(b) (2023, 189:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023); agenda; draft minutes.
MEDIUM The nonpublic minutes were sealed for thirty years with no statutory ground stated
RSA 91-A:3, III allows nonpublic minutes to be withheld only where, “by recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present taken in public session”, it is determined that disclosure “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 text). The vote was a public roll call; the determination is missing. The motion at 0:00:41 is “We feel [seal] the minutes for 30 years”; someone asks “For what, 30 years?” and gets no answer. The minutes state no ground either. RSA 91-A:3, IV, in force since October 3, 2023, requires a review of sealed minutes no more than 10 years after the vote, so this seal falls due for review by January 2034 whatever its stated term. The same board sealed its December 7 and December 14 nonpublic minutes for 99 years without a stated ground.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, III and IV (2023, 189:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023); draft minutes.
MEDIUM The minutes credit the clerk with three roll calls; the recording has the chair reading two of them
The minutes say “roll call vote taken by Noelle Kronberg” on the return to public session, the seal, and both superintendent motions. On tape the chair reads the first two herself (0:00:21, 0:01:12: “Arlene Hawkins. Yes.”, members’ answers inside her rows). The clerk takes over only after the chair’s cue at 0:06:45, and from there the members’ answers separate into rows of their own. No statute says who must call a roll; the defect is accuracy in the official record. The December 14 minutes make the same attribution.
Sources: draft minutes; RSA 91-A:2, II (contents of minutes).
MEDIUM The minutes reached the public share on February 13, 2024, twenty-five days after the five-business-day deadline
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes “open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting” (statute text). Counting from Thursday, January 11 and excluding Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Day (Monday, January 15; RSA 288:1), the fifth business day was Friday, January 19. Drive gives draft minutes SAU 6 SB 1.11.24 (1).pdf a creation time of February 13, 2024, 8:59 a.m. Eastern (modified two minutes later), in the folder 2. SAU 2.15.24. Drive shows when the public share received the file, not whether a copy was available at the SAU office sooner. Graded on the mitigated limb of the project’s rule: the minutes exist and were posted, late. The cause is structural: this board files minutes with the next meeting’s packet, and its next meeting was five weeks away. The December 14 minutes were late the same way.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2023 codification); RSA 288:1 (legal holidays); Drive metadata for the draft minutes (read 2026-09-25).
MEDIUM The SAU policy committee made four recommendations reported at this meeting, and no notice, agenda or minutes of its meetings were located
The chair reported, for the committee: the change from district to SAU in ACN (0:03:46), the struck school and nurse references and the struck hospital-grade pump (0:04:14, “Based on the conversation and recommendation from the policy committee” at 0:04:48), and the recommendation of option two, paid nursing periods (0:05:20). RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) makes “any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto” of a school administrative unit a public body (statute text), owing notice and minutes under RSA 91-A:2, II. Policy BGAA, adopted this evening, itself provides for Policy Committee agendas prepared by the superintendent (§B). No record of the committee’s meetings was located in the SAU 6 packet folders or the Meeting Minutes share (project enumeration, 2026-08-29); a Drive search is not proof of absence. Graded on the mitigated limb: the recommendations were reported and voted in public. See the December 7 page on the same committee.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d); RSA 91-A:2, II; policy BGAA, §§A–B.
MEDIUM The chair asked “the secretary” to take the roll on the termination; the board had no secretary
RSA 194-C:5, I requires the SAU board to meet between April 1 and June 1 each year “and shall organize by choosing a chairperson, a secretary, and a treasurer” (statute text). The masthead names a chair, a vice chair and a clerk and no secretary. The agenda still reads “Secretary Roll Call”, and at 0:06:45 the chair says “The secretary take a roll call. Vote, please.”; the clerk answers. Graded MEDIUM here because this meeting adds no new act to a vacancy recorded on the November 9 (HIGH) and December 14 (HIGH) pages, where the board created the clerk post and funded a secretary line respectively; the December 7 page records it as an observation.
Sources: RSA 194-C:5, I (1996, 298:3; never amended); agenda masthead.
OBSERVATION The minutes record the seal as “all members voting yes”; the recording does not confirm two members’ votes
On the seal roll at 0:01:12, Erickson’s slot reads “Marjorie Erickson. No. No. Yes, it is now. Yes. Yes.”, and Popescu’s name is followed by no audible answer. The recording cannot settle either. Even if both were not yes votes, ten of twelve clears two-thirds, so the outcome is not in doubt; the question is the completeness of the minutes.
Sources: draft minutes; RSA 91-A:3, III (2/3 of members present).
OBSERVATION Neither superintendent vote had a count announced
The result is “The motion passes.” at 0:08:11 and “Yes. The motion passes.” at 0:09:15. No count was said aloud on any vote that evening. No statute requires one, and the minutes list both votes by name (flag 16), but they reached the public 33 days later. The split was by district: the two members not voting yes, Erickson (no) and Popescu (abstaining), are both Unity members. RSA 194-C:8 allows weighted voting by district enrollment only “upon the demand of a majority of the members of any board present and voting” (statute text); no demand was made, so the per-member roll calls were proper.
Sources: draft minutes; RSA 194-C:8.
OBSERVATION No public record states why the contract was terminated, and the deliberation is sealed
The notice was the single word “Superintendent”. The motion at 0:06:15 invokes “paragraph nine of the contract” without describing it; no member spoke to either motion, and the minutes add nothing. The board had the power: RSA 194-C:5, III gives the SAU board “the authority to remove superintendents and other administrators” (statute text), and RSA 91-A:3, II(a) permits nonpublic discussion of “The dismissal, promotion, or compensation of any public employee” unless the employee has a right to a public meeting and requests one (statute text). No statute requires reasons to be stated. No public record shows whether the employee was offered or requested an open meeting; this page infers nothing from that. The appointment motion likewise gives no information about the appointee, and his contract terms were delegated to the chair and counsel.
Sources: RSA 194-C:5, III (1996, 298:3); RSA 91-A:3, II(a); agenda item IV.3.
OBSERVATION The agenda states two start times, an hour apart
The heading reads “January 11, 2024 6:30PM” and item I reads “5:30 PM Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance” (agenda text). The 5:30 reading fits the rest of the record: the agenda gave the nonpublic session 5:40 to 6:45, and the minutes have the board leaving it at 6:48. The minutes give no call-to-order time. RSA 91-A:2, II requires notice of time and place 24 hours ahead; the posted notices themselves are not in evidence, so no conclusion is drawn about them. A reader of this agenda’s heading would have arrived after citizens’ comment and during the nonpublic session.
Sources: agenda; draft minutes; RSA 91-A:2, II.
OBSERVATION Citizens’ comment came before the nonpublic session and the superintendent votes
The agenda placed citizens’ comment in item II at 5:35, before the nonpublic session and more than an hour before the votes; the minutes record “Citizens Comment- none”. Nothing on the agenda signalled a termination. RSA 189:74 requires school boards to provide a comment period of “no less than 30 minutes” at meetings held under RSA 91-A:2 (statute text); whether it reaches an SAU board, and whether the 30 minutes measures elapsed time or opportunity, are unsettled. Nobody was turned away, and no violation is asserted.
Sources: RSA 189:74 (2022, 333:1); draft minutes.
OBSERVATION BGAA requires each policy to be titled and dated before final approval; the copy adopted was untitled with a blank adoption date
BGAA §E.6: “Prior to final approval by the Board, each policy will be titled, dated, and coded” (policy text). The packet copy is headed “SAU#6 School Board Policy BGAA”, carries no title, and ends “First reading: 12/14/2023” with “Second reading/adopted:” blank. Skillen raised it at 0:02:43; the minutes record “policy name needs to be printed across the top of the policy document”, and the board adopted it at 0:02:54 without making the fix a condition. A housekeeping defect in the district’s own procedure, not a legal one.
Sources: 2nd Read_ SAU BGAA (packet copy, §E.6 and policy history); draft minutes.
OBSERVATION The board was told the nursing-mothers policy was required by state law; the state statute took effect July 1, 2025
At 0:03:19: “The policy is required as of the federal and state legislatures for 2023.” The minutes: “Policy is required by state legislature”. The federal PUMP Act, 29 U.S.C. §218d, was in force (added by Pub. L. 117-328, Dec. 29, 2022). New Hampshire’s RSA 275:79, “Every employer shall adopt a policy” for nursing employees (statute text), carries the source note “2023, 191:20, eff. July 1, 2025” (2023 N.H. Laws ch. 191, HB 358); RSA 275:78, II’s definition of employer includes political subdivisions. So the board adopted ahead of the state mandate, in a form that met the federal one. The NHSBA sample in the packet cites “42 U.S.C. 218d” in its legal references; the section is in title 29.
Sources: 29 U.S.C. §218d; RSA 275:79; RSA 275:78, II; NHSBA sample policy ACN (packet copy).
POSITIVE Both superintendent decisions were made in public on roll calls, and the minutes name every mover, seconder and vote
The board brought both motions back into open session, read them in full on the broadcast, and decided each by roll call. The minutes name a mover and seconder for all ten motions, as RSA 91-A:2, II has required since January 1, 2019, and go beyond the statute by listing each member’s vote on both superintendent motions. Without that list the result would be unrecoverable, since no count was announced (flag 10). The chair stopped the roll to make sure the remote member heard the motion and checked that her vote was recorded (“Did the secretary record that?” at 0:07:44).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (mover/seconder clause, 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019); draft minutes.
POSITIVE The packet, with both policies, was public about 51 hours before the meeting
The agenda in 1. SAU 1.11.24 was created in Drive on January 9, 2024 at about 2:27 p.m. Eastern (read 2026-09-25; the other three files share that timestamp per the project’s earlier reading). RSA 91-A:2, II requires 24 hours’ notice and nothing about packets. The chair confirmed at 0:01:55 that members received the policies electronically in advance.
Sources: Drive metadata for the agenda; RSA 91-A:2, II.
POSITIVE Both policies followed the two-reading procedure, and a member’s questions put the open choice on the record
BGAA had its first reading December 14 and its second and adoption here, as §E.5 prescribes: “At the next Board meeting … the policy shall be placed on the agenda for a second (or additional) reading, and action” (policy text). ACN went to a first read only. Skillen caught the untitled BGAA copy (0:02:43) and, at 0:05:08, that the ACN sample still offered two options; the chair then stated the committee’s choice and the minutes record it.
Sources: policy BGAA, §§E.2, E.5; draft minutes.
POSITIVE The board chose the option that pays employees during nursing breaks, more than federal law requires
At 0:05:20 the chair reported the committee’s recommendation of option two, “where the mother will be paid during the nursing periods”; the minutes: “committee recommends option 2- mothers will be paid and not have to make up the time”. 29 U.S.C. §218d(b): an employer “shall not be required to compensate an employee receiving reasonable break time” for this purpose unless other law requires it (statute text). Option two exceeds that floor.
Sources: 29 U.S.C. §218d(b); NHSBA sample ACN, section C; draft minutes.
POSITIVE The Claremont deliberative session moved to a Saturday for public attendance, and it and its snow date fall inside the statutory window
At 0:09:23 the chair announced the Claremont district’s deliberative session “is being moved from midweek to Saturday, so that more members of the public may be able to attend and have their voices be heard.” The minutes give February 3 at 9:00 a.m., snow date February 10. RSA 40:13, III sets the first session “between the first and second Saturdays following the last Monday in January, inclusive of those Saturdays” (statute text). The last Monday of January 2024 was the 29th, so the window ran February 3 to February 10. The 2023 session was held on a Wednesday.
Sources: RSA 40:13, III (2019, 192:2, eff. July 10, 2019); draft minutes (future dates).
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/15523 SAU6011124.mp4.CSV (78 rows)Input/Videos/15523 SAU6011124.mp4Input/Transcripts/15523 SAU6011124.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 42
Laws and rules cited on this page
- Right-to-Know: RSA 91-A:2, II and III(a), (b), (c), (e) (2023 codification; 2023, 188:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023; the 2025, 112:1 start-time, end-time and minutes-producer clauses are not applied); RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d); RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a), III, IV (2023, 189:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023); RSA Title VI chapter list (no chapter 92-A)
- SAU governance: RSA 194-C:5, I and III; RSA 194-C:8
- School boards and district meetings: RSA 189:74; RSA 40:13, III; RSA 288:1
- Nursing employees: 29 U.S.C. §218d (in force from Dec. 29, 2022); RSA 275:78, RSA 275:79 (2023, 191:20, eff. July 1, 2025; not in force on this date)
- District policy: SAU 6 policy BGAA (§§A, B, E.2, E.5, E.6), packet copy