Participants
Names follow the agenda masthead and the draft minutes. The recording's roll calls are read by the chair and the clerk, and members' answers are often absorbed into the reader's rows, so most votes below rest on the minutes.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Arlene Hawkins | SAU 6 chair (Claremont) | Presides; reads the first two roll calls herself (0:00:21, 0:01:12); presents both policies (0:01:55, 0:03:19); moves the termination herself (0:06:15) and the Pratt appointment (0:08:11); reads the motion again into the telephone for Erickson (0:07:04); runs future dates (0:09:23) and adjournment (0:10:51). |
| Rocco Ruggeri | Vice chair (Unity) | Moves BGAA (0:02:25) and ACN (0:04:55); seconds the termination (0:06:42) and the appointment (0:08:40); moves adjournment (0:10:40). |
| Marjorie Erickson | Member (Unity board chair); by telephone | Votes yes to return to public session (0:00:39). At the termination roll: "No idea what's being voted on. I can't hear you." (0:06:58); after the motion is read into the phone, "Okay, I vote no." (0:07:41). Votes no on the appointment (0:08:59); seconds adjournment (0:10:41). |
| Shannon Popescu | Member (Unity) | Seconds BGAA (chair, 0:02:38); abstains on the termination (0:07:52) and the appointment (0:08:59). |
| Kelly Simpson | Member (Unity) | Yes on both personnel motions (roll at 0:07:52, 0:08:59). |
| Atonya Hart | Member (Unity) | Yes on both personnel motions (0:09:06); seconds the ACN first read and adjournment (minutes). |
| Frank Sprague | Member (Claremont vice chair) | Moves to come out of nonpublic session (0:00:11); yes on both personnel motions. |
| Bonnie Miles | Member (Claremont) | Moves to seal the nonpublic minutes for 30 years (minutes); yes on both personnel motions. |
| Whitney Skillen | Member (Claremont policy chair) | Asks that BGAA carry its title at the top (0:02:43); points out that ACN requires a choice between two options (0:05:08); asks the deliberative-session time (0:10:04); yes on both personnel motions. |
| Candace Crawford | Member (Claremont) | Yes on both personnel motions. |
| Jennifer Gallagher | Member (Claremont) | Yes on both personnel motions. |
| Heather Whitney | Member (Claremont board chair) | Seconds the seal motion (minutes); yes on both personnel motions. |
| Noelle Kronberg | SAU 6 clerk | Reads the two personnel roll calls (0:06:49, 0:08:50); submits the minutes. |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent (terminated effective January 12, 2024) | Not heard; named only in the motion text. The minutes list him on the masthead. |
| Christopher Pratt | Appointed interim superintendent | Not heard and not shown to be present. |
| Mike Koski | Assistant Superintendent | Not heard on the recording; the minutes record that he took the roll call on the motion to enter nonpublic session. |
| Unidentified | Members | A lone Aye on adjournment (0:10:45), "This is for abstentions." (0:10:49), and closing thanks (0:10:55). |
Agenda
Items as printed on the posted agenda (SAU 6 School Board Agenda 1.11.24 .docx.pdf), with dispositions from the recording and the draft minutes.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 5:30 p.m. (agenda) | I. Call to order; II. General business | Not recorded. Minutes: roll as above; the chair asks to table the budget update; agenda as amended moved by Whitney, seconded by Hart, "unanimously approved"; 12.14.23 minutes moved by Whitney, seconded by Gallagher, "unanimously approved"; citizens' comment none. |
| 5:40 p.m. (agenda) | III. Non-Public Session "RSA 92-A:3,II" | Entry not recorded. Minutes: Hawkins moved "to move into non-public under RSA 92-A:3,II", Sprague seconded, roll call by Koski, all yes. Return at 0:00:07: Sprague moves (0:00:11); roll read by the chair, Erickson "I vote yes" (0:00:39). Seal for 30 years: moved by Miles, seconded by Whitney (minutes); roll at 0:01:12. See flags 2 and 3. |
| 0:01:46 | IV.1 Budget update | Tabled earlier in the meeting (chair, 0:01:55). |
| 0:01:55 | IV.2a BGAA, Policy Development, Adoption, and Review (second read/adoption) | Ruggeri moves, Popescu seconds; Skillen asks for the title at the top; voice vote, "Policy is adopted on January 11th, 2024." (0:02:54). See flag 1. |
| 0:03:19 | IV.2b ACN, Nursing Mothers (first read) | Ruggeri moves (0:04:55), Hart seconds (minutes); the committee recommends option two, paid nursing time with no make-up (0:05:20); voice vote, moves to a second read (0:05:45). See flags 1 and 7. |
| 0:06:03 | IV.3 Superintendent | Termination of Michael Tempesta's contract under its paragraph nine, six months' severance and benefits, separation effective January 12, 2024: moved by Hawkins, seconded by Ruggeri; roll call 10 yes, Erickson no, Popescu abstaining (minutes); the chair announces only "The motion passes." (0:08:11). Appointment of Christopher Pratt as interim superintendent effective January 12, chair and counsel to negotiate a contract "for subsequent approval": moved by Hawkins, seconded by Ruggeri; same 10–1–1 (minutes); "The motion passes." (0:09:15). |
| 0:09:23 | V. Future dates | Claremont board January 17; deliberative session February 3, 9 a.m. (snow date February 10); SAU 6 board February 8; Unity board February 13. |
| 0:10:34 | VI. Adjournment | Ruggeri moves, Erickson seconds on tape (0:10:41; the minutes name Hart); voice vote; adjourned at 0:10:51 (minutes: 6:55 p.m.). |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/15523 SAU6011124.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:07 | Return from nonpublic session | Hawkins: "Thank you folks for your patience for us to return, Mr. Sprague." Sprague: "make a motion that we come out of nonpublic" (0:00:11). The chair reads the roll; to Erickson: "You're gonna have to say it loud or she can't hear you" (0:00:21); Erickson: "I vote yes." (0:00:39). | MEDIUM OBS |
| 0:00:41 | Sealing the nonpublic minutes | A member: "We feel [seal] the minutes for 30 years." The chair: "May we have a roll call? Vote to seal the minutes for 30 years." (0:01:12). Erickson's answer is transcribed as "Marjorie Erickson. No. No. Yes, it is now. Yes." No reason for sealing is stated. | MEDIUM |
| 0:01:55 | Policy BGAA adopted | "This is the second read with a vote, hopefully a vote for adoption." Skillen: "it needs to have the title of the policy at the top" (0:02:43). "All in favor? Opposed. Abstention. Policy is adopted on January 11th, 2024." (0:02:54). | HIGH |
| 0:03:19 | Policy ACN, first read | Hawkins: "The policy is required as of the federal and state legislatures for 2023." district becomes SAU (0:03:46); the "hospital grade pump" is struck (0:04:14). Skillen: choose "option one or option two" (0:05:08). Hawkins: the committee recommends "option two, where the mother will be paid during the nursing periods, and they will not be required to make up the time" (0:05:20). Voice vote; "this policy will move to a second read for our next meeting" (0:05:45). | HIGH POSITIVE |
| 0:06:15 | Termination of the superintendent | Hawkins: "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." Ruggeri seconds (0:06:42). The clerk's roll (0:06:49): Erickson, on the phone, "No idea what's being voted on. I can't hear you." (0:06:58); the chair has the motion read "Right into the phone" (0:07:04); "Okay, I vote no." (0:07:41). Popescu: "I'm abstaining from this." (0:07:52). "The motion passes." (0:08:11). No member speaks to the motion and no reason is given. | HIGH OBS |
| 0:08:11 | Interim superintendent appointed | Hawkins: "I move that the Saw board appoint Christopher Pratt as interim superintendent of schools effective January 12th, 2024, and authorized the chair of the Saw board and legal counsel to negotiate a contract with him for subsequent approval by the SA board." Ruggeri: Second. (0:08:40). Roll (0:08:50): Erickson No. (0:08:59), Popescu abstains, the rest yes. "The motion passes." (0:09:15). | |
| 0:09:23 | Future dates | The Claremont board meets next week for "the approval of the budget"; the deliberative session "is being moved from midweek to Saturday, so that more members of the public may be able to attend"; snow date "February 10th at 9 a.m." (0:09:50). | |
| 0:10:34 | Adjournment | Ruggeri moves; Erickson seconds (0:10:41); "All those in favor?" (0:10:43); "Meeting is by adjourned." (0:10:51). | HIGH |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer's aid. They are not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each names the rule it rests on, or says that none was verified. The statutes are cited as codified in 2023, the text in force on January 11, 2024.
HIGH Voice votes were taken while a member took part by telephone; the minutes give no reason for her remote attendance, and she could not hear the termination motion when first called
RSA 91-A:2, III governs a meeting at which a member participates other than in person: the reason in-person attendance "is not reasonably practical shall be stated in the minutes" (¶III(a)); each member "must be able to simultaneously hear each other and speak to each other" (¶III(c)); and "All votes taken during such a meeting shall be by roll call vote" (¶III(e)). The minutes record Marjorie Erickson as "Present via phone", with no reason. She is on the line from the first recorded roll (0:00:39) to the adjournment she seconds (0:10:41). Yet the BGAA adoption (0:02:54), the ACN first read (0:05:45) and the adjournment (0:10:43) are voice votes ("All in favor? Opposed. Abstention."), and the minutes record the earlier agenda and minutes approvals as "unanimously approved" without a roll. On the termination roll she said "No idea what's being voted on. I can't hear you." (0:06:58); the chair had the motion read into the handset before she voted (0:07:04, 0:07:41), which cured that vote on the record. The roll-call requirement for the other votes was not met on the recording. A policy adopted by a voice vote of this kind is the item most worth a second look.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, III(a), (c), (e) (2023 codification; remote participation); draft minutes, January 11, 2024
MEDIUM The only record of the motion to enter nonpublic session cites a chapter that does not exist and states no lettered exemption
RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires that "Any motion to enter nonpublic session shall state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II which is relied upon". The entry is not on the recording. The draft minutes record it as Hawkins "motioned to move into non-public under RSA 92-A:3,II", seconded by Sprague, roll call by Koski. There is no RSA chapter 92-A, and II alone names no exemption. The agenda heads the item "Non-Public Session RSA 92-A:3,II" and prints the text of exemptions (a) and (c) beneath it, so the board may have intended II(a) and II(c); whether the spoken motion named them cannot be checked. This board's paperwork carried the same phantom chapter on December 14, 2023 and again on February 15, 2024. Graded MEDIUM rather than HIGH because the motion itself is not in the record and the agenda supplies the lettered text.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and II(a), (c) (2023 codification); RSA Title VI table of contents (no chapter 92-A); agenda, January 11, 2024
MEDIUM The nonpublic minutes were sealed for 30 years without the determination the statute requires
RSA 91-A:3, III requires nonpublic minutes and decisions to be disclosed within 72 hours unless, "by recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present taken in public session, it is determined that divulgence of the information 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". Withheld information is to be released when, in a majority's opinion, those circumstances "no longer apply". The seal vote here was a recorded roll in public (0:01:12), so the two-thirds requirement can be checked, but neither the motion ("We feel [seal] the minutes for 30 years", 0:00:41) nor the minutes state any of the three determinations, and a fixed 30-year term is not a statutory measure. The minutes record "all members voting yes"; the transcript of Erickson's answer reads "No. No. Yes, it is now. Yes." and Popescu's answer is not audible, so the tally rests on the minutes. The decisions reached after the session, the termination and the appointment, were made and recorded in public, which limits the practical effect.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, III (2023 codification; 72-hour disclosure and sealing)
MEDIUM The posted agenda gives two start times an hour apart and two locations
RSA 91-A:2, II requires notice "of the time and place of each such meeting". The agenda's masthead reads "January 11, 2024 6:30PM Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center"; its body reads "AGENDA Goodrich Community Room" and "5:30 PM Call to Order". The minutes carry both unchanged and give 5:40 p.m. for the nonpublic session and 6:48 p.m. for the return. If the meeting opened at 5:30, a resident relying on the masthead's 6:30 would have arrived after the agenda and minutes approvals, the citizens' comment period and the entry into nonpublic session, none of which is on the recording. No separately posted notice was found to settle which was correct.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2023 codification; notice of time and place); SAU 6 School Board Agenda 1.11.24
OBSERVATION The public record of the termination consists of the motion text and a roll call; the recording starts after the closed session
The broadcast begins with the return to public session (0:00:07). Everything public before it, including the citizens' comment period that the minutes record as none, is not on the recording; no rule requires it to be. On the termination, no member speaks to the motion and no reason is given; the chair announces "The motion passes." without a count (0:08:11), and the 10–1–1 tally with names comes from the minutes. The motion invokes paragraph nine of the superintendent's contract, which is not in the packet; this page cannot say what that paragraph provides. These are facts for the reader, not findings of a defect: RSA 91-A:3 permits personnel matters to be discussed in nonpublic session under II(a), and the decision itself was taken in public by roll call.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, II(a) (2023 codification); draft minutes, January 11, 2024
OBSERVATION The draft minutes reached the public share about five weeks later
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after" the meeting; for Thursday, January 11 that was Friday, January 19 (January 15 was a holiday). The draft minutes were created in the SAU 6 share's next packet folder, 2. SAU 2.15.24, on February 13, 2024, the 22nd business day. SAU 6 files a meeting's minutes with a later packet as a matter of practice, and the statute requires availability for inspection rather than online posting, so the Drive date does not prove the minutes were unavailable on request. It is the only date available from here.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2023 codification); draft minutes (Drive metadata)
POSITIVE The policy committee recommended paid lactation breaks with no make-up time, above the federal floor
The federal PUMP Act requires reasonable break time to express milk for a year after a child's birth, but provides that "an employer shall not be required to compensate an employee" for that time unless other law requires it or the employee is not fully relieved from duty. The SAU's policy committee recommended option two of the NHSBA sample, under which "the mother will be paid during the nursing periods, and they will not be required to make up the time" (0:05:20), and the board advanced it on first read. This page did not verify whether New Hampshire law in January 2024 independently required paid breaks, so the credit is measured against the federal rule only. The policy was a first read and was not yet adopted.
Sources: 29 U.S.C. §218d(a)(1), (b) (break time; compensation); NHSBA Sample Priority Policy ACN (packet)
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 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/15523 SAU6011124.mp4 (local copy of the recording)Input/Transcripts/15523 SAU6011124.mp4.json (diarized transcript)Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 222 (video-to-document map)
Laws and rules cited on this page