Participants
Names and roles follow the agenda masthead and the draft minutes; attendance follows the minutes. Where the dialogue file's speaker label differs from the minutes, the row says so.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Arlene Hawkins | Chair, SAU 6 Board (Claremont member); policy subcommittee chair | Re-elected chair by voice vote; nominates Rocco Ruggeri for vice chair (0:02:20); moves the six-month seal (0:12:14); presents every policy as the policy subcommittee's report; sets the evaluation timeline (0:58:59); proposes a single SAU retreat (1:04:56). Her dialogue cluster also absorbs some seconds and the O'Hearn motion the minutes give to others. |
| Rocco Ruggeri | Vice Chair (Unity member) | Elected vice chair; moves the agenda, the February 15 minutes, entry into and exit from nonpublic session; asks about Title IX highlighting (0:20:01), proposes a preference for seals under ten years (0:24:16), and questions after-the-fact approval in policy DBJ (0:35:52); gives the superintendent-evaluation update (0:53:10) and the Unity withdrawal report (1:08:02). |
| Marjorie Erickson | Member (Unity) | Absent (draft minutes). Her name is read in each roll with no answer. |
| Shannon Popescu | Member (Unity) | Seconds policy EHAB (0:41:38), the GBAA withdrawal (0:51:52) and adjournment (1:09:27); per the minutes also seconded policy AC, policy EHB and the subcommittee slate. Abstained on the O'Hearn appointment (minutes). |
| Kelly Simpson | Member (Unity) | Moves adoption of policy AC (0:18:13), the EHB revision (0:49:51) and the GBAA withdrawal (0:51:45); seconds ACAC, BEDH and DBJ. Abstained on the O'Hearn appointment (minutes). |
| Atonya Hart | Member (Unity) | Absent (draft minutes). Appointed to the superintendent-evaluation subcommittee in her absence. |
| Frank Sprague | Member (Claremont); superintendent-evaluation subcommittee chair | Asks whether the SAU may run a deficit under DBJ (0:37:50); questions the need for policy KED and says 504 grievances go to the Office for Civil Rights (0:43:50); moves withdrawal of policy GBA (0:51:01); explains the evaluation survey (0:55:10). Per the minutes seconded the vice-chair nomination and the agenda and adjournment motions. |
| Bonnie Miles | Member (Claremont) | Roll answers. Per the minutes she moved the O'Hearn appointment; no row in the dialogue file is attributed to her. |
| Whitney Skillen | Member (Claremont) | Absent (draft minutes). Appointed to the superintendent-evaluation subcommittee; credited on tape with building the evaluation survey (0:53:10, 1:04:12); the minutes confirm it was Skillen. |
| Candace Crawford | Member (Claremont) | Seconds policy AC on tape (0:18:17); moves policy EHAB (0:41:31); proposes ratify for DBJ (0:36:49). Per the minutes moved the McCosker appointment and seconded the amended February minutes. |
| Michael Petrin | Member (Claremont) | Per the minutes seconded the nomination of Hawkins as chair and asked for an evaluation by the superintendent's subordinates; the dialogue file leaves that voice Unidentified (1:01:49). |
| Heather Whitney | Member (Claremont; Claremont board chair) | Per the minutes nominated Hawkins as chair, seconded both nonpublic motions, the seal and the McCosker appointment, and moved ACAC. On tape she proposes the friendly amendment to BEDG (0:30:43) and moves BEDG to second read (0:32:33), BEDH (0:33:47) and DBJ as amended (0:38:17). The diarizer splits her voice into two clusters. |
| Noelle Kronberg | SAU 6 School Board Clerk | Absent: Our secretary Noel, is not present tonight (0:03:20). Submitted the minutes. |
| Chris Pratt | Interim Superintendent of Schools | Calls to order and presides over the chair election (0:00:09); offers Susan Mason an appointment at his office (0:09:07). |
| Ben Nester | Director of Special Education | Takes all four roll calls in the clerk's absence (0:03:58, 0:10:08, 0:11:32, 0:12:39). |
| Michael Koski | Assistant Superintendent | Per the minutes presents both nominations (0:14:38, 0:15:01; the dialogue file labels this voice Unidentified administrator); says Title IX regulations apply with or without a policy (0:19:56); explains temporary disabilities under 504 (0:43:37). |
| Mary Henry | Business Administrator | Budget update (0:16:36); says no money has moved between budget lines this year (0:17:29). |
| Jeff Small | Director of Technology | Explains that policy EHAB formalizes existing practice (0:40:04) and the EHB drive-sanitization change (0:48:36). |
| Susan Mason | Citizens' comments (residence not stated) | Asks what the board does when a teacher breaks its policies (0:07:36); referred to the district board and the superintendent. |
| Michael McCosker; Patrick O'Hearn | Appointees: Director of Student Services (from July 1, 2024); Director of Human Resources | Named in the nominations; not present on the recording. The ASR renders O'Hearn Patrick Ahern. O'Hearn. Not her. Patrick overheard (0:15:01) and McCosker McCusker. |
Agenda
Official agenda items in order, with the time each is taken up on the recording and its disposition from the recording and the draft minutes.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:09 | I. Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance | Pratt presides; Pledge at 0:00:35. |
| 0:00:54 | II. Election of Board Officers: a) Chair, b) Vice Chair | Chair: minutes record Heather Whitney nominating Arlene Hawkins and Michael Petrin seconding; the nomination on tape is garbled (Rocky times and I believe she nominations, 0:01:14) and sits in the chair's own cluster. Voice vote, no count (0:01:43). Vice chair: Hawkins nominates Ruggeri (0:02:20); minutes: Frank Sprague seconded; voice vote (0:03:08). No secretary or treasurer was chosen (flag 1). |
| 0:03:20 | III. General Business: roll, agenda, minutes 2.15.24 | Clerk absent; Ben Nester reads the roll (0:03:58). Minutes: present Hawkins, Ruggeri, Popescu, Simpson, Sprague, Miles, Crawford, Petrin, Whitney; absent Erickson, Hart, Skillen. Agenda amended to add item VII.2.k, withdrawal of policies GBA and GBAA (0:04:22); Ruggeri moves (0:05:22), minutes: Sprague seconded, unanimous. February 15 minutes corrected to add the missing three-year seal motion (Crawford, seconded Whitney) (0:06:15); approved as amended (0:06:47), minutes: Crawford seconded, unanimous. |
| 0:07:21 | III. Citizens Comments | Taken after the chair began the nonpublic motion and Pratt reminded her (0:07:20). One speaker, Susan Mason. |
| 0:09:32 | IV. Non public meeting session | Agenda: "Non public meeting session RSA 91-A:3, II (a)", quoting the employee-discipline ground. Motion as made: "RSA 91A32A and B" (0:09:43); minutes: "RSA 91-A:3, II a & b", Ruggeri moved, Whitney seconded; roll by Nester (0:10:08), all present yes. Out of nonpublic (0:11:14), roll (0:11:32), all yes. Seal for six months, Hawkins moved (0:12:14); minutes: "to allow time for the negotiations to finish", Whitney seconded, roll (0:12:39), "all present voting in favor". See flags 4 and 9. |
| 0:13:04 | V. Appointment of Board Sub-Committee Chairs/Members | Superintendent evaluation: Hart, Ruggeri, Sprague, Skillen, Sprague chair. Policy: Crawford, Simpson, Hawkins, Hawkins chair (0:13:44). Ruggeri moves the slate (0:14:15); minutes: Popescu seconded, unanimous by voice. |
| 0:14:23 | VI. Superintendent Report: nomination of Director of Student Services and Director of Human Resources | McCosker, effective July 1, 2024 (0:15:21); minutes: Crawford moved, Whitney seconded, unanimous. O'Hearn (0:15:46); minutes: Bonnie Miles moved, Ruggeri seconded; for: Hawkins, Ruggeri, Sprague, Miles, Crawford, Petrin, Whitney; against: none; abstaining: Simpson and Popescu (0:16:06). Minutes give O'Hearn's start as April 15, 2024. |
| 0:16:24 | VII.1 Budget Update (Mary Henry) | Little change since the last report; no transfers between lines this year (0:17:29). See flag 6. |
| 0:17:42 | VII.2.c AC, Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity Employment (second read/adoption) | Simpson moves (0:18:13); the chair names Crawford as seconder (0:18:19), the minutes name Popescu. Unanimous. |
| 0:18:23 | VII.2.d ACAC, Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy and Grievance Process (agenda: First Read) | Presented for adoption on an emergency basis on NHSBA advice (0:19:33). Motion to adopt (0:21:33, dialogue label Unidentified; minutes: Heather Whitney moved, Kelly Simpson seconded); unanimous (0:21:56). See flags 3 and 5. |
| 0:21:56 | VII.2.e BEDG, Meeting Minutes (First Read) | Friendly amendment that every effort be made to keep seals under ten years (0:30:43, 0:31:50); Whitney moves to second read as amended (0:32:33); minutes: Ruggeri seconded, unanimous. To return in June (0:31:58). |
| 0:32:54 | VII.2.f BEDH, Public Comments & Participation (agenda: First read) | Adopted with the related-policies reference removed: Whitney moves (0:33:47), Simpson seconds (0:34:05); unanimous (0:34:11). |
| 0:34:11 | VII.2.g DBJ, Transfer of Appropriation (agenda: First read) | Adopted with the last sentence of the fourth paragraph struck: Whitney moves (0:38:17), Simpson seconds (0:38:36); unanimous by voice (0:38:56). See flag 6. |
| 0:38:56 | VII.2.h EHAB, Data Governance and Security (agenda: First read) | Crawford moves (0:41:31), Popescu seconds (0:41:38); adopted (0:41:44). |
| 0:41:44 | VII.2.i KED, Facilities or Services Grievance Procedure (First read) | Tabled to the next meeting after Sprague's questions (0:46:45, 0:46:51). See flag 7. |
| 0:47:22 | VII.2.j EHB, Data/Records Retention (Revision) | Simpson moves (0:49:51); chair names Popescu as seconder (0:50:04); adopted. |
| 0:50:04 | VII.2.k (added) Policies to be withdrawn: GBA, GBAA | Not in the packet (0:50:21). GBA: Sprague moves (0:51:01), Simpson seconds; unanimous (0:51:10). GBAA: Simpson moves (0:51:45), Popescu seconds (0:51:52); carried. |
| 0:52:33 | VII.3 Superintendent Evaluation Subcommittee | Condensed survey tool; board ratings due May 1, compilation May 1 to 15, written evaluation to the superintendent by June 1 (0:58:59). |
| 1:04:56 | VII.4 SAU#6 Retreat | District retreats first (Unity April 16, Claremont May 11); one SAU retreat at the Teal Lantern, date to be set (1:07:13). |
| 1:07:41 | VIII. Future Dates | Agenda lists the SAU 6 board meeting of 6.13.24. The chair: "Our next meeting is in June." No folder, agenda, minutes or recording for a June 13, 2024 SAU 6 meeting has been located (MAP.md section 229). See flag 8. |
| 1:08:02 | IX. Other Business: Unity School Board Warrant Article 8 | Ruggeri reports the town vote to form a withdrawal planning committee (1:08:02, 1:09:00). |
| 1:09:20 | X. Future Agenda Items; XI. Adjournment | None offered. Ruggeri moves adjournment (1:09:26); Popescu seconds on tape (1:09:27), the minutes name Sprague. No vote or time is minuted. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/15687 SAU6041124.mp4.CSV). Timestamps link to the same moment in the Cablecast recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:09 | Call to order | Pratt: "Good evening everybody. Welcome. Called the O six [SAU 6] school board in." "Please stand for the legions." | |
| 0:00:54 | Chair election | Pratt asks "for nominations for chair of the Saw six [SAU 6] school board". A garbled nomination and a Second second. follow. "All in favor of nominating Arlene Hopkins [Hawkins] as CEO? Six board chair." No count is announced. The minutes name Whitney as nominator and Petrin as seconder. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:02:20 | Vice chair | Hawkins: "I'd like to move to nominate Rocco Gerry [Ruggeri] as vice chair." Her reason: "Rocco is a really good balance. We work well together, and he gives me a lot of perspectives". Voice vote (0:03:08). No other office is raised before the meeting moves on. | HIGH |
| 0:03:20 | Clerk absent; roll | "Our secretary Noel, is not present tonight, so I'm going to ask Ben. Would you take attendance tonight?" Nester: "Can I take attendance at the last board. Meeting I attend to?" The roll (0:03:58) is heavily garbled (rock over here for Ruggeri, Fine art. for Hart, Michael. Patron. for Petrin). | |
| 0:04:22 | Agenda amendment | Hawkins adds item k "to withdraw two policies. Policy GBA equal opportunity employment and policy GBAA sexual harassment of saw [SAU] employees and staff." | |
| 0:06:15 | February 15 minutes corrected | "Under item number three, in the minutes from February 15th, the fourth bullet, a motion to seal the minutes that should read. Made by Candace Crawford for three years. Second by Heather Whitney." Ruggeri: "It's missing." | |
| 0:07:08 | Citizens' comments nearly skipped | The chair begins the nonpublic motion; Pratt: Public comment. Hawkins: "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm chewing through to many things. Citizens comments." | |
| 0:07:36 | Susan Mason | "What happens when you have a teacher within the school system that has broken at least one bullet point of each of three different one of your policies from the school board?" The chair sends her to "the individual district board meeting" or the superintendent and explains that the SAU board deals with "the business office, human resources, special education across both Unity and Claremont". Pratt asks her to call his office for an appointment (0:09:07). | |
| 0:09:32 | Into nonpublic | Hawkins: "I would like to have a motion to move into nonpublic session or as under RSA 91-A32A and B." Ruggeri: "I'll make a motion to move into nonpublic meeting session for RSA 91A32A and B second." Roll by Nester (0:10:08): Yes answers for the members present; none after Erickson, Hart or Skillen. | POSITIVE |
| 0:11:14 | Out of nonpublic; seal | "I'd like to make a motion to come out of nonpublic. Per RSA 91A32ABA second." Roll (0:11:32). Hawkins: "Do I have a motion to seal the minutes?" Ruggeri: "Ceiling ceiling for any more than ten years." Hawkins: "I would just to the contract until the negotiations are done." Then: "I'm going to seal them in light of the discussion that we had where things are not finalized, I would move to seal the seal the minutes for six months." Roll (0:12:39); no tally announced. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:13:04 | Subcommittees | "We have the superintendent evaluation committee. I'd like to nominate Tanya Hart, Rocco Roger, Frank Sprague and Whitney Skilling [Skillen]. And with the chair being Frank Sprague". Policy: "Candice Crawford, Kelly Simpson and myself." Approved by voice. | |
| 0:14:38 | Director nominations | "We'd like to nominate, for the director of Student services, Michael McCusker [McCosker]." Currently the assistant director. For human resources "Patrick Ahern. O'Hearn. Not her. Patrick overheard"; "Currently, he's in Vermont." McCosker approved effective July 1, 2024 (0:15:40). | |
| 0:15:46 | O'Hearn vote | "I'm looking for a nomination for the Director of Human Resources, Patrick O'Hearn. And I believe he's starting this month." Abstentions: That'd be me. Me too. (0:16:07, 0:16:09). The minutes record the named vote. | POSITIVE |
| 0:16:36 | Budget update | Henry: "I'm sure in April it'll change with the, with the hiring of our HR director." "You're not having a meeting next month, but I will email you these the report again like I did the previous month." Asked for June documentation of transfers: "We haven't transferred any money between budget lines, though." The 3/31/24 statement in the packet projects Superintendent's Office salaries over budget by $107,557.44 against an overall balance of $148,616.13. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:18:23 | Title IX policy ACAC | "These regulations went into effect in 2020, but we did not implement. We have no policy that is this regarding this, other than that G.B. a which I'm going to ask to have withdrawn later." NHSBA "recommended this get passed and adopted on an emergency basis". Koski: "Whether we have a policy or not, regulations." Ruggeri asks whether the highlighting comes out and notes "we were talking about adopting it today. Right. So that makes it a little different than a first read." | MEDIUM OBSERVATION |
| 0:21:56 | BEDG, sealed-minutes review | "This is the change in the in the law that requires the minutes be reviewed within every ten years." The policy subcommittee would review sealed minutes in nonpublic session and recommend. Ruggeri: "Is there any need to seal minutes for more than ten years?" Hawkins: "Rarely." "The purpose of this new legislation is to get less, fewer minutes sealed and for a shorter period of time." Whitney's amendment: "Recommended duration less than ten years." | POSITIVE |
| 0:30:22 | Grounds for sealing | Hawkins: "It's the reputation of the person other than the board member would render the proposed action or action ineffective. And emergency functions which are real emergency functions. So those are the only reasons we would seal minutes." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:32:54 | BEDH, public comment | Claremont's policy, updated "to comply with the latest legislation that requires every board provide a minimum of 30 minutes in total to hear all public comments. And that's to align with RSA 18974 [189:74]." Adopted with the related-policies line removed. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:34:11 | DBJ, transfers | "This was brought forward by a member of the board." "This is consistent with RSA 3210 [32:10], the second paragraph, this policy would authorize the superintendent to transfer funds between line items up to $10,000." Ruggeri: "So how do we approve something after it's already done?" Crawford offers ratify; the sentence is struck. Sprague: "Overall total budget. So the essay you cannot run in a deficit. Correct?" | OBSERVATION |
| 0:38:56 | EHAB, data governance | Ruggeri asks about added workload; Small: "So a lot of this is what we. Are already doing." "One policy is now referring to another policy that we don't have or it needs updating." | |
| 0:42:33 | KED, 504 grievances | Sprague: "I'm wondering why a grievance would not go to the Office of Civil Rights. Don't 504 grievances go to the OCR?" "I don't think that the school administration has the authority to mediate civil rights claims." Koski on temporary disabilities (0:43:37). Sprague: "it just seems like it's a a solution looking for a problem." Ruggeri: "I think we should table this until the next meeting." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:47:22 | EHB revision | Hawkins: "This is one of the policies we read and adopted at one meeting. So that's we have to be a little cautious when we do that." Small: the adopted text required formatting a drive three times, "which roughly takes about 5.5 hours, per drive"; practice is to overwrite every sector and send drives to a certified recycler. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:50:22 | GBA and GBAA withdrawn | "Policy GBA the equal opportunity employment has been withdrawn by the New Hampshire School Board Association". Ruggeri: "We need to read a policy we're deleting." Both withdrawn by voice. | |
| 0:52:00 | Policy work done | "As of June, we will have brought up to date. And now we are in compliance with all." "Big task required laws." | |
| 0:53:10 | Superintendent evaluation | Ruggeri: "We're doing a condensed version of an evaluation" because "it wasn't a full year by the time Chris took over." Sprague: a not observed rating "does not count as a zero. It's a non score." Timeline read by the chair (0:58:59): ratings "between tonight and May 1st", compilation May 1 to 15, and "he has to receive a written evaluation by June 1st." | |
| 1:01:49 | Subordinate review | "I think we're missing it if we don't. Maybe not this round, but for a regular evaluation.." "Review by his subordinates." (minutes: Michael Petrin). Ruggeri: the superintendent has a separate survey. | |
| 1:04:56 | Retreat | District retreats first; Claremont "Saturday, May 11th". Hawkins: "I'm thinking it'll be the teal Lantern at the tech center." No date set. | |
| 1:07:41 | Future dates | "Our next meeting is in June. Unless the subcommittee determines that you want us to come together for a non public". | OBSERVATION |
| 1:08:02 | Unity withdrawal | Ruggeri: "On March 16th I believe it was our annual town vote" approving "a planning committee to look into the withdrawal for unity to withdraw from the Saw six [SAU 6]". "Nothing's guaranteed. So for the next year, it's just the planning committee and the planning committee's findings." The committee is "five people from town, two board members and the superintendent" (1:09:00), eight in all, the total RSA 194-C:2 sets for a withdrawal planning committee (with the superintendent nonvoting). | |
| 1:09:20 | Adjournment | "Motion to adjourn." Second. No vote is heard before the recording ends. | |
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 April 11, 2024; 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; OBSERVATION, notable with no confirmed rule; POSITIVE, practice beyond the legal minimum.
HIGH The annual organization chose a chair and vice chair but no secretary or treasurer, and the treasurer seat stayed empty for a year
RSA 194-C:5, I requires the SAU board to "meet between April 1 and June 1 in each year" and to "organize by choosing a chairperson, a secretary, and a treasurer" (statute). Item II of this agenda, "Election of Board Officers", lists only "a) Chair" and "b) Vice Chair", and the draft minutes record only those two elections (0:00:54 to 0:03:08); vice chair is not one of the statutory offices. The board's only later gathering inside the window, the May 29, 2024 retreat, recorded a self-assessment and SWOT discussion and no election (draft retreat minutes), and the SAU 6 meeting scheduled for June 13 is not in the record. The SAU's own April 10, 2025 draft minutes then record that "Arlene Hawkins noted that the SAU Board currently has no treasurer" after the auditor said the treasurer should review the check register, and the board elected Candace Crawford treasurer that night. The chair calls clerk Noelle Kronberg Our secretary (0:03:20), but she is the board's employed clerk named on the masthead, and no record shows the board choosing her as an officer. The 3/31/24 statement carries a $1,500 "School Board Secretary" expense on a line with a $0.00 budget.
Sources: RSA 194-C:5, I (annual organization; 1996, 298:3, never amended); draft minutes, item II; 5.29.24 SAU6 Retreat draft minutes; 4.10.25 draft SAU6 minutes, item IV
MEDIUM Draft minutes reached the public share on the 106th business day, and the agenda on the 33rd
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting" (statute); drafts suffice. The deadline was Thursday, April 18, 2024. The draft minutes were created on Drive on September 11, 2024, inside the packet folder for the next regular SAU 6 meeting (1. SAU6 9.12.24), the 106th business day counting out Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day. This meeting's own folder, 3. SAU 4.11.24, was created May 29, 2024, and the agenda in it at the same minute, 48 days after the meeting; it holds the February 15 draft minutes. Drive dates show when a reader of the share could see a document, not when it was written or whether a copy was available on request. No approved version of these minutes was located. Graded MEDIUM under the project's rule: the meeting was noticed and packeted, the minutes exist, and only their timing fails the statute.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2023 codification); RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (school administrative units are public bodies)
MEDIUM By the chair's account the SAU had no Title IX grievance policy under the 2020 regulations until this night
The 2020 Title IX rule, effective August 14, 2020, required recipients to "adopt, publish, and implement grievance procedures" and to follow the formal-complaint grievance process at 34 CFR 106.45. Presenting policy ACAC, the chair says "These regulations went into effect in 2020, but we did not implement. We have no policy that is this regarding this, other than that G.B. a" (0:18:58), and the NHSBA advised adoption "on an emergency basis" (0:19:33). Koski's point that the regulations bind "Whether we have a policy or not" (0:19:56) is correct, and the board fixed the gap tonight by adopting ACAC unanimously. What the record does not show is how the SAU handled complaints in the intervening years. This rests on the chair's statement; the earlier policy GBAA was not in the packet.
Sources: 85 FR 30026 (May 19, 2020), 34 CFR 106.8 and 106.45, effective August 14, 2020
OBSERVATION A six-month seal with a stated reason that tracks the statute loosely, and a term that ran out in October
RSA 91-A:3, III allows nonpublic minutes to be withheld by a recorded two-thirds vote in public session where it is determined that disclosure would likely affect a non-member's reputation, "render the proposed action ineffective", or pertain to terrorism. The vote was a roll call in public session (0:12:39), recorded in the minutes as "all present voting in favor", which clears two-thirds. The motion gave a reason: on tape, "in light of the discussion that we had where things are not finalized" (0:12:14), in the minutes "to allow time for the negotiations to finish". That reason fits the ineffective-action ground, though neither record states the determination in the statute's terms; the chair recited the statutory grounds correctly later the same night (0:30:22). This is graded below the MEDIUM given to the December 14, 2023 seal, where no reason at all was stated. The six-month term set by the board ran to about October 11, 2024; whether the minutes were released then is outside this record.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, III (2023 codification); draft minutes, item IV
OBSERVATION Four policies the agenda called first reads were adopted the same night
The agenda labels ACAC, BEDH, DBJ and EHAB "First Read" or "First read"; each was adopted on its first appearance (0:21:56, 0:34:11, 0:38:56, 0:41:44), only BEDG went to a second reading, and KED was tabled. ACAC carried an NHSBA emergency recommendation; the others carried none on the record. Ruggeri noted the difference for ACAC (0:21:14), and the chair, presenting the EHB revision, said "This is one of the policies we read and adopted at one meeting. So that's we have to be a little cautious when we do that" (0:47:22). The board's own policy-adoption rule was not in the packet and was not checked for this page, so no rule is cited; the point is that a public reading the agenda would not expect adoption of those four items that night.
Sources: agenda, item VII.2; draft minutes, item VII.2
OBSERVATION A transfer policy that cites a statute naming districts, not SAUs, adopted while lines ran over budget with no transfers made
Policy DBJ as presented says "All transfers of appropriations will be made consistent with the provisions of RSA 32:10", and the chair called it "consistent with RSA 3210 [32:10]" (0:34:55). RSA 32:10 lets a governing body transfer between appropriations, but RSA 32:1 states chapter 32's application in terms of towns, districts, school districts and village districts and does not name school administrative units, whose budget authority sits in RSA 194-C:9. The policy also cites "RSA 282-A:71,III", an unemployment-compensation provision not checked for this page. The 3/31/24 statement in the packet shows several lines projected over budget, Superintendent's Office salaries by $107,557.44 and Human Resources health insurance by $21,070.90, inside an overall projected balance of $148,616.13 (6.20%), and Henry told the board "We haven't transferred any money between budget lines, though" (0:17:29). Under DBJ as adopted, any transfer over $10,000 needs board approval, and the only further meeting the board scheduled was in June.
Sources: RSA 32:1 (application of chapter 32); RSA 32:10 (transfers by the governing body); RSA 194-C:9 (SAU budget); DBJ draft; Financial Statement 3-31-24
OBSERVATION Policy KED was tabled on the premise that Section 504 grievances belong at the Office for Civil Rights
Sprague asked "Don't 504 grievances go to the OCR?" and said "I don't think that the school administration has the authority to mediate civil rights claims" (0:43:50, 0:44:18); the item was tabled (0:46:45). The Section 504 regulation requires a recipient that employs fifteen or more persons to "adopt grievance procedures that incorporate appropriate due process standards and that provide for the prompt and equitable resolution of complaints"; an OCR complaint is a parallel route, not a substitute. Whether SAU 6 as an employer crosses the fifteen-person line was not checked. KED had not returned by the end of this record, since no June 2024 SAU meeting is on file.
Sources: 34 CFR 104.7(a) and (b) (Section 504 coordinator and grievance procedures)
OBSERVATION The minutes and the recording differ on attendance, movers and seconders, and the June meeting the board set never appears
Where the two disagree this page follows the minutes and says so. The minutes name Heather Whitney as nominator and Michael Petrin as seconder for chair, where the tape is garbled (0:01:14, 0:01:24); Whitney as seconder of both nonpublic motions, where the tape puts second inside Ruggeri's own motion (0:09:43); Popescu as seconder of policy AC, where the chair names Crawford (0:18:19); Bonnie Miles as mover of the O'Hearn appointment, where the motion sits in the chair's cluster (0:15:46); and Sprague as seconder of adjournment, where Popescu is heard (1:09:27). The minutes record no vote and no time for adjournment, and no times for the nonpublic session. The agenda noticed the nonpublic session under II(a) only; the motion added II(b), hiring, which the statute permits because the motion, not the notice, must state the exemption. The agenda and the chair set the next SAU 6 meeting for June 13, 2024 (1:07:41), and BEDG was to return in June (0:31:58); no notice, folder, agenda, minutes or recording of that meeting has been located.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (contents of minutes); RSA 91-A:3, I(b); draft minutes
POSITIVE Correct nonpublic citations, appointments voted in public with a named split vote, and a sealed-minutes policy stricter than the law
After four months of SAU 6 paperwork citing a nonexistent chapter (RSA 92-A), the motion into nonpublic session names RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and (b) (0:09:43) and the minutes print "RSA 91-A:3, II a & b" with the text of both grounds. The two director appointments discussed in nonpublic under the hiring ground were then voted in public session, and the minutes list by name who voted for the O'Hearn appointment and who abstained, which RSA 91-A:2, II does not require for a voice vote. On BEDG the board went beyond RSA 91-A:3, IV, which sets a ten-year outer limit for review of sealed minutes, by adding Whitney's amendment that seals should run for less than ten years (0:31:50).
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a)–(b) and IV (IV added by 2023, 189:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023); draft minutes, items IV and VI
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/15687 SAU6041124.mp4.CSV (677 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/15687 SAU6041124.mp4 (local copy of the recording)Input/Transcripts/15687 SAU6041124.mp4.json (diarized transcript)Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 229 (video-to-document map)
Laws and rules cited on this page