Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part or being named in the roll. Names follow the project's dialogue file and the 2015 to 2023 roster; no minutes are online to check spellings against. Where the dialogue file says Unidentified, this page does too.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Sara Lowe | SAU 6 chair (Unity); Unity board chair | Re-elected chair; presided; relayed citizen emails about the March 14 walkout; explained the merit pool and past evaluation attempts; asked how subcommittees must meet; put the listed nonpublic item to the board in public. |
| Michael Petrin | Member (Claremont); elected vice chair | Introduced himself (Michael Patron); seconded Lowe's nomination as heard by the superintendent; named to the evaluation subcommittee; said one meeting could produce a draft. Speech after his introduction is attributed by elimination only (low to medium confidence). |
| Michelle Pierce | Member (Claremont); elected treasurer | Accepted the treasurer post; asked about bonuses and cost sharing; wanted the evaluation done by the full board; moved to go into nonpublic (no second, per the chair); called the superintendent's conduct around the budget "unprofessional"; moved to adjourn. |
| Frank Sprague | Member; Claremont board chair | Nominated Lowe and Petrin; moved the agenda; asked for budget-to-actual columns; had asked for the nonpublic item and cited 91-832 see [RSA 91-A:3, II(c)]; described Claremont members' concerns in general terms. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Member; Claremont vice chair | Asked how raises and the merit pool work and for the superintendent's contract; named to the evaluation subcommittee; asked how often the board should meet. |
| Jason Benware | Member (Claremont) | Nominated Pierce for treasurer; asked about fund balance and why an evaluation was being started now; said the superintendent's reply "sounded very threatening". |
| Steven Horsky | Member (Claremont) | Seconded the agenda; described his school visits; named to the evaluation subcommittee and asked whether it fairly represented Unity. |
| Carolyn Towle | Member (Claremont) | Asked whether the superintendent reports on principal goals; asked for Unity's goal reports; said completing the evaluation is the board's job. |
| Marjorie Erickson | Member (Unity) | Drew on her management experience to urge a straw man draft and fact-based metrics; named to the evaluation subcommittee; asked whether a Claremont quorum on the subcommittee mattered. |
| Prudence McCormick | Member (Unity) | Recalled that past boards "never met enough" to complete evaluations. |
| Bob McDevitt; Craig (surname unresolved) | Members (Unity) | Absent. |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Ran the chair election; presented the FY19 SAU budget and the achievement goals; traced the evaluation history since 2011; asked that any discussion of his evaluation be public. |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator | Explained the treasurer's duties, the merit pool, fund balance and the cost-sharing formula; offered budget-to-actual reports. |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent | Warned of audit corrective actions without a treasurer; explained split positions and staffing restructuring. Attribution medium-high (no direct name cue on her voice). |
| Mary Woodman | Recording secretary | Introduced herself as secretary; called the roll. |
| Unidentified | Various | Roll-call answers, ayes, short replies and clipped fragments. 191 of 914 rows (20.9%) are Unidentified. The chair said one citizen was present (0:12:10); no citizen spoke. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted in any district share, so this list is reconstructed from the chair's transitions on the recording. A written agenda existed (0:01:27). Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:17 | Call to order; introductions | Members and staff introduce themselves. |
| 0:01:27 | Election of SAU 6 chair for 2018-19 | Sara Lowe nominated by Sprague (0:02:24); second heard by the superintendent as Mike Patron second (0:02:35); no other nominations; voice vote (0:02:48). |
| 0:03:02 | Election of vice chair | Michael Petrin nominated by Sprague (0:03:13); voice vote (0:03:32). |
| 0:04:47 | Election of treasurer | Michelle Pierce nominated by Benware; seconder not audible (0:08:57); voice vote (0:09:10). |
| 0:09:36 | Pledge; roll call | Ten present, McDevitt and Craig absent (0:10:48). |
| 0:10:57 | Agenda | Approved as presented: Sprague moved (0:11:09), Horsky seconded (0:11:12). |
| 0:11:17 | Minutes of November 2, 2017 | Approved, new members abstaining; second at 0:11:58. |
| 0:12:10 | Citizens' comments | No citizen spoke; the chair relayed two citizens' emails about the March 14 student walkout. |
| 0:14:02 | SAU 6 budget (FY19, adopted November 2017) | Review only; no vote. |
| 0:33:17 | SAU 6 academic achievement goals | Review only; principal goals drawn from the strategic plan. |
| 0:56:14 | Superintendent evaluation: format | Subcommittee formed by consensus: Zullo, Petrin, Erickson, Lowe and Horsky (1:35:06). No vote. |
| 1:37:03 | FY20 budget preparation; meeting dates | Dates discussed: May 10, June 14, August 16 or 23, September 13, October 18 and November 8 (budget), all at 6:30; the superintendent to confirm by email (1:45:43). |
| 1:46:43 | Nonpublic session (as listed), RSA 91-A:3, II(c) | The superintendent asked that the matter be public (1:47:35); Pierce's motion to enter nonpublic had no second (1:49:04); discussion held in public. |
| 2:07:02 | Adjournment | Pierce moved, Sprague seconded (2:07:05); voice vote. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological, from the dialogue CSV. Times are the start of the cited exchange, taken from the CSV's own second count. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped cell for the full entry.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:27 | Officer elections open the meeting | McGoodwin: "the first order of business is to elect the school board chair". At 0:02:01: nominations for "SA six School Board chair for 1819". At 0:02:48: "could I please have a vote in favor of appointing Sarah Lowe". Lowe at 0:03:02: "the next order of business is to elect a school board vice chair". | OBSERVATION |
| 0:04:47 | No treasurer for years | O'Neill at 0:05:00: "I think we've been slightly lacking in an estimated treasurer for the past few years." The treasurer is "to come in and sign vouchers, much like the school board does, as well as reconcile the cash account." Lowe at 0:05:44: "historically I know we haven't had we have not had someone in that role." LeClair at 0:06:13: "we are catching up on the audit process and without a defined or named treasurer. We will end up with corrective actions." At 0:06:30: "we're still talking about a couple of million dollars." Pierce elected at 0:09:10. | MEDIUM |
| 0:12:38 | Citizen emails on the walkout | Lowe: concerns about "the perception that Middleton or other people had supported it or organized that." At 0:13:37: "I feel confident that the way that it was managed was appropriate". | |
| 0:14:12 | SAU budget and merit pool | McGoodwin presents "the budget that was approved last November for fiscal year 19." O'Neill at 0:19:40: "we put a merit pool in its equal to about 2% of the total wages." Lowe at 0:20:32: the board chose the pool "instead of giving raises to the staff". Zullo at 0:22:06: "Can we get copies of that contract." O'Neill at 0:24:49: "I think it was originally proposed at 25 and it went to 17." | |
| 0:22:55 | Budget-to-actual reporting | Sprague: "we don't know what was actually used from the monies that were allocated". O'Neill at 0:24:10: "I will set up the same budget report that we see in Claremont and Unity". | |
| 0:25:55 | Fund balance to reduce assessments | O'Neill: "What we did this year was we put $75,000 to offset assessments." At 0:26:36: the districts' share "totals less than the $1.9 million budget". At 0:27:22: the fund balance comes from grant revenue and "adjusting the indirect cost rate". Lowe at 0:30:30 on ending the SAU's rent payments to Claremont. | |
| 0:31:58 | How costs are split | O'Neill: "And that's by RSA. Each district share of the budget is based upon taking one half of the average daily membership and attendance at the end of the previous school year, and one half of the most recently published equalized valuation". | |
| 0:33:22 | Achievement goals | McGoodwin: goals "established by the saw six board a few years ago." Towle at 0:41:11 asks whether he sends periodic updates; at 0:42:02: "I have not done that. I have not done that currently." Pierce questions one-on-one principal meetings; LeClair at 0:53:32 says the goals mirror the strategic plan headings. | |
| 0:56:14 | Evaluation: history | Lowe: the School Boards Association document on the evaluation "we are supposed to do every year". At 0:57:08: "The last time we did this was not last year, the two years ago." At 0:57:32: "a significant number of Cornish and Claremont School board members did not complete them." McGoodwin at 0:59:33 traces goals set in December 2011 and at 1:00:44: "It was never completed." | OBSERVATION |
| 1:03:00 | "No goals set" | McGoodwin: "last year, 1617. There were no goals set and 1718, there were no goals set." Reading his contract at 1:03:59: "the six board shall provide. The superintendent attended at least one written evaluation each year." At 1:04:53: "it's been two years since I've had goals." Zullo at 1:05:43: "it sounds like we've been a complete failure." | OBSERVATION |
| 1:11:56 | Board members in the schools | Horsky: administrators "feel that they have a good support system". At 1:12:36: "I was one of the first school board members that have been in a school in two years." At 1:12:59: "It's a travesty for a school board." | |
| 1:22:01 | A subcommittee to draft the instrument | Lowe: "are we going to create a subcommittee that's going to work on organizing and putting this?" McGoodwin at 1:25:49: an evaluation for "April, may, June, I don't think that's going to be too valid." At 1:26:57: "We did not mutually establish criteria." Lowe at 1:30:28: "So I've got Rebecca, Michelle, Steven, Marjorie and Mike and I". Horsky at 1:30:40 proposes an election for the top five. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:31:44 | Do subcommittees have to be warned? | Lowe: "they meet and take notes, meeting notes and all of those pieces, because I know there are rules." McGoodwin at 1:32:14: "Board has a quorum. It has to be warned." Lowe: "So five is not a." Erickson at 1:32:21 asks about a Claremont quorum; McGoodwin at 1:32:26: "If if there are four of the seven board members in Claremont, that's a quorum." Final list at 1:35:06: "Rebecca, Mike, Marjorie, Sarah and Steven." | OBSERVATION |
| 1:37:03 | Meeting calendar | McGoodwin: "if we can lock in some dates months from now, we'll have a better chance of having a quorum". Lowe at 1:38:32: "historically, also there's been a pause in the summer." O'Neill at 1:46:13 on the budget: "we do have to have a public hearing within a certain time." At 1:46:16: "December 31st." | |
| 1:46:43 | The listed nonpublic session | McGoodwin: "Well, can I ask what that's about?" Sprague at 1:47:16: 91-832 see in parentheses. Lowe at 1:47:24 reads it: "unless such person requests an open meeting." McGoodwin at 1:47:35: "I would request to the RSA be public." At 1:47:59: "I haven't been evaluated in two years." Lowe at 1:49:04: "Michelle made a motion that we go into nonpublic. We did not get a second on that." | POSITIVE |
| 1:49:19 | Concerns stated in public | Sprague: "there were some concerns raised by members of the Claremont School Board around the, concerns about superintendent performance." At 1:50:10: "I'm not going to go into any specificity here out of respect for you". McGoodwin at 1:50:37: "I had some very serious concerns as well. Regarding the board, regarding how it was done and regarding the law." | POSITIVE |
| 1:53:54 | "Are we going to get in trouble" | Zullo: "are we going to get in trouble if we say it on camera?" Lowe at 1:54:31: "He's choosing to have it happen in front of the community." McGoodwin at 1:54:42: "I'm not going to sit here and have things said to me." Benware at 1:55:43: "the wording of it sounded very threatening." McGoodwin at 1:57:04: "I don't, I don't threaten". | |
| 1:57:36 | The budget hearing | Pierce at 1:57:52: "we gave you a directive to go back and relook at the budget. It was unprofessional." Lowe at 1:58:49: "you need to go back and reread the roles of being on the school board". Pierce at 2:00:20: "We just gave him a directive that was the bottom line." | |
| 2:01:15 | Moving forward | Sprague: an evaluation this year "it's a moot point legally and ethically." Petrin at 2:02:16: "there appears to be no agreed upon goals, written or otherwise". Zullo at 2:04:12: "this whole thing just seems like a mess to me." Lowe at 2:05:51: "we had an entire year where we could not have a quorum". Adjourned at 2:07:11. | OBSERVATION |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on March 29, 2018, cited as it then read. They are not findings of violation, and nothing here is legal advice. Where no verified rule applies, the flag says so and is recorded as an observation. Six flags follow, ordered by severity.
MEDIUM The SAU went without an elected treasurer for "the past few years", with audit corrective actions expected
Asked who had been treasurer, the business administrator said the SAU had been "slightly lacking in an estimated treasurer for the past few years" (0:05:00), and the chair said "we have not had someone in that role" (0:05:44). The assistant superintendent warned that "without a defined or named treasurer. We will end up with corrective actions", because no one had signed vouchers or done "the monthly reconciliations" for an SAU handling "a couple of million dollars" (0:06:13 to 0:06:30). RSA 194-C:5, I, unamended since 1996, requires the SAU board to "organize by choosing a chairperson, a secretary, and a treasurer." The business administrator described the treasurer's job as checking his own reconciliations: "you're just checking against me" (0:08:42). The board closed the gap at this meeting by electing Michelle Pierce (0:09:10), which is the reason this is graded MEDIUM rather than higher. Which years went without a treasurer, and what the audits said, are not on the recording.
Sources: RSA 194-C:5, I (SAU board organizes by choosing a chairperson, a secretary and a treasurer; source note 1996, 298:3 only).
OBSERVATION The board organized three days before the statutory window opened, and no secretary was chosen on the recording
RSA 194-C:5, I provides that the SAU board "shall meet between April 1 and June 1 in each year, at a time and place fixed by the chairpersons of the several boards, and shall organize by choosing a chairperson, a secretary, and a treasurer." This meeting, on March 29, elected a chair, a vice chair and a treasurer for 2018-19 (0:01:27 to 0:09:10). The recording shows no election of a secretary; the staff recording secretary introduced herself as secretary (0:00:46), and the board may have treated that as sufficient. The statute states no consequence for organizing early, and the officers chosen were plainly the board's choice, so no breach with effect is suggested. It is recorded because the timing and the missing office are checkable against the statute, and because the SAU elected a new chair mid-year on June 14, 2018 (see the related page in the appendix).
Sources: RSA 194-C:5, I (annual meeting between April 1 and June 1; organize by choosing chair, secretary, treasurer; 1996, 298:3).
OBSERVATION By the superintendent's account, no evaluation goals were set for two school years despite an annual evaluation clause in his contract
The superintendent read from his contract that the board "shall provide" at least one written evaluation each year, related to "written goals and objectives mutually agreed to" (1:03:59 to 1:04:59), and said that "last year, 1617. There were no goals set and 1718, there were no goals set" (1:03:00). The chair agreed that the last evaluation was two years earlier and said many Cornish and Claremont members had not returned their forms (0:57:08 to 0:57:32); the superintendent traced incomplete evaluations back to 2011 (0:59:33 to 1:00:44). The contract was not published with the meeting and its wording here is the superintendent's reading of it, not a verified document. No statute setting an evaluation schedule for superintendents was verified, so this is recorded as an observation. Its consequence is on the record: when Claremont members wanted to raise performance concerns, several members agreed that without agreed goals an evaluation this year was, in Sprague's words, "it's a moot point legally and ethically" (2:01:15).
Sources: the recording at 0:56:14 to 1:07:13 and 2:01:15 to 2:02:49 (the superintendent's contract as read aloud; not independently verified).
OBSERVATION Whether the evaluation subcommittee must be noticed was answered by counting quorums, but a subcommittee is a public body in its own right
The chair asked what rules govern how a subcommittee meets "and take notes, meeting notes" (1:31:44). The superintendent answered "Board has a quorum. It has to be warned", and members concluded that five of twelve is not a quorum, adding that four Claremont members would be a Claremont quorum (1:32:14 to 1:32:26). The subcommittee named was Zullo, Petrin, Erickson, Lowe and Horsky (1:35:06): three Claremont members, so the Claremont board's quorum question did not arise. The fuller answer is in RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), unamended since 2008, which defines a public body to include a school board "or any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto". The subcommittee's own meetings therefore carry notice and minutes duties under RSA 91-A:2 whatever the parent board's quorum count. Whether its meetings were noticed and minuted is for the pages that follow; no subcommittee record from 2018 is online.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (source note ends 2008, 354:1); RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification, in force for 2018): notice and minutes.
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting are posted online, and the board had met rarely
MAP.md section 62 records that neither district Drive share holds anything older than 2022 (checked 9/26/26), so this page rests on the recording alone. That is a limit of what the district posts online, not by itself evidence that records were never made: members had a paper agenda and a packet sent the week before (0:01:27, 1:02:06), a recording secretary was present, and the board approved minutes of its previous meeting, November 2, 2017 (0:11:17). The gap between those two meetings is itself notable: the chair said a planned meeting was cancelled by a snowstorm (0:57:08), and the superintendent and chair both described a board that historically paused in summer and struggled to reach a quorum (1:37:03 to 1:38:32, 2:05:51). RSA 91-A:2, II (2018 text) requires minutes within 5 business days; that cannot be tested from here. The project's missing-records rule is applied on its online-availability limb.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification; source note ends 2017, 165:1 and 234:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2018); Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 62.
POSITIVE The superintendent asked for the listed nonpublic discussion to be held in public, and the board honored the request
The agenda listed a nonpublic session that Sprague had requested under 91-832 see [RSA 91-A:3, II(c)] (1:46:43 to 1:47:16); the chair read the exemption aloud, ending "unless such person requests an open meeting" (1:47:24). RSA 91-A:3, II(c), as codified in 2017, exempts "Matters which, if discussed in public, would likely affect adversely the reputation of any person, other than a member of the public body itself, unless such person requests an open meeting." The superintendent made exactly that request (1:47:35 to 1:48:31), the motion to go into nonpublic drew no second (1:49:04), and the discussion proceeded on camera, with members choosing to state their concerns only in general terms (1:50:10). Two points for readers: the exemption the chair read is the reputation exemption, while the one written for an employee's own performance and discipline is II(a), which likewise gives the employee a right to an open meeting in stated conditions; and the board's handling put a personnel dispute in public view, which is the statute's default.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and II(c) (2017 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; 280:1).
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/9715 SAU6032918.mp4.CSV (914 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9715 SAU6032918.mp4Input/Transcripts/9715 SAU6032918.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9715 SAU6032918.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 62
Laws and rules cited on this page