Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Names follow the clerk's roll, the speakers' own introductions, the project's 2015-2023 roster and the attribution report and corrections ledger for this recording; there are no minutes to check spellings against.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Sara Lowe | SAU 6 chair; Unity School Board chair | Calls the meeting to order (0:00:00) and presides until she steps down as SAU 6 chair (2:11:11). Announces the parting with the superintendent (0:16:21); walks the board through the seven-part transition plan (0:26:41); presents the fund balance problem (1:26:08). Says she is "still the chair of unity" (0:46:01). |
| Marjorie Erickson | Member (Unity); elected SAU 6 chair | Supplies the May 10 nonpublic details for the minutes (0:01:45, 0:02:35) and the exit time from tonight's nonpublic (0:14:32). Argues the board should define the transition team's goal before naming members (0:26:02, 0:43:21). Elected chair by six votes to four (2:19:39). |
| Prudence McCormick | Member (Unity) | Asks "Shouldn't that be call?" when the nonpublic motion is first put to a voice vote (0:12:14); seconds the motion to leave nonpublic (per Erickson, 0:14:32); nominates Erickson (2:16:13); asks that the chairs bring the acting superintendent's terms back to the board (0:47:02). |
| Bob McDevitt | Member (Unity) | Absent (0:12:43). |
| Craig (surname not established) | Member (Unity) | Absent. The transcript renders the name "Craig shoots" and "Craig. Samson" (0:00:46, 0:12:43); the project roster leaves the surname unresolved. |
| Frank Sprague | Member; Claremont School Board chair | Moves the May 10 minutes as amended (0:03:44); seconds the agenda (0:09:33); proposes a six-week interim search (0:41:47) and argues for a two-year interim horizon (0:55:38); is one of the two chairs to work out the acting superintendent's terms. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Member; Claremont vice chair | Volunteers for the transition team (0:23:25); urges putting the interim ad "in the paper" with two weeks to apply (0:41:01, 0:58:16) and makes that motion (1:07:15, 1:08:33). Nominated for SAU 6 chair; declines (2:18:04). |
| Michael Petrin | Member; SAU 6 vice chair | Nominated for chair as the sitting vice chair (2:16:33) and receives four votes (2:19:39); remains vice chair (2:20:11). The dialogue file assigns him several remarks, including the agenda correction at 0:04:16 and the five-member search committee proposal at 1:16:45, by elimination only; this page treats those attributions as unconfirmed. |
| Jason Benware | Member (Claremont) | Nominates Zullo for chair (2:15:58); questions how a low merit score affects a raise (1:59:24); the merit system motion runs into his voice (2:10:34). Will miss the July 12 meeting (1:23:47). |
| Steven Horsky | Member (Claremont) | Reads RSA 91-A:3, II(a) aloud (0:06:56); moves the amended agenda (0:09:26), the nonpublic session (0:11:50), the 99-year seal (0:15:00), the acting superintendent appointment (0:47:51) and the June 28 meeting (1:38:55). Says a superintendent is "a legal requirement" (0:31:38). Proposes a board retreat (0:53:54). |
| Michelle Pierce | Member (Claremont) | Moves to leave nonpublic (per Erickson, 0:14:32); seconds the 99-year seal (0:15:07); asks whether LeClair could serve a full year (0:40:02); nominates Petrin for chair (2:16:33). |
| Carolyn Towle | Member (Claremont) | Asks that the exemption be defined aloud (0:05:07); moves that the two district chairs meet with LeClair, then withdraws the motion (0:44:57, 0:47:43); raises a point of order on recognition (1:12:30). |
| Unidentified board members | Members | Several seconds and votes come from voices the diarizer did not tie to a name. The corrections ledger records that the seconds at 0:47:46, 0:48:23 and 1:08:30, the aye at 0:49:23 and the remark "Rebecca from our board" at 1:12:19 are labeled Nathan in the dialogue file but belong to board members; this page treats them as unidentified members. |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Reads his letter of resignation dated June 14, 2018 (0:17:17). Advises a short interim and a fall search for "the next instructional leader" (0:58:49). Runs the chair election (2:15:19). Tells the board a retreat cannot be closed "unless you can cite an" RSA exemption (2:22:45). |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent; named acting superintendent | Lists the duties that need coverage from July 1 (0:34:07, 0:34:39); says "I hold superintendent certification" (0:37:21) and agrees to serve as acting superintendent "until we find an interim" (0:48:42). Explains that applications must come through AppliTrack (1:10:24). The transcript renders her name "Corey Leclerc", "Cary" and "quarry". |
| Nathan (surname not stated) | SAU 6 staff (human resources, per the attribution report) | Presents the fund balance projection, "your bottom line really is 67. 907" (1:28:12); will post the interim ad (1:09:09); presents the 360-degree performance evaluation and merit system (1:48:45). |
| Michael O'Neill | Business administrator, SAU 6 (by phone) | Joins by phone (1:34:36): "you can't really do, a deficit appropriation" (1:35:20); explains the $55,000 of fund balance already used as revenue for the next year (1:36:55). Surname spelling follows the project roster, which marks it unverified. |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk / recording secretary | Calls the roll (0:00:46) and the two roll-call votes (0:12:25, 0:15:33); reminds the board it must come out of nonpublic on the record before sealing (0:14:14). |
| John (surname not given) | Citizens' comments, Claremont | "Good evening, John from Claremont." (0:10:35). Asks for public input on spending "money that's not appropriated" (0:11:04); later says spending the fund balance needs an agenda item and urges more frequent meetings, saying he served on the board "for almost a decade" (1:31:31, 1:33:27). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives. The list below follows the chair's transitions on the recording, including the lettered items she names; wording in quotation marks is the transcript's.
Items in the order taken up, with dispositions heard on the recording.
| Taken up | Item | Disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:00 | Call to order, pledge, attendance | "board meeting to order at 630 on June 14th" (0:00:00). Ten of twelve members present (0:00:46). |
| 0:01:12 | Approval of minutes, May 10, 2018 | Amended to add the nonpublic exit time ("Out of nonpublic at 822", 0:01:45) and the seal vote: motion to seal "for 99 years" by Frank, seconded by Steve, "nine yeses and one of them staying" (abstaining) with two members absent (0:02:18-0:02:52). Motion Sprague (0:03:44); approved by voice vote (0:04:01). |
| 0:04:08 | Agenda: amendments and approval | The nonpublic item's citation is changed from RSA 91-A:3, II(c) to II(a) (0:04:16); Horsky reads the text of II(a) (0:06:56). Motion Horsky (0:09:26); second Sprague (0:09:33); approved by voice vote (0:09:58). |
| 0:10:22 | Citizens' comments | One speaker, John from Claremont (0:10:35). |
| 0:11:34 | Nonpublic session, RSA 91-A:3, II(a) | Motion Horsky "under New Hampshire RSA 91 A. Three paragraph two subsection a" (0:11:50); first put to a voice vote, then redone by roll call at a member's request (0:12:14); every name called answers yes (0:12:25-0:12:43). Out of nonpublic at 7:01 p.m. on Pierce's motion and McCormick's second, as Erickson reads it into the record (0:14:32). Seal for 99 years: motion Horsky (0:15:00), second Pierce (0:15:07), roll call, every name called answers yes (0:15:33-0:15:57). |
| 0:16:21 | Announcement: SAU 6 and the superintendent | The chair reads the decision that "it's necessary for us to part ways" (0:16:21); the superintendent reads his resignation letter (0:17:17). No public vote. |
| 0:21:59 | Administration transition plan | Acting superintendent: Horsky moves "to recommend that, Corey Leclerc is our acting superintendent" pending agreed terms (0:47:51), second by an unidentified member (0:48:23); passed by voice vote (0:49:02, 0:49:25). Interim ad: Zullo moves to advertise for two weeks (1:08:33); passes "unanimously" (1:10:51). Interim search committee: each board and the SAU to send names to the SAU 6 chair by email (1:16:45, 1:17:47). NHSBA to be invited for August 23 (1:48:16). Funding: Horsky moves a meeting by June 28 on the fund balance (1:39:17); the chair restates it as meeting June 28 "and move forward with, allocating the $55,000" (1:43:27); passed by voice vote (1:43:51). Transition team: the board chairs and the SAU staff, by consensus (1:45:41). |
| 1:48:16 | C. Performance evaluation system (merit pay) | Approved by voice vote (2:10:47, 2:10:51); motion heard at 2:10:31 and 2:10:34, its onset unidentified. |
| 2:11:11 | Election of SAU 6 chair | Lowe steps down. Nominations: Zullo (declines), Erickson, Petrin. Hand vote: "I counted six" for Erickson (2:19:32) and "I counted for" Petrin (2:19:39); Erickson elected. |
| 2:20:23 | Future SAU 6 meetings | June 28 (warranted above), July 12, July 26 and August 23 (2:20:38, 2:23:31); a board retreat on Sunday, July 29 at 10 a.m. (2:27:05). No adjournment is heard before the recording ends. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/9853 SAU6061418.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording. Timestamps link to the same moment in the Cablecast recording.
Topics in the order discussed.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:12 | May 10 minutes and their seal vote | "So first, a motion was made to seal the minutes for 99 years." (0:02:18); "Frank made the motion. Steve seconded." (0:02:35); "And then there were nine yeses and one of them staying." (0:02:47). The chair adds that "we had two members who were here by phone, which was why we had done the roll call." (0:03:14). | MEDIUM |
| 0:04:16 | Which nonpublic exemption | The agenda's citation is changed from II(c) to II(a). Asked to define it, the chair reads "the wording from the attorney" on "the dismissal of a public employee" (0:05:43); a member asks "Is this a dismissal or a resignation." (0:06:12). Horsky reads II(a) (0:06:56): "the dismissal, promotion or compensation of any public employee". The chair: "if we do this piece in an open meeting, then this becomes public information" (0:08:41); the superintendent says the attorneys "took care of the business" (0:08:48). | POSITIVE |
| 0:10:35 | Citizens' comment | John from Claremont asks for citizens' input on the transition and on "how to spend money that's not appropriated" (0:11:04). The chair: "we don't follow the Rogers rules of order specifically. We follow them modified." (0:10:51). | |
| 0:11:50 | Into and out of nonpublic | Voice vote first; McCormick: "Shouldn't that be call?" (0:12:14); the chair: "a roll call vote to go into nonpublic. I'm sorry." (0:12:16). After the session the clerk insists the exit be put on the record (0:14:14, 0:14:26); Erickson: "Michelle moved to come out of nonpublic. Prudence. Seconded. Everyone agreed." (0:14:32). Horsky: "I would like to make a motion to seal the nonpublic sessions minutes for 99 years." (0:15:00); roll call follows. No reason for the seal is stated. | MEDIUM POSITIVE |
| 0:16:21 | Parting with the superintendent | The chair: "the SA six and the superintendent, Middleton and Goodwin, regret to inform you that it's necessary for us to part ways." (0:16:21), crediting full-day kindergarten, the i-Ready progress monitoring program and his "work towards equal funding" (0:16:48). His letter: "Please accept my resignation as Superintendent of Saw six, effective on June 32nd, 2018." (0:17:17; the date is as transcribed, and a member later refers to "the 30th"). He lists energy savings, the criminal records check law, Stevens High School renovation and full-day kindergarten (0:18:22-0:21:00). | |
| 0:21:59 | Transition plan: seven components | Transition team, communication plan, point of contact, an organization to run the interim search, timelines for the interim and the full search, "and a strategy to fund that transition plan." (0:26:41, 0:27:11). Members debate whether the transition team and the search are one body (0:26:02, 0:29:08). | |
| 0:31:38 | "A legal requirement to have a superintendent" | Horsky: "as of the 30th, we no longer have a superintendent representing this district." and "Legally. It's a legal requirement to have a superintendent." (0:31:38, 0:31:59). LeClair lists what must be covered from July 1, from hiring approvals and background checks to bank accounts and Department of Education reports (0:34:07, 0:34:39). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:36:52 | Acting superintendent | LeClair: "So I hold superintendent certification" (0:37:21) and "I'm willing to do an acting superintendent position and help in this transition to find an interim." (0:40:16). The chair: "we're going to need to iron out some things related to compensation" (0:39:41). McCormick: "I think the chairs would have to come back and we would have to agree." (0:47:02). Motion and vote (0:47:51, 0:49:25). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:49:59 | Interim superintendent ad | A draft ad from the attorneys' template; start date moved to mid-August (0:51:01, 0:51:21); 12 to 24 months debated. The superintendent: "An interim superintendent is a placeholder" (0:58:49). The chair relays advice to post the ad and form a small internal committee (0:59:53). Ad to run two weeks on AppliTrack and SchoolSpring (1:09:09); passes unanimously (1:10:51). | |
| 1:26:08 | Funding the transition | Funds are needed "for the agreement that we made tonight with Middleton", the search, the ads and LeClair's added compensation (1:27:12). Nathan: the projected SAU fund balance's "bottom line really is 67. 907" (1:28:12); "we're going to be short our obligations" (1:35:01). The chair: "And we need approximately 93." (1:31:06). The $55,000 of fund balance is already counted as revenue for the coming year (1:30:13). O'Neill by phone: "you can't really do, a deficit appropriation" (1:35:20); cutting the SAU budget means "90% of it being salary and benefits" (1:36:15); "we have no mechanism to go to the taxpayers and raise any more money." (1:36:38). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:31:31 | Citizen's point of order | John: "if the money needed to be spent, it has to be on an agenda with an item next to it. So you can't, like, make a decision tonight" (1:31:31); "This board has always had a history of meeting about four times a year." (1:33:02). Nathan: "it is pretty clear we can't vote on anything tonight" (1:33:52). The board then votes to hold a meeting on June 28 (1:43:51). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:48:45 | Staff performance evaluation and merit pay | A 360-degree evaluation with self, supervisor and three peer reviews (1:50:53, 1:58:27); scores feed a merit pool the template "already presumes a 3% merit pool max" (2:09:55). Benware asks whether a score of one earns a raise (1:59:30). Lowe recalls the board's choice two years earlier to move from across-the-board raises to merit (2:09:13). Approved (2:10:51). | |
| 2:11:11 | New SAU 6 chair | Lowe: "I need to step down from this position." (2:11:11). Nominations of Zullo, Erickson and Petrin (2:15:58, 2:16:13, 2:16:33); Zullo declines (2:18:04). Lowe favors a Unity and a Claremont member in the two officer seats (2:17:29). The superintendent: "Okay, I counted six. And for Michael, raise your hand, please." (2:19:32); "Marjorie, congratulations." (2:19:39). Petrin stays vice chair (2:20:11). | OBSERVATION |
| 2:20:23 | Meeting dates and a retreat | "the reality is we need a quorum of seven" (2:21:08). The chair suggests a retreat "does not need to be open to the public" (2:22:20); the superintendent: "You can't have a closed meeting like that unless you can cite an essay. Because school board meetings are meetings in the public." (2:22:45; "essay" is the transcript's rendering of RSA). Retreat set for Sunday, July 29, 10 a.m. (2:27:05). | POSITIVE |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer's aid, not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each one names the rule it rests on, as that rule read on June 14, 2018, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting survive in any district share
MAP.md records no Drive material for this meeting: the district's shares hold no year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023. This meeting entered a nonpublic session on the superintendent's departure, named an acting superintendent, adopted a staff merit system and elected a new chair; the recording is now the only public account, and the nonpublic session is not on it. Some of what the minutes would fix is unclear on tape: the clerk's roll calls do not audibly call every member present (0:12:25, 0:15:33), the chair-election seconds are attributed inconsistently, and the motion on the separation costs was restated by the chair in different words from the mover's (1:39:17, 1:43:27).
RSA 91-A:2, II, in the text in force throughout 2018, required minutes with "the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions", open to public inspection not more than five business days after the meeting. This page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule because the record shows minutes being kept: the board amended and approved its May 10 minutes at this meeting (0:01:12, 0:04:01), and Erickson took the nonpublic minutes (0:14:24). What is missing is a surviving public copy. A search of later SAU 6 packets was not made, because no SAU 6 share reaches back before 2022.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification; text in force Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2018)
MEDIUM Nonpublic minutes sealed for 99 years with no statutory reason stated, on this night and on May 10
Horsky moved "to seal the nonpublic sessions minutes for 99 years." (0:15:00); Pierce seconded and the roll call followed (0:15:33-0:15:57). No one stated why the minutes should be withheld. The same was true, as read into the record, of the May 10 session: "a motion was made to seal the minutes for 99 years" (0:02:18), passed nine to none with one abstention (0:02:47). The nonpublic decision itself was announced in public (0:16:21), but the board's chair also described "the agreement that we made tonight with Middleton" as a cost the SAU must fund (1:27:12), and its terms are within what was sealed.
RSA 91-A:3, III, in the text in force in 2018, requires minutes and decisions of a nonpublic session to be disclosed within 72 hours unless the body, "by recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present taken in public session", determines that divulging them would likely affect the reputation of a non-member, render a proposed action ineffective, or pertain to terrorism; the information may then be withheld "until, in the opinion of a majority of members, the aforesaid circumstances no longer apply". The roll-call votes satisfy the two-thirds and public-session requirements. What the recording does not show is the determination itself, and a fixed 99-year term is not the statute's measure. The minutes of the session may record a determination that the recording does not; they do not survive (flag 1). This is a documentation gap, not a finding that the seal was unjustified.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), I(c), II(a) and III (2017 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; 280:1)
OBSERVATION Obligations agreed in nonpublic exceed the SAU's projected fund balance, and the fund balance was already committed to next year's budget
SAU staff told the board the projected fund balance was $67,907 and that "we're going to be short our obligations" (1:28:12, 1:35:01); the chair put the need at "approximately 93" before July 1 (1:31:06). The business administrator said by phone that "you can't really do, a deficit appropriation" and that the $55,000 of fund balance had been counted as revenue to hold down the districts' assessments for the coming year, so using it now would require cuts in a budget that is about "90% of it being salary and benefits" (1:35:20, 1:36:55, 1:36:15). He also said no meeting or vote was needed to spend it (1:36:15). A citizen disagreed (1:31:31), and the board voted to hold a meeting on June 28 on allocating the $55,000 (1:43:51).
RSA 194-C:9, I has the SAU board adopt its budget before January 1 and apportion it among the member districts, and RSA 194-C:5, III has the board fix the salaries of SAU personnel. Neither the recording nor any surviving document shows the amounts owed under the separation agreement or the authority under which they would be paid. The figures here are as stated aloud; the June 28 meeting (recording 9876) is where the funding question was to be decided.
Sources: RSA 194-C:9, I (2017 codification; source 1996, 298:3; 2003, 279:1); RSA 194-C:5, III (1996, 298:3; never amended)
OBSERVATION Three points of SAU law the transition touched: the superintendent office, the acting superintendent's pay, and the chair's mid-year replacement
The office. A member said "It's a legal requirement to have a superintendent." (0:31:59). RSA 194-C:5, II(a) says the opposite of the office: "School districts shall not be required to have a superintendent and may assign these services to one or more administrative personnel". What the law requires is that the SAU provide superintendent services, which is what the board arranged by naming an acting superintendent the same night.
The pay. The board named Cory LeClair acting superintendent with "details to be ironed out by the chairs of the Claremont and Unity School Board" (0:49:02), after the chair said compensation would need to be worked out (0:39:41). RSA 194-C:5, III provides that the SAU board "shall fix the salaries of all school administrative unit personnel". A member asked that the chairs bring the terms back for the board's agreement (0:47:02); the motion as passed does not say so. Whether the terms returned to the full board is a question for the June 28 and later records.
The chair. RSA 194-C:5, I has the SAU board meet between April 1 and June 1 each year and "organize by choosing a chairperson, a secretary, and a treasurer". Tonight's election replaced a chair who stepped down mid-term (2:11:11); the statute does not address that case, and nothing in the record suggests the election was improper. The 6-4 hand count (2:19:32, 2:19:39) was taken without a weighted vote, which RSA 194-C:8 reserves for “the demand of a majority of the members of any board present and voting”; none was made.
Sources: RSA 194-C:5, I, II(a) and III (1996, 298:3; never amended); RSA 194-C:8 (weighted voting on demand; 1996, 298:3)
POSITIVE The board corrected its own nonpublic procedure on the floor and was told plainly that a retreat must be open
Before entering nonpublic the board amended the agenda's citation from II(c) to II(a), the employee-specific exemption, and had the text read aloud when a member asked for it (0:04:16, 0:06:56). When the chair first took a voice vote on the motion, a member asked "Shouldn't that be call?" and the vote was retaken by roll call (0:12:14, 0:12:16). The clerk would not let the seal vote proceed until the exit from nonpublic was put on the record (0:14:14). Later the superintendent told the board that a retreat of its members is a meeting that must be open unless an exemption is cited (2:22:45), and the chair reminded members that anyone joining by phone must say in advance why (1:24:21). These match RSA 91-A:3, I(b) (motion stating the exemption, roll call), RSA 91-A:2, I (a meeting is the convening of a quorum to discuss the body's business) and RSA 91-A:2, III(a) (remote participation only when attendance is not reasonably practical, with the reason stated in the minutes). Flag 2 notes the step the board did not take.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) (2017 codification); RSA 91-A:2, I and III(a) (2017 codification)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: SAU 6 SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 6-14 (show 9853; the Cablecast API returned 403 to this environment on 2026-10-02, so the run time is taken from the last dialogue row, 2:28:54)
- Google Drive: no packet folder, agenda or minutes. MAP.md: "neither share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023 (checked 9/26/26)." Not searched again for this page, per the run instructions for meetings with no Drive material.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/9853 SAU6061418.mp4.CSV (1,254 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9853 SAU6061418.mp4Input/Transcripts/9853 SAU6061418.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 70Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9853 SAU6061418.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)Scripts/csv_corrections_2015_2023.md (corrections ledger; entries for rows 417, 425, 431, 580 and 617)Scripts/roster_2015_2023.md (board and staff roster)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, I, II and III(a), 2017 codification (source note ends 2017, 165:1 and 234:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2018; next amended 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019): meeting defined, minutes content and inspection, remote participation; no mover/seconder requirement in 2018
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), I(c), II(a) and III, 2017 codification (source note ends 2016, 30:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; 280:1): nonpublic motion and roll call, scope, employee exemption, 72-hour disclosure and sealing
- RSA 194-C:5, I, II(a) and III (1996, 298:3; never amended): SAU board organization, superintendent services, salaries and removal
- RSA 194-C:8 (1996, 298:3): weighted votes only on demand of a majority present
- RSA 194-C:9, I, 2017 codification (source 1996, 298:3; 2003, 279:1): SAU budget adopted before January 1 and apportioned