Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Spellings follow the project's 2015-2023 roster where the transcript garbles a name; there are no minutes to check spellings against. Speaker labels come from the dialogue file and its attribution report.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Marjorie (Marge) Erickson | Chair, SAU 6 Board (Unity) | Calls the roll; nominates Pfeifer "on behalf of the interim Intendant search committee, contingent upon successful negotiations" (0:10:58); moves to seal the nonpublic minutes (0:07:41); plans the July 29 retreat. |
| Jason Benware | Member (Claremont) | Abstains on the July 12 minutes, "I abstained, I wasn't here, so." (0:05:24); moves the Pfeifer nomination (0:11:18); seconds the seal motion. |
| Steven Horsky | Member (Claremont) | Moves the nonpublic session "per say 91, a three paragraph two, section A and B." [RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and (b)] (0:05:58); clarifies his remark recorded in the July 12 minutes (0:03:37). |
| Michelle Pierce | Member (Claremont); SAU 6 treasurer | Seconds the nomination (0:11:29); thanks Pfeifer; asks whether the press release must come back for a vote (0:36:09). |
| Frank Sprague | Member; chair of the Claremont School Board | Answers the roll and both roll calls; no other speech attributed. |
| Carolyn Towle | Member (Claremont) | Asks Pfeifer to help with the school-funding effort (0:19:00 to 0:19:43). |
| Rebecca Zullo | Member; vice chair of the Claremont School Board | "Hi, my name is Rebecca and I just wanted to say thank you for considering Claremont." (0:17:55). |
| Sara Lowe | Member; chair of the Unity School Board (Unity) | Answers the roll; no speech attributed. |
| Michael Petrin | Member (Claremont); SAU 6 vice chair | Called at roll; no answer or speech captured. |
| Craig (surname not established) | Member (Unity) | "Shoot is not here." (0:06:43). Absent. |
| Bob McDevitt | Member (Unity) | Called at roll ("Bob. Debit."); no answer captured. |
| Prudence McCormick | Member (Unity) | Not called at roll and not heard. |
| Dr. Keith Pfeifer | Interim superintendent nominee | Introduces himself: "Simply 45 years in public education." (0:12:02); approved contingent on negotiations. Transcribed "Doctor Pfeiffer" and Doctor Fifer. |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant superintendent, acting superintendent | Reports on the August 14 school-funding forum, the audits and hiring; several of her rows sit in the chair's cluster and are assigned on content. |
| Mary Woodman | Recording secretary (staff) | Out of the room during the first roll call; "Mary's back." (0:07:12) to take the nonpublic minutes. |
| Unidentified | Various | 50 of 339 dialogue rows (14.7%), including the member who moved the minutes and read the nonpublic roll call. The chair: "I see no citizens" (0:05:33). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives, though the chair says "You have the agenda. We do have a non public that's listed." (0:01:47). The list below is reconstructed from the chair's transitions.
| Taken up | Item | What was said and done |
|---|
| 0:00:44 | Call to order; Pledge of Allegiance; roll call | See Board composition. |
| 0:01:47 | Agenda | "I move, we accept the agenda as presented." (0:01:58); second; "The agenda is accepted." (0:02:04). |
| 0:02:04 | Minutes of July 12, 2018 | Corrections handed to the secretary, including Horsky's remark; motion to accept "as amended" (0:05:04), second Horsky; voice vote; Benware abstains (0:05:24). |
| 0:05:33 | Citizens' comments | None. |
| 0:05:58 | Nonpublic session, RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and (b) | Horsky's motion; second; roll call (0:06:08 to 0:06:54). The session is not recorded. |
| 0:07:41 | Sealing the nonpublic minutes | The chair moves to seal "the minutes of the non public meeting" "For ten years." (0:07:48); Benware seconds; roll call begins (0:08:41) and is not captured in full. |
| 0:09:17 | Interim superintendent search: nomination | Benware moves to "accept Marjorie's nomination of Doctor Pfeiffer for the position of interim superintendent, contingent upon successful negotiations." (0:11:18); second Pierce; voice vote, no opposition or abstention heard (0:21:46). |
| 0:22:47 | Board self-evaluation questionnaire | Five returned; the rest due by the retreat. |
| 0:24:27 | Superintendent evaluation process | Held for the retreat. |
| 0:26:31 | School funding forum, August 14 | Logistics; discussion only. |
| 0:30:13 | Retreat planning | July 29 retreat; members to bring their priorities. |
| 0:34:34 | Other business: press release; assistant superintendent's update | A second press release to follow completed negotiations; audits and hiring update. |
| 0:43:10 | Next meeting, August 23 | School Boards Association presenters on the superintendent search and a nonpublic session. |
| 0:44:43 | Adjournment | Motion (0:44:43); voice vote (0:44:57). |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/9928 SAU6072618.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording. Quotations are as transcribed; bracketed words are corrections, with the transcript's wording kept where the correction changes sense.
Chronological topics with the most concrete material first.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:02:04 | July 12 minutes | The chair: the minutes "were posted online a while ago. I know that's where I found them." She corrects the record of Horsky's remark; Horsky: "it was basically saying that we haven't worked in unison and we need to come together." (0:03:37). | MEDIUM |
| 0:05:58 | Into nonpublic | Horsky: "I'll make a motion to go in nonpublic session per say 91, a three paragraph two, section A and B." The chair: "Or do we need a roll call? We need a roll call." (0:06:08). Yes answers follow from Benware, Horsky, Pierce, Sprague and others; "Shoot is not here." The chair asks "Would somebody take minutes for this" until the secretary returns (0:06:59, 0:07:12). | POS |
| 0:07:41 | Sealing the minutes | The chair: "I'm going to make a motion. You're standing [sealing] the minutes of the non public meeting." and "For ten years." Benware: "11. I second." (0:07:51). Roll call: Jason. Yes; See? [Steve] Yes; "Greg. Yes." [Frank Sprague] (0:08:50); the remaining answers are not captured before "We all set? Yes. Good. Moving on." (0:09:17). | MEDIUM |
| 0:09:17 | Interim superintendent nomination | The chair: "After reviewing 16 applications for this position of interim superintendent, using the criteria that we all adopted in the June 28th meeting, the interim search committee made the decision to interview three candidates." Interviews "took place between July 13th and the 17th" (0:09:55). Pfeifer "holds a doctorate in education from Pennsylvania State University" and "His superintendent certification is in the state of New Hampshire, is current" (0:10:28). | POS |
| 0:11:54 | Pfeifer introduces himself | "Simply 45 years in public education." He lists posts in Maine and New Hampshire districts, including superintendent at Sanborn and later Littleton (0:15:37, 0:16:06). On Claremont: "I know that there are certainly financial issues here." (0:18:14). Towle asks for his help on the school-funding cause; he refers to the lawyer who argued the Claremont case, transcribed "Andrew Wallenstein" (0:19:52). | |
| 0:21:31 | Vote | "All those in favor say aye." Aye. "Any opposed? Any abstentions? Well, contingent on successful negotiations. Congratulations." (0:21:46). The salary had been set on July 12 (see the July 12, 2018 page). | POS |
| 0:22:47 | Self-evaluation and superintendent evaluation | Five questionnaires returned (0:24:18). On the evaluation process the chair: "I will be honest, I have done nothing with this other than I wrote it" (0:24:27); held for the retreat. | |
| 0:26:45 | School-funding forum | LeClair has sent the August 14 Newport forum notice to all SAU staff and students, the Chamber of Commerce and the city's list (0:26:58); "Cindy Gallagher is really taking the lead on this" (0:29:01). Members are to contact state representatives. | |
| 0:30:13 | Retreat | The chair asks members to bring "your reason why" and "your priorities" (0:30:39) to start on core values and goals. LeClair: "I have only heard from, Bob McDevitt that he will not be there." (0:33:51). | |
| 0:34:34 | Second press release | A release to follow "when the negotiations are complete" (0:34:34). Pierce: "So, does it have to come back and be voted on here?" The chair: "No, I don't think so." (0:36:12). | |
| 0:37:03 | Audits | LeClair: "with the ten that we're outstanding in November, six of them are completed" and each completed audit "includes a letter to the school board." (0:37:03). She wants to discuss "The letters of June 28th and such" at the September meeting because the business administrator is absent (0:37:34, 0:38:01). "there's four different entities. Cornish is still involved in this." (0:38:01, 0:38:25). | OBS |
| 0:38:50 | Hiring | "we had 26 positions hired. We had 68 vacancies" that morning; "I think we're about 71 vacancies" (0:39:17), including three special education positions at Maple Avenue with "zero applicants". It is "68 total vacancies. That's everything." (0:41:08). | |
| 0:43:10 | August 23 agenda | School Boards Association presenters on the superintendent search and a nonpublic session; fall budget and committee dates to be set. The chair on agenda footnotes: "because the SAS are publicly available." [RSAs] (0:44:26). | |
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 July 26, 2018, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting, public or nonpublic, survive in any district share
MAP.md records no Drive material for this SAU 6 meeting: neither share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023. The board approved an interim superintendent at this meeting, and the recording is the only public account. RSA 91-A:2, II, as in force throughout 2018, required minutes including "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 5 business days after the meeting". This page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule because the record mitigates the gap: the chair says the previous meeting's minutes "were posted online a while ago" (0:02:04), so the SAU was producing and publishing minutes at the time; members have the agenda (0:01:47); and the secretary returns to take the nonpublic minutes (0:07:12). What is missing is the surviving copy, not evidence that minutes were never kept.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification; the text in force for all of 2018)
MEDIUM The nonpublic minutes were sealed "For ten years" with no statutory finding stated and a roll call that cannot be checked
The chair moved to seal "the minutes of the non public meeting" (0:07:41) "For ten years." (0:07:48); Benware seconded, and a roll call began (0:08:41 to 0:08:50). No reason was stated on the recording. RSA 91-A:3, III, as in force in 2018, requires nonpublic minutes and decisions 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 disclosure would likely affect adversely the reputation of a person other than a member, render the 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". Two things in the motion as heard do not fit that text. It states none of the three determinations, and it fixes a ten-year term where the 2018 statute ties the seal to the circumstances (the ten-year review rule of RSA 91-A:3, IV did not exist until October 3, 2023). The roll call is captured only for three members before the chair moves on (0:09:17), so the two-thirds vote cannot be confirmed from the recording. A determination may have been understood: the session concerned a hire still under negotiation, and "render the proposed action ineffective" would fit. The page grades this MEDIUM because the finding the statute requires is not on the record, and the sealed minutes, if they survive, cannot be checked against it.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and III (2017 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; 280:1)
OBSERVATION Ten audits across four entities were outstanding in November; four remained, and the auditors' June 28 letters had not yet reached the board for discussion
The assistant superintendent reported that "with the ten that we're outstanding in November, six of them are completed" (0:37:03), across "four different entities", Cornish, the SAU, Claremont and Unity (0:38:01, 0:38:25); completed audits each include "a letter to the school board", and she proposed to discuss "The letters of June 28th and such" in September (0:37:34, 0:38:01). On June 28 the business administrator had said the SAU's own 2016-17 audit had just been received (see the June 28, 2018 page). The recording does not say which entities and fiscal years the four remaining audits covered. Where an entity spent $750,000 or more in federal awards in a year, 2 CFR 200.501(a) required a single audit, and 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1) required the reporting package "within the earlier of 30 calendar days after receipt of the auditor's report(s), or nine months after the end of the audit period"; for a fiscal year ending June 30, 2017 that is March 31, 2018. Without knowing which audits were open, this page cannot say any deadline was missed, so the point is an observation. The Federal Audit Clearinghouse submission dates for Claremont, Unity and SAU 6 would settle it.
Sources: 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1) (2018 annual CFR edition); 2 CFR 200.501(a) (2018 annual CFR edition; $750,000 threshold)
POSITIVE The interim superintendent was nominated, introduced, questioned and approved in public, after a nonpublic session entered on a stated exemption and a roll call
The board went into nonpublic session on a motion naming RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and (b) and held a roll call, as RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires (0:05:58, 0:06:08). It then returned to public session for the decision: the chair summarized the search, the 16 applications, the three interviews and the candidate's certification (0:09:17 to 0:10:58); the candidate spoke for several minutes and took members' comments (0:11:54 to 0:21:02); and the nomination was moved, seconded and voted in public (0:11:18, 0:21:46). RSA 91-A:3, II(b) would have allowed the board to consider "The hiring of any person as a public employee" in nonpublic session; bringing the finalist before the public and the cameras before the vote goes beyond what the statute requires.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and II(a), II(b) (2017 codification)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: SAU 6 SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 7-26 (show 9928; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, the API returned 403 to the build environment on 2026-10-02)
- Google Drive: no packet folder, agenda or minutes, public or nonpublic. 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.
- Related pages: SAU 6 Board, June 28, 2018 (criteria and committee) and SAU 6 Board, July 12, 2018 (salary).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/9928 SAU6072618.mp4.CSV (339 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9928 SAU6072618.mp4Input/Transcripts/9928 SAU6072618.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 76Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9928 SAU6072618.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, II, 2017 codification (in force Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2018): notice, minutes content and five-business-day inspection
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a), II(b) and III, 2017 codification: nonpublic motion and roll call; employee and hiring exemptions; 72-hour disclosure unless sealed by a recorded two-thirds vote with a determination
- 2 CFR 200.501(a) and 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1), 2018 annual CFR edition: single-audit threshold and reporting deadline