Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Names follow the clerk's roll calls, the speakers' own introductions, how members address each other, and the project's 2015-2023 roster and attribution report; there are no minutes to check spellings against.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Marjorie Erickson | Chair, SAU 6 Board (Unity) | Runs the meeting from 0:01:02; the NHSBA director will send his recommendations "to you in Marjorie chair to distribute to the rest of the board" (1:23:24). Favors "a community based committee and not a school board based committee" (0:51:07) and cites concern about "the transparency of our board" (0:55:14); signs the search contract that night (1:18:18); votes no on tabling strategic planning (1:57:11). Answers the roll as "Margie Erickson" and "Andrew. Erickson" (0:00:40, 1:17:29). |
| Sara Lowe | Member (Unity) | Asks how to handle community expectations if the board keeps the search in-house (0:59:04); says the board "should follow their recommendations" (1:10:04); distinguishes the SAU's strategic plan from the districts' and lists the retreat goals (1:43:57, 1:44:57); votes no on tabling (1:57:11). |
| Frank Sprague | Member (Claremont; Claremont board chair) | Moves the agenda and the July 26 and July 29 minutes (0:01:15, 0:02:54); calls professional guidance on the search "just sound judgment" (1:11:24); abstains on tabling strategic planning (1:57:27). |
| Rebecca Zullo | Member (Claremont; Claremont vice chair) | Seconds the minutes (0:02:59); likes the storytelling interview method (0:47:00); now favors following the consultants' committee advice (1:25:59). |
| Jason Benware | Member (Claremont) | Moves to sign the NHSBA letter of agreement (1:07:26); proposes a community forum on goals and a board-and-administration selection committee (1:21:27); seconds the tabling motion (1:56:53). |
| Steven Horsky | Member (Claremont) | Arrives late (1:12:53); asks for a fee schedule in the contract (1:12:53, 1:13:53) and abstains (1:17:15); argues against community members on the committee (0:57:12); wants strategic planning started now (1:41:16); notes the board is "one shy of corn [quorum]" (1:48:34); moves the nonpublic session (1:58:06). |
| Michelle Pierce | Member (Claremont) | "the community voted us to come here to make these decisions" (0:54:32); asks about the cost of NHSBA-run community forums (1:02:30, 1:04:29); moves to table strategic planning, restated after the recess as "until our January meeting" (1:41:01, 1:56:41). |
| Carolyn Towle | Member (Claremont) | Asks about the board's attendance rules (0:03:32); questions the contract's guarantee and the ten-cent copy charge (0:45:06, 1:07:41); offers to help publicize the SAU budget hearing (1:36:01). |
| Michael Petrin | Member (Claremont) | Answers the opening roll (0:00:39); urges the board to "take their expertise and let them lead the way" (1:01:24); seconds the contract motion (1:07:34); asks the mover of the tabling motion to say until when (1:45:51). |
| Prudence McCormick, Bob McDevitt, Craig (surname unresolved) | Members (Unity) | Absent: "Prudence. Bob McDevitt and Craig Shooter. Not here." (1:17:29); "Prudence McCormick. McDevitt and Craig are all absent." (1:58:44). |
| Keith Pfeifer | Interim Superintendent, SAU 6 | Says attendance is "more of an individual Claremont Board unity board item" (0:04:05, attribution uncertain); vouches for the NHSBA consultant's method from his own experience (0:50:41); offers to support strategic planning (1:39:50). |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator, SAU 6 | Presents the SAU budget calendar under RSA 194-C:9 (1:32:25 to 1:37:13); says the search cost was considered "as part of the fund balance projection" in June (1:15:42). Surname from the project roster. |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk (recording secretary) | Calls the opening roll (0:00:38), the contract roll call (1:17:06) and the nonpublic roll call (1:58:23); helps restate the tabling motion (1:48:46). |
| Barrett Christina | Executive Director, New Hampshire School Boards Association | "My name is Barrett Christina. I'm executive director of the New Hampshire School Boards Association." (0:06:08). On the market: "we're lucky if we get 10 or 15 qualified." (0:08:59); recommends a committee of "nine at the most" with "a majority of board members" (0:52:10); explains the $12,000 fee covers "at least two rounds" (0:44:44). |
| Bill (surname not resolved) | NHSBA consultant; co-founder, Center for Secondary School Redesign | "I'm the co-founder of the center for Secondary School Redesign." (0:10:23). Presents the competency criteria and "guided storytelling" interviews (0:16:47 to 0:42:50); quotes "$1,000 for every day, extra day" for added services (1:04:31). |
| Alan (surname not resolved) | NHSBA consultant; former director, New Hampshire special education administrators' association | Describes being hired through the same process as a former client (0:13:50, 0:49:31). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
The board had an agenda and packet ("You have the agenda before you", 0:01:02; minutes "mailed out with the packet", 0:01:27), but neither survives in the district's shares. Items are reconstructed from the chair's transitions; the chair refers to the strategic plan as item C (1:58:01).
| Taken up | Item | What was said and done |
|---|
| 0:00:06 | Pledge of Allegiance; roll call | The clerk's roll (0:00:38, 0:00:40) as transcribed names Petrin, Pierce, Sprague, Towle, Zullo, Erickson and Lowe present; the three Unity absentees' names follow without answers. |
| 0:01:02 | Agenda | Sprague: "Make a motion that we accept the agenda as presented." (0:01:15); seconded (0:01:19); voice vote (0:01:27). |
| 0:01:27 | Minutes of July 26 and July 29, 2018 | The chair will e-mail typo corrections to the clerk (0:01:45). Sprague moves (0:02:54), Zullo seconds (0:02:59); voice vote (0:03:06, 0:03:13). |
| 0:03:20 | Citizens' comments | "Are there any citizens who wish to speak?" None. |
| 0:03:32 | Member question: attendance | Towle asks how many absences are allowed; the chair will circulate a reminder and "if it continues, maybe we need to take it up as an agenda item." (0:05:15). |
| 0:05:27 | Discussion and action: NHSBA superintendent search services | Presentation by Barrett Christina and consultants Bill and Alan. Benware moves "that we signed this letter of agreement for Superintendent search services" (1:07:26); Petrin seconds (1:07:34). Roll call (1:17:06 to 1:17:29): yes Benware, Petrin, Pierce, Sprague, Towle, Zullo, Erickson, Lowe; Horsky abstains; McCormick, McDevitt and Craig absent. Passed 8-0-1. The chair signs that night (1:18:18). |
| 1:17:47 | Search committee makeup | Discussed without a decision; the NHSBA director will e-mail pros and cons and the board will decide on September 13 (1:31:21). |
| 1:32:09 | SAU budget schedule | First look September 13; approval for publication October 18; public hearing corrected from November 9 to November 8 (1:32:55, 1:33:23, 1:34:18). No vote. |
| 1:37:21 | Item C: strategic plan | Pierce moves to table (1:41:01), Benware seconds (1:41:05). After a recess (1:49:51) the motion is restated "to table the strategic action plan until our January meeting" (1:56:41), seconded again by Benware (1:56:53). Voice vote, then a count: "Five. Yes. Three. No. One. Abstention." (1:57:47). No votes Horsky, Erickson, Lowe; Sprague abstains (1:57:11, 1:57:29). |
| 1:58:01 | Nonpublic session | Horsky: "I would like to make a motion to go into nonpublic session for RSA 91, a three paragraph, two section a second." (1:58:06). Roll call, all nine present yes (1:58:23 to 1:58:44). "And we are in nonpublic." (1:58:50). |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/9974 SAU6082318.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 |
|---|
| 0:01:27 | Minutes of July 26 and July 29 | The chair: "I hope you've all had a chance to look at the minutes from July 26th and July 29th that were mailed out with the packet". The July 26 meeting is in the corpus; no recording or MAP.md section exists for a July 29 session. | MEDIUM |
| 0:03:32 | Attendance of members | Towle: "How many times is a board member supposed to be missing from meetings? In my mind, I thought it was three." The chair: "we have several members that have not made it" (0:04:42). Towle: "I think it's imperative that we start looking at the policies and reminding them what the policies are." (0:04:55). | OBS |
| 0:06:08 | NHSBA: the superintendent market | Christina: NHSBA does "anywhere between 4 to 6" searches a year (0:07:33); "15 or 20 years ago, you could post an ad in the union leader, the Boston Globe" and get "20, 25, 30 applicants"; now "we're lucky if we get 10 or 15 qualified." (0:08:39, 0:08:59). | |
| 0:16:47 | Criteria: roles, competencies, leadership style | Bill: "This is a list of about 65 different roles that educators can play." (0:18:17); the competency library lists "100 and. 15 different competencies" (0:19:56); a "half day session" with the committee sets measurable criteria (0:19:23). | |
| 0:26:52 | Interview method: "guided storytelling" | After going around the table for members' favorite interview questions, Bill: "Asking that has no predictive validity in any fashion as to how they will perform." (0:28:13). Finalists get "a 2 to 3 hour interview" (0:32:53), recorded by Zoom so "we sit there and we score it against the criteria." (0:38:19). He adds that panels "really only work from a political point of view." (0:37:22). | OBS |
| 0:44:11 | Fee and guarantee | Christina: "the $12,000 fee is for at least two rounds" plus mileage and photocopies (0:44:44). Towle asks for a guaranteed outcome; Christina: "I won't I won't guarantee the outcome." (0:45:53). Bill's last search, at Littleton, "took three rounds" (0:46:14). | OBS |
| 0:51:07 | Who sits on the search committee | The chair wants "a community based committee". Christina: "maybe nine at the most" and "a majority of board members on the committee" (0:52:10); the chair: "That's not going to go over because." (0:52:22). Pierce: "the community voted us to come here to make these decisions." (0:54:32). The chair: "I've also been approached by folks that are concerned at the transparency of our board" (0:55:14). Horsky: people asking to serve "are typically affluent and more powerful people in the community" (0:57:12). | OBS |
| 1:00:14 | Ways to involve the public | Christina suggests online surveys, an e-mail account or public forums in Unity and Claremont (1:00:14). Bill: NHSBA-run forums cost "$1,000 for every day, extra day." (1:04:31); the board can run its own forums with free guidance (1:06:57). | |
| 1:07:26 | Contract approved 8-0-1 | Towle: "I noticed that you have $0.10 a copy on there." (1:07:41). Horsky, abstaining, wants a fee schedule: "I think we should have a clear and concise contract that we're signing." (1:12:53). O'Neill: "We looked at this as part of the fund balance projection." (1:15:42). The chair notes advertising costs are separate (1:16:01). Roll call at 1:17:06; the chair signs (1:18:18). | OBS |
| 1:21:27 | Committee makeup deferred | Benware: a community forum on goals, then "a subcommittee from the board and some administration" (1:21:27). Christina on staff-heavy committees: "the staff is picking your next superintendent" (1:24:42). Bill has opened candidate videos "to anybody who wanted to do it, to watch" with scoring guidelines (1:26:27). Decision set for September 13 (1:31:21). | OBS |
| 1:32:25 | SAU budget calendar | O'Neill: "RSA 194 C9" requires the SAU board to adopt its budget "a meeting held before January 1st" (1:32:25). Schedule: first look September 13 (1:32:55); approval for publication October 18 (1:33:23); public hearing "November 9th, 2018" (1:33:53). The chair: "November 9th is a Friday. So should it be November 8th?" (1:34:18). Notice runs "between 21 and 14 days before the meeting" (1:36:30). In O'Neill's account wages are 90 percent of the budget (1:35:21). | POSITIVE |
| 1:35:51 | Turnout at the SAU budget hearing | Towle offers to help publicize it. The chair: "I think last year there was two members from the public." (1:36:51); O'Neill: "That might be overestimating." (1:37:04). | POSITIVE |
| 1:37:21 | Strategic plan | The chair reports advice to "hold off on a strategic plan" until a new superintendent is in place. Lowe: "the s a strategic plan is very different from Unity or Claremont School Plan" and lists the retreat goals, including "completed annual evaluation of the superintendent" (1:43:57, 1:44:57). Horsky: "if we stall that now, we're talking about a year or more" (1:41:40). | |
| 1:45:51 | Wording of the tabling motion; recess | Petrin: "I can't vote on a motion for just table that I need to." (1:46:50). With members out of the room, Horsky: "For one shy of corn." (1:48:34). The chair proposes a recess; Sprague says a headcount will do (1:49:24, 1:49:31); voice vote (1:49:48). Resumed at 1:56:31. | OBS |
| 1:56:41 | Strategic plan tabled to January | Pierce: "I would like to make the motion to table the strategic action plan until our January meeting." Counted "Five. Yes. Three. No. One. Abstention." (1:57:47). | |
| 1:58:06 | Into nonpublic session | Motion "for RSA 91, a three paragraph, two section a second." The words "two section a" plausibly read as paragraph II(a), the employee-matters exemption, with "a second" running on; the transcript does not settle it. Roll call: every member present answers yes (1:58:23 to 1:58:44). | |
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 August 23, 2018, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM No agenda, packet or minutes survive for this meeting, and the July 29 session it approved minutes for is outside the record
MAP.md records no Drive material: the district's shares hold no year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023. The recording shows an agenda and a packet (0:01:02, 0:01:27) and minutes kept by the clerk: the board approves "the minutes from July 26th and July 29th" (0:01:27, 0:02:54). The July 26 meeting has a recording in the corpus; nothing else survives for a July 29 session, which the chair's later references to "the retreat" and its goals (1:37:21, 1:44:57) suggest was the board's retreat. This meeting ends in a nonpublic session whose minutes RSA 91-A:3, III required to be disclosed within 72 hours unless sealed by a recorded two-thirds vote in public session; the recording ends before any return.
RSA 91-A:2, II, in the text in force for 2018, required minutes with the names of members and persons appearing, the subjects discussed and final decisions, open to inspection "not more than 5 business days after the meeting"; II-b, in force from January 1, 2018, required a body with a website to post approved minutes there or a notice of where to find them. This page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule: the record shows minutes were taken and approved, and the gap is that no copy survives in the district's shares. Under the project's method, an SAU 6 negative would normally require a two-stage search of later packets; none exists for 2018, because the shares begin in 2022.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II and II-b (2017 codification; the text in force for 2018); RSA 91-A:3, III (2017 codification)
OBSERVATION Three of Unity's five members were absent as the SAU board hired a superintendent search firm
Both roll calls record Prudence McCormick, Bob McDevitt and Craig absent (1:17:29, 1:58:44), leaving Unity with two of its five seats, Erickson and Lowe, while all seven Claremont members voted. Towle opened the meeting by asking how many absences a member is allowed (0:03:32); the chair said "we have several members that have not made it" and that the matter could become an agenda item (0:04:42, 0:05:15).
No attendance rule was verified for this page. The SAU's voting rule is RSA 194-C:8: "Weighted votes shall only be used upon the demand of a majority of the members of any board present and voting", so a one-member-one-vote count stood here. The contract passed 8-0-1 and would have passed under either count; the point for a reviewer is that a decision binding both districts was made with one district barely represented.
Sources: RSA 194-C:8 (weighted voting on demand; 1996, 298:3)
OBSERVATION Whatever its makeup, the superintendent search committee will be a public body
The board debated a community committee against a board subcommittee (0:51:07 to 1:31:21) and deferred the choice to September 13. The method described has the committee set criteria in a half-day session (0:19:23), screen applications and telephone interviews (0:34:06), and score recorded finalist interviews as a group (0:38:19); Bill said he has let "anybody who wanted to" watch and score the videos (1:26:27).
RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) includes in the definition of a public body "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto". A search committee of the SAU board, advisory or not, therefore owes 24-hour notice and minutes under RSA 91-A:2, II. Candidate deliberation can be taken into nonpublic session under RSA 91-A:3, II(b), "The hiring of any person as a public employee", but only on a motion stating that exemption and a roll-call vote under I(b). None of this was discussed on the record; it is a reviewer's checklist for the September meetings.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (2019 codification; source note ends 2008, 354:1); RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification); RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and II(b) (2017 codification)
OBSERVATION The search contract was approved and signed the same night with its added costs left open
The $12,000 fee covers "at least two rounds" (0:44:44); extra services such as consultant-run forums or a leadership simulation are billed at "$1,000 for every day, extra day" (1:04:31, 1:09:01), and the contract's clause for "other expenses as agreed upon" (1:09:56) has no rate schedule. Advertising is separate (1:16:01) and copies are ten cents a page (1:07:41). Horsky asked that the rate be written in, "because today it's $1,000." and "Tomorrow it could be 1200." (1:13:53, 1:14:24), and abstained (1:17:15). The chair said the board could accept or refuse any estimate (1:13:41) and signed that evening (1:18:18). O'Neill said the cost had been weighed "as part of the fund balance projection" in June (1:15:42).
No rule this page verified requires bidding or a fee schedule for this kind of service contract. For a reviewer, the total cost of the search depends on choices the board had not yet made, chiefly the committee and forum format deferred to September 13.
Sources: Cablecast: SAU #6 SCHOOL BOARD MEETING of 8-23
OBSERVATION A recess was voted while, by a member's count, the board lacked a quorum
While the tabling motion was being reworded, two or more members were out of the room and Horsky said the board was "one shy of corn [quorum]" (1:48:34). The chair asked whether a recess needed a roll call; Sprague said a headcount would do (1:49:24, 1:49:31); a voice vote was taken (1:49:48) and the board resumed about six and a half minutes later (1:56:31), when the motion was restated and passed with nine members voting.
RSA 91-A:2, I defines a meeting as "the convening of a quorum of the membership of a public body". A body without a quorum present cannot act, though a recess decides nothing of substance. With twelve members and nine present, three absences from the room would leave six, one short of a majority, which matches Horsky's count. The business that followed was transacted with a quorum.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, I (2017 codification)
POSITIVE The SAU budget calendar includes a published budget and a public hearing that the statute does not require
O'Neill built the calendar back from RSA 194-C:9 (1:32:25): a first look on September 13, approval of a budget for publication on October 18, newspaper publication "between 21 and 14 days before" a public hearing, and final adoption after the hearing (1:32:55 to 1:36:39). The chair caught that the November 9 date fell on a Friday and moved it to November 8 (1:34:18); Towle offered to help publicize a hearing that last year drew perhaps two members of the public (1:36:01, 1:36:51).
RSA 194-C:9, I, as it read in 2018, requires only that "At a meeting held before January 1, the school administrative unit board shall adopt a budget", apportioned between the districts; it says nothing about publication or a hearing. Publishing the budget in summary and holding a hearing before adoption goes beyond the statutory minimum.
Sources: RSA 194-C:9, I (2017 codification; source note 1996, 298:3; 2003, 279:1)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: SAU #6 SCHOOL BOARD MEETING of 8-23 (show 9974; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, the API returned 403 on 2026-10-02)
- 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; the SAU 6 two-stage search has no 2018 folders to search.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/9974 SAU6082318.mp4.CSV (849 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9974 SAU6082318.mp4Input/Transcripts/9974 SAU6082318.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 79Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9974 SAU6082318.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), 2019 codification (source note ends 2008, 354:1, so in force in 2018): committees, subcommittees and advisory committees are public bodies
- RSA 91-A:2, I, II and II-b, 2017 codification (source note ends 2017, 165:1 and 234:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2018): meeting defined; notice; minutes; website posting of approved minutes
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(b) and III, 2017 codification (source note ends 2016, 30:1 and 280:1): nonpublic motion and roll call; hiring exemption; 72-hour disclosure
- RSA 194-C:8 (1996, 298:3): weighted voting in SAU boards only on demand
- RSA 194-C:9, I, 2017 codification (1996, 298:3; 2003, 279:1): SAU budget adopted at a meeting before January 1