| 0:00:33 | Reorganization: four minutes, three offices later filled to five | The superintendent opened the floor; Crawford nominated Hawkins; Sprague nominated Ruggeri; both carried on voice votes with no opposition and no abstentions recorded. Hawkins at 0:01:38: "We've become quite the team. Thank you. Folks, I really appreciate that." The treasurer and two voucher signers were not on the agenda at all; they were elected later in the evening, inside the audit item, once the auditor explained why the board needed them. | POSITIVE |
| 0:03:32 | The FY2022 draft arrives the afternoon of the meeting | Mary Henry, introducing the auditor: "we just FYI, we received fiscal year 22 audit today for review for saw. 2222. Yep. I just got it this afternoon from Mike, which is good. So I'm in the process of reviewing that and get it back out to them so that it can be through. And we'll get you guys a copy of the findings on that one, which they're all going to be the same, like Mike and I have talked to or spoken about, until we get to a point where I'm here and things are different." She had been in the job since July 1, 2023. | MEDIUM |
| 0:04:10 | Campo's opening: "we have a few years we have to get through" | "Sure. First of all, thank you. Thank you for having me. As the chairwoman said, I've. I've been doing this audit. I feel like this particular audit that that we just finished. I've been doing for quite a few years. I'm excited to have some stabilization in the in the finance department. One of the biggest challenges we've had is that we've had different renditions of the management team in place." At 0:04:35: "And with each change, there's the disconnect of some things as simple as where invoices kept, what, you know, what processes were in place. So I'm excited to have the opportunity with this engagement, to be able to see it from the start to the finish with the same people. We're obviously we have a few years we have to get through." | MEDIUM |
| 0:04:56 | Where each fiscal year actually stood, in his own words | FY2022: "I actually pushed pushed extra hard to make sure that draft got there before tonight's meeting for the 22 audit. And what that means to is that after Mary Henry is able to review it, she can provide any concerns, comments, feedback, and we can then get into the 23 audit. We want to make sure at least we're both comfortable with the numbers before we start any field work on 23." FY2023, at 0:05:22: "the goal is to be into 23 before the end of the month." FY2024, at 0:07:41: "I let I let your business administrator speak to that because we haven't actually looked at 24 yet." And the year then running, at 0:05:43: "I'm happy to either take questions or I can certainly go over some of the 2021 audit. But where we're looking at 2025 mere two months away, I don't know if that's what you want to do." | MEDIUM |
| 0:06:04 | The electronic signature nobody could identify | Hawkins: "Under the under the treasurer signing the check registers. It says an electronic signature is being used. And I know, Mary, we had talked about this in the early winter about having that corrected and, having our treasurer remember Bonnie was the treasurer, and you were going to talk with her about signing things." When she asked directly at 0:10:26 — "when you say the electronic signature, who is that person?" — the answer was: "I have to look and see what that electronic. Right now it's who's on the bank account. So I would have to look to see who that is." The mechanism, at 0:11:33: "It's an electronic signature. It's digital. It's scanned in and it's scanned in through Infinite Visions… I have it set so that the only signature you can use is that signature in the system." | MEDIUM |
| 0:06:36 | Campo on why an irregular board needs a treasurer more, not less | "you guys are a little bit unique because you don't necessarily meet on a regular basis, so that when you're dealing with the individual school district, you you're meeting at least on a monthly basis. So the treasurer and the board are able to see the manifest on a timely basis. So what we're saying here is that if the treasurer is not going to be able to sign, physically sign the checks in, the electronic signature is being used." His recommendation at 0:06:58: "At the very least, the treasurer should be reviewing the check registers to make sure that they're reasonable. It gives you that extra layer of oversight that the RSA is looking for… it's not even a case of the risk of theft. It just we all know that when we're, we're trying to get through a bunch of things, sometimes an error happens." He did not name a statute, and neither did the board. | MEDIUM |
| 0:08:01 | The board had no treasurer, and the vouchers were unreviewed | Hawkins: "So Bonnie has done that." Henry: "Oh Bonnie I'm sorry. No, it's not clear. Bonnie. That's right. Okay. Never mind. No Bonnie has not. So I need to get with Bonnie." Hawkins, at 0:08:08: "Is she? She's on the board. We we need a treasurer." Henry at 0:08:42: "prior to that, you know, our treasurer for Bonnie was actually coming in and looking at our stuff. But again, you guys should be looking at the vouchers as well. So, we need to implement that where you guys would get copies of those vouchers. I'm working on that with unity as well." Asked who "you guys" meant: "The board should review those." | MEDIUM |
| 0:09:21 | "if you don't document it, it didn't happen" | Campo's prescription: "designating at least two individuals to go in, see the actual manifest, review the invoices, make sure that they are lining up with what's on the manifest and then sign off." Then, at 0:09:41: "The big thing is signing off. I tell my staff if if you don't document it, it didn't happen. We hold our clients to the same. We can't just take somebody word that, oh yeah, we're looking at it. So as simple as an initial might sound, it's at least evidence that somebody actually put pen to paper and review that document." He accepted designees over the full board because "your board is not necessarily all in the same community, which makes it a little more challenging." | MEDIUM POSITIVE |
| 0:11:56 | Sprague on repeat findings: "we're talking 2021" | Sprague framed the question fairly: "the is the, repeat findings, right. I'm going to ask. I was to and I want to qualify that statement with saying we're talking 2021. So this doesn't affect this this administration at all. … But I'm hoping that when we get to 23, 24 that all of these repeat findings have have been resolved." Campo, at 0:12:35: "I'm fully in alignment with your desire to see these findings go away. I know you were writing findings, but at the same point, if I don't bring these to your attention, I'm not doing my job. The challenge here is that we're talking about four years ago when we look at this. And the problem is that some of these just continued because of the lack of continuity in the finance department." | MEDIUM |
| 0:12:57 | The one forward-looking warning: FY2022 will read the same | "I do think that with the conversations I've had with your current members of management, Mary and her team, they're committed to not only resolving these findings, but actually improving the environment beyond what they what is basically accepted. I think you're on the right track, but you. I mean, I'll tell you right now, your your governance letter and management letter are very similar in the 22 audit as well." Asked to confirm at 0:13:23: "Yeah. 22 audit." Hawkins pressed for reassurance — "So just to clarify, it will get better. These findings will go away." — and it was Henry, not Campo, who answered: "It's better already." Earlier, at 0:07:20, Campo had put the same point on a timeline: "even though it's carrying a 24 issuance date, this is going back to 21 and that you're probably going to see it in 23, I believe it's in 23 back. And then you'll probably, I think 24 when you start to see a fall off." | MEDIUM OBSERVATION |
| 0:13:55 | Stale-dated checks and a cash reconciliation done yearly | Whitney asked whether the stale-dated checks were significant. Campo: "I don't have the dollar amount in front of me, but, I mean, the fact that it's carrying over year to year is telling me that on an annual basis, you're adding more stale data [dated] checks. Anything over six, 6 to 9 months passed the issuance date. It gives you a really bad, bad, bad idea of where your cash stands". At 0:14:40: "one of the challenges that we've had is the lack of reconciliations in general. And I know when Mary's team went in there, it they took a lot of time on multiple districts just reconciling cash." And at 0:14:59: "That really should be done on the monthly basis. They were doing like a year's worth a year and a half worth." Henry's mitigation: "we have Laurie Morey has been going through those checks"; the amounts are "not big numbers in the South [SAU]… some of them were duplicate checks to where they just weren't voided." | MEDIUM |
| 0:15:43 | The auditor drops off — and the board fills the gap by electing officers | "Did we lose them?" Henry: "Google send them a Google meet." Sprague: "Scotty bringing them back?" Rather than wait, the chair used the interval: "So we can actually nominate while we're waiting to get Mr. Campo back. Maybe. Do we have a nomination for a treasurer from unity?" Ruggeri volunteered — "I'll do it" — and was elected at 0:16:40. Whitney then nominated Crawford as treasurer, Howard seconding ("My timid second"), carried at 0:17:00. Henry had to correct the count twice — "I need I need one treasurer… Two, two people to sign the the vouchers" — so Madden was nominated and elected at 0:17:45. Hawkins summed it up at 0:18:18: "So it'll be Rocco and Bill Madden. Those will be your other two signatures." | POSITIVE OBSERVATION |
| 0:19:29 | The deadline that governs everything: June 30, 2026 | Hawkins: "is Mr. Campo aware of the fact that unity will be leaving the saw as of June 26th? I have July 1st. Correct." Corrected to 2026, she went on at 0:19:52: "it would be helpful if we could have all the audits, and it sounds like it might happen so that as my family used to say, you put the bow on the package, it's all done." Henry: "And unity is up to 22 as well. So, yes, that is the plan. The game plan." When Campo reconnected the chair repeated the question at 0:20:26 — "we're optimistic and hopeful that all of the audits will be completed by then." No answer from Campo appears on the recording. The next voice is Henry's: "That's his goal as well." The draft minutes instead record "Mr. Campo said that is the plan" — see flag 6. | MEDIUM OBSERVATION |
| 0:21:37 | Crawford works the findings list one by one | Purchase orders: "I see purchase orders were not created or attached to invoices for cash disbursements. I hope that that is has been corrected by now." Henry: "Purchase orders are done and they're in the system, and then invoices are scanned in when we pay them… Nothing is ordered without a purchase order. And if it is, I'm not a happy camper. And I find out." Journal entries, at 0:22:02: "there are a number of journal entries that had to be reversed or changed. And my question to you, Mr. Campo, is to me, this seems unusual. Would you agree that this is unusual?" Henry's candid answer at 0:23:13: "there are times when we are busy and I will enter journal entries on my own and not have someone else enter them for me, because I've done a lot of the reconciliations. So. But I scan in all my backup for my journal entries." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:24:27 | Deposit records that could not be located | Crawford: "testing of cash receipts, supporting documentation for all deposits could not be located. What is the implication here?" Henry: "I can get copies of the checks from the bank, but if there was no other documentation or if there was other documentation that went with it, I would have to track that down." Campo, at 0:25:07: "The other issue here, the building also went through some major renovations, and I think some records were shifted. And frankly, I think some of them were lost." The fix, per Henry at 0:25:29: "Everything is scanned into our system. So deposits that are made are scanned in with the backup as well" — but "that started in 24 because I got here in July 1st of 23." | MEDIUM |
| 0:26:02 | Unclaimed grants, no cash, and a spreadsheet | On the finding that payments were not made timely, Henry gave the mechanism: "I got corrected in 24 because I had to go back and claim almost two years worth of grants to get the money in. We had cash flow issues. We were working off a spreadsheet." At 0:26:43: "even saw [SAU] was the same way. They weren't getting paid from Claremont in a timely manner or from unity in a timely manner for their fees, because Claremont or Unity hadn't gotten in their money yet either." And at 0:29:01, naming which district: "not necessarily unity. But more so Claremont did not claim their grants. Unity doesn't have as much. But when you're talking millions of dollars in grants and Esser [ESSER] funds that weren't claimed until two years later, that's it's a snowball effect, right?" The remedy now in place is a monthly assessment payment from each district. | MEDIUM |
| 0:30:18 | "Rip the Band-Aid off" | After Campo left the call, Henry addressed the backlog directly: "We are working very diligently with them to get this done. Their firm is also pushing to get this done. So it's not just us or you. It's them as well. Because it's not good for them to have audits hanging out either." At 0:30:39: "if I could have a month straight, I would just to get it, just rip the Band-Aid off and be done." Hawkins at 0:31:08: "It's nice to finally start having our head coming up from underwater." Henry at 0:31:14: "I am so looking forward to doing the Doe [DOE-25] this year and having real numbers that you have no idea how happy I am." | MEDIUM |
| 0:31:29 | The agenda named the wrong fiscal year | Crawford: "our agenda says it's the SA 2020 audit recommendations. Shouldn't that be 2020?" Henry: "Should have said 2021. And I just got 2022." Crawford filled in the missing year: "I did get the 2020 review also in our packet. Okay we cancel that meeting. So that was also ready." So FY2020's report existed and had been distributed, but the meeting at which the board would have taken it up was cancelled and it was never reviewed in public. Henry undertook to circulate FY2022 once accepted: "I just got to send the letter to him accepting it, and then I will have it sent over to you and it won't say draft on it anymore." | MEDIUM MEDIUM |
| 0:33:28 | Fortier: a Claremont-specific needs assessment | "So my name's Matthew Fortier. I work, I work with TLC out of New Hampshire Children's Trust. So there's a grant that exists from New Hampshire Children's Trust to create my position, which is a strength and families position." Scope, at 0:34:48: "my program is specifically Claremont… this role exists to target, the city here and to connect with those families directly." Two phases: interviews with "local businesses, business leaders, nonprofits, a couple of faith organizations," plus a survey of Claremont educators sent with the superintendent's help; then a parent survey. The draft minutes give his full name and credentials as Matthieu A.F. Fortier, Q.D.D.P., C.E.S.P., Strengthening Families Initiative Coordinator, TLC Family Resource Center. | |
| 0:43:37 | Over 800 responses — and a finding the assessment did not expect | "So to have over 800 was was great." Demographics at 0:44:03: "almost everybody was a parent. Over 80% had between 1 and 3 kids". The surprise, at 0:45:58: "we as people who work with families where we had predicted the second most, you know, we thought people were going to ask for, for resources or resource navigation. The second most frequent reported struggle is parenting". He tested it at 0:48:03: "I was able to do a t test comparing the two groups. And if you said parenting was a struggle, you were less likely. Finances were were less likely to be a concern for you… It trumps the need from you." He also stated his own limits — the survey was electronic, self-selected, and incentivized with a $20 Amazon gift card, which produced duplicate entries. | |
| 0:51:26 | Family cafes, and the district's role in publicising them | "what we've done since this survey was conducted is I've started hosting what are called family cafes… family cafes are just opportunities for parents to connect. They come to these meetings, I'm there. I host it with a free meal because, you know, because I want to mitigate that, that, you know, paywall that a lot of a lot of parents reflected on in their answers." Whitney asked whether he would use district channels; Pratt confirmed the offer of support. Whitney also asked, at 0:57:33, whether families from the other sending towns could attend — "I'm going to say that they can come." With Fortier adding "If you show up. You're welcome to have pizza and talk to me." Cafes run 5 to 7 p.m. | |
| 0:59:35 | The SAU's own books: $205,000 on paper, $212,000 in fact | Henry opened the year-to-date report by correcting her own exhibit: "as of right now, I know this bottom line says 205. It's actually 212,000, just so you know. But I'll explain to you where I got that extra money from." She walked technology, the superintendent's office, special education, the business office, HR and maintenance, flagging line-level corrections as she went — a mileage line budgeted at $1,250 that should have been $2,500, dues-and-fees amounts that belonged in staff training, two Claremont bills paid by the SAU that will be billed back. On the encumbrance mechanics, at 1:18:28: "We're sitting at a positive. Yes." | |
| 1:18:32 | Crawford audits the surplus back to its causes | "So, Mary, right now this for 325 [3/25] financial statement shows. We're to the good 205,000. That can be attributed to one person not in this budget. And we went to Claremont for about 99,000." Then at 1:18:52: "And $30,000 for technology, for info technology and the business office software of almost 58,000. So 58,030 thousand is 88,000." Her projection at 1:19:45: "It's still going to be to the good 150,000." Henry: "I would say that. Yes. Confidently. Yes." The draft minutes record the estimated year-end surplus as "about $100,000" — Crawford's first figure, before she revised it upward on the record. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:20:12 | Unity's withdrawal, confirmed on the record | Ruggeri: "March 15th … 2025, the unity annual budget was presented to the town where the Warren [warrant] article, asking the town to vote on movie [moving] with a drawing [withdrawing] from saw six was presented and passed." Timeline at 1:20:31: "the last day that unity will be part of saw six will be June 30th, 2026… So July 1st would be the first day of separation." Tone at 1:21:10: "there's going to be some changes. But I believe I speak for the unity board and, the, the school staff and the principal and everybody involved with the Unity School District that the relationship with the Claremont School District, there's every bit of interest to maintain and improve that." Hawkins at 1:21:39: "We are working to get the audits completed. Business. I did check with legal counsel. He said it's all in your court in terms of what." | OBSERVATION |
| 1:26:26 | The background-check amendment, and where it belongs | Hawkins introduced a superintendent-proposed revision to policy GBCD "to include anyone who is classified as an offender against children to keep them off of school grounds and any place there is a school sponsored event", presented as a revision needing no second read "because it's already in place." Sprague, at 1:27:52: "Claremont has a policy. JLIF which is the receipt and use of sex offender registry information, which has a lot of the s…" and at 1:28:23: "I'm not objecting to the content. I just think we're attaching it to the wrong policy." His practical objection at 1:29:01: "I just think it's very nobody's going to find it." Hawkins was candid about the motive: "The reason we did this and in bringing it forward for revision is for expediency." | POSITIVE |
| 1:34:48 | The board takes the slower route | Whitney: "I'd like to make a motion to instead of approving this policy to task the Claremont Policy Committee to make a priority of updating policy… JLL[IF]… I f to include the relevant language." Sprague: "Yeah, because this is important." He added a second question at 1:35:22: "We have a policy to encourage volunteerism, and I would imagine that that puts them in the school" — Pratt confirmed background checks are required for volunteers: "Yeah, legally we have to. Yep." Hawkins undertook to check the statute: "I think with that we can look through the RSA and see how it's stated in the RSA". Carried on a voice vote at 1:36:50. | POSITIVE |
| 1:41:29 | Into nonpublic — and the recording stops | Hawkins announced the item with its subparagraphs: "item number seven is a request for a non public session under RSA 91-83A [91-A:3] colon three comma two a and J. If I can have a motion to move into nonpublic for this." Whitney moved it the same way at 1:41:51: "I make a motion to move into nonpublic per RSA 91-8 [91-A:3] colon, three comma Roman numeral two A and a [and J]." Crawford seconded; the chair confirmed the clerk had it — "Did you get that, Noel?" — and called the roll at 1:42:20. Her last words on the recording, at 1:42:28: "So we will wrap up our public meeting after this non public session." Everything after — the 8:38 p.m. return to public session, the roll-called vote to seal the nonpublic minutes for a year, and adjournment — exists only in the draft minutes. | MEDIUM POSITIVE |