28. USB DRAFT Meeting MInutes 060826.pdf
The Unity School Board met June 8, 2026. The Board approved a motion to authorize withdrawing $120,000 from the Special Ed fund and $216,000 from the High School Tuition fund, leaving a $1.00 balance, to address a projected deficit. The vote passed 4-0-1. Five policies—DK, DGD, DJ, DJB, and DAF—were all adopted on second reading by 4-0-1 or 4-1 votes. The Board approved changing legal counsel from Upton Hatfield to Kidder, Soule, and Loughman. Financial reports showed year-to-date revenues of $3,825,376 and expenditures of $3,681,405. The auditors aim to complete audits by July 1. Regarding the new SAU 109, the Board approved a budget allocation adjustment for the Business Administrator to $32,000 plus benefits. Sue will present on the Oberkotter Fund audit in September, and siding quotes are pending. The next meeting is scheduled for July 8, 2026. Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vHUnFouoGVyKhnfjGIWkQ8RVdHoDaNY4/view
UNITY SCHOOL BOARD MEETING DRAFT Meeting Minutes June 8, 2026 5:30 PM Unity Elementary School Agenda Item Notes I. Call to Order Pledge Shannon called the meeting to order at 5:30 II. • Roll Call Shannon Popescu - here Rocco Ruggeri - here Atonya Hart - here Darlene Ayotte - here Kelly Simpson - here III. • General Business • Agenda – Amendments and approval • Approval of previous minutes • 05/13/26 • Citizen Comments Rocco made a motion to accept the agenda as presented. Atonya seconded -All approved Rocco made a motion to accept the minutes as presented. Atonya seconded -All approved except Shannon, who abstained. None IV. Discussion/Action A. Action Items 1. Oberkotter Fund. Audit 2. Siding – Sue 3. Garage update – Sue Sue to work with Cheryl Mayberry and will have a presentation to the board in September 2026 Sue - nothing new to report - Sue to get quotes - one for demo and one for installation. Rocco suggested we look at using the Capital Improvement Trust Fund for this as the siding is a safety issue. 50% deposit has been made to LaValleys and waiting on installation date. B. School Board Mtgs (Action) 1. July & Aug (Action) 2. Retreat? The Board decided to meet Wednesday July 8, 2026 at 5:30 with an August date TBD. There is no retreat planned at this time. C. Personnel Update SY27 None D. Financial Update 1. Year to Date SY 26 (Expenditures & Revenues) Matt stated Revenues year-to-date are $3,825,376. Uncollected revenue is $229,489 or 5.66%. The amount remaining to collect is tuition revenue from Goshen for $32,000, tax assessment from the Town for $245,248, and a transfer to cover the cost of Arc Mechanical for $57,338. Expenditures year-to-date are $3,681,405. The report 2. Vouchers 3. Audit update 4. Treasurer Report 5. Other shows the budget is overspent by $99,221; however, the report shows Arc Mechanical costs of $57,338 (on page 10) and a budget error for debt service that shows an over expenditure of $54,042 (on page 11). Arc Mechanical is technically not a transaction that affects appropriations; however, its accounting is within the GF. As for the debt service, it relates to our prior discussion during budget preparation time about the "Gross Budget" law, where we have to show expenditures separate from revenues. When considering these two transactions, the amount remaining is $12,159. Cash balance - As of April 30, 2024, the cash balance on the general ledger was $378,571.82. The bank balance as of today is $583,112.23. Year End Estimates - When calculating the year-end estimate, Matt runs reports through June 30th changing the amounts to include known revenues and expenditures. He believes that the district will come up short due to: - HS Tuition includes 1 additional student above budget amounts - Special Education HS Tuition includes an out-of-district placement that was not in the budget. If the School Board authorizes withdrawals of $125,000 from the Special Education and $216,000 from the High School Tuition reserve funds, the deficit will be reduced from the beginning of the fiscal year of $(603,516) to $(108,379). The $(108,379) amount includes the $150,000 from Article 4 from the last District Meeting. Matt recommended the School Board authorize the district to withdraw $120,000 from the Special Ed and $216,000 from the High School Tuition funds. Matt also recommended that the funds be left with one dollar and Matt to confer with Forrest on this situation. Rocco made a motion to approve taking the recommended amount of money from the Special Ed Fund and the High School Tuition fund leaving $1.00, and a consultation with Forrest. Atonya second. Approved by Shannon, Rocco, Atonya, Darlene. Kelly abstained. Board has vouchers to sign Matt stated that auditors are working diligently to complete all audits by July 1, 2026. No report due to treasurer’s absence. Shannon thanked Matt for all of the hard work and diligence and the Unity School Board thanks Matt with much gratitude for his work. E. Goshen Tuition Agreement (Action) We have a signed contract. Goshen is looking for a tuition rate to charge Goshen. Forrest stated that there is a formula and there is no hurry to get it right now as Goshen has given us a rate not to exceed. Shannon asked Cheryl if she and Matt can work on a rate. Suggest looking at Lempster and the tuition rate with Goshen. F. Policies (Action) 1. DK (new)– 2nd read 2. DGD (new)– 2nd read 3. DJ (new) – 2nd read 4. DJB (new) – 2nd read 5. DAF – 2nd read 6. Tuition Policy/Letter Required policy and Unity does not have this policy. Manifests need to be approved at a public meeting. Atonya made a motion to approve Policy DK as a 2nd read and adoption. Rocco second. Approved by Shannon, Rocco, Atonya, Darlene. Kelly did not approve. DGD is a policy for a credit card/PCard and how they are to be used and by whom. PCards go through the Bank of Montreal. Atonya made a motion to approve Policy DGD as a 2nd read and adoption. Rocco second. Approved by Shannon, Rocco, Atonya, Darlene. Kelly abstained. Procurement of Purchases and Transactions. Assigns the superintendent to oversee the process for quality control. Forrest is recommending the following with a team approach: Process - requisitions go to Principal, then to BA to make sure account numbers, funds, etc are correct, and then to superintendent for final approval. Atonya made a motion to approve Policy DJ as a 2nd read and adoption. Rocco second. Approved by Shannon, Rocco, Atonya, Darlene. Kelly abstained. procedures for purchasing and getting the best possible prices. Atonya made a motion to approve Policy DJB as a 2nd read and adoption. Rocco second. Approved by Shannon, Rocco, Atonya, Darlene. Kelly abstained. Atonya made a motion to approve Policy DAF as a 2nd read and adoption. Rocco second. Approved by Shannon, Rocco, Atonya, Darlene. Kelly abstained. Tuition policy regarding Fall Mountain: The concern is that the Fall Mountain Tuition is too high. There have been several proposals regarding putting a cap on the tuition that Unity will pay for students going to high school, but no final decision has been made. There was some discussion regarding how many students from Unity would be attending Fall Mountain next year. More students are going to Sunapee next year than Fall Mountain. Forrest: Fall Mountain may negotiate. They have negotiated with Lempster. Atonya: Lempster is their anchor school. Shannon – can we get the tuition policy in front of us? Sue – it has been in your packet each meeting. General discussion amongst Board regarding getting a parent meeting scheduled to alert parents to the possibility of capping tuition moving forward and getting feedback. G. New SAU 109 (Discussion/action) 1.Updates on IT – Sue 2. MOU – end of year closeout 3. Attorney 4.Tyler/Visions 5.Business Administrator- Forrest 6.Payroll/HR- Forrest 7. Other Forrest: The draft withdraw agreement has been reviewed by both sides and both attorneys are satisfied. The two SAU’s need to do a final review and then both boards will need to approve it. As soon as Forrest has the final draft that all agree with, he will advise Shannon and hopes to call a special meeting to get it signed. Upton Hatfield withdrew from representing the school district due to representing the town. Kidder, Schoolman and Lowman gave the SAU the best rates and has the deepest experience. Barbara Lowman is the lead council for the school district (SAU 109) Kelly – do we need to make a motion to except the withdrawal of Upton Hatfield and motion to accept Kidder, Schoolman and Lowman? Atonya motioned to withdraw from Upton and Hatfield and recommends that we accept Kidder, Soule, and Loughman as the district’s attorneys, Kelly seconded all approved Training will begin before the end of June. Cheryl Mayberry will be joining the SAU as BA. Target is to utilize the BA for up to 500 hrs per year. Typical rates are about $100/hr or more. . . so this budget line item will have to be changed as the initial line item approved was for only $11 K. Forrest is changing the allocation to $32 K plus benefits, which is still a rate well below the area average. Payroll and HR platforms are being implemented today (iSolved). Forrest has started writing the staff handbook and procedures handbook using their template/platform. The Budget for SY27 was approved for $178 K for the SAU. SY 26 had $50 K allocated so we have a total of $228 until the end of next July. Forrest doesn’t believe that the way in which the $178 K was allocated is aligned with how the money actually needs to be spent. We have payroll and HR development so new employees can be processed. The allocation for payroll and HR in the initial budget was $24 K but the current HR and payroll only cost $13 so there are savings there. The allocation for superintendent services was $16 K but this does not align with what it will take for the superintendent to ramp up the SAU. Forrest is only charging $50 per hr rate but even with that it will take more than the $16 K. Forrest will take on the director of HR role so can use some of the money budgeted for that role. A key member of the SAU team is Student Services and Education. The team is speaking to a candidate that has a number of skills that will enrich the SAU. Forrest plans to use the existing SpEd position to make the Student Services a 0.8 position. Adding a leadership stipend would bring this to a full time position. In the initial budget there was $55 K allocated, but this amount is also insufficient for this position. The initial budget allocated $20 K for an IT director but this is not needed since the SAU has contracted with Systems Plus for $26 K. The projected cost to initiate SAU 109 for the first year is $232 K, which is slightly over what was allocated. Forrest is confident that they can reduce by $5 K to stay within budget. Atonya: What positions will not be filled to make up the deficit? Sue: Middle School math, ELA, the Library Media specialist and the music/art positions are all open, plus one elementary teaching position. Forrest and Sue are looking to move staff internally to cover positions but they are still really looking to fill at least the middle school positions. Forrest and Sue are working on a plan B just in case. Rocco: just to clarify – the original plan was not to fill art and music and Plan B is to fill whatever can be filled. Sue – correct. Filling middle school and elementary classroom teaching positions are higher priority. Kelly: Part time positions for SAU are being offered benefits? Forrest: yes In Kelly’s experience part time help does not get benefits and since health benefits tend to go up greatly every year, she is concerned. Atonya is also concerned that we did not include benefits in the budget. Forrest - We are anticipating two employees that will have benefits; the superintendent and BA. This was intentionally done this way. Forrest took a lower hourly rate because the benefits are more important to him. So, whether we offer a higher hourly rate and no benefits or a lower hourly rate and provide benefits, the cost should come out nearly the same. Matt: communication that he is hearing from Forrest is what he would expect to hear from a normal school district. H. NEASC update Sue has updated NEASC on our new superintendent. Sue is participating in a collaborative conference in Oct. and will be attending the conference this summer. I. CSI update The final meeting with CSI will be June 12th. Paperwork will be finalized at that time. There is still funding available until June of SY27 that Sue will be looking to spend. V. Superintendent Report See attached Sue – all Unity HR files are now locked in Unity storage meaning all HR files have been transitioned from SAU 6 to SAU 109. The Board gave kudos to Kerry for stepping up to be a leader during the trying year that it’s been. VI. Principal Report See attached Kudos to the wonderful people at SAU 6 who have supported us so well through this year. VII. Future Agenda Items • Teacher presentations on data • 5-year rolling test plan Parental Bill of Rights – no one remembers why this is on the future agenda items so it will be removed. VIII. Future Meetings ● School Board Work Sessions There will be a school board meeting July 8th. ● SAU 6 School Board Meeting IX. Dates to Remember ● June 9 @ 6 PM – 8th Grade Capstone ● June 10th @ 7 PM – Graduation w/Reception ● June 11th – Last Day of School (Half Day) ● Unity School Board Meeting – 2nd Wednesday of every month at 5:30 PM ● Unity PTA Meeting – 3rd Wednesday of every month at 6:30 PM X. Commemorating and Appreciating the Change of the SAU Relationship XI. Non-Public Meeting RSA 91 A:3(c) Atonya motioned to go into non-public following RSA 91 A:3(c), Kelly seconded. Roll Call vote: Shannon – yes. Rocco - yes Atonya - yes Kelly - yes Darlene - yes Non-public entered at 8:17PM XII. Motion for Adjournment Respectfully Submitted Marjorie Erickson