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14. USB Minutes 10.8.25

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UNITY SCHOOL BOARD MEETING  
October 8 , 2025 
5:30pm 
Unity Elementary School  
Board Members 
 Shannon Popescu-Chair, Rocco Ruggeri-Vice Chair, Atonya Hart,  Darlene Ayotte, Kristel Davis 
    Public: Marj Erickson, Kate Wadleigh, Laurie , Ramona Labrie, Kelly Simpson, 4 - 8th graders,   
Kelli Ruggeri 
MINUTES 
I.​
Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance - Shannon called the meeting at 5:32pm  
II.​
General Business​
 
●​ Silence cell phones and electronic devices     
●​ Secretary Roll Call of Attendance of Board Members (Board Members who arrive 
after the meeting begins will be noted as “present” at the point in the agenda at 
which they arrive). Shannon, Rocco, Darlene, Atonya, Kristel - All present. 
●​ Agenda – Amendments and Final Approval - Rocco amended the agenda: move 
the 8th grade presentation before Citizens Comments and Add A - Board 
Secretary and move everything down. Darlene second. All approved. 
●​ Approval of previous meeting minutes from 9.10.25 -Rocco made a motion to 
accept the  minutes. Atonya second. Discussion  - Sue noted that Kelly Simpson 
(secretary) did not reflect any detail of the amendments to the minutes and 
recommended that they be  tabled to the next meeting; Sue will add the 
amendments and bring the minutes forward to next month’s meeting. Rocco 
rescinded his motion. Atonya rescinded her second. 
●​ Citizens Comments - Kelly asked the following questions: There are still no lights 
working on 2nd NH Tpke; why is the van going home?; why are we putting up a 
garage? Ramona asked about grades 3 & 4 and the “I Vote” stickers and if we 
would be doing that? 
I.​
 Discussion/Action 
A.​ Board Secretary - Rocco made a  motion to release Kelly Simspon as school board 
secretary.  Darlene second. All approved. The board will be actively looking for a new 
secretary.  
B.​ 8th Grade Request to Fundraise (Action) - Four students: Jeremy, Willow, Jeremiah, and 
Sylas asked the school board if they could fundraise for their class trip to Mystic Seaport, 
CT. Rocco made a motion to approve the 8th grade class to fundraise for their class trip.  
Atonya second. All approved. 
C.​ Action Items 
1.​ Oberkotter Foundation - Audit - nothing new to report 
2.​ Call the DRA to find out about School Trust Funds - per Matt Angell, the  trustee 
of the trust funds can invest/combine as they see fit. Sue to reach out to Sally 
3.​ Siding - Sue - still waiting to see the total dollars Unity has in reserved funds  

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4.​ Garage - updates by Sue. Site work has begun and cement should be poured 
within the next week. Waiting on the stamped plans to file with the State Fire 
Marshall’s Office for our building permit 
D.​ Personnel Update - Christopher Rener hired as the night custodian. Lindsey Hartzell 
hired as our part time nurse. 
E.​ Budget SY27 Calendar - Matt will look at the calendar that Sue provided to  everyone. 
F.​ Financial Update 
1.​ Year to Date - SY25 (Expenditures & Revenues)  -Matt Angell presented the  
DOE25 and MS24: these are the reports of the financial activity of last year. 
Article VII was disallowed as there was no surplus. All grants have been acted 
on; deficit $549,193.00; food - deficit- $54,203.00; Estimated tax rate will be 
$1.73/thousand; questions about the deficit and how to handle - can we use the 
trust funds? Will this be a warrant article? 
2.​ Year to Date - SY26 -Matt spoke. It is a good start to the beginning of the year. 
GL: reconciled through August; - November and March Adequate Funds will 
come in ; expenditures/encumbrances through 9/30/25 - remaining $1.114,000 
but not everything has been encumbered. Revenue for school lunch is still 
waiting on. 
3.​ Vouchers - the school board has them to sign.  
4.​ Audit update - hoping to have audits by December 2025 completed  
5.​ Trust Funds (22/23 & 23/24 & 24/25) - Sue will get info from the Trustees 
6.​ 2.5% Funds - what can that be used for? - From Matt - there is  no journal entry 
for this fund. 
7.​ Other - Lighting project - Matt is concerned with the interest rate of 7.29%. 
Atonya made a motion for Matt and Sue to shop at other financial institutions 
for a better interest rate. Darlene second. All approved. School CAre bill of 
$43,000+. This is a state pool and a self funding reserve. They are asking all 
schools that are with School Care for 12% to add to this pool. They are offering 3 
options for payment: pay now, pay later, pay next year. 
G.​ FMRHS - MOU for high school tuition (Action) - Sue to send Kerry the MOU notes from 
the board and she will contact the superintendent at FM. 
H.​ Policies (Action) 
1.​ BEDG - 3rd read - amend 2nd paragraph and board chose option #2. Atonya 
made a motion to accept policy BEDG as amended as 3rd and final read. Kristel 
second. All approved 
2.​ IHBAA - 1st read -table  
3.​ IHBAB - 1st read - table 
I.​
New SAU Setup - (Discussion) - Sunapee Super - Rocco reached out. He has not heard 
anything back but he did find out that HS tuition will be $17,000 next year and $17,500 
the following year. 
J.​ NEASC update - nothing to update 
K.​ CSI update -  
II.​
Superintendent Report - Kerry spoke about the resignations of 3 SAU employees - SAU6 
disclosures on the website.   
III.​
Principal Report -  Sue made the following report: STATE OF THE FACILITY, All is going well at 
school. We are getting items completed. New HVAC is installed and we have had 1 inspection; 
another one next week and we will be good to move to heat. One of the units in the kitchen 
needs to be updated and that should be shortly. ARC is recommending hail and snow guards at 

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the cost of $7,630.00. Bill Gobin is looking at doing something different at a lesser cost. Garage 
sitework has begun. The pad will be poured within the week. The architect working with 
LaValleys is in discussion with the state fire marshalls office and then we should receive our 
plans. Once I have the plans, I will submit them to the state fire marshal's office for their 
approval. Lighting Project: Matt Angell wants to discuss the interest rate of 7.29% with the 
board. BUDGET SY26 - Changes, High School Students and tuition. We have 45 high school 
students.Our budget is $742,643.00. I received an updated tuition cost from Newport and Fall 
Mt. Fall Mt’s cost is $24,081.31 and New port’s is $17,125.00. We are over budget at 
$804,138.10. School Care: We have received a bill $43,619.56 - this is not in the budget. 
CURRICULUM COMMITTEE, Last week was the first meeting. They will be meeting 2 times a 
month. On their to-do list: develop a mission statement, scope and sequence by subject/by 
grade, documents for the website/families, and documents for internal use by teachers. FIELD 
TRIPS, I am excited to have our 5th graders return to Images at The Hood Museum. They will 
visit a total of 5 times this school year. 5th grade will also be going to The Mt Kearsarge Indian 
Museum this month as this will be tying in the ELA/Social Studies unit. FIRE SAFETY WEEK, The 
Unity Volunteer Fire Department will be here on Friday, October 10, 2025. Besides a movie, the 
students will be able to have hands-on experience with the equipment and fire hose. The UVFD 
will join grades K-5 for lunch. RED RIBBON WEEK, This year Red Ribbon Week is Oct 23-31. Each 
day students and staff will dress up to the theme “Life is a Puzzle, Solve it  Drug Free.” Lauren 
Garrecht is spearheading our efforts for the week. HALLOWEEN PARADE, Our annual Halloween 
parade will be  Friday, Oct 31 at 1:15pm. Afterwards, the students will experience their 
Halloween parties with goodies. P/S/T CONFERENCES, our conferences begin November 21st. 
AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES, Grades 5-8 soccer team: We started off slow with 3 losses and have 
now had 4 straight wins.  KKids and Builders Club will be starting November 5th. Science/STEM 
Club will begin in November with Mr Copp and Ms Pine.  
A.​ 4 chart presentation - Sue did not complete the 4 charts but did give the board the 
format on what needs to be completed for the Annual Report 
  VI.​
Future Agenda Items 
a.​ Tuition Agreement - re: high schools payment 
b.​ School Care (budget) 
VII.​
Future Meetings 
a.​ School Board Work Sessions  -  
b.​ School Board Meeting - November 12, December 10   
c.​ SAU6 School Board Meeting- November 13th, January 8th, May 14th 
VIII.​
Dates to Remember 
●​ October 9 - NO School (Teacher Work Day) 
●​ October 13 - NO School - Columbus Day 
●​ October 10 - Fire Safety Day @ school with the Unity Fire Dept 
●​ October 15 - Grade 5 Field Trip to Mt Kearsarge Indian Museum 
●​ October 20 - Picture Day 
●​ October 24 - Middle School Dance @ 6:30pm - 8:30pm 
●​ October 25 - Unity PTA Craft Fair 10am - 2pm 
●​ October 27 - 30 - Red Ribbon Week  
●​ October 29 - Soccer Banquet and Parent Game 4:00pm 
●​ October 31 - Halloween Parade at 2:00pm (All are welcome).  
●​ November 10 - Veterans Day Remembrance at 11:00am (All are Welcome) 

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●​ November 11 - NO School - Veterans Day 
●​ November 7 -  Thanksgiving Luncheon - Noon All are Welcome 
●​ November 21 - NO School - Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences (All Day) 
●​ November 25 - Early Release Day at 12:30pm 
●​ November 26-28 - NO School Thanksgiving Break 
●​ December 18 - Christmas Concert 7:00pm (Snow Date December 17) 
●​ December 19 - Christmas Luncheon - Noon All are Welcome 
●​ December 22 -  January 2  - NO School Christmas Break 
************************************************************************ 
●​ KKIDS: November 5, 19, December 3, 17 - 3:00-4:00pm 
●​ BUILDERS CLUB: November 5, 19, December 3, 17 - 3:00-4:00pm 
●​ Unity School Board Meeting - 2nd Wednesday every month at 5:30pm 
●​ Unity PTA Meeting - 3rd Wednesday every month at 6:30pm 
 
IX.​
Non-Public Meeting -  RSA 91-A:3(c) - none  
 X.        Motion for Adjournment Rocco made a motion to adjourn. Atonya second. All approved.  
Adjourned at 7:42pm.  
 
 
Respectfully Submitted, 
 
Susan Schroeter 
Principal