The coming forensic audit to determine how the Claremont School District wound up millions of dollars in the red may be bad news for some former employees.
Unnamed former district employees were paid “concerning” stipends, according to Nov. 13 nonpublic meeting minutes recently obtained by Claremont’s Jim Sullivan. But so far, little has been said publicly by the school board.
“It sure seems that SAU 6 school officials sure have a lot of secrets to keep from the general public, and they certainly don’t seem to know what the hell they are doing,” Sullivan wrote on his website.
Sullivan, whose long-running website, The Sullivan Report, is the only news source left in Claremont since the Eagle Times shut down this year, obtained a copy of the Nov. 13 nonpublic meeting minutes after learning the board failed to seal the record, as is typical in cases involving employee discussions.
The brief minutes, taken by board Chair Heather Whitney, offer few details. According to Whitney’s handwritten notes, the board met with Comptroller Matthew Angell and Interim Superintendent Kerry Kennedy to discuss plans for the forensic audit.
During the meeting, the board also discussed “specific past employees” and “a number of stipends linked to specific employees.” Whitney underlined “stipends” and added a note simply stating “concerning.”
The Nov. 13 meeting had been scheduled as a public hearing into the job performance of former Business Administrator Mary Henry. Henry was suspended in August, when the district’s multimillion-dollar deficit was first disclosed. She originally demanded a public hearing when the board moved to force her out of her job in October.
“I’m planning a public statement,” Henry told NHJournal in October. “I’m in a hard position with the board.”
Henry did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
A week before the planned public hearing, Henry agreed to leave her job. The termination agreement allowed her to collect accrued vacation time worth about $5,400, but not much else. In fact, the agreement makes clear she could be in legal jeopardy if evidence of criminal activity were to surface.
“Employer does not release or waive any intentional misconduct claims arising out of or related to Employee’s employment relationship with Employer, including without limitation any criminal conduct or intentional acts or omissions by the employee, theft, embezzlement, fraud, or any violation of RSA 638 or other applicable law,” the agreement states.
Claremont is still working to put its past financial records into some kind of order. The most recent audit, completed this fall for fiscal year 2022, cites numerous problems with recordkeeping, a lack of board oversight, and general financial disorder.
The 2022 audit reports found that invoices totaling $900,000 in spending could not be located, that the district had no formal policy governing employee use of district credit cards, and that the district maintained 38 separate bank accounts, making oversight nearly impossible.
Claremont’s independent auditors are currently reviewing records from fiscal year 2023, when Henry began serving as the district’s business administrator. Officials have said they expect to find the major causes of the $5 million budget gap in the 2023 and 2024 audits.
Henry is not the only Claremont administrator to leave in the wake of the deficit emergency. Superintendent Chris Pratt took a $40,000 payout to depart in September. Curriculum Director Rick Elliott left his post this fall after records of his alleged past sexual harassment surfaced. In 2022, Elliott left his job as a math teacher at Fall Mountain Regional High School in Langdon. He was then hired to be assistant principal at Claremont’s Stevens High School.
