After two months of being paid not to work, one of the architects of the Claremont School District’s fiscal fiasco is finally off the taxpayers’ payroll.
At Wednesday’s school board meeting, interim Superintendent Kerry Kennedy announced that the district’s business administrator, Mary Henry, has been placed on unpaid disciplinary suspension.
“Ms. Henry and the SAU are parties to a two-year employment contract. That contract contains a for-cause provision for termination. Failing to follow that termination language would be a breach of contract and could easily lead to costly litigation,” Kennedy said.
“Ms. Henry was initially placed on paid leave on Aug. 22, 2025, and was provided with a notice of termination. Since that time, the SAU became aware of a number of additional concerns about her performance as business administrator.
“Last week, the SAU delivered a formal disciplinary letter to Ms. Henry, placing her on unpaid disciplinary suspension.”
Mary Henry
For some Claremont residents, as well as critics in the State House, the fact that Henry has been collecting her $135,000 annual salary while the district struggles with a $5 million deficit has been a galling detail in the story.
They also aren’t happy that former Superintendent Chris Pratt, also implicated in the oversight failures, received nearly $40,000 in severance pay along with three months of health insurance coverage.
Pratt, the former Stevens High School principal, became superintendent in January 2024 after the SAU 6 board fired Superintendent Michael Tempesta. Henry began in 2023 following brief stints as business administrator in the Fall Mountain and Hillsboro-Deering districts, where audits flagged serious record-keeping problems.
Independent auditor Michael Campo has previously said publicly that the financial mess “likely began on Pratt and Henry’s watch.”
State officials had warned Claremont not to hire Henry due to her poor track record in other districts.
It’s not that Henry wasn’t engaged in the issue of school funding. In May, she signed a petition for the New Hampshire Funding Fairness Project demanding that the state increase its share of education funding by hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
“The people who signed this petition are asking you to fulfill your constitutional duty and pass a budget that provides adequate, equitable funding for our public schools,” the document reads.
During Wednesday’s board meeting, Kennedy discussed efforts to get the state to pass legislation proposed by state Sen. Ruth Ward (R-Stoddard) that would create a revolving loan fund allowing Claremont to access Adequate Education Funds at the beginning of the school year, then repay them with interest. Kennedy urged residents to contact their legislators on the district’s behalf.
“It’s something you would like to have support on,” Kennedy said.
Rep. Hope Damon (D-Croydon) attended the board meeting and told members there would be no final action by the legislature this calendar year. She also said Democrats support state action on Claremont’s behalf, while Republicans are reluctant.
“The Democratic representation is very strongly in favor of creating a revolving loan fund,” Damon said, adding that her party would like to create a statute establishing a standing system for the state to offer aid in similar situations.
“There is some support among Republicans, but there is a vigorous movement by people who just don’t think the state should get involved in this at all.”
Gov. Kelly Ayotte said Wednesday she shares some of that reluctance until more information is available.
“Claremont actually gets well above the average per-pupil amount from the state, but we need responsible fiscal management,” Ayotte told reporters.
“I know that the Senate just delayed action on this, and I think that’s appropriate. We need to make sure the kids are taken care of, but local school districts can’t think that if they’re going to mismanage money, somehow there’s a state bailout here.”
Rather than simply resign, Mary Henry has requested a hearing with the SAU board, Kennedy said. That hearing has yet to be scheduled.
