CLAREMONT — Interim SAU 6 Superintendent Keith Pfeifer is not showing up for work at the advice of his attorney, he said in an interview on Thursday.
Pfeifer declined to elaborate on why his attorney had given him that advice, and he said he wasn’t sure what his employment status is with the school district.
“I haven’t been contacted by the SAU board,” he said around noon on Thursday.
Pfeifer, who was hired by the district last summer to temporarily replace Middleton McGoodwin, referred further questions to his Manchester-based attorney Andru Volinsky. Messages left for Volinsky weren’t immediately returned.
Claremont Assistant Superintendent Cory LeClair said she is the acting superintendent whenever Pfeifer is absent.
Last week, Claremont police responded to the SAU administrative office building on Broad Street for someone who sounded the “panic alarm.” Employees told police they had asked someone to leave the building and that person wouldn’t, according to a heavily redacted police report written by Claremont police Lt. Stanley Andrewski and obtained by the Valley News.
It remains unclear if the Feb. 13 event is tied to Pfeifer’s absence.
SAU 6 Board Chairwoman Marjorie Erickson previously declined to comment on specifics of the incident, but she said at that time Pfeifer still was employed by the district and was expected to be until a new superintendent is hired.
Messages left for Erickson on Thursday weren’t returned.
Claremont Police Chief Mark Chase hasn’t yet cited the specific exemption under the state’s public records law that allows him to redact certain information from the police report. The names of the individuals involved and their genders are redacted, as well as the advice of the attorney who arrived on scene that afternoon.
During an interview in his office on Thursday, Chase said the redaction is necessary to maintain the individuals’ “privacy.”
“It’s a personnel matter,” he said.
Later in the day, Chase said he had contacted a lawyer to discuss what, if any, of the redacted information could or should be released. Chase didn’t return an email by the end of the day on Thursday about the exemption.
Pfeifer started working for the district on Aug. 13, and his contract runs through June 30. The contract calls for him to be paid $90,000 for that 10½-month span.
A follow-up email to LeClair about whether Pfeifer still was being paid wasn’t returned.
The SAU 6 School Board in July voted to hire Pfeifer after it terminated the contract of McGoodwin, the former superintendent.
Pfeifer told the School Board during a meeting last summer that he has been in public education for 45 years, starting his career in a Philadelphia school district as a social studies teacher. He also has worked in education in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire, where he worked as superintendent or interim superintendent in Grantham, Littleton and Mascoma school districts.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.