CLAREMONT — The superintendent at the Prospect Mountain School District in Alton, N.H., will be the next SAU 6 superintendent, pending a contract agreement, the School Board announced at its meeting Wednesday.
The board voted to offer the position to Timothy Broadrick, who has led Prospect Mountain for the last six years, with a starting date of July 1 at a meeting on Monday.
The minutes from Monday’s non-public meeting only state there was a “vigorous discussion regarding the candidates and their qualifications” before board member Heather Whitney made the motion, seconded by Vice Chairman Michael Petrin, to offer the job to Broadrick.
The non-public session adjourned after a little more than an hour. The board has not identified any of the other candidates it considered for the post.
“The board has decided to move forward and work with our attorney to try to reach an agreement with Dr. Broadrick to be our next superintendent,” Petrin said at the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting.
In addition to Petrin and Whitney, board members William Madden, Brian Rapp and Don Lavalette voted to offer the position to Broadrick. School Board Chairwoman Candace Crawford and board member Loren Howard opposed Broadrick’s hiring.
A search committee of board members initially screened nine applicants for the position, now held by interim Superintendent Kerry Kennedy. Some withdrew their names from consideration, while the committee determined that others did not have the proper credentials, Madden, chairman of the search committee, said previously.
After interviews, the board invited Broadrick to come to Claremont, Petrin said. Broadrick toured the schools and met with the public at a forum on April 6.
Madden said Thursday he is “optimistic” that Broadrick will be able to steer the district in the right direction after a financial crisis dominated the district’s decisions this year and led to steep budget cuts and the resignation of top administrators, including Superintendent Chris Pratt and Business Administrator Mary Henry, both of whom resigned after being placed on leave last August.
“He is head and shoulders above all the other candidates with respect to his knowledge of processes and procedures and funding,” Madden said Thursday by phone when asked what made Broadrick stand out. “I also think he will be able to work with the labor unions.”
Madden also noted that in its job posting, the district was seeking someone for two years to stabilize operations and finances, while a qualified educational administrator, who is yet to be hired, will focus “on curriculum, teaching, and learning,”
“He has the unique perspective that this is not a 10-year gig,” Madden said of Broadrick.
Crawford said in an email Thursday that because the board is negotiating with Broadrick, she did not want to comment on the reasons for her no vote.
“We totally support the decision of the board,” Crawford said Wednesday. “We are anxious to get the negotiations settled.”
For his part, Howard said he is looking forward to a successful negotiation, but would have supported reopening the search process.
“I did not think enough effort was made to actively seek qualified candidates outside of the generic posting of the job and, two, I have been in the minority in feeling like we need to be seeking a long-term candidate,” Howard said in an email.
Howard said he doesn’t think Claremont needs “a ‘stop-gap’ superintendent.” Instead, he would prefer to find “someone who wants to build a career here and has pride in Claremont. I could not vote yes for someone who I did not perceive as ‘being in it for long term success of Claremont.’ ”
A message left for Broadrick Wednesday evening was not immediately returned.
Before coming to Prospect Mountain in July 2019, Broadrick was superintendent at the Shawsheen Valley Regional Vocational Technical School in Billerica, Mass., for 15 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire, a master’s in education from Endicott College and doctorate in education from the University of New England.
The last permanent SAU 6 superintendent was Pratt, whom the board first appointed as interim superintendent to lead SAU 6, which at the time included Unity, after it fired Michael Tempesta in January 2024. Pratt moved into the role from the position of Stevens High School principal. He became permanent superintendent in May 2024.
The board placed Pratt on leave not long after it revealed the district had a $5 million deficit last August. He resigned in September.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
