Newmarket School District Corruption Exposed!

Newmarket NH School District officials, including Mike Kenison, Kim Shelton, Gary Swanson, Elizabeth McKinney, Amy Tilton, and Susan Givens, continue to involve and implicate their fellow Newmarket citizens in a cover-up of criminal behavior.

Those embroiled in the school district’s cover-up of criminal activity include former members of the 2015 superintendent screening committee, including Sean Pine, Newmarket Town Manager Steve Fournier, Pat Ballantyne, Anna Davenport, Nancy Pagnotta, Abby Hatfield, Julia Leary, Meg Louney-Moore, Tom Jennings, Wendy Monroe, Greg Thayer, and Al Zink.

Newmarket School officials have involved and implicated each of the above-named individuals by repeatedly lying to our courts, claiming this committee voted in 2015 to enter into several non-public sessions and then voted to seal the minutes of these nonpublic sessions from the public. This never happened.

Screening committee member and Newmarket Town Manager Steve Fournier, personally informed me the screening committee did not vote to seal any nonpublic meeting minutes. Mr. Fournier’s statement is part of the investigative record presented to our courts. Mr. Fournier’s statement was reinforced and substantiated by a fellow screening committee member, Al Zink, who informed investigators in January 2020, that the committee did not vote to seal the nonpublic meeting minutes.

As of today’s date, not one single person who served on that committee has ever said the nonpublic minutes were sealed; And, except for Fournier and Zink, not one of those other committee members has come forward to reveal the truth (shame on them). And, despite all of the above, Newmarket officials have repeatedly informed our courts that the nonpublic meeting minutes were sealed by a vote of every member of that committee.

In presenting this lie to our courts, aside from committing perjury, Newmarket officials were claiming Steve Fournier and Al Zink were lying or that they were just plain wrong when they claimed the minutes were not sealed. More importantly, by claiming the minutes were sealed, the district was informing the courts that the rest of the members of that committee, presumably, would testify that they voted to seal the nonpublic minutes.

When the school district lied to the courts, claiming the minutes were sealed, they knew for certain the minutes were not sealed. They knew this to be a fact because there are no minutes. There never has been.

The lie concerning the screening committee was not the only lie school officials told the courts. These officials have also been lying to the courts for these past five years concerning the 2015 superintendent search committee (a separate and distinct committee from the screening committee), claiming this committee never met.

This search committee, consisting of Al Zink, Kim Shelton, Clay Mitchell, Arlon Chaffee, and Craig Dionne did hold meetings from November 5th through the 8th, 2015. How do we know this? The Chairman of this committee, Al Zink informed everyone on December 17th, 2015 that they met on those dates. This admission is memorialized in the school board’s audiovisual recording of this meeting.

Despite Mr. Zink’s audiovisual recording admission that the search committee did meet, and despite school board meeting minutes also indicating the search committee did meet, Zink informed criminal investigators the committee did not meet. Mr. Zink lied.

Al Zink’s fellow search committee members Arlon Chaffee, Craig Dionne, Kim Shelton, and Clay Mitchell were never asked by investigators whether or not the search committee ever met, and despite huge costs to Newmarket taxpayers in legal fees, none of these four individuals ever had the courage or civic-mindedness to come forward and tell the truth.

Of course, in order to be successful in perpetuating their fraud upon our courts, the Newmarket school district would need the services of an unethical attorney. Enter attorney Barbara Loughman.

Despite two members of the screening committee (Al Zink and Steve Fournier) stating the 2015 superintendent screening committee did not vote to seal any nonpublic meeting minutes, and despite not one person ever going on the record stating the screening committee voted to seal any nonpublic meeting minutes, and despite no record of the committee ever having sealed the minutes, attorney Loughman repeatedly informed our courts that the minutes were sealed.

Similarly, only one person has ever stated the 2015 search committee never met (Al Zink). Yet, despite this fact, and despite the public meeting minutes and Al Zink’s own words on audiovisual tape verifying this committee did meet, attorney Loughman has repeatedly informed our courts the search committee never met.

None of this is going to end well for Mike Kenison, Kim Shelton, Gary Swanson, Elizabeth McKinney, Amy Tilton, and Susan Givens or attorney Loughman. They have engaged in criminal activity and implicated their fellow citizens in a cover-up. Actions such as these demand accountability by law enforcement and our courts.

As for those implicated in the coverup (Sean Pine, Pat Ballantyne, Anna Davenport, Nancy Pagnotta, Abby Hatfield, Julia Leary, Meg Louney-Moore, Tom Jennings, Wendy Monroe, Greg Thayer, Clay Mitchell, Craig Dionne, and Arlon Chaffee) I have no sympathy. These individuals’ silence over these past five years has cost taxpayers many tens of thousands of dollars., allowed fraud to be perpetrated against our courts, and harmed me and my family. Shame on them all.

Jeffrey Thomas Clay

jeffreytclay@gmail.com