CLAREMONT — In the wake of a SAU 6 board vote to terminate Superintendent Michael Tempesta on Thursday night, he told staff that he “was surprised.”

“I never planned on leaving you like this,” Tempesta, who was hired in 2019, said in the Friday message to employees. “I was looking forward to connecting with all of you over my remaining time in the district and to begin looking for other opportunities closer to home so I can spend more time with my family.”

Claremont School Board member and SAU 6 School Board Chairwoman Arlene Hawkins said Friday that the board, which includes the Claremont and Unity school boards, met in a nonpublic session prior to dismissing Tempesta on Thursday evening. Only Marjorie Erickson, of Unity, voted no.

As a personnel issue, Hawkins said she could not comment on the board’s reasons for firing Tempesta, including whether it had anything to do with a report that Tempesta was a finalist for a superintendent job in Massachusetts.

That information was first revealed publicly by Claremont resident and former City Councilor Jim Sullivan on his blog, the Sullivan Report. The Hull Times newspaper reported earlier this month that Tempesta was one of three finalists for the superintendent of the Hull Schools, though he did not get the position.

Tempesta, who earns about $143,000 a year, will be paid six months severance with benefits, according to his contract. He was given a two-year contract when hired on July 1, 2019. The board subsequently extended his contract in 2021 for five more years with annual pay increases of 3%.

The SAU board did not discuss the next steps to replace Tempesta, Hawkins said. It did name Stevens High School Principal Chris Pratt as interim superintendent.

“We are very fortunate to have in our community an administrator with superintendent experience who could step into the job,” Hawkins said of Pratt, who was named superintendent of the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union in Vermont in 2018. He became Stevens principal in 2022.

Hawkins said Tempesta’s departure will not adversely affect the Claremont School District budget process now underway. The board is expected to ratify the budget on Wednesday.

“I see no disruption at all,” Hawkins said. “The (School Board’s) Finance Committee has put so much time and effort into the process and all the meetings have been televised. It has been very transparent.”

Tempesta said in his email to staff that he did not mind his long commute “because of the transformative work we all do for our students each and every day.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as your superintendent,” he wrote. “You are incredible educators and human beings; I will never forget you, all the students and the wonderful people of Claremont and Unity.”

Before coming to Claremont, Tempesta was executive director of the Central Massachusetts Collaborative from 2015 to 2019, and served as Saugus, Mass., public schools superintendent from 2013 to 2015. He was hired in a 9-3 vote by the SAU board in 2019.

The SAU 6 board also fired Tempesta’s predecessor, Middleton McGoodwin, in the spring of 2018.

Citing personnel privacy rules, the board at the time similarly declined to provide a reason for McGoodwin’s dismissal.

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.