Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Spellings follow the project's 2015-2023 roster where the transcript garbles a name; there are no minutes to check spellings against. Speaker labels come from the dialogue file and its attribution report.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Presides; reports on the SAU 6 search committee decision (0:16:07); seconds the hockey co-op (0:46:43); proposes written ballots for the search committee seats (1:20:25); calls for a unified board in budget season (1:24:09). |
| Rebecca Zullo | Vice chair | Asks that staff be part of the search forums (0:18:21); "Why would we do why does it need to be secret." (1:21:07); volunteers for the search committee and is named to it (1:22:51); volunteers as timekeeper (1:14:22). Identified from context rather than by name at her turns (attribution report, medium confidence). |
| Jason Benware | Member | Explains Bluff's classroom breakfast (0:04:33); questions the cost of the lunch error and fairness to the other schools (0:28:34); moves the hockey co-op (0:46:34), the Byrne gift (1:05:49) and the cell phone policy to third reading (1:10:28); "I felt like you were trying to slip something in past us." (0:59:33); moves adjournment. |
| Steven Horsky | Member | Explains the head lice policy (0:10:39); asks who missed the meal application deadline (0:23:00); criticizes "fear mongering" over the phone policy (0:55:52); volunteers for and is named to the search committee (1:22:51). |
| Carolyn Towle | Member | Suggests churches and the community help with breakfast costs (0:28:16); describes notices that staff would lose their jobs over phones (0:59:52); asks for a budget-season plan (1:23:11). |
| Michael Petrin | Member | Declines a search committee seat: "I participated in the intern search, so I'm. I'm comfortable." (1:21:44). His only attributed row. |
| Michelle Pierce | Member | Not heard or named on the recording. Whether she attended cannot be determined, because the roll call is not on the tape. |
| Dr. Keith Pfeifer | Interim Superintendent, SAU 6 | End of his report: bus route issues and a coming summary of new statutes from counsel and NHSBA (0:00:08); puts the plan B cost at "about $10,000" for the year (0:27:07). |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Answers on head lice screening (0:06:44); presents the FY15 audit questionnaire (0:13:11); discloses the missed meal application (0:19:51); presents the Byrne gift (1:03:45) and then the hearing requirement (1:19:28); reports on the opioid suit (1:11:46). |
| Michael (Mike) O'Neill | Business Administrator, SAU 6 | Takes responsibility for the missed filing ("It was on me.", 0:25:59); gives the $878.50 cost (0:26:24); explains the unanticipated-revenue statute (1:20:02). Surname per the roster. |
| John Magoon | Assistant principal and special education coordinator, Stevens High School | "My name is John Magoon." (0:41:46); presents on devices for students with IEPs and 504 plans (0:47:00). The superintendent introduces the presenter as Donna (0:14:52), probably a garble. |
| Doug Beaupre | Athletic director, Stevens High School | Requests the girls ice hockey co-op (0:44:00). Surname from the chair ("Questions for Mr. Beaupre.", 0:45:35); first name from a later recording, per the attribution report. |
| Unidentified | Stevens High School administrator | Explains the handbook wording on phones (0:58:09) and rejects the claim that administration threatened staff (1:00:48). The chair thanks "miss McGraw" (1:01:49); that name is unverified and is not adopted here. |
| Unidentified | Student representative | Explains why Student Voice postponed its technology presentation (0:39:48) and suggests a student forum on the superintendent search (0:18:52). |
| Unidentified | Citizens' comments (grandparent of a Disnard student; ward not heard) | Asks who will do head lice checks and how privacy is kept (0:01:11); notes the bus reaches Disnard after breakfast ends (0:02:55); asks whether a child with lice may ride the bus (0:09:52). |
| Josh Malloy | Director of Instructional Technology, SAU 6 | Addressed as "Mr.. Molly" while setting up the projector (0:39:33); no attributed rows. |
| Unidentified | Various | 160 of 664 dialogue rows (24.1%): mostly short interjections in two clusters, plus the three unnamed speakers above. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives; the chair refers to lettered items under discussion and action items (Item B, Item D, item F, Item G). The list below is reconstructed from the chair's transitions. Items before the superintendent's report are not on the recording.
| Taken up | Item | What was said and done |
|---|
| 0:00:00 | Superintendent's report (end) | Bus route stop issues; statute changes to be circulated. |
| 0:00:51 | Citizens' comments | "Come forward and state your name and your ward." One speaker (head lice policy, Disnard bus timing); closed at 0:12:59. |
| 0:12:59 | Discussion A. Board questionnaire, FY15 audit | Horsky moves to accept and have the chair sign; because it is a discussion item, the board instead moves it to the next meeting for approval (0:14:20). |
| 0:14:44 | Discussion B. SHS administration report | Not given; a substitute presentation is set up and taken later (0:41:46). |
| 0:16:07 | Update on superintendent search | Report of the SAU 6 board's September 13 decision; forums and surveys discussed. |
| 0:19:44 | Universal lunch at Bluff | Discussion only. Members express "sentiment" that the district cover the first weeks; charging to resume October 1; provision two to return as an action item on October 3 (0:37:45). |
| 0:39:48 | Student representative; SHS presentation | Student Voice presentation postponed; Magoon presents on devices for students with IEPs and 504 plans (0:47:00). |
| 0:42:46 | Action: girls ice hockey co-op | Adding Kearsarge to the Lebanon and Stevens co-op. Motion Benware, second Sprague; voice vote, no opposition heard (0:46:48). |
| 1:03:32 | Action: Byrne Foundation donation | $15,000 for the Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center. Motion Benware, second unidentified; voice vote (1:06:04). Staff later say a public hearing is required (1:19:28). |
| 1:06:35 | Item D. Policy JICJ, electronic communication devices, second reading | Horsky's motion to adopt on a combined second and final reading is withdrawn (1:10:12). Benware moves third reading with revised exceptions language, second Zullo; voice vote (1:11:20). |
| 1:11:27 | Opioid class action update | The city's firms are not taking school districts; "a moot point" (1:13:13). |
| 1:13:38 | Item F. Time limits on agendas | Chair and assistant superintendent to try a timed agenda next meeting (1:17:42). |
| 1:20:25 | Item G. Search committee members | Horsky and Zullo volunteer; no other volunteer and no vote (1:22:51). |
| 1:22:55 | Good of the order | Budget subcommittee and a Sunday retreat to be scheduled; action item for October. |
| 1:30:41 | Adjournment | Motion Benware; voice vote. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/10012 SchoolBoard091918.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording. Quotations are as transcribed; bracketed words are corrections, with the transcript's wording kept where the correction changes sense.
Chronological topics with the most concrete material first.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:00 | Opening of the recording | The tape starts mid-report: "Route stop issues, and we have dealt with those with individual families." Pfeifer: changes in statutes "from Drummond and Woodson" [Drummond Woodsum] will be sent to members (0:00:08). | MEDIUM |
| 0:01:11 | Citizen: head lice policy and Disnard breakfast | "who's going to be doing the checks for head lice?" and "my concern is privacy." The bus "gets picked up at 8:25 every day" and arrives "right at 830", after breakfast (0:02:55). LeClair: nurses will screen first, then trained staff, "Not, not others because of confidentiality reasons" (0:07:10). Horsky: the board rejected a full "no nit policy" (0:10:39). | |
| 0:12:59 | FY15 audit questionnaire | The chair: "The board questionnaire for fiscal year 15 audit." LeClair drafted it "recognizing the concern and of the board that no existing board members were on the board during the 1415 school year for fiscal year 15" and asks whether members are comfortable "moving this document forward to our auditors." (0:13:11). Deferred to October 3 for approval. | MEDIUM |
| 0:16:07 | Superintendent search update | Sprague: "We met last Thursday as an s a board"; the committee will be "two board members from each" district "as well as two folks from administration, I believe, six total." (0:16:23) [the September 13 motion set seven members]. The deadline is close "as April looms" (0:17:04). Benware wants "at least one, if not two forums" (0:17:37). | |
| 0:19:44 | Universal lunch at Bluff: what went wrong | LeClair: "this is where I feel, not so great and a little bit embarrassed." The contractor reported on August 8 that "Bluff qualified for the community eligibility provision"; she told the board on August 15; then learned that "Mike and Middleton both received an email on May 1st from the Department of Ed A, about the need to file an application with the department by June 30th." and that "our application was never submitted" (0:20:37). O'Neill: "It was on me. I should have known what it was, but I didn't." (0:25:59). | OBS POS |
| 0:26:09 | Universal lunch: cost | After 14 school days the cost is "$878.50." (0:26:24); LeClair: "About a $13,000 swing." (0:26:41) against the expected gain. Plan B (provision two) would cost "about $10,500 more in costs than the breakfast" (0:25:21); Pfeifer: "about $10,000, 10,005 for the year" (0:27:07). Benware: "how do we justify that and not do it at other elementary schools as well?" (0:28:34). | OBS |
| 0:31:20 | Universal lunch: decision by sentiment | LeClair: "we do not have a green light from the state of New Hampshire to do provision two" and asks for a decision October 3, since the item is listed "in discussion items to not action items" (0:31:49); "We never I don't know that we ever had it in an action item to get bored approval to implement universal breakfast." (0:34:42). Horsky: "we can't approve one way or the other" (0:34:21). The chair: "do we want to authorize Cori to move ahead with this?" (0:37:03); LeClair: "You can you can express your sentiment." Charging resumes October 1; donors may "reach out to Mike O'Neil" (0:37:45). | OBS |
| 0:39:48 | Student Voice postponed | The student representative: "We had a plethora of new information come in from students and staff on how technology is used inside of the classrooms" so the presentation moved back. | |
| 0:42:46 | Girls ice hockey co-op | Beaupre: some games last year had "only three, 3 or 4 subs." (0:44:34); "Lebanon has approved it. Kearsarge has approved it." (0:45:07); costs are shared by player participation (0:45:50). Approved by voice vote. | |
| 0:47:00 | Devices for students with IEPs and 504 plans | Magoon: about 553 students at Stevens and "over 100 of them either receive a 504 plan or an IEP." (0:47:37); "these are our most vulnerable students." (0:52:21). Zullo: "I would not be in favor of a policy that did not allow for the use of technology when appropriate with special ed students." (0:53:49). | |
| 0:54:43 | Handbook dispute | Horsky: "That fear mongering is utterly disappointing" and "it's coming from the top and it's not coming from the board." (0:55:52). Benware: "There was never anything in there about teacher discretion that was added this year." (0:57:29). The SHS administrator: the change was meant "to make the handbook reflect how we've been doing business." (0:59:39) and "I would never threaten my faculty" (1:01:22). Magoon: teachers are not to take phones but to call administration (1:02:21). | |
| 1:03:32 | Byrne Foundation gift | LeClair: "we received $15,000 for the sugar River Valley Regional Tech Center." (1:03:45) for community engagement projects such as "sheds for nonprofit groups for storage" (1:04:32). Accepted by voice vote (1:06:04). LeClair then: "I'm just going to double check our policy to make to see if we actually do have to have a public hearing." (1:06:06). | MEDIUM |
| 1:06:35 | Policy JICJ, cell phones | LeClair explains two second-read drafts, one adding IEP and 504 exceptions and one allowing teachers to use phones "for instructional, assessment and academic learning purposes" (1:07:38). Benware wants Student Voice heard "before final approval." (1:09:44). Third reading voted with exceptions for "a medical need, individual education plan, IEP or 504 plan" (1:10:28). | |
| 1:11:27 | Opioid lawsuit | LeClair met the city manager: "I don't believe they're interested in taking on school districts at this time." (1:12:09). Towle notes Vermont is suing (1:13:17). | |
| 1:13:38 | Timed agendas and citizens' comments | Towle suggests ending "by eight, 30." (1:16:30). Horsky: "one nonpublic and we're God knows when we're getting out of here." (1:16:49). Towle recalls "we would have our, closed door before our meeting actually started." (1:18:20); Benware objects to citizens waiting "for people to come out of a closed session." (1:19:16). | |
| 1:19:28 | The gift needs a hearing | LeClair: "We do need a public hearing for policy. Casey D on the donation because it's in excess of $5,000." She then reads the statute [RSA 198:20-b, III]: "20-B3 gifts in the amount of $5,000 or more shall require the board to hold a public hearing." (1:19:49). O'Neill: it is the "unrecognized revenue, an anticipated revenue statute that we elected here in Claremont" [unanticipated revenue] (1:20:02). | MEDIUM POS |
| 1:20:25 | Search committee seats | The chair: with three volunteers "give everyone two pieces of paper and you write down your two choices" (1:20:25). Zullo: "Why would we do why does it need to be secret." The chair: "It's not about secrecy. It's about efficiency." (1:21:18). Petrin declines; Towle: "I was hoping maybe Frank, but he's not speaking up" (1:22:15). Result: "Steve and Rebecca." (1:22:51). | OBS |
| 1:23:11 | Budget season | Sprague: the budget subcommittee should "act as an arm of the board" because "We did not have a unified board at all last year." (1:24:09); "Maybe disagreeing behind closed doors, but not disagreeing here." (1:24:30). Benware proposes a retreat; Sundays suggested (1:25:51). Sprague on last year: "Middleton came forward with the with in a budget after we after we gave a directive" (1:28:08); Horsky: "So it's a blank check." (1:30:19). | OBS |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer's aid, not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each one names the rule it rests on, as that rule read on September 19, 2018, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM The district's FY2015 audit was still in fieldwork in September 2018
The board was asked to approve "The board questionnaire for fiscal year 15 audit." (0:12:59), a document the auditors use during fieldwork, drafted for a board on which "no existing board members were on the board during the 1415 school year" (0:13:11). The roster supports that reading: the longest-serving members were sworn in March 2016. So the audit of the year ended June 30, 2015 had not been issued three years and three months after that year closed. Fiscal 2015 began July 1, 2014, before the December 26, 2014 start date of the Uniform Guidance audit rules (2 CFR 200.110(b)), so OMB Circular A-133 governed it: an entity expending $500,000 or more in federal awards needed a single audit, with the reporting package due "within the earlier of 30 days after receipt of the auditor's report(s), or nine months after the end of the audit period", here March 31, 2016. The record does not state the district's FY2015 federal expenditures, and RSA 21-J:19 makes the hiring of auditors permissive, so this page rates the gap MEDIUM rather than HIGH. The FY2015 audit report and the Federal Audit Clearinghouse filing would settle whether a federal deadline was missed. The SAU 6 business administrator said a week earlier that the unit's own audits were done through FY2017 (September 13, 2018 page).
Sources: OMB Circular A-133 (2007 revision), sec. 200(a) ($500,000 threshold) and sec. 320(a) (nine-month due date); 2 CFR 200.110(b) (2016 edition: Subpart F applies to fiscal years beginning on or after Dec. 26, 2014)
MEDIUM A $15,000 gift was accepted before the public hearing the statute requires
The board voted to accept $15,000 from the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation for the regional technical center (1:03:45, 1:06:04). RSA 198:20-b, I lets a school board accept unanticipated money from "a private source" without a district meeting vote only where the district has adopted an enabling article, which the business administrator confirmed Claremont had done (1:20:02). Paragraph III(a), in the text in force in 2018, adds: "For unanticipated funds in the amount of $5,000 or more, the school board shall hold a prior public hearing on the action to be taken", with newspaper notice at least seven days ahead. The acceptance vote came first. The record mitigates it: the assistant superintendent raised the question immediately (1:06:06) and confirmed the hearing requirement the same evening (1:19:49), and on October 3 the board held the hearing and voted again (October 3, 2018 page). Whether seven days' newspaper notice preceded that hearing is not in the record.
Sources: RSA 198:20-b, I and III(a) (2017 codification; source note ends 2005, 188:1; $5,000 threshold until 2023)
MEDIUM No agenda, packet or minutes survive, and the recording omits the opening of the meeting
MAP.md records no Drive material for this meeting: neither share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023. The recording begins at the end of the superintendent's report (0:00:00), so the call to order, the roll call, the agenda vote and the approval of the September 5 minutes have no public record at all, and attendance cannot be established. RSA 91-A:2, II, as in force throughout 2018, required minutes including "the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions", open to inspection "not more than 5 business days after the meeting". This page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule because the record mitigates the gap: members had packets ("that was in your packets", 0:13:11), and the board approved this meeting's minutes as amended on October 3, 2018, with corrections to the universal lunch paragraph (October 3, 2018 page).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification; the text for all of 2018)
OBSERVATION Universal meals were started, and their cost carried, without a board vote
The assistant superintendent said the board never voted to implement universal breakfast or lunch at Bluff (0:34:42), and the item was listed for discussion, so the board could only "express your sentiment" (0:37:14) on covering the meals served before charging resumes October 1 (0:37:45). The cost so far was $878.50 (0:26:24), with about $10,500 a year projected under the fallback plan (0:25:21). The missed filing itself rests on staff's description of a state email with a June 30 deadline (0:20:37); this page has not verified the federal or state rule behind that deadline, so it is not cited as a violation. Two points remain for review. Spending of this size was decided without a motion, which members recognized (0:34:21). And board members offered personal donations through the business administrator (0:37:38, 0:37:45): under RSA 198:20-b, III(b) in its 2018 text, unanticipated funds under $5,000 required notice "in the agenda" and in "the minutes of the school board meeting in which such funds are discussed", with acceptance "in public session of any regular school board meeting". The provision two plan was to return as an action item on October 3.
Sources: RSA 198:20-b, III(b) (2017 codification)
OBSERVATION Search committee members were named by volunteering, after the chair proposed written ballots
The SAU 6 motion of September 13 called for the two Claremont members to be elected by the Claremont board (September 13, 2018 page). The chair proposed that if more than two volunteered, members write their choices on paper (1:20:25); Zullo asked "why does it need to be secret" (1:21:07) and the chair answered that it was about efficiency (1:21:18). RSA 91-A:2, II provides that, except for town meetings, school district meetings and elections, "no vote while in open session may be taken by secret ballot". No ballot was used: only Horsky and Zullo volunteered, and the board settled on them by consensus (1:22:51), so no vote was recorded at all. The same chair's later remark that the budget subcommittee might be "disagreeing behind closed doors, but not disagreeing here" (1:24:30) also bears watching: a subcommittee is a public body under RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), and RSA 91-A:2-a, I requires public bodies to deliberate "only in meetings". The October 3 page records how a later vacancy on the committee was filled.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification; secret-ballot sentence); RSA 91-A:2-a, I and II (2016 codification; source 2008, 303:4, unamended); RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (source note ends 2008, 354:1)
POSITIVE Staff disclosed their own errors in public session and corrected course the same night
The assistant superintendent put the missed meal application on the record unprompted ("just to put it out there for the public.", 0:21:35), the business administrator named himself as responsible (0:25:59), and both gave the costs. After the gift vote, the assistant superintendent checked the statute and told the board before adjournment that a public hearing was required, which was placed on the next agenda (1:19:28). Zullo: "The transparency is wonderful." (0:39:28). Disclosure of this kind goes beyond what any statute requires.
Sources: Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 9-19
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 9-19 (show 10012; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, as the API refuses requests from the build environment; the transcript runs to 1:30:51)
- Google Drive: no packet folder, agenda or minutes. MAP.md: "neither share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023 (checked 9/26/26)." Not searched again for this page, per the run instructions for meetings with no Drive material.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/10012 SchoolBoard091918.mp4.CSV (664 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/10012 SchoolBoard091918.mp4Input/Transcripts/10012 SchoolBoard091918.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 82Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10012 SchoolBoard091918.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, II, 2017 codification (in force Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2018): minutes content and five-business-day inspection; no secret ballots in open session
- RSA 91-A:2-a, I and II (2008, 303:4): deliberation only in meetings; outside communications may not circumvent the chapter
- RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (2008, 354:1): committees and subcommittees of a board are public bodies
- RSA 198:20-b, I and III, 2017 codification: unanticipated funds; prior public hearing at $5,000 or more; agenda and minutes notice below $5,000
- OMB Circular A-133 (2007 revision), secs. 200(a) and 320(a): single audit threshold and reporting deadline for fiscal years beginning before Dec. 26, 2014
- 2 CFR 200.110(b) (2016 annual edition): effective date of the Uniform Guidance audit requirements