Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Names follow the speaker attribution in the dialogue file and the project's 2015-2023 roster; where a name rests on weak evidence, the participation cell says so. There are no minutes to check spellings against.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair, presiding | Runs the donations hearing and the meeting; explains the interview process (0:09:23); reads absent candidate Rob Lovett Jr.'s written answers, with Benware reading the questions (0:26:45 to 0:30:08); reads the nonpublic exemption aloud (0:30:49); announces the board's choice (0:34:10); stresses mental health staffing for an alternative program (1:17:43); reports on budget subcommittee work (1:33:08, 1:34:03); reads the donors' names, not amounts (1:37:55). |
| Rebecca Zullo | Vice Chair | Absent ("she's not feeling well", per Towle at 0:36:39). |
| Jason Benware | Member | Moves the agenda (0:03:07), entry into and exit from nonpublic session (0:30:41, 0:32:06), the 83-year seal (0:32:54), acceptance of the donations (1:37:08, 1:37:35) and adjournment (1:48:12); asks that the absent candidate's answers be read (0:18:41); asks about CTE class capacity (0:45:36) and when the alternative program would start saving money (1:23:13). Named by the budget chair as a budget subcommittee member (1:33:08). |
| Michael Petrin | Member | Asks each candidate about research and follow-through (0:16:04, 0:24:13); argues the alternative program also prevents future out-of-district tuition and might take tuition students in (1:25:55); says the budget process is "A whole lot better" than last year (1:34:40); thanks donors (1:38:47). |
| Michelle Pierce | Member | Asks the minutes be corrected to give Pfeifer's title as interim superintendent and moves them (0:03:38, 0:04:08); asks candidates about priorities and the search survey (0:13:07, 0:22:30); asks the technical center about personal care attendant and substance-abuse counselor certificates (0:54:47, 1:09:03); asks for a stakeholder committee on the alternative program (1:31:27); reminds candidates the filing fee is a dollar (1:47:49). The dialogue file also gives her label to some opening fragments and to part of the chair's hearing explanation (0:01:33). |
| Carolyn Towle | Member | Asks candidates about other boards served on (0:13:55, 0:23:15); gives the superintendent-search update in Zullo's absence (0:35:38); presses for office-software skills training (1:03:01); proposes postponing the joint city council meeting to January and skipping the November 21 meeting (1:40:36, 1:46:02); says she will run again in March (0:33:37). |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Candidate (absent); appointed | Not present ("one's traveling for business", 0:19:05). His written answers are read aloud by the chair; the dialogue file attributes them to Frank Sprague (see method note). The board announces him as its choice for the vacancy (0:34:10). |
| Sally Bouchard | Candidate for the vacancy | Self-introduced (0:09:54): about 25 years in Claremont, executive director of Community Dental Care and the Sullivan County Dental Initiative; names finding a new superintendent as a priority (0:13:28); has not attended board meetings (0:15:24). |
| Sultana (surname not recoverable) | Candidate for the vacancy | Introduces herself ("My name is Sultana", 0:20:21; earlier renderings of the name and a surname are garbled, 0:19:20 to 0:19:28); describes community mobilization work in schools and offers to help immigrant families with the school system (0:21:46); names community involvement as the priority (0:22:47). |
| Keith Pfeifer | Interim Superintendent, SAU 6 | Superintendent's report (0:05:09 to 0:07:11): "do the loss of stabilization funds and catastrophic aid will be challenged to produce a level funded budget"; announces a superintendent-search meeting on November 15 (1:41:33). |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Presents the draft alternative special education program with the special education director (1:14:10 to 1:32:14); states the 2017-18 student lunch debt and the donations (1:36:14, 1:36:44); relays the mayor's request to move the joint meeting (1:40:05); raises the November 21 date and two teacher grants deferred because they were not on this agenda (1:44:01, 1:47:06). |
| Ben (surname not stated) | Director of Special Education, SAU 6 | Introduced by first name only ("So Ben is here. Our director of special education", 1:13:27). Explains the staffing model (1:16:59) and the travel burden of out-of-district placements (1:25:31). |
| Dr. Alex Herzog | Director, Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center (Claremont) | Self-identified (0:37:44); a former board member, per the project roster. Presents the center's goals and strategic plan (0:37:44 to 1:12:49). |
| Mary Woodman | School district clerk (recording secretary) | Takes the roll and calls the roll-call votes (0:02:21, 0:31:08); says the new member must be sworn by "The school district clerk, a justice of the peace of the moderator" and offers to do it (0:34:56 to 0:35:23). |
| Citizens' comments | None | No one spoke at the donations hearing (0:02:08) or in citizens' comments (0:08:20). |
| Unidentified | Several voices | 101 of 742 dialogue rows (13.6%), mostly short interjections, including the second to the donations motion (1:37:44). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting survives in any district share. The items below are reconstructed from the chair's transitions; members refer to papers "in your folder" that are not public.
| Taken up | Item | What happened |
|---|
| 0:00:08 | Call to order, Pledge of Allegiance | "To bring the school board meeting to order. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance." |
| 0:01:19 | Public hearing: food service donations | The chair explains that a donation over $500 needs board approval and one over $5,000 a public hearing (0:01:19 to 0:01:39). No speakers; "Seeing none, I will close the public hearing" (0:02:08). |
| 0:02:21 | Roll call | "Mrs. Goodman [Woodman]" takes the roll; answers are a chorus of here. |
| 0:02:54 | Approval of the agenda | "I move that we approve the. Agenda as it's written." (Benware); Pierce seconds; Aye, no opposition heard. |
| 0:03:19 | Minutes of October 14 (retreat) and October 17 (regular meeting) | Pierce asks that "Assistant Superintendent Doctor Fifer" be corrected in six places to interim superintendent (0:03:38); she moves acceptance "as adjusted", Benware seconds, approved by voice (0:04:08 to 0:04:15). |
| 0:04:24 | Student representative | None present; skipped. |
| 0:05:03 | Superintendent's report | Girls' soccer state finals; budget committee meetings; parent conferences; curriculum work; state special education and Title III reviews completed. |
| 0:08:20 | Citizens' comments | None. |
| 0:08:34 | Appointment of a new board member | Two candidates interviewed with the same questions; the third candidate's written answers read aloud. Benware moves to enter nonpublic session; the chair reads the exemption as RSA 91-A:3, II(c) (0:30:49); roll call, five Yes (0:31:25 to 0:31:36). Return to public session on Benware's motion and a roll call (0:32:06 to 0:32:54); minutes sealed for 83 years, Benware moving and Pierce seconding, voice vote (0:32:54 to 0:33:02). The chair announces the board is "opting for Mr. Lovett" (0:34:10). No vote on the appointment is recorded in public session. See flag 1. |
| 0:35:27 | Superintendent search update | Towle reports for the search committee's communications group. |
| 0:36:51 | SRVRTC goals and strategic plan | Presentation and questions; no action. |
| 1:13:13 | Draft special education alternative programming model | The chair: "Emphasis on drafts." Presentation and discussion; no action. |
| 1:33:08 | Fiscal year 2020 budget discussion | Budget subcommittee report; no action. |
| 1:35:53 | Acceptance of food service donations | Benware moves to accept "$29,066.23 from the anonymous donor" and "the $3,530 that was donated by several other generous donors" (1:37:08, 1:37:35); unidentified second (1:37:44); Aye, no opposition heard (1:39:45 to 1:39:47). |
| 1:39:53 | Agenda for the joint city council and school board meeting | The mayor had asked to move it to November 29; consensus, without a motion, to postpone it to January (1:41:24 to 1:43:35). |
| 1:43:53 | Future agenda items | Consensus to skip the November 21 meeting; next meeting December 5 (1:47:06). |
| 1:47:38 | Good of the order | Filing for school board candidates; a dollar fee (1:47:49). |
| 1:48:12 | Adjournment | Benware moves, Pierce seconds, Aye. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/10093 SchoolBoard110718.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
Topics in the order discussed. Quotations are as transcribed.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:19 | Donations hearing | "Whenever we have a donation of over $500, we require a board approval. But any donation over 5005 [$5,000] via a public. Hearing requires a public hearing." The chair: "we have, received some donations that exceed that amount. So we are having a hard [hearing] hearing" (0:01:39). No speakers. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:03:19 | Minutes of two October meetings | "approval of minutes from October 14th and October 17th. That would be our, retreat and then our regular board meeting." Neither meeting has a recording or a MAP.md section in this project. | MEDIUM |
| 0:05:09 | Superintendent's report | The budget committee "has met twice so far"; "do the loss of stabilization funds and catastrophic aid will be challenged to produce a level funded budget" (0:05:36). Curriculum work under the assistant superintendent (0:06:04 to 0:06:35). "We have completed a state of New Hampshire DOE special education and last week a title 3SOL [Title III ESOL]. We are awaiting the results." (0:07:11). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:08:34 | Vacancy: interview process | "we're going to hear from both of you, and then we will, go into nonpublic deliberate and then come back into session" (0:09:23). Each member asks every candidate the same question (0:12:55). | POSITIVE |
| 0:09:54 | Candidate Sally Bouchard | Dental program has taken student decay rates "from 65% over the past nine years, down to 7%"; "This would be my first board seat" (0:14:10); "I've not attended any meetings of the board to date" (0:15:24). | |
| 0:18:41 | A third candidate | Benware: "there's a third candidate as well" who "answered all the questions? I think we should probably go through those and at least read them." The chair: "Originally, I was thinking we would do that privately, but we think it's important, my colleagues, that we also share that with the community" (0:19:55). | POSITIVE |
| 0:19:20 | Candidate Sultana | "My name is Sultana and I from the back and from Pakistan" (0:20:21); works in community mobilization for schools; "I think I will be a big plus to this board to make the system easy for them" (0:22:14); has not attended meetings (0:24:08). | |
| 0:26:45 | Rob Lovett Jr.'s written answers, read aloud | The chair reads: "I just moved to Claremont this summer, and one of the primary issues I've heard is maximizing the current school budget"; Benware reads the questions from number three (0:28:00). Lovett's answers: "I've only seen televised and previously recorded school board meetings before" (0:28:09); on the survey, "I reviewed the survey, however I did not fill it out" (0:29:48). | |
| 0:30:35 | Nonpublic session | Benware: "I'd like to make a motion to go into nonpublic." "Oh, sorry. Is there an RSA there?" The chair: "It's RSA 91-A colon, three comma." "Two." "C parentheses" (0:30:49 to 0:30:56). Pfeifer: "you have. That. In your folder." Roll call by the clerk, five Yes (0:31:25 to 0:31:36). | MEDIUM |
| 0:32:06 | Return; 83-year seal | Benware: "I'd like to make a motion to come out of nonpublic." Roll call (0:32:47 to 0:32:54). Benware: "I'd like to make a motion to seal the minutes of the nonpublic for 83 years." Pierce: Second. "All those in favor? I." (0:33:02). | MEDIUM |
| 0:33:09 | Seats on the March ballot | "this this position we're filling tonight is only till March"; "There'll be three vacancies" (0:33:32); Benware: "It'll be a two year and two, three years" (0:33:39). Filing "Is between January 23rd and February 1st" (0:33:41). Pierce and Towle will run again. | |
| 0:34:10 | Appointment announced | "We have made a decision. The board has made a decision that we will be opting for Mr. Lovett, who is not here tonight." No motion or vote follows in public session. | MEDIUM |
| 0:34:43 | Swearing in | The clerk: "When Mr. Lovett is available, he needs to be sworn in"; "We don't actually have a moderator." (0:35:02); "I have the form right here" (0:35:10). Later in the meeting LeClair refers to "Tracy Pope, the school district moderator" (1:45:21); the record does not reconcile the two statements. | |
| 0:35:38 | Superintendent search | Towle: the committee is "developing the system for the criteria. To develop the ads that are going out"; "our focus is on the forums that are going to be coming up" (0:36:13). | |
| 0:37:44 | Technical center: staff and enrollment | Herzog: five programs in the building (0:40:19); enrollment for 2018-19 "out of 173 possible seats. We have 140 filled" including intro classes (0:42:49); "66 out of 101 seats" in the CTE programs (0:47:03); three new teachers teaching two blocks each (0:42:49). | |
| 0:43:30 | Honors levels and class size | Benware and the chair ask about honors classes and weighting; LeClair later confirms: "Honors. Level two courses are weighted." (1:02:51). On capacity, the chair: "you've only got one teacher" (0:46:13). | |
| 0:47:32 | Technical center: vision and plans | Draft vision (0:47:52); repair rather than new construction (0:48:32); a possible "tech diploma, a 24 credit" track (0:50:10); teacher prep as a possible new program (0:51:39). Renovation: "for 2022 the lineup for funding to renovate this building and add programs. And the state will give us 50 to 75% of that cost" (0:54:01). | |
| 0:54:47 | Certificates and partnerships | Herzog on the Newport partnership: "we are not to duplicate programs unless we can show a real need or we can get money from outside sources" (0:55:05). Towle on office-software training for returning workers (1:03:01); Pierce on certificate paths for substance-abuse counselors (1:09:03); Herzog will ask River Valley Community College (1:11:42). | |
| 1:13:13 | Draft alternative special education program | LeClair: last summer's plan with a regional provider "fell through when the cost structures that we originally presented shifted dramatically" (1:14:47); "roughly 35 students who are placed at a district [out of district]" (1:16:14). Ben: staffing is now ten with one added administrator (1:16:59). Two elementary classrooms, levels two and three, "therapeutic environments first, academic environments second" (1:20:37). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:21:24 | Costs and savings of the draft program | Benware cites "a cost over the first year of about $125,000" (1:23:13). LeClair: "we put roughly three students out every year or more" at "roughly $90,000 per student per placement just for the tuition", "$270,000 for three students every year" (1:24:38). Petrin: savings also come from placements prevented (1:25:55). LeClair: "665,000 and change for the staffing costs" against savings of "around 540,000", a difference "of around 125,000 that we would need to budget" (1:30:20). Ben: "That last figure should read $389.59. I did not correct that on your copy." (1:30:59). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:29:52 | Board support | The chair: "I think it's pretty, unanimous that the board thinks this is a great idea." LeClair will meet the city manager about space (1:32:14). | |
| 1:33:08 | Fiscal year 2020 budget | "Mike, Jason and I have met twice"; areas covered include technology, curriculum, special education and the three elementary schools (1:33:33); "We've already spent five hours, another three hours this Friday" (1:34:03). LeClair: "paying a lot of attention to what we're actually spending versus what we're budgeting" (1:34:53). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:35:53 | Lunch debt cleared | LeClair: the business administrator's spreadsheet "removed this any of the staff debt that still existed"; "we had $32,596.23 of student lunch debt from 1718. As of June 30th, 2018" (1:36:14); "$3,530 total in donations from individuals and locally", and "an anonymous donor" will "contribute the balance, which will be $29,066.23" (1:36:44). Motion, second and vote (1:37:08 to 1:39:47). The chair reads the donors' names but not the amounts (1:37:55); this page does not repeat the names. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:39:53 | Joint meeting with the city council | The mayor asked for "the 29th of November" (1:40:05). Towle: "my thought was that we would postpone a combination meeting until January" (1:40:36). One purpose was asking legislators "to submit legislation on the behalf of the governing bodies" (1:42:06). The chair, on a motion: "I don't I don't know if we need a motion" (1:41:28). | |
| 1:44:01 | November 21 meeting dropped | "November 21st is the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving." Consensus to skip it; "The next meeting would then be December 5th" (1:47:06). LeClair holds two teacher grants over $500 for December 5 "because it wasn't warned as part of this meeting" (1:47:06). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:47:49 | Candidate filing | Pierce: "you do have to pay a dollar. So please make sure to bring a dollar or change." | |
| 1:48:12 | Adjournment | Motion, second and Aye. | |
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 November 7, 2018, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM The vacancy was decided in nonpublic session and announced without a public vote, and the minutes that would show the decision were sealed for 83 years by voice vote with no stated reason
The board interviewed candidates in public, then entered nonpublic session on a roll-call vote under an exemption the chair read as RSA 91-A:3, II(c) (0:30:49 to 0:31:36). On its return it voted by voice to "seal the minutes of the nonpublic for 83 years" (0:32:54 to 0:33:02), and the chair announced: "The board has made a decision that we will be opting for Mr. Lovett" (0:34:10). No motion or vote on the appointment is heard in public session. RSA 671:33, II(a) required the board to fill the vacancy, with the appointee serving until the next district election, which the chair describes (0:33:09). RSA 91-A:3, as it read in 2018, allowed the body to discuss and decide only the matters set out in the motion (I(c)), and II(c) covers matters that would likely affect adversely the reputation of a person other than a member, which can reach a discussion of candidates. But ¶III required minutes and decisions reached in nonpublic session to be disclosed within 72 hours unless the body, by a recorded two-thirds vote in public session, determined that disclosure would likely harm a person's reputation, render a proposed action ineffective, or relate to terrorism, and then only until those circumstances no longer applied. The recording shows no such determination, no tally on the seal, and a fixed 83-year term the statute does not provide. If the appointment vote was taken in the nonpublic session, the seal as voted would keep the board's own count on filling a public office out of view for 83 years. The minutes, if they survive, may record a finding and a public tally that the recording does not.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), I(c), II(c), III (2017 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017); RSA 671:33, II(a) (2017 codification; source note ends 2017, 3:2, eff. May 30, 2017)
MEDIUM No agenda or minutes for this meeting survive in any district share, and two October meetings it approved minutes for are missing from the record
MAP.md records no Drive material for this meeting: the district's shares hold no year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023. RSA 91-A:2, II, as it read in 2018, required minutes including the names of members, persons appearing, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions, open to inspection within five business days. This page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule because the record mitigates the gap: the clerk takes the roll and the votes, and the board corrects and approves the minutes of its October 14 retreat and October 17 regular meeting (0:03:19 to 0:04:15), so minutes were being kept. Those two October sessions have no recording and no MAP.md section in this project (MAP.md's October 2018 sections cover only October 3, October 18 for SAU 6, and October 30), so this approval is the only trace of them in the corpus.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification; text in force for all of 2018)
OBSERVATION The donations hearing and acceptance follow RSA 198:20-b's sequence; the hearing's newspaper notice cannot be checked
For unanticipated money of $5,000 or more, RSA 198:20-b, III(a), as it read in 2018, required a prior public hearing, with notice of its time, place and subject published in a newspaper of general circulation at least seven days before; below $5,000, III(b) required notice in the agenda and the minutes and acceptance in public session at a regular meeting. The board held a hearing before the meeting (0:01:19 to 0:02:08) and then accepted $29,066.23 from an anonymous donor and $3,530 from others by motion and vote (1:37:08 to 1:39:47). That sequence fits the statute. What the record cannot show is the notice: a hearing on November 7 needed newspaper notice by October 31, and at the October 30 meeting the administration had $280 in hand and no anonymous gift had been mentioned. A notice that described the hearing in general terms would suffice; the published notice, or the district's acceptance resolution, would settle it. The administration's holding of two teacher grants over $500 for December 5 "because it wasn't warned as part of this meeting" (1:47:06) is consistent with III(b)'s agenda-notice rule. The $500 board-approval threshold the chair describes (0:01:19) is not in the statute and presumably comes from district policy, which was not available.
Sources: RSA 198:20-b, I and III(a)-(b) (2017 codification; source note ends 2005, 188:1)
OBSERVATION The budget pressures the superintendent named are written into state law
Pfeifer said the district "will be challenged to produce a level funded budget" because of "the loss of stabilization funds and catastrophic aid" (0:05:36). Both are statutory. RSA 198:41, IV(d), as codified in 2018, paid each municipality, from fiscal year 2017, its education grant plus a share of its fiscal year 2012 stabilization grant that started at 96 percent and fell by 4 percent each year after, so the FY2020 budget the board was building faced a further scheduled cut. Catastrophic special education aid under RSA 186-C:18, III, as codified in 2017, paid 80 percent of a child's costs above 3.5 times the state average expenditure per pupil, but was prorated proportionally when the appropriation fell short, with no floor at that date. The record gives no dollar figure for either loss; the district's revenue estimates would supply it.
Sources: RSA 198:41, IV(d) (2018 codification; source note ends 2016, 85:9, eff. July 18, 2016); RSA 186-C:18, III (2017 codification; source note 2017, 156:96-100, eff. July 1, 2017)
OBSERVATION The cost case for the in-district special education program rests on handouts that are not public
The board was told the draft program would cost about $665,000 a year in staffing against about $540,000 in avoided placements, a net of about $125,000 (1:30:20), with out-of-district tuition at "roughly $90,000 per student per placement" (1:24:38); a correction to "That last figure" was given orally and "I did not correct that on your copy" (1:30:59). The figures come from "two pieces of paper" in members' folders, a Venn diagram and a spreadsheet (1:13:27), which are not in any public share, so a viewer cannot see which line the correction changed. The program's aim of keeping children in district is consistent with federal law's preference for educating children with disabilities with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate; the projections themselves are the speakers', and the December budget materials, if found, would test them.
Sources: 20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(5)(A) (least restrictive environment)
POSITIVE Candidates for the vacancy were interviewed in public with the same questions, and the absent candidate's written answers were read aloud
No statute required the board to interview vacancy candidates in public; RSA 671:33, II(a) says only that the board shall fill the vacancy. The board heard each candidate in public session and each member put the same question to every candidate (0:12:55). When Benware pointed out that the third candidate had submitted written answers (0:18:41), the chair dropped his plan to review them privately: "we think it's important, my colleagues, that we also share that with the community" (0:19:55), and the answers were read into the record (0:26:45 to 0:30:08). The public therefore heard everything the candidates offered before the board deliberated, even though the deliberation itself was closed (see flag 1).
Sources: RSA 671:33, II(a) (2017 codification)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 11-7 (show 10093; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, the API returned 403 to this environment on 2026-10-02)
- Google Drive: no packet folder, agenda or minutes. MAP.md records that neither share holds a year folder older than 2022 and that 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/10093 SchoolBoard110718.mp4.CSV (742 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/10093 SchoolBoard110718.mp4Input/Transcripts/10093 SchoolBoard110718.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 86Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10093 SchoolBoard110718.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
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), I(c), II(c), III, 2017 codification: nonpublic motion and roll call; discussion confined to the motion; reputation exemption; 72-hour disclosure unless withheld by a recorded two-thirds vote with a determination
- RSA 671:33, II(a), 2017 codification: school board fills its vacancies; appointee serves until the next district election
- RSA 198:20-b, I and III, 2017 codification: unanticipated money; hearing with newspaper notice at $5,000 or more; agenda and minutes notice below
- RSA 198:41, IV(d), 2018 codification: stabilization grant at 96 percent for FY2017, reduced by 4 percent a year
- RSA 186-C:18, III, 2017 codification: catastrophic special education aid, 80 percent above 3.5 times the state average, prorated proportionally
- 20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(5)(A): least restrictive environment (IDEA)