Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part, as named in the project's dialogue file. The roll call carries no names in the transcript. Where the dialogue file leaves a voice Unidentified, this page does too.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair; budget subcommittee | Presided; added the city lead-safety group to the agenda (0:02:09) and took the board seat on it (2:09:30); asked the board for "the 100% support of the board" for the draft budget (1:31:30). |
| Rebecca Zullo | Vice chair | Asked for examples of budget changes (1:25:34); said she would trust the subcommittee and expected clear answers (1:37:55); proposed a post-budget debrief (1:42:09); asked for a clear stipend job description (2:03:25). |
| Jason Benware | Member; budget subcommittee | Moved most motions: agenda, minutes, donations (with the pantry amendment, 0:46:44), policies; presented the draft budget (1:20:42). |
| Michael Petrin | Member; budget subcommittee | Seconded the pantry amendment (0:46:52); explained why personnel figures were withheld (1:38:47 to 1:39:55); asked for a firmer job description (2:04:59). |
| Michelle Pierce | Member | Moved the moderator's item first (0:01:57); offered a half-pantry, half-escrow amendment that drew no second (0:45:49); objected to receiving the budget without its personnel pages (1:36:06 to 1:40:50) and to members talking over others (1:42:31). |
| Carolyn Towle | Member | Seconded the Byrne donation; noted the board had voted for the subcommittee process (1:41:54); pressed again for a capital improvement plan (2:12:46). |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Member (appointed November 7, 2018) | Suggested hand stamps for voters at the deliberative session (0:34:26); said the GoFundMe money was set up for food (2:04:39). |
| Jesse (surname not on record) | Student representative | Gave the student report (0:04:14 to 0:08:31). |
| Dr. Keith Pfeifer | Interim Superintendent, SAU 6 | Report on budget progress and school-delay decisions (0:09:16 to 0:18:04); requested and then withdrew the CMS athletic coordinator stipend (1:50:35, 2:03:43). |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Presented donations, the federal-funding analysis (0:55:02 to 1:14:39), the budget packet contents and the policy subcommittee items. |
| Michael O'Neill (medium confidence) | Business administrator, SAU 6 | On lunch-account balances (0:43:27). Attributed on content. |
| Josh Malloy (low-medium confidence) | Director of instructional technology | Explained a projector purchase that came with a free display (1:20:14). Attributed on content. |
| Tracy Pope | School district moderator | Debriefed the 2018 deliberative session (0:25:17 to 0:38:35). |
| Doug Beaupre (spelling unverified) | Athletic director, Stevens High School | Described the former middle-school athletic position (1:53:48 to 1:58:08). |
| Patricia Barry (medium confidence) | Principal, Stevens High School, speaking for the CMS principal | Relayed the middle school's hours-based view of the stipend (2:00:01 to 2:02:07). |
| Klein (spelling unverified) | Citizens' comments, Ward 3; Stevens High School music director | Invited the public to the winter concert (0:18:37). |
| Maggie May | Citizens' comments, Ward 3 | Asked for stronger support of music and arts in the budget (0:20:07 to 0:21:53). |
| Mary Woodman | School district clerk | Asked to call the roll (0:00:52); no named speech in the file. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted online, though the board amends one at the start. This outline is reconstructed from the chair's transitions. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:27 | Call to order; pledge; roll call | Chair Sprague. |
| 0:01:47 | Agenda | Amended to take the moderator first and add the lead-safety group; motion Benware (0:03:23); voice vote. |
| 0:03:29 | Minutes | October 30 approved, motion Benware (0:03:55); November 7 deferred as incomplete. |
| 0:04:00 | Student representative's report | Stevens High School events. |
| 0:09:04 | Superintendent's report | Budget progress; emergency and weather procedures. |
| 0:18:28 | Citizens' comments | Two speakers, both Ward 3. |
| 0:24:49 | Moderator: deliberative session debrief | No vote; public hearing January 2 and deliberative session February 6, with snow dates, confirmed (0:37:17). |
| 0:39:44 | Acceptance of donations | $2,311.93 for school food pantries (Benware's amended motion, second Petrin, 0:46:44); $1,000 Byrne Foundation for a teacher (second Towle, 0:48:51); $1,000 grant for a Disnard art teacher (0:50:45). All carried by voice. |
| 0:51:53 | Update on the superintendent search | Towle. |
| 0:53:14 | Eliminating federal funding: discussion | LeClair presentation. No vote. |
| 1:20:29 | Fiscal year 2020 budget discussion | Draft handed out; no vote. |
| 1:44:14 | Policy subcommittee | Policies BA and BAA adopted on second and final reading (1:45:58); a block of policies approved as reviewed, second Zullo (1:49:36, 1:49:42). |
| 1:50:35 | CMS athletic coordinator position | Request withdrawn pending a clearer job description (2:03:43). |
| 2:06:05 | Community of action for lead safety (added) | Sprague to serve; no vote. |
| 2:10:55 | Future agenda items; for the good of the order | December 19 items; a spring retreat; Towle's capital improvement plan. |
| 2:15:16 | Adjournment | Motion Benware; voice vote. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological, from the dialogue CSV. Times are the start of the cited exchange, taken from the CSV's own second count. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped cell for the full entry.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:03:29 | November 7 minutes deferred | Sprague: "We're going to wait on November 7th. A, what you have in front of you is sort of a truncated version. It's incomplete." LeClair later: "I'll connect with you about the November 7th minutes and get those back." (2:10:57) | MEDIUM |
| 0:09:16 | Budget direction | Pfeifer: the district is "flatlining the budget. Other than one half of the cost of contract contractual increases already approved by the voters and the board". | |
| 0:20:07 | Citizens: music and arts | Maggie May: "when cuts are made to the budget, invariably music and arts are two of the first things that are affected". The music director: "we have 60 kids performing"; "It's twice the size it was two years ago." (0:19:32). | |
| 0:25:17 | Moderator's debrief | What worked: voter cards, colored secret ballots, "the five minute and two minute time limits" (0:27:41). To improve: publicize a snow date (0:28:03), seat voters together, and mark voter cards per ballot to stop repeat voting. | |
| 0:26:28 | The 2018 secret ballots | Pope: "I kept them all. Mary and I tallied them, and I bands around them, and I kept them, and I have them in a Ziploc bag at my home because I didn't know where they went." Answer from the table: "that would go to the school district office." (0:27:10). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:37:17 | Hearing and deliberative dates | LeClair: "the board determined January 2nd for the public hearing and February 6th for the deliberative session", with January 3 and February 7 as snow dates (0:37:46). | |
| 0:40:05 | More lunch donations | Four gifts totaling "$2,311.93" (0:40:59), received after the debt was cleared (0:41:36). Benware: the donors "were going on the assumption that it was going to be used to feed children." (0:42:19). Pierce's half-pantry, half-escrow amendment got no second (0:46:28); Benware's motion to "stock the food pantries" split among all schools carried (0:46:44 to 0:47:36). | POSITIVE |
| 0:47:53 | Two $1,000 gifts | The Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation for a named middle-school teacher; and "$1,000" for "Heather Lynn Bruno, an art teacher at Disney Art Elementary School" in a Wellborn cohort (0:49:48). Towle asked whether thank-you notes go out; LeClair: yes (0:51:33). | POSITIVE |
| 0:52:06 | Superintendent search | Towle: "The job was posted on November 27th. We've had seven applicants come in." The forums have "Been postponed to January." (0:52:53). | |
| 0:55:02 | What if the district refused federal funds? | LeClair: "not a single state nor territory refuses all of the federal funding" (1:08:29); "if we were to say no thank you to federal funding, you're also saying no thank you to state funding"; "about $16.4 million of a $32 million budget" (1:12:51); compliance costs "about $323,000" (1:13:51). | |
| 1:20:42 | Draft FY2020 budget handed out | Benware: the subcommittee "must have put in. I don't know, 20 plus hours in meetings" toward "a level funded budget of the same of last year, with the addition of 50% of the fixed cost increases" (1:21:43). LeClair: "you will not yet see the reductions that are being made to any staff or personnel." (1:24:33). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:25:45 | An example of a change | Sprague: "do we really need police at a girls volleyball game versus Hopkinton?" versus "a home Friday Night Football game versus Newport." | |
| 1:31:30 | A member objects | Sprague: "what we're looking for is, is the 100% support of the board". Pierce: "I feel like you sheltered in everything and nobody can hear about it." (1:36:06). Petrin: "There's information that's not ready to be public yet." (1:39:41); "if we go to the board, it is then public information." (1:39:55). Pierce: "if you even said to us privately in a non public meeting, this is the rest of it, you could have done that." (1:40:50). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:37:33 | Timing of the rest of the budget | LeClair: "you're getting this two weeks in advance and then get the rest of the information one week in advance, which is the board policy." Zullo: "it is my expectation that answers will be clear and concise and transparent" (1:38:23). Towle: "we voted for the subcommittee." (1:41:54). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:42:31 | Conduct at the table | Pierce: "there are are a few people who just keep bulldozing through and start talking" (1:43:24); "I just feel like out of the loop completely." (1:43:53). | |
| 1:44:21 | Policies | BA and BAA, amended in April but "they weren't officially adopted in April" (1:45:21), adopted on second and final reading; a block of policies "reviewed by the policy subcommittee, identified as having no changes in state statute" approved as reviewed (1:48:02). | |
| 1:50:35 | CMS athletic coordinator stipend | Pfeifer requested "a stipend, part time stipend, position". The job list handed out was "the former" position's (1:58:47); the middle school's own estimate was "basically 800 hours" (2:01:17). Petrin: "I don't think I'd be comfortable approving anything tonight." (2:05:22). Request withdrawn (2:03:43). | |
| 2:06:05 | Lead-safety community of action | A city-led group with the mayor, city manager, a board member and the hospital. Pierce volunteered, then deferred; Sprague: "I will let the mayor in the city manager know that I'll be on that committee." (2:09:30). No vote. | |
| 2:12:46 | Capital improvement plan | Towle: "my hope is that we end up with a completed program, so that it's a notebook style per school"; "I'm going to keep bringing it up until it's done." (2:14:55). Sent to the spring retreat. | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on December 5, 2018. They are not findings of violation, and nothing here is legal advice. Each flag names the rule it rests on; where no verified rule applies, it is recorded as an observation. Ordered by severity.
MEDIUM Minutes of the November 7 meeting were still incomplete four weeks later
The chair deferred approval of the November 7, 2018 minutes because "what you have in front of you is sort of a truncated version. It's incomplete." (0:03:29), and the assistant superintendent undertook to "get those back" (2:10:57). Four weeks had passed. The law then in force required minutes to be "promptly recorded and open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting"; a draft satisfies that, but an incomplete draft may not show the members present, the persons appearing, the subjects and the final decisions that the same paragraph requires. The November 7 meeting included an appointment to a board seat and a vote to seal nonpublic minutes, so completeness mattered. Graded MEDIUM under the run's rule for missing records rather than HIGH: the record itself shows a partial draft existed and a complete version was in hand, which mitigates, and whether a draft was open to the public within five business days cannot be established from here.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification; source note ends 2017, 165:1 and 234:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2018): minutes contents and five-business-day availability.
OBSERVATION A three-member budget subcommittee held back the personnel pages from the full board, and its own meetings have no public record online
The board chose to have a subcommittee of Sprague, Petrin and Benware build the draft budget with the administration (1:20:42, 1:41:54). The draft handed out tonight omitted "the reductions that are being made to any staff or personnel" (1:24:33), which members of the subcommittee had discussed. Petrin explained that giving it to the board would make it public: "if we go to the board, it is then public information." (1:39:55). Pierce objected that the rest of the board was asked for its "100% support" (1:31:30) without it, and suggested it could have been shared in a nonpublic session (1:40:50); the administration said the remaining pages would come a week before the next meeting under board policy (1:37:33). A subcommittee of the board is itself a public body with notice and minutes duties; no notices or minutes of its sessions (by the chair's account the latest was the day before, 1:36:12) are online. Petrin also mentioned an email to board members asking for questions midway through the process (1:41:24); the chapter then in force barred deliberation outside meetings, and nothing on the record shows that the email was used for deliberation. Recorded as an observation about process and online availability, not a finding.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (source note ends 2008, 354:1): a public body includes "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto"; RSA 91-A:2-a, I and II (source note 2008, 303:4; unamended, so the same text governed in 2018).
OBSERVATION Secret ballots from the 2018 deliberative session were being kept at the moderator's home
The moderator told the board she had kept every secret ballot from the 2018 deliberative session "in a Ziploc bag at my home because I didn't know where they went" (0:26:28), and asked what to do with them. A voice at the table said they "would go to the school district office" (0:27:10), and she agreed to deliver them. Her instinct to preserve them was sound, and she raised the question in public. The episode shows that the district had no settled custody rule for deliberative-session ballots ten months after the vote. No statute on the retention of school district meeting ballots was verified for this page, so this is recorded as an observation only.
Sources: No verified rule; recorded as an observation.
POSITIVE Small donations were accepted by motion in public session, their use debated openly, and donors named
Each of three donations under $5,000 was put to a motion at this regular meeting under an agenda item for donations, with the donors named (0:40:05, 0:47:53, 0:49:48). The board debated in the open whether the lunch money should build an escrow for future arrears or stock school food pantries, heard both ideas (Pierce's split proposal drew no second, 0:46:28), and adopted Benware's pantry motion (0:46:44). The law then in force required unanticipated funds under $5,000 to be noticed "in the agenda" and in the minutes, with acceptance "in public session of any regular school board meeting"; the two $1,000 teacher grants appear to be the ones held over from November 7 because they were not on that night's agenda.
Sources: RSA 198:20-b, III(b) (2019 codification; source note ends 2005, 188:1, so in force in 2018).
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 10139, "SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 12-5": Claremont Community TV. Every timestamp on this page links into this recording.
- No Drive material: neither the Claremont nor the SAU 6 share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023 (MAP.md section 88, checked 9/26/26). The agenda, the blue budget folder, the federal-funding slides and the minutes were not located.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/10139 SchoolBoard120518.mp4.CSV (863 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/10139 SchoolBoard120518.mp4Input/Transcripts/10139 SchoolBoard120518.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10139 SchoolBoard120518.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 88
Laws and rules cited on this page