Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording, plus the absent member. There are no minutes to check spellings or attendance against; names follow the project's 2015-2023 roster and the attribution report for this show. Students other than the student representative are not named on this page.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Opens the hearing and explains its timing (0:00:24); answers hearing questions (0:08:42, 0:10:28); reports on the October 20 retreat (0:49:53); raises meeting frequency (0:54:22); speaks from his experience as a guidance director on new-student registration (1:15:12; attribution medium confidence). |
| Rebecca Zullo | Vice Chair | Abstains on the October 16 minutes because she was absent (0:18:56); speaks for the retreat format (0:52:08) and against losing contact by meeting monthly (0:59:26); asks for review of the sexual harassment policy (1:09:04). Identified by elimination (attribution report, medium confidence). |
| Jason Benware | Member | Moves the agenda (0:17:55), both sets of minutes (0:18:35, 0:19:03), the warrant (0:20:26), monthly meetings (0:58:36), the organ gift (1:02:08) and adjournment (1:18:19); raises transfer students' orientation and school tours (1:13:20). |
| Michael Petrin | Member | Explains the money as restored stabilization grant (0:13:54); seconds the agenda (0:18:06), the retreat minutes (0:19:19), monthly meetings (0:58:53) and adjournment (1:18:22); asks for a report on a press-reported incident at the high school (1:07:44). |
| Carolyn Towle | Member | Seconds the October 16 minutes (0:18:48) and the warrant (0:20:43); asks that subcommittees report at the monthly meeting (0:58:58); asks when the grading system will be ready (1:04:58). |
| Heather Whitney | Member | Comments on the retreat (0:54:00); seconds the organ gift (1:02:43); suggests recruiting tuition students (1:17:23). |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Member | Absent (chair, 0:58:24). |
| Mary Woodman | School district clerk | Calls the roll (0:16:20); Zullo addresses her on the minutes (0:18:56). |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Reads the warrant (0:02:19) and describes the three programs it would fund (0:04:22, 0:27:16); superintendent's report (0:21:20); proposes meeting monthly (0:55:20); responds on the personnel incident (1:08:32, 1:11:44). |
| Richard Seaman | SAU 6 business administrator (introduced by the chair as assistant superintendent) | Gives the state-aid figures at the hearing (0:09:31) and the program rationale (0:12:27; attribution of these hearing rows low to medium confidence); reports on the audits and on school-lunch claims (1:06:11). |
| Donna Magoon | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Reports on the Title I author visit (0:23:29); gives the school safety committee's first meeting date (1:05:40); describes the registration page on the SAU website (1:16:14). |
| Tyler Sullivan | Student representative | Student report (0:35:05); introduces two seniors' CARE conference presentation (0:37:38) and describes the Friends of Rachel committees (0:45:14). |
| Two Stevens seniors | Presenters, CARE conference | One presents the CARE conference and the Friends of Rachel club (0:38:01 to 0:48:37); the other is introduced but not separately heard. Named on the recording; not named here. |
| Unidentified | Hearing speaker, e-Ticker News of Claremont | Asks where unspent money goes (0:08:01); identifies the outlet, transcribed Tick or news, but not a name. |
| Cynthia Howard | Hearing speaker, Ward 2 | Asks how much of the $6.2 million goes to the schools (0:08:31) and argues the money should go to taxpayers (0:14:42). |
| Unidentified voices | Members and staff | 56 of 413 rows (13.6%): roll-call answers, vote responses and some exchanges, including a member who says “we as a board didn't know” about the incident (1:09:29). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda was posted to any surviving district share. The items below are reconstructed from the chair's transitions; he refers to agenda letters (item D, item F) of a printed agenda that does not survive. Votes are by voice; only the meeting-frequency vote has audible dissent.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:24 | Public hearing: special district meeting warrant | Warrant read (0:02:19); presentation; questions from two residents; closed (0:15:21). See flag 2. |
| 0:15:36 | Pledge; roll call | Roll (0:16:12 to 0:16:20). |
| 0:16:38 | Agenda | Warrant vote added before the superintendent's report; drug-policy item struck and sent to subcommittee (0:17:08); auditors moved to November 20 (0:17:34). Moved by Benware (0:17:55), seconded by Petrin (0:18:06); approved. |
| 0:18:20 | Minutes of October 16, 2019 | Moved by Benware (0:18:35), seconded by Towle (0:18:48); approved (0:18:50); Zullo abstains (0:18:56). |
| 0:19:00 | Minutes of the October 20, 2019 retreat | Moved by Benware with a number correction (0:19:03), seconded by Petrin (0:19:19); approved. |
| 0:19:19 | Citizens' comments | Opened for subjects other than the warrant; no speakers (0:19:46). |
| 0:19:46 | Action (added): warrant for the November 21 special district meeting | Moved by Benware (0:20:26), seconded by Towle (0:20:43); approved (0:20:44). |
| 0:21:03 | Superintendent's report | MassCUE conference, Title I event, strategic-plan committees, the three proposed programs. No action. |
| 0:34:39 | Student representative report | Including the seniors' CARE conference presentation. No action. |
| 0:49:53 | Report on the board retreat | October 20 at the community center. No action. See flag 6. |
| 0:54:22 | Item F: meeting frequency | Motion by Benware to meet once a month on the first Wednesday, with added meetings as needed (0:58:36), seconded by Petrin (0:58:53); carried 4-2 (1:01:00). See flag 4. |
| 1:01:29 | Acceptance of donation: Lowry organ | Moved by Benware for the music department (1:02:08), seconded by Whitney (1:02:43); approved (1:03:08). |
| 1:03:44 | Future agenda items | Policy committee, auditors, grading system, school safety, health policies, graduation rates; audit and school-lunch status from the business administrator (1:06:11). |
| 1:07:31 | Other business; adjournment | Petrin's request for a report on a personnel incident (1:07:44); Benware's request on new-student information (1:13:20). Adjournment moved by Benware (1:18:19), seconded by Petrin (1:18:22); approved (1:18:23). |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/10605 SchoolBoard110619.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording. Timestamps link to the same moment in the Cablecast recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:24 | Why the hearing is rushed | Chair: “it's because it is a little bit rushed.” “We learned from legal counsel at our last board meeting that” part of the new state money falls in this year and must be committed through a hearing or go to tax relief (0:00:59); “We're faced with very tight deadlines.” (0:01:25). | MEDIUM |
| 0:02:19 | The warrant | Tempesta reads the notice: “pursuant RSA 1973 a” [197:3-a], a single-session special meeting “on Thursday, November 21st, 2019 at 6:30 p.m. at Stevens High School Auditorium”. The article would establish a special education expendable trust fund and add “the sum of $650,000 to be added to the fund” from increased adequacy aid, “with no money to be raised from taxation, and further, to name the school board as agents to expend” (0:02:47). | MEDIUM |
| 0:03:29 | Three programs | Last year's special education program money: “I think it was 637,000 last year.” The new fund would expand PRIDE, build a program for students who might otherwise leave the district (0:04:22) and revive the Stevens alternative program (0:05:09). Unused money: “if it's not used for this purpose, it has to go back to the taxpayers.” (0:06:35). Programs could take tuition students: “we also have the ability as a revenue stream for other students from other towns to come and potentially pay in.” (0:06:59). | |
| 0:08:01 | Hearing: where unspent money goes | e-Ticker News: “When you say the money goes back to the taxpayers, does it go to the city pot, as it were”; answer: it goes to the city. | |
| 0:08:31 | Hearing: how much of the $6.2 million | Howard: “I was wondering how much was allotted to the school district because we received a $6.2 million.” Chair: “All of that money is not going to the schools.” (0:08:42). Seaman: “This current year, I believe the the number is 1.3 million to the school.” with about 1.6 million next year plus 2.2 million for buildings (0:09:31). Chair: “And so the we're putting 650,000 into the special Ed trust fund. And the other 650 goes to property tax relief this year.” (0:10:28). | |
| 0:10:53 | Hearing: special education losses | Howard: “But we only lost approximately 30,000 this fiscal year.” for special education, about 106,000 in total; Seaman: “the payback on this program was thought to be 1.3 years.” (0:12:58). Petrin: “Restoring that staple grant.” [stabilization] to its 2016 level (0:14:05); chair: 4%. a year (0:14:28). | |
| 0:14:42 | Hearing: tax relief | Howard: “I think it's about time that the taxpayers get some kind of compensation back.” Chair: “We're going to have a deliberative session in the meeting on the 21st, and I would encourage you to come.” (0:15:06). Hearing closed (0:15:21). | |
| 0:16:20 | Roll call | Clerk: “Patron. Heather. Whitney, Carolyn Tall, and Frank Sprague.” [Petrin, Whitney, Towle, Sprague], after unseparated answers (0:16:12). | |
| 0:17:08 | Agenda changes | The employee drug-testing policy is struck: “we're going to have that go to committee and subcommittee”. Tempesta: “the presentation from the auditors is going to be pushed out to the 20th.” (0:17:34). | |
| 0:18:56 | October 16 minutes | Zullo: “Mary, I abstained because I wasn't here for this.” The retreat minutes follow with a number correction (0:19:03). | MEDIUM |
| 0:20:26 | Warrant sent forward | Benware moves to “approve the warrant put forth by Mr. Tempesta and read by him just a moment ago.” Chair: “Second. By Caroline.” [Towle] (0:20:44). Approved by voice. | MEDIUM |
| 0:21:20 | Superintendent's report | MassCUE technology conference and a proposed Chromebook lease using E-rate (0:22:14); the Title I author visit, which Magoon says “was all brought to our district through our title one funding” (0:24:51); contract negotiations and the strategic-plan committees (0:25:31). | |
| 0:30:22 | Program costs | Tempesta: “with six students out of district right now, there's approximately $550,000 intuitions.” On keeping students in district: “And it's it's it's the law.” (0:31:14). The Stevens program: “we could put that in for 200 and 250,000.” (0:32:32). “The autism program, we think we could do for 300.” (0:32:54). | |
| 0:35:05 | Student report | School events, Stevens' college application day, Discovery Day at River Valley Community College; two seniors report on the CARE conference and the Friends of Rachel club (0:38:01). | |
| 0:49:53 | Retreat report | Chair: the budget retreat lets the board “come to some common understandings with the administration before the budget process.” (0:50:27); “we spent about 2.5 hours” on a Sunday (0:51:32). Tempesta: “it's a posted public meeting” (0:53:09). Chair: “The community center is the facility for free, and we bring our own food and nobody gets a dime.” (0:53:40). | POSITIVE |
| 0:55:20 | Meeting once a month | Tempesta recalls the history of “meeting twice a month, where unity meets once a month” and proposes monthly meetings during negotiations and planning. Benware: “Proposing then that we taper down to one meeting a month, the first Wednesday of the month?” (0:58:03). Chair: “Rob's not here.” (0:58:24). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:58:36 | Motion and debate | “I move that we go to one meeting a month, first Wednesday of the month with the. With the exception of times where we need more, such as during budget season.” Towle wants “all of the subcommittees have to report” at it (0:58:58). Zullo: “I think that the six board meetings are perfect example of how things fall apart when you don't meet frequently enough” (0:59:44), and asks members to “make a pinky promise to call those meetings when we need to” (1:00:07). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:00:55 | Vote 4-2 | A No. is heard after the call for opposition; then “For two, 4 to 2.” (1:01:00), Two nos. (1:01:04). The dissenters are not named. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:02:08 | Organ donation | Benware moves to “accept this gift of this Lowry organ for the use of the music department.” (1:02:33). Approved. | |
| 1:06:11 | Audits | Seaman: “So we don't have repeats of what happened last year. We're waiting for the auditors to do the comprehensive one.” and “I think we're anticipating that by the end of December, we'll have both audit reports.” See the November 20 auditor's update (November 20, 2019 page). | |
| 1:06:34 | School-lunch claims | Seaman: “So all the lunch forms are in and all that, all the stuff we missed last year and the year before.” A state IT problem now blocks the application: “we have not submitted as of yet any of our reimbursements because the state does not have a system by which we can do so.” (1:06:57). A member: “We missed the reimbursement a month period, a period of months over two years, because that's a monthly report.” (1:07:16); answer: “That's my understanding. Yes.” | MEDIUM |
| 1:07:44 | Personnel incident | Petrin: “As we know in the paper, there is an incident at the high school” involving a former employee; he asks for a report on how it was handled and says “I think it may have to be nonpublic part of the meeting”. Tempesta: “This is a whole new administration.” (1:08:32). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:09:04 | Board not informed | Zullo asks that “we formally say we're going to put the sexual harassment policy on our next meeting.” A member: “it's it's surprising we as a board didn't know that that went down” (1:09:29). Zullo: “But once he was not an employee of the district, it's no longer a personnel issue.” (1:09:58). Tempesta: “we set up a confidential tip line that would come right in.” (1:12:41). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:13:20 | Newcomers and tours | Benware: families moving in find “there's no easy or convenient way to set up a tour of a school.” (1:14:04). Magoon: the SAU website's parents page “does say student registration” (1:16:14). Whitney: “a lot of our budget, part of our budget that we're lacking is our tuition students.” (1:17:23). | |
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 6, 2019, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM No agenda, packet or minutes for this hearing and meeting survive in any district share
MAP.md records no Drive material for this meeting. RSA 91-A:2, II, in the text in force from January 1, 2019, required minutes listing "the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions", required that "The names of the members who made or seconded each motion shall be recorded in the minutes", and required them to be "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting" (statute text). Without them the two members who voted against monthly meetings cannot be identified (flag 4), and the hearing has no written record of who spoke.
MEDIUM under the project's severity rule, because the record mitigates the gap: the board approved minutes of this meeting on November 20, with Benware's correction that the trust-fund figure is 650,000, not 650 million (November 20, 2019 page). Minutes were written; no public copy survives.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019)
MEDIUM The hearing on the special-meeting warrant was not noticed on the district website, by district counsel's later account
The board held this hearing under RSA 197:3-a, which requires a hearing "at least 14 days prior" to the special meeting and requires notice of its time, place and subject in at least two public places, "one of which shall be on the school district's website, if such exists, at least 7 days prior" (statute text). The 14-day requirement was met: November 6 is fifteen days before November 21. The website notice was not. On November 20 district counsel told the board that concerns had been raised about posting and argued that, because only the SAU 6 website exists, there may have been no duty to post there (November 20, 2019 page). At the December 12 curing meeting he listed the defects as no website notice of this hearing and a meeting notice posted six days ahead rather than seven (December 12, 2019 page). The chair's own explanation on this recording is that the timetable was compressed: “We learned from legal counsel at our last board meeting that” part of the money had to be committed this year (0:00:59).
MEDIUM, not HIGH: the defect is a missed notice requirement, but RSA 31:5-b, I treats failures "regarding time or place of notice" as minor procedural irregularities that a later meeting may cure, and the district used that route on December 12. The hearing itself was held in public on the record with questions answered.
Sources: RSA 197:3-a, IV and V (2019 codification; source 2013, 197:1, eff. Sept. 7, 2013); RSA 31:5-b, I (2019 codification; source 1988, 284:1; 1989, 287:1); RSA 40:16 (2019 codification; source 1999, 86:4)
MEDIUM Federal school-lunch reimbursement claims went unfiled for months over two years
The business administrator reported that the district had caught up “all the stuff we missed last year and the year before” and that no claims for the current year had yet been filed because of a state system problem (1:06:34, 1:06:57); a member summarized, without contradiction, that the district had missed monthly reimbursements over a period of months across two years (1:07:16). Under 7 CFR 210.8 a final claim must be "submitted to the State agency not later than 60 days following the last day of the full month covered by the claim", and "Claims not postmarked and/or submitted within 60 days shall not be paid with Program funds unless otherwise authorized by FNS" (regulation text). Claims that far overdue are at risk of never being paid.
MEDIUM: a control weakness in the prior administration's handling of a federal program, stated on the record by current staff. The recording does not say how much reimbursement was lost or whether FNS authorized late payment; the November 20 recording reports the first current-year claims filed (November 20, 2019 page).
Sources: 7 CFR 210.8(b) (2019 annual edition; claims for reimbursement, 60-day deadline)
OBSERVATION A 4-2 vote to halve the meeting schedule with the dissenters unnamed
The board voted to move from two regular meetings a month to one, on the first Wednesday, with extra meetings as needed (0:58:36). The chair hesitated to vote with a member absent (“Rob's not here.”, 0:58:24); the vice chair warned against losing contact (0:59:26). The tally is heard as 4-2 (1:01:00) but not who voted no. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to record final decisions and the movers and seconders; it does not require individual votes on a voice vote. With no minutes surviving, the public record cannot say how each member voted on a change to the board's own schedule.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification)
OBSERVATION Members say the board was not told of a personnel incident it read about in the press
Petrin asked for a report on a press-reported incident at the high school involving a former employee and suggested it may need a nonpublic session (1:07:44); another member said the board did not know it had happened (1:09:29). The vice chair's statement that once the person left district employment “it's no longer a personnel issue” (1:09:58) is her characterization, not a statement of law. If the board takes the report in nonpublic session, the motion must fit a specific ground: RSA 91-A:3, II(a) covers the dismissal or discipline of an employee and the investigation of charges against one, and II(c) matters likely to harm the reputation of a non-member. This page does not name the person or describe the incident.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a) and II(c) (2019 codification)
POSITIVE The budget retreat was treated as a public meeting, minuted, and reported out
A weekend retreat of a quorum to set budget expectations is a meeting under RSA 91-A:2, I. The superintendent described the October 20 retreat as “it's a posted public meeting” (0:53:09); its minutes were moved, corrected and approved at this meeting (0:19:03); and the chair and members described in public what it was for and how long it ran (0:49:53 to 0:54:00). Noticing an off-site retreat, keeping minutes and reporting it at the next televised meeting is the practice the statute calls for, and the report-out goes beyond it. The notice itself does not survive, so the page relies on the superintendent's statement.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, I and II (2019 codification)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: CLAREMONT SCHOOL BOARD meeting 11-6 (show 10605; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, the API returned 403 on 2026-10-02)
- Google Drive: no packet folder, agenda, hearing notice 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.
- Neighboring meeting pages: October 16, 2019; November 20, 2019 (approval of these minutes; counsel on the posting question); November 21, 2019 (the special district meeting); December 12, 2019 (curing meeting).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/10605 SchoolBoard110619.mp4.CSV (413 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Dialogue/10649 SchoolBoardSpecial121219.mp4.CSV (the December 12 curing meeting, read for counsel's list of defects)Input/Videos/10605 SchoolBoard110619.mp4Input/Transcripts/10605 SchoolBoard110619.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 114Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10605 SchoolBoard110619.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, I and II, 2019 codification (source note ends 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019): meeting defined; minutes content, movers and seconders, five-business-day inspection
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a) and II(c), 2019 codification (source note ends 2016, 30:1; 280:1): nonpublic motion and grounds
- RSA 197:3-a, IV and V, 2019 codification (source 2013, 197:1): special meeting on changed adequacy aid; hearing at least 14 days before, hearing and meeting notices on the district website "if such exists" at least 7 days before
- RSA 31:5-b, I, 2019 codification: minor procedural irregularities, including notice timing, may be cured
- RSA 40:16, 2019 codification: official-ballot districts may hold a special meeting to cure such a defect
- 7 CFR 210.8(b), 2019 annual CFR edition: school-lunch claims due within 60 days of the month claimed; late claims not paid with Program funds unless FNS authorizes