Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Spellings follow the project's 2015 to 2023 roster, because no minutes survive to check them against; the dialogue file's transcriptions of names are noted where they differ.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Presides throughout and calls for a roll-call vote on every motion. Explains the Goshen arrangement as a way to balance class sizes and recover revenue lost "when we lost Cornish a few years ago" (0:23:32). Supports the two-week post-holiday remote period ("This is a science issue. This is a medical issue", 1:01:39). Announces the result of the post-Christmas vote wrongly and corrects himself (1:34:18). Reports on the New Hampshire School Boards Association email about the school-funding commission (1:52:03). Transcribed "Franks. Greg" and "Read spread" in the roll calls. |
| Heather Whitney | Member (vice chair from May 2020 per the project roster; the title is not used on this recording) | Asks the student representative how students feel about school safety, asks whether busing capacity would allow Goshen students (0:24:18), seconds the Goshen motion and the adjournment, and argues against a remote period: if the board wants a break it should be "a true break, meaning no instruction either remote or in person" (0:57:49). Clarifies the post-Christmas motion for Lovett during the roll call (1:33:37). |
| Rebecca Zullo | Member (remote) | Seconds the minutes and the tabling motion. Questions the 14-day quarantine count (0:37:15), supports the remote period ("it's a punishment to those kids who do do the right thing", 0:53:43), and asks about staff who are also parents and about remote days in place of snow days (1:42:38). Transcribed "Rebecca. Solo" and "Zola". |
| Michael Petrin | Member (SAU 6 board chair at this date per the project roster) | Moves the agenda and the minutes, seconds the post-Christmas motion, asks whether quarantined teachers could teach remotely (0:42:41) and why the high school's remote share is higher (1:15:40). Opposes the remote period: "remote is not has not been a good option" (1:03:32). Transcribed "Michael. Petra", "Michael. Pizza" and "Mr. Patron". |
| Jason Benware | Member (joins late, by video) | Logs in during the superintendent's report (0:22:09; "Sorry I'm late", 0:27:27). Moves the Goshen tuition agreement (0:26:00), the motion to return as calendared (1:30:34), the motion to table the second-semester plan (1:50:51) and adjournment (2:05:15). Reads out a chat message from Patrick Adrian (0:26:59). Transcribed "Jason. Benoit". |
| Carolyn Towle | Member (remote) | Prompted the chair to add the school-funding item (0:02:08). Says she "will always air on the side of safety" (1:06:14) and asks the principals about staffing. Votes no on the post-Christmas motion (1:31:59). Transcribed "Carolyn Toll", "Carol Ann 12", "Carolyn Little" and "Carol and Paul". |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Member (remote) | Raises a hand during the post-Christmas motion and then, during the roll call, asks for a meeting "to check the data in two weeks" (1:32:22). His vote is finally read off the screen as a yes (1:34:13). Transcribed "Bob. Lovett, junior" and "Rob, Love and junior". |
| Prescott Herzog | Student representative | Gives the student report (0:10:17): the tech center's 60 Thanksgiving pies, the Stevens quiz bowl team qualifying for the Granite State Challenge, 24 students submitting 51 college applications on I Apply day, and students of the month (names not reproduced here). Says he was himself a close contact in the recent cases and that he does not think "the virus is spreading in the school" (0:13:58). Speaks again on students falling behind during quarantine (1:04:23). |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Answers the citizen's question (0:07:34), presents the Goshen proposal (0:15:11), the COVID-19 data and staffing-strain slides (0:27:45), the administration's recommendation of two weeks of remote learning after the winter break (0:47:56) and the second-semester recommendations (1:35:53). |
| Donna Magoon | Assistant Superintendent | Reports two new positive cases (0:36:40), explains how quarantine dates are counted and the proposed CDC change to seven days (0:39:12), the state rules on blizzard bags (1:43:56) and the district's contact-tracing process (1:56:49). Transcribed "Assistant Superintendent McGowan" and "Don". |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk | Calls each roll-call vote at the chair's request. |
| Patricia Barry | Principal, Stevens High School | Recognized as Pat (1:09:46). Reports "44% of our students who are remote" who get "one hour a week with their teacher", eight teachers out of the building on Monday and Tuesday, and "about 2 to 3 families a day" choosing remote (1:09:56). |
| Melissa Lewis | Principal, Disnard Elementary (first name and school from the project roster) | Invited as "Principal Lewis" (1:07:28). Describes covering absences with paraprofessionals (1:07:44). |
| Dale Chenette | Principal, Bluff Elementary (identification from the project roster) | Introduces himself in words transcribed "This is a daily from bluff" (1:08:44) and agrees that coverage depends on which staff are out. |
| Jeff Small | Director of Technology (title from the project roster) | Runs the slides and the remote queue; addressed as Jeff (0:04:44) and "Mr. Small" (1:14:51); transcribed "Mr. Samuel" and "Mr. Smith" elsewhere. |
| Unidentified | Citizens' comments (in the room; name and ward not stated) | Asks why remote instruction is on the agenda when the district's own transition matrix shows low community transmission, low staff impact and no evidence of in-school transmission (0:06:01). |
| Patrick Adrian | Named only (chat message; former board member per the project roster) | Not heard. Benware reads out that he "said the chat message saying he wanted to ask a question" (0:26:59); the chair answers that the issue "has gone by" (0:27:16). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives. The items below are reconstructed from the chair's transitions. The chair refers to "an agenda in front of us" and amends it, so a printed agenda existed.
| Taken up | Item | What was said and done |
|---|
| 0:00:13 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | Called to order "of December 2nd two, 2020". Roll call at 0:01:08; answers are not separable by name. |
| 0:02:08 | Approval of the agenda | Chair adds a brief item on the New Hampshire School Boards Association email about school funding, under other business. Petrin: "I make a motion to approve the agenda, as amended." (0:02:51). No second is heard. Roll call at 0:03:00; result not announced. |
| 0:03:42 | Minutes of the previous meeting | Chair names the "last meeting minutes from November 4th, 2020"; Petrin moves "to approve the retreat minutes from November 2020" (0:03:55), Zullo seconds. Roll call: Whitney, Zullo, Petrin and Sprague are heard answering yes. The two descriptions of which minutes were approved do not match. |
| 0:04:44 | Citizens' comments | One citizen in the room asks about the transition matrix (0:06:01); the superintendent answers (0:07:34). Closed at 0:09:53. |
| 0:10:17 | Student report | Prescott Herzog. Discussion only. |
| 0:14:57 | Superintendent's report: Goshen tuition agreement | Benware moves "to, approve the tuition agreement with the Goshen School District" (0:26:00); Whitney seconds. Roll call at 0:26:10: the answers heard are all yes and no member is heard voting no; the result is not announced. (The SAU 6 board was told on December 10 that Claremont voted 7-0; see the December 10, 2020 SAU 6 page.) |
| 0:27:33 | Instructional options, second semester: COVID-19 data and the post-holiday remote proposal | Superintendent asks for a motion on two weeks of remote learning after the winter break (0:50:35). Benware moves "that we, the students, return back to school. As the calendar has stated, without a two week" "Period of remote learning after the Christmas holiday" (1:30:34); Petrin seconds. Roll call at 1:31:25. Chair: "So the motion does not the motion does not pass." then "Oh did pass. He said yes okay okay." (1:34:26). The December 16 minutes correction records it as approved 4 to 3 (see flag 3). |
| 1:35:53 | Second-semester instructional recommendations | Benware moves "to table this discussion. And for two weeks until we come back on the 16th" (1:50:51); Zullo seconds. Roll call at 1:51:14: Benware, Zullo, Lovett and Petrin heard yes; the call of Towle's name is the last thing heard and no result is announced. |
| 1:52:03 | Chair's item: school-funding commission | Report only; no vote. |
| 1:56:34 | Other business | Magoon on contact tracing; Petrin and Zullo comment. No vote. |
| 2:05:15 | Adjournment | Moved by Benware, seconded by Whitney; roll call at 2:05:25, yes answers heard. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/11056 SchoolBoard120220.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:40 | Remote participation | Chair reminds "board members to, and those participating remotely to remember, to mute". Later asks Jeff to "help me spot them if they have their hands up" for citizens' comments (0:04:44). No call-in number or access instructions are read out on the recording. | MEDIUM |
| 0:06:01 | Citizen asks why remote instruction is on the agenda | "So my question would be why is the possibility of remote instruction on the agenda today if the matrix stated that in-person level of community transmission is low". Tempesta: "we're coming up on strained capacity" and student absenteeism is "teetering right at the, 15%"; "that's a completely fair observation" (0:09:21). | POSITIVE |
| 0:10:17 | Student report | Herzog lists school news. Asked by Whitney how students feel (0:13:20), he says "I don't think the virus is spreading in the school" and that the staff are under stress. | |
| 0:15:11 | Goshen tuition proposal | Goshen has "separated their agreement with the Newport Public Schools" and seeks an anchor school (0:15:41). Tempesta: "because that the actual contract is under negotiation, I'm going to speak to the public portions" (0:16:14). Proposed tuition "14,100 for an elementary student and 15,300 for each, middle school or high school student" (0:18:53); "This is by no means a done deal" (0:19:22); four Goshen students already attend Claremont schools (0:18:00); possible revenue "between 200 and 3000 $300,000" eventually (0:20:26). He asks for "a motion and to pursue going forward" (0:21:44). | MEDIUM |
| 0:22:36 | Chair on class balancing | Sprague met virtually with the Goshen superintendent and board chair; some third-grade classes have eight pupils at one school and over 20 at another, so Goshen pupils could be placed to balance classes "rather than than adding staff" (0:23:32). | |
| 0:24:18 | Busing capacity | Whitney asks whether the board is assuming the bus shortage will be resolved. Tempesta: "Pamela vetted it" and runs may be shared with Unity (0:24:52). | |
| 0:26:00 | Goshen motion and vote | Benware moves, Whitney seconds, roll call follows. Benware then relays Patrick Adrian's chat request to ask a question (0:26:59); Sprague: "Well we've passed it's the issue has gone by. Okay. He can if he wants. If it's for the newspaper he can contact someone directly." (0:27:16). | MEDIUM OBSERVATION |
| 0:27:45 | COVID-19 data | Dr. Steven Chapman of Dartmouth-Hitchcock will walk the facilities (0:28:18); Sullivan County "at 10.9 cases" (0:29:09); "we still haven't had a cluster in the school" (0:31:29); staff absences "about 8 or 9% over the last three days" against a normal 6 or 7% (0:33:33); the pre-Thanksgiving tracing "resulted in 3814 day quarantine", that is 38 people on 14-day quarantine (0:34:25). The slides are "on the website" (0:17:24). | POSITIVE |
| 0:36:40 | New cases and quarantine rules | Magoon: "two more positive cases, one at the high school and one at the elementary level". Zullo questions the 14-day count (0:37:15); Magoon explains the 48-hour look-back and that "the CDC is proposing recommending changing the quarantine to seven days instead of 14" (0:39:12). | |
| 0:39:34 | Staffing strain | Tempesta on substitutes and principals covering classes. Petrin asks whether a quarantined, well teacher could teach by Zoom with a paraprofessional in the room (0:42:41). "right now 43% of the students at Stephens High School are remote" (0:45:26). | |
| 0:47:56 | Proposal: two weeks remote after the winter break | "we feel it would be safer for the whole school community to go two weeks remote, after that" (0:49:43); return "on the 19th after MLK day" (0:52:05). | |
| 0:52:18 | Board debate | Benware: "I have a fundamental problem with planning for people who will do what they're not supposed to do". Zullo: "it's a punishment to those kids who do do the right thing" (0:53:43). Whitney proposes a true break with no instruction, made up by taking "away the April and February vacation" (0:58:36). Sprague: "I don't think anybody can dispute the value of face to face instruction" (1:00:06) but supports the proposal. Petrin: parents "have the option to keep their kids home for those two weeks remote" (1:03:11). | |
| 1:04:23 | Student and staff perspectives | Herzog on falling behind during quarantine. Towle favors safety (1:06:14). Lewis (1:07:44) and Chenette (1:08:44) on covering absences. Barry: "Right now we have 44% of our students who are remote. And in our current schedule, those students get one hour a week with their teacher" (1:09:56). | |
| 1:13:06 | Superintendent and board follow-up | Tempesta on community members' concerns and Kearsarge's model. Petrin asks why the high school's remote share is higher (1:15:40). Whitney asks whether teachers would be in the buildings during a remote period; Tempesta: "Yes, yes they would." (1:18:18). Zullo asks about staff who are parents (1:24:40). Sprague, to someone in the room: "So we don't typically take public input during our deliberations. Sorry." (1:27:58). Whitney cites the University of New Hampshire's case data (1:28:10). | |
| 1:30:34 | Motion to return as calendared, and its vote | Benware's motion, Petrin's second. During the roll call Lovett asks for a "meeting to check the data in two weeks" (1:32:22) and Whitney restates the motion for him (1:33:37). Audible answers: an unidentified No. (1:31:47), Towle No. (1:31:59), Petrin I yes. (1:32:00); Lovett's vote is read as a yes "On the screen." (1:34:13). Chair announces "the motion does not pass", is corrected by Benware ("That passed."), and says "Okay. So confused." (1:34:32). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:35:53 | Second-semester recommendations | Full return in the second semester is "just not viable in terms of capacity, space" (1:36:37); middle and high school would "go full remote synchronous" with hands-on, tech-center, special education and performance classes kept in person (1:37:35); remote days instead of two-hour delays still to be worked out with the union under the memorandum of agreement (1:39:33); a further remote period for "between March 1st and April 12th" (1:46:53). Tempesta: "I think it's very wise and premature to vote on this." (1:47:55). | |
| 1:42:38 | Remote days and snow days | Zullo asks about state rules on remote participation. Magoon: blizzard bags require 80% participation and the commissioner dropped that requirement last year; the district is seeking verification for this year (1:43:56). | |
| 1:50:51 | Motion to table to December 16 | Benware moves, Zullo seconds. The roll call breaks off after Towle's name and the chair moves straight to his report. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:52:03 | School-funding commission | Sprague: the commission found inequities, and presenters said "76% of the towns in New Hampshire are negatively impacted by the current system" (1:53:57); his concern is that "the majority's in the House and the Senate have changed" (1:54:26); he hopes the School Boards Association will lobby on it. | |
| 1:56:49 | Contact-tracing process | Magoon: "the very first thing that we have to do whenever we get a positive case, of course, we have to verify it"; she then contacts the state health department before notifying families. Petrin says the school contacted his family quickly while the state took a week (2:00:40). Zullo asks whether the remote or in-person cohort of a case could be named (2:01:47). | |
| 2:05:15 | Adjournment | Benware moves, Whitney seconds; roll call. | POSITIVE |
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 December 2, 2020, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies. The meeting was held under Emergency Order #12, which from March 23, 2020 until the state of emergency ended on June 11, 2021 waived the physical-quorum and same-location audibility requirements of RSA 91-A:2, III(b) and (c) on conditions.
MEDIUM No agenda, notice, packet or minutes for this meeting survive in any district share
MAP.md records no Drive material: the district's shares hold no year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023. The recording is the only public account of a meeting that approved a tuition agreement and decided the January return date. RSA 91-A:2, II, in the text in force in 2020, 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", the names of the persons who make and second each motion, and inspection "not more than 5 business days after the meeting"; paragraph II-b required a body with a website to post its approved minutes there or post where they may be reviewed. This page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule because the record mitigates the gap: the board amended and approved these minutes on December 16, 2020, so they were produced. What is missing is any public copy now. The meeting notice is also missing, and with it the evidence that the district met Emergency Order #12's conditions: public access by telephone, "public notice of the necessary information for accessing the meeting", and a way for the public to report access problems. No call-in information is read out on the recording (0:00:40).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II and II-b (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1); Emergency Order #12 (March 23, 2020)
MEDIUM The board approved the Goshen tuition agreement while the superintendent described the contract as still under negotiation
Before the vote the superintendent said he would speak only to "the public portions" because "the actual contract is under negotiation" (0:16:14), called it "by no means a done deal" (0:19:22) and asked for "a motion and to pursue going forward" (0:21:44). The motion actually made was "to, approve the tuition agreement with the Goshen School District" (0:26:00). RSA 91-A:3, II(k), in the text then in force, provides that "A contract negotiated by a school board shall be made public prior to its consideration for approval by a school district", together with related nonpublic minutes and records, and that approval "shall occur only at a meeting open to the public at which, or after which, the public has had an opportunity to participate." The publication sentence sits inside the nonpublic-session exemption, so it can be read as reaching only contracts negotiated under that exemption; this page does not decide that question. The vote was in public session and the proposed tuition rates were stated aloud and said to be on the website. Nothing on the recording shows that a contract text was made public before the vote, and the superintendent's description suggests a final text did not yet exist. A member of the public who asked by chat to put a question was told "the issue has gone by" (0:27:16). Whether a written agreement was posted, and what the board approved, would be settled by the agenda and the December 2 minutes, neither of which survives. On December 16 the superintendent said the Unity and Goshen boards had also voted, that signed copies were still to come back, and that the agreement would then be posted online (see the December 16, 2020 page), which points the same way: the text was published after approval, not before.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, II(k) (2019 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1 and 280:1)
OBSERVATION The chair announced the post-Christmas vote as failed, a remote member's vote was read off a screen, and the error reached the draft minutes
On Benware's motion to return as calendared, the roll call is mostly inaudible. The answers that can be heard are an unidentified No. (1:31:47), Towle's No. (1:31:59) and Petrin's I yes. (1:32:00). Lovett, remote, asked a question instead of voting, and his vote was then taken from the video: "Yes. On the screen." (1:34:13). The chair declared "the motion does not pass" (1:34:18), was corrected by Benware, and reversed himself (1:34:26). Two weeks later the board corrected the December 2 draft minutes, which said the motion was defeated four to three, to record it as approved 4 to 3 (see the December 16, 2020 page), so the draft had followed the chair's first announcement. The individual votes cannot be recovered from the recording. RSA 91-A:2, III(e) required every vote at a meeting with remote members to be a roll call, which this board did; the problem here is that one vote was cast by gesture, so a listener by telephone or on television could not discern it. Emergency Order #12 waived the same-location audibility rule but required public access by telephone. No rule settles how a visual vote should be handled, so this is recorded as an observation; the correction process on December 16 worked as intended.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, III(c) and (e) (2019 codification); Emergency Order #12
OBSERVATION No result is announced for the motion to table the second-semester plan
The roll call on Benware's tabling motion (1:51:14) is heard through Benware, Zullo, Lovett and Petrin; after the clerk calls Towle's name (1:52:01) the chair begins his school-funding report without announcing a result. The board took the plan up again on December 16, so the motion was treated as carried. The same pattern, a roll call with no announced result, recurs on the agenda (0:03:00), the minutes and the Goshen agreement. RSA 91-A:2, II required the minutes to record final decisions; the minutes that would show these tallies are among the records flag 1 finds missing.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification)
OBSERVATION Public participation was limited to one opening comment period
The chair described citizens' comments as for concerns "not to do with anything that's on the agenda" (0:05:21), though he allowed the one in-room speaker's agenda question and the superintendent answered it. A chat request from Patrick Adrian to ask a question during the Goshen item was declined: "the issue has gone by" (0:27:16), and the chair later told someone in the room "we don't typically take public input during our deliberations" (1:27:58). In 2020 no New Hampshire statute required a public-comment period at school board meetings (RSA 189:74's 30-minute rule dates from 2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022), so this is a practice note, not a breach. It bears on flag 2, because RSA 91-A:3, II(k) ties approval of a negotiated tuition contract to a meeting at which, or after which, the public has had an opportunity to participate.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, II(k) (2019 codification)
POSITIVE Every vote was taken by roll call
With three members remote, the chair asked the clerk for a roll call on the agenda (0:03:00), the minutes (0:04:07), the Goshen agreement (0:26:10), the post-Christmas motion (1:31:25), the tabling motion (1:51:14) and adjournment (2:05:25). RSA 91-A:2, III(e) requires that "All votes taken during such a meeting shall be by roll call vote." The board followed the rule on every motion, even where the answers were hard to hear.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, III(e) (2019 codification)
POSITIVE The administration posted its presentation for the public and answered the one citizen's question on the record
The superintendent told viewers that the Goshen survey data (0:17:24) and the COVID-19 slides and decision matrix were "on the website" (0:47:27), and he answered the citizen's question about the transition matrix at once, calling it "a completely fair observation" (0:09:21). In 2020 no statute required a board to post its presentation materials. Those slides are not in today's district shares, so this page cannot check them.
Sources: Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD live on 12/2/20
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD live on 12/2/20 (show 11056; the Cablecast API returned 403 to this environment on 2026-10-02, so the run time is taken from the last dialogue row, 2:06:30)
- 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.
- Related pages: Claremont School Board, December 16, 2020 (minutes correction for this meeting); SAU 6 Board, December 10, 2020 (Goshen agreement votes).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/11056 SchoolBoard120220.mp4.CSV (529 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/11056 SchoolBoard120220.mp4Input/Transcripts/11056 SchoolBoard120220.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 133Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/11056 SchoolBoard120220.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, 2019 codification (source note ends 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019; in force until 2023, 188:1): II minutes content, mover and seconder, five business days; II-b website posting of approved minutes; III(c) audibility; III(e) roll-call votes
- RSA 91-A:3, II(k), 2019 codification (source note ends 2016, 30:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; 280:1): pupil tuition contracts, publication before approval, public opportunity to participate
- Emergency Order #12 pursuant to Executive Order 2020-04 (March 23, 2020): waiver of RSA 91-A:2, III(b) and (c) on conditions of telephone access, notice of access information, a way to report problems, and adjournment if the public cannot access; ended with the state of emergency at midnight June 11, 2021 (NHPR, June 10, 2021, reporting)
- Context only, not the basis of a flag: RSA 189:74 (public comment period), enacted 2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022, so not law on this date.