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. Where the project's correction ledger reassigns a CSV label, the corrected speaker is named and marked probable.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair; member of the budget subcommittee | Opens the gift hearing, introduces the budget as a subcommittee member ("Our overall goal was to come as close to a zero tax impact as we could", 0:36:59), and says the subcommittee "met again this morning and, gave our final marching orders to the administration" (0:38:37). Moves the remote-pivot motion (2:08:25) after saying he now sees evidence of deterioration in the schools (1:43:07). Transcribed "Frank. Sweat", "Frank spread" and "Frank's right". |
| Heather Whitney | Vice chair | Moves the December 16 minutes (0:04:56); argues against the remote pivot ("We have not had a cluster.", 0:24:44) and presses for a threshold for returning (1:57:53). The first answer on the pivot roll call, No. (2:09:03), is labeled for the clerk in the dialogue file and is probably hers (see the footer). |
| Rebecca Zullo | Member (remote) | Supports the pivot: "for me, it's a no brainer" (1:35:12), citing her own school in Lebanon. Questions the February 1 date for new in-person students (2:11:02) and asks about elementary synchronous learning (2:22:49). Her vote on the pivot is not audible. Transcribed "Rebecca. Zulu". |
| Michael Petrin | Member; member of the budget subcommittee | Moves the agenda (0:03:27) and seconds the minutes. "I really see both sides of the argument" on the pivot (1:36:48); asks how the board will decide when to return (1:59:25); asks that two out-of-town middle school athletes be allowed to finish the season (2:30:20). Transcribed "Mike patron", "Michael. Patrick", "My teacher" and "Like the future". |
| Jason Benware | Member (joins late, by video); member of the budget subcommittee | Joins on a borrowed device (0:34:26). Moves acceptance of the $5,000 gift (motion not audible; credited by the chair, 0:35:34) and the budget to the public hearing (1:14:28). Against the pivot: "if we're sitting around waiting for the vaccine to save us, we got a long time before that's coming" (1:29:21); votes No. (2:09:23). Announces he will not seek another term (2:36:31). Transcribed "Jason Benoit", "Jason. Dunlap" and "Jason. Bethlehem. Then live". |
| Carolyn Towle | Member (remote) | Seconds the gift and the budget motions and the pivot. Notes "sending all 300 kids home today" (1:31:47); raises an NHSBA webinar and the remote deliberative-session procedure under "House Bill 1129" (2:38:56). Transcribed "Carolyn Toll", "Carolyn. Tall" and "Carolyn 12". |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Member (remote) | Shares Whitney's concern that the board is "straying away from the metric that we put together" (2:02:37), yet votes Yes. Yes. on the pivot (2:09:32). |
| Prescott Herzog | Student representative | Brief report: Stevens "received an ExxonMobil Educational Alliance grant" (0:07:30). |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Mentions three $500 donations (0:08:12); presents COVID-19 data and recommends "remote learning until the 19th" (0:13:51); answers questions on positions, the special-education trust money and athletics. |
| Richard Seaman | Business Administrator (assistant superintendent for finance per the project roster) | Presents the fiscal 2022 budget (0:40:49): proposed appropriation of 37,785,000 as transcribed, eight more positions cut that morning, $400,000 from the special education expendable trust, tax rate up about $0.60. Speaks for staff stress during the pivot debate (1:43:39). |
| Donna Magoon | Assistant Superintendent | Reports "over 50 students out right now being quarantined throughout our district" and 13 staff (0:18:12); "26 kids today that could potentially have Covid" after an in-school exposure (1:53:18). Transcribed "Superintendent McGowan". |
| Ben Nester | Director of Special Education | Describes the anonymous $5,000 gift at the hearing (0:00:41); answers on catastrophic aid (1:02:48). |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk | Calls the roll calls; gives the school board filing period, "January 20th to the 29th" (2:40:05). |
| Frank Romeo | Principal, Claremont Middle School | Self-identifies ("This is Frank Bromley.", 1:19:14; "This is Frank Romeo.", 1:38:00). On the strain on staff: "there is a strain without a doubt" (1:24:24). |
| Melissa Lewis | Principal, Disnard Elementary | "Melissa Lewis from Disney Art" (1:24:53); supports a pause. |
| Dale Chenette | Principal, Bluff Elementary (identification by elimination; self-introduction garbled) | Introduced in words transcribed "this is a testament" (1:27:23): "It's really a question of should we be doing it?" |
| Alex Herzog | Director, Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center | "This is Alex." (1:28:34); teaching "plumbing or machine tool remotely" is hard, but the center will do it. |
| Kathleen Bunnell | Principal, Maple Avenue Elementary (surname and school from the project roster) | Invited as Kathleen (1:47:48); describes the planned structure of an elementary remote day (1:47:53). |
| Jeff Small | Director of Technology | Runs the slides (0:09:34). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives. The items are reconstructed from the chair's transitions; the chair refers to "an agenda in front of us" and the superintendent says two donations were not "expressly on on the agenda", so a printed agenda existed.
| Taken up | Item | What was said and done |
|---|
| 0:00:07 | Public hearing: $5,000 gift to special education | Sprague: "we are required by statute to have a public hearing on that." Nester: the donor "wishes to remain anonymous". No public speakers; hearing closed at 0:01:45. |
| 0:01:55 | Pledge and roll call | Roll call at 0:02:20: Whitney, Lovett, Petrin, Towle and Sprague present; "Jason is absent". |
| 0:03:13 | Approval of the agenda | Petrin moves; the chair credits the second to Whitney and Towle corrects that "It was Rebecca that second" (0:04:23). Roll call, yes answers heard. |
| 0:04:39 | Minutes of December 16, 2020 | Whitney moves, Petrin seconds; no discussion. Roll call at 0:05:29: Whitney, Lovett, Petrin, Towle and Sprague heard yes; a lone Yes. at 0:05:45 is labeled for the clerk and is probably Zullo's. |
| 0:06:08 | Citizens' comments | Chair: "It is not my preference that we would invite public comment during our actual deliberations". None offered; closed at 0:07:06. |
| 0:07:21 | Student report | Herzog. Report only. |
| 0:07:57 | Superintendent's report | Three $500 donations mentioned, not on the agenda; COVID-19 data; recommendation to go remote through January 19 and to delay new in-person students. No vote on the donations is heard. |
| 0:34:56 | Discussion item: acceptance of the $5,000 gift | Motion not audible; chair: "I think Jason made the motion in. Carolyn seconded it." (0:35:34). Roll call from 0:35:53: every answer heard is yes, seven members. |
| 0:36:26 | Fiscal year 2022 budget | Subcommittee introduction, business administrator's presentation, questions. Benware moves "that we move the proposed 2022 budget to the public hearing" (1:14:28) after asking "You need numbers or, like, can I just say it?" (1:14:05); Towle seconds. Roll call at 1:14:53: Whitney, Benware, Lovett, Petrin, Towle and Sprague heard yes. |
| 1:16:15 | Instructional options, second semester | Chair separates the two requests (1:17:04). Sprague moves "that we support the administration in, pivoting to remote from one eight of 21 to through 119 of 21" (2:08:25); Towle seconds. Roll call: No. (probably Whitney), Zullo inaudible, Benware No., Lovett, Petrin, Towle and Sprague yes. "Okay. The motion passes." (2:09:57). The request to delay new in-person students to February 1 is discussed and "Bypassed" without a vote (2:11:36). |
| 2:11:46 | Broadband in Claremont | Discussion only. |
| 2:14:05 | Money for learning loss and mental health support | Discussion only. |
| 2:17:16 | Remote learning updates | Discussion only. |
| 2:26:20 | Claremont Middle School athletic participation | Referred toward the policy committee and athletic director; no motion (2:33:22). |
| 2:35:39 | Future agenda: school board filings; other business | Filing period January 20 to 29; Benware not running again; Towle on the deliberative session format. |
| 2:42:07 | Adjournment | Moved (transcribed "I moved away a journey"), Whitney seconds; roll call from 2:42:10. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/11175 SchoolBoard010621.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:07 | Gift hearing | "we have received a donation that for special education, which is $5,000. And as is typical, whenever we see receive a donation of this size, we are required by statute to have a public hearing on that." No member of the public speaks (0:01:21). | POSITIVE |
| 0:08:12 | Donations under $5,000 | Tempesta: "a couple other smaller donations that I'd like to to mention that are below the $5,000 threshold, but they're substantial. They're $500 a night. I didn't have them expressly on on the agenda." ExxonMobil "for Stevens for $500 in for dinner, for $500", and $500 for music from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation: "So I would like to accept those and get those in the copies." (0:08:40). | MEDIUM |
| 0:12:29 | COVID-19 data | January 4 "was the highest, highest to date", with "62 active cases in Claremont and 32 in the county"; three successive record days (0:13:15). Recommendation: "Based on the spike and based on events today would be to recommend that we go to remote learning until the 19th." (0:13:51); also to delay 50 to 60 returning students (0:14:46). | |
| 0:17:45 | Quarantines | Magoon: about 13 staff on quarantine, and "26 students in three staff members just from today, from the middle school"; "over 50 students out right now" (0:18:12). | |
| 0:21:28 | Whitney's objection, and a dead microphone | Whitney starts to argue that cases rise in the community, not in schools; remote members cannot hear her ("Rebecca saying no", 0:23:08) until the microphone is fixed (0:23:51). "We have not had a cluster." (0:24:44). | |
| 0:34:14 | Benware joins | "Jason Benoit is online now as well." Chair: "Are you here at the meeting? Are you official?" (0:34:47). | |
| 0:36:59 | Budget subcommittee's account | Sprague: Benware, Petrin and he "have been on the budget subcommittee", meeting administrators and building leaders; state adequacy aid down "almost 400 zero zero $0" (0:37:32); Mayor Charlene Lovett is coordinating a mayors' letter for relief (0:38:11); "We met, I don't know how many meetings we had. 4 or 5. And we met again this morning and, gave our final marching orders to the administration" (0:38:37). Seaman: "our meetings on Wednesday morning" (0:40:16). | HIGH |
| 0:40:49 | Budget presentation | A "four page presentation" emailed to members. Last year's one-time state money of "$2.58 million" (0:41:12); adequacy down "$392,000" (0:41:48); an autism program costing $190,000 to replace out-of-district placements costing 270,000 (0:42:59); teacher starting salary raised toward 40,000 (0:43:33); paraprofessional contingency cut "from nine down to four" (0:50:48). | |
| 0:48:31 | Eight positions cut that morning | After the morning session, with "some heated discussion with the budget Committee, was direction to bring that increase down below at least $1" on the tax rate; "we determined today to reduce an additional eight positions" (0:49:05); "The positions haven't been identified." Some by attrition, others "in a rift" (0:49:51). | HIGH OBSERVATION |
| 0:50:12 | Special education expendable trust | "400,000 of that 650 has been included in here as a revenue source". Tempesta: the money starts the program at the tech center (1:10:52). | |
| 0:51:36 | Totals and tax rate | "last year, the budget that was adopted was a 38,202,006 61 budget", plus "$1,133,000 of warrant articles" (0:52:02); this year no warrant articles and "appropriation of 37,785,000". Fund balance: "we seem to have historically maintained about a $400,000 surplus, and we put aside 2.5% as a part of the statute this year" (0:53:13); "net to be raised by taxes of 17,038,000 to 44, which is an increase of about $500,000"; "the local tax rate comes out to be up $0.70", net of the state rate "approximately $0.60" (0:53:48). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:02:28 | Board questions | Sprague on catastrophic aid for two students. Sprague: "the three of us on the subcommittee saw a proposed budget, and there were additional positions listed" (1:03:50); Tempesta: a mixture of retirements and consolidations (1:04:26). Sprague: "the board doesn't cut positions. We we approve a budget." (1:09:19). Whitney asks how the $400,000 from the trust is being used (1:09:47). | |
| 1:14:05 | Budget motion | Benware: "You need numbers or, like, can I just say it?" Sprague: "That should be fine to move." The motion moves "the proposed 2022 budget to the public hearing" with no figure (1:14:28). Sprague thanks the other members "for having, the confidence in us as a subcommittee" (1:15:32). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:19:14 | Principals on the pivot | Romeo: "there is a strain without a doubt" (1:24:24). Lewis supports a pause (1:24:53). Chenette: "It's really a question of should we be doing it?" (1:27:23). Alex Herzog on teaching hands-on trades remotely (1:28:38). | |
| 1:29:21 | Board debate | Benware: "what stops the creep from happening after ten days?" Towle on sending "all 300 kids home today" (1:31:47). Zullo: "for me, it's a no brainer" (1:35:12). Petrin sees "both sides" (1:36:48). Sprague: "I believe I'm seeing that evidence now" (1:43:07). Seaman on staff seeking the employee assistance program (1:45:22). | |
| 1:49:23 | Threshold for returning | Whitney asks what happens if cases do not fall in two weeks. Magoon: "26 kids today that could potentially have Covid" from an in-school exposure (1:53:18). Tempesta: "Right now today we're at 371" (1:56:51). Lovett: "we're straying away from the metric that we put together" (2:02:37). | |
| 2:08:19 | Pivot motion and vote | Benware: "Why doesn't somebody who supports this make a motion, please?" Sprague moves, Towle seconds. Roll call: No. (2:09:03), "Rebecca. Zulu." with no answer captured (2:09:06), Benware No. (2:09:23), Lovett (2:09:32), Petrin (2:09:38), Towle (2:09:46) and Sprague (2:09:54) yes. Then the delay of new students is "Bypassed" after Zullo points out a date error (2:11:20). | OBSERVATION POSITIVE |
| 2:11:46 | Broadband and federal relief money | Sprague and Tempesta met virtually with the mayor and city manager on broadband (2:12:56). Sprague says he sent the board an email "to which I probably shouldn't have done, but it was vacation" about federal relief funds (2:14:23). | |
| 2:26:28 | Out-of-town middle school athletes | Tempesta: the administration stopped two out-of-town students from playing; a fee might be considered and a policy brought back (2:29:04). Petrin: "allow participation for those students who, were allowed to take part in tryouts" (2:30:20). With schools remote, sports are a no go (2:32:58). Tempesta will "reach out to both of those families tomorrow" (2:35:20). No student is named. | |
| 2:35:39 | Filings and the deliberative session | Clerk: filings "January 20th to the 29th" (2:40:05); Sprague: "bring your dollar" to the SAU office on Broad Street (2:40:26). Towle asks the board to discuss holding the deliberative session remotely under "House Bill 1129" (2:38:56). | |
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 January 6, 2021, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies. The meeting was held under Emergency Order #12, which waived the physical-quorum requirement of RSA 91-A:2, III(b) and the requirement in III(c) that a meeting be discernible "at the location specified in the meeting notice", on conditions of telephone access and public notice of access information, until the state of emergency ended on June 11, 2021.
HIGH The budget subcommittee met four or five times, and that morning directed eight position cuts, with no notice or minutes of any session on record
Sprague, Benware and Petrin are the board's budget subcommittee (0:36:59). Sprague says it met 4 or 5 times with administrators and building leaders "and we met again this morning and, gave our final marching orders to the administration" (0:38:37); the business administrator describes "our meetings on Wednesday morning" (0:40:16) and says the morning session gave "direction to bring that increase down below at least $1" on the tax rate, after which "we determined today to reduce an additional eight positions" (0:48:31, 0:49:05). RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) makes "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body" of a school board a public body, so each session at which two of the three met to discuss the budget was a meeting requiring 24-hour notice and minutes under RSA 91-A:2, II. This page applies the HIGH limb of the project's severity rule: a public body met, no notice, agenda or minutes for any session exist in any district share, and nothing on the record explains the absence or says the sessions were noticed. The limit of the evidence must be stated: the district's online shares hold nothing at all from before 2022, so absence there does not by itself prove the records were never made. District files from December 2020 and January 2021 could rebut this flag; none has been found. The December 10, 2020 SAU 6 page records Sprague describing the same series of meetings.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (2019 codification; source note ends 2008, 354:1); RSA 91-A:2, I and II (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1)
MEDIUM No agenda, notice, budget presentation or minutes for this meeting survive in any district share
MAP.md records no Drive material: neither district share holds a year folder older than 2022. The recording is the only public account of a meeting that accepted a gift, sent a budget of about $37.8 million to its hearing and moved the schools to remote learning from January 8 through January 19. RSA 91-A:2, II, in the text then in force, required minutes with members, persons appearing, subject matter, final decisions, and movers and seconders, open to inspection within five business days; paragraph II-b required approved minutes to be posted on the website or a notice of where to review them. This page applies the MEDIUM limb because the record mitigates the gap: at this meeting the board approved its December 16 minutes (0:04:39), so it was producing minutes. The "four page presentation" the business administrator emailed to members (0:40:49) and the notice carrying Emergency Order #12's access information are also missing.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II and II-b (2019 codification); Emergency Order #12
MEDIUM Three $500 donations were presented without agenda notice, and no vote to accept them is heard
The superintendent described three gifts "below the $5,000 threshold", said "I didn't have them expressly on on the agenda" (0:08:12), and asked to "accept those" (0:08:40). RSA 198:20-b, III(b), in the text then in force, provides: "For unanticipated funds in an amount less than $5,000, the school board shall post notice of the funds in the agenda and shall include notice in the minutes of the school board meeting in which such funds are discussed. The acceptance of unanticipated funds under this subparagraph shall be made in public session of any regular school board meeting." By the superintendent's own account the agenda notice was missing. The discussion was in public session, and the board's later roll call (0:35:53) followed a motion described only as accepting "the special ed $5,000 gift" (0:34:56); whether the motion, which is inaudible, also covered the $500 gifts cannot be told. The minutes, which would show both the notice and the acceptance, are missing (flag 2).
Sources: RSA 198:20-b, III(b) (2019 codification; source note ends 2005, 188:1)
OBSERVATION The budget went to its public hearing on a motion with no figure, with eight position cuts not yet identified
The motion was "that we move the proposed 2022 budget to the public hearing" (1:14:28), after the chair said a figure was not needed (1:14:10). The only total stated is the business administrator's "appropriation of 37,785,000" (0:52:02), and the presentation that carried it is not public. The eight additional cuts made that morning "haven't been identified" (0:49:51), and the chair told viewers that "the board doesn't cut positions" (1:09:19), though the subcommittee's direction produced them. No rule required the motion to state a figure; RSA 32:5, I requires the public hearing to come before the budget is finalized, which is the next step. The point is that a reader cannot tell from any public record what number went to the hearing.
Sources: RSA 32:5, I (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 246:1)
OBSERVATION Retained fund balance is described at 2.5% and as available to use next year; the statute had just changed
The business administrator said the district has "historically maintained about a $400,000 surplus, and we put aside 2.5% as a part of the statute this year" (0:53:13). RSA 198:4-b, II was amended by 2020, 38:25, effective September 27, 2020: the legislative body may authorize retention of year-end unassigned general funds up to 5 percent of the net assessment (before that, 2.5 percent), and "Prior to expending retained general funds, the school board shall hold a prior public hearing" with newspaper notice. The 2.5% figure fits the older cap or a lower voter authorization; which applies, and whether any use of retained funds next year will be preceded by the required hearing, cannot be told from the recording. Under GASB Statement 54 such amounts are unassigned unless formally committed or assigned. The audited fund-balance note for fiscal 2020 would settle the classification.
Sources: RSA 198:4-b, II (2020 codification; 2020, 38:25, eff. Sept. 27, 2020); RSA 198:4-b, II (2019 codification, 2.5 percent); GASB Statement 54, ¶6–17 (fund balance classes)
OBSERVATION The pivot vote is clear on its result but not on every vote, and the second request was dropped without a vote
The chair announced "The motion passes." (2:09:57) after yes answers from Lovett, Petrin, Towle and Sprague and no answers from Benware and, probably, Whitney. Zullo's name is called (2:09:06) but her answer is not captured, though she had argued for the pivot. The administration's second request, delaying new in-person students to February 1, which the chair had said he would put to a separate vote (1:17:04), was "Bypassed" after a date error surfaced (2:11:36), so the board took no position on it. The minutes would record both; they are missing (flag 2).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification)
POSITIVE The $5,000 gift was accepted only after a public hearing, on a roll call
RSA 198:20-b, III(a), in the text then in force, provides: "For unanticipated funds in the amount of $5,000 or more, the school board shall hold a prior public hearing on the action to be taken", with newspaper notice of the time, place and subject at least 7 days before. The chair opened the meeting with that hearing, citing the statute (0:00:07), invited public comment (0:01:21), and the board accepted the gift later in the meeting by roll call (0:35:53). Whether the 7-day newspaper notice was given, and whether the district had adopted the enabling article that paragraph I requires, cannot be checked from the recording.
Sources: RSA 198:20-b, I and III(a) (2019 codification)
POSITIVE Every vote was put to a roll call
With members remote, the chair called for a roll call on the agenda, the minutes (0:05:29), the gift (0:35:53), the budget (1:14:53), the pivot (2:08:49) and adjournment (2:42:10). RSA 91-A:2, III(e): "All votes taken during such a meeting shall be by roll call vote."
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, III(e) (2019 codification)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: School Board Meeting live on 1/6/21 (show 11175; the Cablecast API returned 403 to this environment on 2026-10-02, so the run time is taken from the last dialogue row, 2:43:35)
- 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 approved at this meeting); SAU 6 Board, December 10, 2020 (budget subcommittee sessions described).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/11175 SchoolBoard010621.mp4.CSV (816 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/11175 SchoolBoard010621.mp4Input/Transcripts/11175 SchoolBoard010621.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 136Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/11175 SchoolBoard010621.mp4.md (speaker attribution report); Scripts/csv_corrections_2015_2023.md (correction ledger)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), 2019 codification: committees and subcommittees of a school board are public bodies
- RSA 91-A:2, 2019 codification (source note ends 2018, 244:1; in force until 2023, 188:1): I meeting is the convening of a quorum; II notice, minutes and five business days; II-b website posting; III(e) roll-call votes
- RSA 198:20-b, I and III(a)-(b), 2019 codification (source note ends 2005, 188:1; $5,000 threshold until 2023, 38:1): unanticipated funds, prior hearing at $5,000 or more, agenda and minutes notice below
- RSA 198:4-b, II, 2020 codification (2020, 38:25, eff. Sept. 27, 2020): retained unassigned funds up to 5 percent, prior hearing before expending; 2.5 percent and no hearing before that date
- RSA 32:5, I, 2019 codification (source note ends 2018, 246:1): public hearing before the budget is finalized
- GASB Statement 54, ¶6–17: fund balance classification (first binding for fiscal 2011)
- Emergency Order #12 (March 23, 2020): waiver of RSA 91-A:2, III(b) and part of III(c) on conditions; ended with the state of emergency on June 11, 2021