Participants
Everyone heard or named as taking part. Names follow the district’s own documents where they exist, then on-tape self-identification and the chair’s or clerk’s address; a first name only is kept where nothing more is on the record.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair, Claremont School Board | Opened and closed the budget hearing, moved the House Bill 1129 motion (1:01:47), seconded the Whitney motion, ran the meeting. Voted yes on every roll call. |
| Heather Whitney | Board member (vice chair per the 2/1/21 record) | Pressed for a defined re-entry metric rather than a date (1:20:20); made the adopted motion to re-evaluate the Covid impact matrix (1:59:07). Her yes on the budget vote is labeled Donna Magoon in the dialogue file (row 143); see the method note. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Board member | Asked for attention to cohort C remote learning (1:42:42); seconded the Petrin motion that was later withdrawn. |
| Jason Benware | Board member | Moved the budget to the annual meeting (0:26:41); spoke against the virtual deliberative session (0:43:47) and cast the only no vote on House Bill 1129; moved adjournment. |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Board member | Seconded the agenda; asked which metric Whitney wanted (1:27:02). The words after the chair’s cue at 1:24:46 are his but sit in a chair-labeled row. |
| Michael Petrin | Board member | Moved the agenda; seconded House Bill 1129; moved to follow the superintendent’s recommendation (1:55:28) and withdrew it for Whitney’s motion. Audio broke up for part of the evening. |
| Carolyn Towle | Board member | Seconded the budget motion; asked about room capacity for an in-person session (0:45:47). |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Covid report; recommended staying remote two more weeks (1:11:48). |
| Richard Seaman | Assistant superintendent for finance (SAU 6) | Presented the proposed FY 2021–22 budget and tax impact at the hearing (0:02:13). |
| Donna Magoon | Assistant superintendent, SAU 6 | Contact-tracing report (1:13:21); confirmed winter sports remain suspended (2:01:22). |
| Ben Nester | Director of special education, SAU 6 | Explained the in-district special education programs during the hearing (0:05:06). |
| Jeff Small | Technology director, SAU 6 | Ran the screen share and monitored for public hands during the hearing. |
| Mary Woodman | School district clerk, recording secretary | Took the roll and every roll-call vote; announced the candidate filing period (2:08:04). |
| Tracy Pope | School district moderator | Spoke on the House Bill 1129 process and in favor of virtual sessions (0:49:04); left after the vote. First name from the chair’s address and the 2/1/21 minutes. |
| Matt Upton | District attorney | Explained the House Bill 1129 procedure (0:29:49), which he said he helped design. |
| Melissa Lewis | Principal, Disnard Elementary School | Described the move to a synchronous model for remote students (1:50:31). |
| Prescott | Student representative | Spoke on his synchronous-learning experience at the high school (1:52:53). |
| Ray (surname not stated) | Citizens’ comment | Said other schools were playing winter sports (2:02:37). |
| Lisa (surname not stated) | Citizens’ comment; third-grade teacher in the district | Urged an early return for elementary students (2:04:41). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda is on hand. The chair worked from a written agenda (“We have an agenda in front of us” at 0:23:22) and added two items to it on a motion; the list below is reconstructed from his transitions.
Items in the order taken up, with dispositions.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:01:01 | Public hearing, FY 2021–22 budget | Opened by the chair; Seaman presented; no member of the public spoke. The chair limited comment to three minutes (0:18:55). The default budget was not presented (HIGH). Closed at 0:21:26. |
| 0:22:29 | Pledge of Allegiance and attendance | Clerk’s roll: all seven members present. |
| 0:23:22 | Agenda as amended | Chair added a superintendent’s report and the decision on extending remote learning. Petrin moved, Lovett seconded; roll call 7–0 (0:24:20). |
| 0:25:18 | FY 2021–22 budget approval (move to the annual meeting) | Benware moved “the proposed 2021 2022 budget of $37,785,406 to the deliberative session”; Towle seconded; roll call 7–0 (0:27:51). |
| 0:28:47 | House Bill 1129 annual-meeting process | Presentation by attorney Upton and discussion. Sprague moved “implement House Bill 1129 for our deliberative session process”; Petrin seconded; roll call 6–1, Benware opposed (1:06:45). |
| 1:07:52 | Superintendent’s report (added) | Covid data and the recommendation to continue remote learning two more weeks. |
| 1:55:28 | Extension of remote learning (added) | Petrin moved to follow the superintendent’s recommendation, Zullo seconded; withdrawn. Whitney moved “to reevaluate the Covid impact matrix, determine which schools will be safe to open in person on February 1st”; Sprague seconded; roll call 7–0 (2:00:43). |
| 2:02:08 | Citizens’ comments | The chair said he had neglected to take comments at the start and opened them here; two speakers. |
| 2:07:25 | Adjournment | Benware moved; the second is not identifiable on the recording. Clerk’s filing-period remark at 2:08:04; roll call 7–0 (2:10:00). |
Discussion timeline
Times come from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/11262 SchoolBoard011321.mp4.CSV). Quotations are the transcript as it stands, ASR errors included; bracketed words are editorial.
Topics in recording order.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:01 | Hearing opened | Chair: “So we have a quorum.” He opens the public hearing and turns it over to Seaman for an overview of the budget. | |
| 0:02:13 | Budget by location | Seaman: last year’s grand total was “38,000,202 651 before warrant articles” [read as $38,202,651]; “We're recommending a budget now of 37785 400 oh 6 or 417,000 reduction”, and with last year’s $1.13 million of warrant articles not recurring, a total reduction of 1.55 million “because of the utilization of one time money that we received from the state last year”. | |
| 0:05:06 | Special education programs | Nester describes the Brave program at Bluff, “which is a regular education program” for students with behavioral challenges; the district intends “to end our contract with them at the end of this year” and run the program itself. Seaman: three out-of-district students “at about 60 to 60 to 70 to $80,000 per student” can be brought back. | |
| 0:08:51 | One-time money and position cuts | Seaman: the “one time, $1.5 million capital improvements” item comes out; the budget committee asked staff to “keep it below $1” of tax increase; retirements will not be refilled, and Seaman says “which is why it's showing here is a lump number” because the reductions they are not yet assigned to buildings. | |
| 0:12:50 | Revenue | Seaman: “the reduction of $3.3 million of adequate education grants”, of which about $2.9 million was one-time state money. | |
| 0:15:24 | Tax impact | Seaman: district assessment up $541,000 “from 16.5 million to just over 17 million”; local rate $22.71 plus state rate $1.83; “We come out with $24.53 as compared to last year's at 2393”. | |
| 0:17:19 | Default budget not calculated | Seaman: “I haven't quite concluded the calculation of the default budget”; he anticipates it “will be comparable to the recommended and proposed budget” and expects to finish it “over the course of tomorrow or the day after”. | HIGH |
| 0:18:55 | Public comment on the budget | Chair asks Small to watch for raised hands; comments “would be limited to three minutes”. Small reports none; Benware has phone users reminded to press star six to unmute (0:20:19). No member of the public speaks. | |
| 0:21:26 | Hearing closed | Chair: “I'm going to end the the public hearing on the 2122 budget”. Pledge and attendance follow. | HIGH |
| 0:23:22 | Agenda amended | Chair adds a superintendent’s report and “the administration's recommendation to extend the remote period”. Starting a voice vote, he stops: “Oh, I can't do it that way. Can you roll call, please?” | POSITIVE |
| 0:26:41 | Budget moved to the annual meeting | Benware’s motion; the chair notes the figure “includes all of the revenue, not just the money to be raised by taxpayers”; Seaman: “The actual general fund only number is 343 20” [$34.32 million]; grant money “if we don't receive it in a grant, we don't spend it”. Roll call 7–0. | |
| 0:29:49 | House Bill 1129 explained | Upton: “I was the the person who came up” with “The process that ultimately became House Bill 1129”. The deliberative session is replaced with “two virtual sessions conducted by the board”; the second, “which has to be held within seven days of the first informational session”, is where “the board members actually act on behalf of the voters in amending the budget”. Voters’ first ballot question is whether they approve the process (0:33:35). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:35:58 | Mailing and timing | Upton: “seven days prior to the informational session that you do provide, a written mailing to all registered voters”; the decision “needs to be made prior to posting the warrant”. A warrant article, once posted, cannot be removed, only zeroed (0:39:05). | |
| 0:43:47 | Objection to a virtual session | Benware: “People show up to deliberate.” “Once they these these ideas are all sent in, there is no deliberation any longer.” He supports drive-through voting but not a virtual deliberative session. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:49:04 | Moderator’s view | Pope cites Sullivan County cases rising “from 95 to 240 confirmed cases” from November to December, says she will not attend an in-person session because of her own health risk, and states: “I am in favor of doing House Bill 1129”; “That's just my opinion as the moderator.” | |
| 0:50:57 | Voting locations | Seaman asks whether voting can be split across locations; Pope: “separate checklist for each ward”. Upton: the moderator “would deputize assistant moderators at each one of the locations”. Magoon notes March 9 is a professional-development day (0:56:31). | |
| 0:57:52 | Who decides | Pope: “the governing body, which is the school board, has the vote on whether you want to do this remote”. Upton says he has sent the superintendent a draft letter setting an information session on February 1, a virtual session on February 4 and voting on March 9 (0:59:09). | |
| 0:59:54 | If the process fails | A board member (the row is labeled Upton) asks about the fallback because last year’s “budget was highly bloated because of of state money”. Upton: the board can “hold another meeting up to first, another virtual meeting and drive up up to September 1st”. | |
| 1:01:47 | House Bill 1129 adopted | Sprague’s motion, Petrin’s second. Clerk’s tally: “That's only one against it passed.” Benware voted no (1:05:59). Pope asks who will move each article; the chair: Benware will move “the main budget and that's our only that's our only article”. | POSITIVE |
| 1:08:08 | Superintendent’s Covid report | Tempesta: 99 cases in Claremont; “we had 22 staff who either had Covid or were quarantined”; “We have our first official cluster”; “I would be asking the board to continue remote for another two weeks”. 65 more elementary students are expected back on return (1:12:21). | |
| 1:13:21 | Contact tracing | Magoon: from Wednesday to the meeting date she has placed “on quarantine or isolation, 80 people”, “27 staff members in that and that 80 people”, counting only in-school exposures. | |
| 1:18:33 | Metric versus date | Whitney: “I will vote on a metric, but I, I can't. I'm not comfortable voting on a date.” Lovett asks what metric she would use (1:27:02); Magoon and Tempesta point to the matrix the board approved (1:30:52). | |
| 1:42:42 | Cohort C remote learning | Zullo asks for assurance that synchronous instruction for cohort C students will be addressed; Tempesta says staff are building capacity (1:46:59); Lewis says Disnard remote families will receive a letter “from me tomorrow” about a synchronous model. | |
| 1:52:53 | Student representative | Prescott: “the synchronous learning has been great” at the high school. | |
| 1:55:28 | Motion withdrawn | Petrin moves “to follow, Mr. Tempesta. Recommendations of return to school on February 1st”; Zullo seconds. Whitney proposes to “revisit, what where we are with our Covid impact matrix on the 27th”; Petrin: “Well, I would draw my motion”. The re-evaluation date moves from the 22nd to the 27th, “exactly two weeks from today”. | |
| 1:59:07 | Whitney motion adopted | Motion to re-evaluate the matrix and determine which schools open in person February 1; Sprague seconds; roll call 7–0. | |
| 2:01:22 | Winter sports | Magoon confirms sports remain suspended though it “wasn't in the motion”; Benware: “If we're not safe enough to be in school with kids, how can you possibly say we're safe enough to have them bumping into each other?” | |
| 2:02:08 | Citizens’ comments | Chair: “I neglected to do, citizens comments in the beginning of this meeting”. Ray: “it seems every other team that we're supposed to play is having sports”. Magoon: one positive case on a team means “The whole team is done.” | |
| 2:04:41 | Citizens’ comments | Lisa, a third-grade teacher: elementary students “They need to be in school.” and “just get us in there as soon as we can”. | |
| 2:08:04 | Candidate filing | Clerk: the expiring seats are Zullo, Benware and Whitney, with filing “anytime between January 20th to the 28th”. The chair says the newspaper listed two seats; clerk: “Heather was was appointed for a two year term and that one expires also this year”. | OBSERVATION |
| 2:10:00 | Adjournment | Roll call 7–0 on Benware’s motion. | |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer’s aid. They are not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each one cites the rule or record it rests on, as that rule read on the meeting date, so a reader can check the reasoning. A flag marked OBSERVATION has no confirmed rule behind it; POSITIVE marks practice worth noting on the other side of the ledger.
HIGH The default budget was not disclosed or presented at the first budget hearing
This was the public hearing on the FY 2021–22 budget. One week earlier, on the 1/6/21 recording (show 11175, dialogue row 324), Benware moved the proposed budget to the public hearing, which makes this the first budget hearing of the cycle. At 0:17:19 the assistant superintendent for finance told the hearing “I haven't quite concluded the calculation of the default budget”, offered only that it “will be comparable to the recommended and proposed budget”, and said he would finish it “over the course of tomorrow or the day after”. No default figure was given, and the chair closed the hearing at 0:21:26.
RSA 40:13, XI(a), as in force on this date, reads: “The default budget shall be disclosed and presented for questions and discussion at the first budget hearing held pursuant to RSA 32:5 or RSA 197:6.” (quoted from the statute). A default budget described as not yet calculated was neither disclosed nor open for questions. Mitigation on the record: the warrant article read at the February 1 information session states a default of $37,762,398, and Seaman explained its calculation and its $24.50 tax rate at the February 1 information session (show 11276, dialogue rows 129 to 136). That cures the voters’ information, not the hearing requirement. No member of the public spoke at this hearing, so no question went unanswered on the record.
Sources: RSA 40:13, XI(a) and II-a(c) (2019 codification; source note ends 2019, 192:2, the text in force in January 2021); Dialogue/11175 SchoolBoard010621.mp4.CSV (1/6/21 motion); Dialogue/11276 SchoolDistrictMeeting020121.mp4.CSV (2/1/21 default-budget presentation).
HIGH No minutes, agenda or packet for this meeting were found in any district share
A quorum of the board met, adopted an amended agenda, moved a $37,785,406 budget to the annual meeting, chose the House Bill 1129 process and decided the return-to-school question, all by roll call. Nothing in the district’s Drive shares records it: MAP.md notes that neither share holds a year folder older than 2022 and the Meeting Minutes share starts in 2023. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes, open to public inspection “not more than 5 business days after the meeting,” that record members, persons appearing, the subjects discussed and final decisions, and (since 2018, 244:1, eff. January 1, 2019) the mover and seconder of each motion (statutory wording quoted from the 2019 codification). Because every member took part remotely, RSA 91-A:2, III(a) also required the reason in-person attendance was not reasonably practical to be stated in the minutes; without minutes that cannot be checked.
Applying the project’s severity rule (html_briefing.md §5), this is the unmitigated limb: no one on the recording says minutes exist elsewhere, and a quorum transacted business. On the next recording (1/27/21, show 11216, dialogue row 33) the chair, reaching the minutes item, says there were no minutes from the previous meeting; the remark is ambiguous and may mean only that no minutes were on that agenda. The finding is “not found”: the district’s pre-2022 records may survive offline, and the clerk is on tape taking every roll call.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II and III(a), (e) (2019 codification, in force January 2019 to October 2, 2023); Dialogue/11216 SchoolBoard020321.mp4.CSV (1/27/21 remark); MAP.md section 137 (plain text, unpublished).
OBSERVATION Candidate-filing information given on the record was inconsistent
At 2:08:04 the clerk announced filing for the three expiring seats “anytime between January 20th to the 28th”. RSA 671:19 applies RSA 669:19 to school district elections, and RSA 669:19 sets the filing period from “the seventh Wednesday” through “the Friday of the following week” before the election (statutory wording). For the March 9, 2021 election that is Wednesday, January 20 through Friday, January 29. On January 27 the clerk gave the closing day as Friday, so the record corrects itself; the January 28 date stated here was one day short.
The chair also reported that the newspaper notice listed two seats where three expired (2:08:58); the clerk said the paper “got the information wrong” because Whitney “was was appointed for a two year term”. RSA 671:33, II(a) provides that board appointees serve only until the next district election, and the project roster records Whitney as elected in March 2019, which fits Benware’s account that she “took the remainder of, the other” [term]. The record does not settle which; no published notice is on hand to compare.
Sources: RSA 671:19 (2020 codification); RSA 669:19 (2020 codification; source note ends 2011, 40:1); RSA 671:33, II(a) (2019 codification); Dialogue/11216 SchoolBoard020321.mp4.CSV (1/27/21 filing remark).
OBSERVATION The board replaced the floor deliberative session with a board-amended warrant; the statute itself was not read for this page
Under the House Bill 1129 process as the district’s attorney described it, voters submit comments in writing and the board members “actually act on behalf of the voters in amending the budget”; the 2/1/21 session announcement adds that no live comments from voters would be allowed at either virtual meeting. Benware objected that “there is no deliberation any longer”, and the motion carried 6–1. The voters kept a check: the first ballot question asked whether they approved the process, and Upton said a disapproval leaves the board to convene another meeting before September 1 or adopt the prior year’s budget (0:33:35).
This page states the process only as the attorney and the district described it. The enacted text is 2020 N.H. Laws ch. 8 (HB 1129); its chaptered text could not be read from this environment, so no compliance question is graded here. The attorney’s statement that he originated the process is his own characterization.
Sources: HB 1129 (2020), bill status page (chapter 8; chaptered text not read); Dialogue/11276 SchoolDistrictMeeting020121.mp4.CSV.
POSITIVE Every vote was a roll call, with telephone access and a check for public hands
All members took part remotely. RSA 91-A:2, III(e) provides that “All votes taken during such a meeting shall be by roll call vote” (statutory wording), and Emergency Order #12 relaxed only the physical-quorum requirement, on condition of telephone access and a way for the public to report problems. The chair started a voice vote on the agenda and stopped himself (0:24:20), and the clerk then called the roll by name on all five votes, including the 6–1 vote recorded with the dissenter named. Phone participants were told how to unmute (0:20:27), and the chair delayed closing the hearing to wait for callers (0:20:56).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, III(e) (2019 codification); Emergency Order #12 (March 23, 2020), conditions for remote meetings during the state of emergency.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: School Board Budget Meeting of 1/13/21 (show 11262; title as in the gallery).
- Google Drive: no packet folder, agenda or minutes. Per MAP.md section 137, neither district 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 MAP.md.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 40:13, II-a(c), XI(a), 2019 codification (budget hearing timing; default budget disclosure at the first budget hearing).
- RSA 91-A:2, II and III, 2019 codification (minutes within five business days; mover and seconder; remote participation and roll-call votes).
- Emergency Order #12 pursuant to Executive Order 2020-04 (March 23, 2020) (remote meetings during the state of emergency, which lapsed June 11, 2021).
- RSA 671:19, 2020 codification and RSA 669:19, 2020 codification (school district candidate filing period).
- RSA 671:33, II(a), 2019 codification (board appointees serve until the next district election).
- 2020 N.H. Laws ch. 8 (HB 1129) (optional 2021 annual-meeting procedure; status page only, chaptered text not read).