Participants
Everyone heard or named as present in the recording. Names follow the project's 2015-2023 roster and the speaker attribution report for this recording, since no minutes survive; transcript renderings are noted where they differ.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Runs the meeting; explains the retreat and goal-setting process (0:24:28 to 0:28:10); recalls the contested move away from letter grades and asks whether the board wants public input before deciding (1:08:27, 1:09:53); argues for weighted grades from his guidance years (1:29:42 to 1:30:41); favors public forums on realignment (2:00:17, 2:00:31). |
| Heather Whitney | Board member | Speaks on vaccine safety (0:07:22, 0:07:47); objects that a student "can fail a competency and still have an overall passing grade" (0:51:29); moves the grading change (1:35:52); asks for parent group sessions before a realignment presentation (2:07:58). |
| Michael Petrin | Board member | First offers a motion "to, prove the change to the grading system" (1:34:33); asks that pay-to-play and realignment return to the agenda (1:57:25, 1:57:36); hands the board's Facebook page to Lambert (2:15:28 to 2:16:19). |
| Steven Horsky | Board member | Seconds the agenda (0:02:45); asks how fast the grading change can be standardized district-wide (1:13:24, 1:16:31); questions field-trip rewards and weighted credit in summer credit recovery (1:43:42 to 1:49:42); moves the revised calendar (1:56:07); calls for a public hearing on realignment next month (2:02:50); moves to adjourn (2:17:16). |
| Joshua Lambert | Board member | Seconds the minutes ("We'll give it to Josh." 0:03:33); says his pre-election survey found grading the main complaint (1:12:48); a teacher, gives a classroom example (1:27:56 to 1:28:30); takes over the board's Facebook page (2:16:10). |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Board member | Named in the roll (0:01:18); no attributed row. |
| Carolyn Towle | Board member (transcribed "Carolyn Tall", "Carolyn Tol") | Named in the roll (0:01:25); credited by the chair as the board's capital-improvement driver (0:25:18); no attributed row. |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Superintendent's report on COVID-19 trends and the 2021-26 strategic plan (0:04:55 to 0:24:13); frames the grading vote as "just the separation of the competencies from from the grade" (1:08:08) and "conceptual" (1:17:34); drafts the motion wording (1:34:44); on realignment, "We have deficits. We need to gain ground." (2:01:53). |
| Donna Magoon | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Reports the student vaccination clinic (0:06:06 to 0:09:06); confirms the grading vote covers all schools (1:17:20, 1:17:33); explains AP weighting (1:50:25). Attribution high for the clinic report, medium later. |
| Patricia Barry | Principal, Stevens High School | Presents the grading proposal (0:30:28 to 0:35:02) and answers board questions; "In the seven years that I've been principal, I have never once had a parent or a student say, this is an awesome grading system." (1:10:09); reports summer credit recovery, prom and graduation plans (1:36:49 to 1:42:54). |
| Charlie Gessner | Stevens High School guidance chair and PowerSchool lead (surname as transcribed) | Walks the board through the current and proposed grade scales, grade book and report card (0:35:29 to 1:04:49). |
| Prescott Herzog | Student representative (transcribed "Truscott" once) | Brief student report (0:04:00); supports the grading change as more consistent across teachers (1:10:39 to 1:11:44); describes senior-week plans (1:54:16). |
| Mary Woodman | School district clerk and recording secretary | Calls the roll (0:01:18, 0:01:25). |
| Jeff Small | SAU 6 Director of Technology | Runs the slides ("Mr. Small", 0:10:04); no attributed row. |
| Unidentified | Various | 99 of 651 rows (15.2%), including several motions and every second except the agenda's. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives. The chair refers to discussion items lettered at least to F (0:02:36), and the superintendent asks to take item D before C (0:29:27). The order below is reconstructed from the chair's transitions.
Items in the order taken up, with dispositions as heard in the recording
| Taken up | Item | Disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:27 | Call to order; Pledge; roll call | Roll as transcribed at 0:01:18 and 0:01:25. |
| 0:01:43 | Approval of the agenda | Bowling team recognition deleted (0:01:49); revised 2021-22 calendar added as discussion item F (0:02:36). "I move that." (unidentified, 0:02:44); "So Steve seconds"; voice vote, ayes (0:02:45). |
| 0:02:45 | Minutes of April 7, 2021 and the April 18, 2021 retreat | Taken together: "To accept the meeting. Minutes from April 18th, 2021. School board retreat and April 7th, 2021." (unidentified, 0:03:21); "We'll give it to Josh." (0:03:33); voice vote (0:03:39). See flag 5. |
| 0:03:48 | Citizens' comments | "Seeing none, I'll close citizens comments" (0:03:53). |
| 0:04:00 | Student report | Brief remarks. |
| 0:04:11 | Superintendent's report | COVID-19 trends, student vaccination clinic, strategic plan 2021-26. No action. |
| 0:24:28 | Discussion: school board goals and retreat | The chair describes the retreat process. "I need to adopt the Claremont Public School strategic plan 21 through 26." (unidentified, 0:28:49); "all those in favor I opposed." (0:28:57); no second is heard. See flag 3. |
| 0:29:27 | Discussion: Stevens grading proposal (taken before item C) | Presentation by Barry and Gessner, then board discussion. Whitney: "So I'd like to make a motion to accept the proposed new grading system, which separates the competency based evaluation from another evaluation from an evaluation, numerical evaluation." (1:35:52), amended in passing to "A letter, a numerical grade." (1:36:07); second unidentified (1:36:09); voice vote, ayes, no opposition heard (1:36:15). See flag 2. |
| 1:36:37 | Discussion: high school failures and credit recovery; end-of-year update | Summer credit recovery, prom and graduation at Monarch Farms. No action. |
| 1:55:42 | Discussion F: revised 2021-22 calendar | Layout change only, "the same content" (1:55:42); Horsky: "Received and amended." (1:56:07); "Oh, second." (unidentified); voice vote (1:56:13). |
| 1:56:15 | June agenda items | High school schedule, pay-to-play, realignment. No action. |
| 2:15:23 | Good of the order; adjournment | Board Facebook page; Horsky moves to adjourn (2:17:16); second unidentified; voice vote (2:17:24). |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/11510 SchoolBoard050521.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
Topics in the order discussed
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:43 | Agenda and minutes | The chair could not reach the bowling team; recognition moved to June (0:01:49). The superintendent: the new calendar only reverts the layout, "The days are the same." (0:02:10). Agenda and both sets of minutes approved by voice vote (0:02:45 to 0:03:39). | MEDIUM POSITIVE |
| 0:04:55 | COVID-19 trend | Infections per 100,000 rose and fell again since the retreat (0:04:55); "Hopefully we don't have many more awareness presentations" (0:05:23). | |
| 0:06:06 | Student vaccination clinic | Magoon: "Next Friday, we will be hosting a clinic, a, a Covid vaccination clinic for students 12 and older" with approval for 12-year-olds "still pending" (0:06:06); "I already have over 50 students already signed up", during the school day; "Permission slips for obviously students under the age of 18 will be sent out to parents next week." (0:06:27); second dose three weeks later (0:06:45). Notice went out by email, the SAU website, the district's Facebook pages and a community page (0:08:41). Whitney: a severe reaction is "really minuscule" (0:07:22). | |
| 0:10:04 | Strategic plan 2021-26 | From 13 committees to six focus areas (0:10:35): "learning and teaching at six to improve all student achievement", student time on learning, recruiting and retaining staff, and "School safety SL, which is the acronym for Social Emotional Learning, Student Welfare and the Return to Normalcy" (0:11:20); "We'll post it on the web for beginning tomorrow." (0:10:55); yearly improvement plans and school advisory councils; in-district special education programming (0:11:51); course continuity and math sequencing (0:14:44); "It's a very competitive market right now." for hiring (0:19:20). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:24:28 | Board goals and retreat; plan adopted | Sprague: the retreat is held "as soon after the election as possible", "at no taxpayer cost, we bring our own food" (0:24:47); each goal gets a subcommittee and report-outs at the next meeting (0:26:39, 0:27:10). Tempesta: "If you make a motion to adopt those goals" (0:28:39); the plan is adopted by voice vote (0:28:49, 0:28:57). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:29:27 | Grading proposal: why | Barry: the district was "one of the leaders in competency based education" (0:30:28), but parents find the language "daunting" (0:31:08); "we're not talking about abandoning competency based education, at all. We're talking about changing the way in which we report that out" (0:32:10); current grade printouts look "like somebody's in cardiac arrest" (0:33:55). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:35:29 | Grading proposal: the scales | Gessner: today "we really don't grade the assignment right now. The assignment is just a check mark." (0:35:48); assignments would get a numerical grade (0:38:34). Current Stevens scale: proficient with distinction (4.0, transcribed a w d), P plus (3.5), P (3.0), and three failing marks, PP, SBP and IWS (0:39:51, 0:40:17). Proposed: A plus 4.0 down to C minus 2.0 (0:40:48); "Notice no D's." with "a 70 as a cutoff" and a "CR for credit recovery", "worth the zero" (0:41:23); F kept for a course repeat (0:41:50). Barry: CR "would most likely represent a 60 to a 69" (0:42:34). Honor roll and GPA spread change; "Sports eligibility still works the same way" (1:03:10 to 1:04:49). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:50:42 | Passing a course while failing a competency | Whitney: "you can fail a competency and still have an overall passing grade." Sprague: "Which you couldn't do before." Whitney: "But and I don't know if I like that." (0:51:29 to 0:51:38); "I don't think a kid should ever pass a course without having a base competency in all aspects of the course." (0:51:42). Barry: teachers will see a failing competency early and target it (0:52:05 to 0:53:35). Sprague: parents asked "how come my kids failing all of a sudden last week?" (0:54:30). | |
| 1:07:57 | Decide tonight or seek public input | Sprague: "you're looking for us to make a decision on this tonight. True." Tempesta: "We're not talking about the the exact grading format, just the separation of the competencies from from the grade" (1:08:08). Sprague: the earlier change "was contentious" and drew "a lot of public input" (1:09:31); "Is this something we want to get some public input on, or do we want to make a decision tonight to allow them to go forward?" (1:09:53). Barry: "never once" a parent or student praising the current system (1:10:09). Herzog supports the change (1:10:39 to 1:11:44). Lambert: "I think we've gotten our public feedback personally." (1:13:06). Horsky: "I'm prepared to move forward with voting" (1:13:24). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:14:49 | Scope: all schools | Tempesta: the vote is "separating the grade reporting from the confidence [competency] of reporting" (1:16:58). Magoon: "So tonight the vote is across the board, right." and "Voting for all schools." (1:17:20, 1:17:33). Tempesta: "It's conceptual. Yes, yes." (1:17:34); "The whole district for next year?" Yes. (1:18:27, 1:18:28). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:19:49 | Further concerns; weighted grades | Whitney's remaining concerns about summative assessments and honor roll (1:19:49 to 1:21:20, 1:28:55, 1:29:18); Barry's whiteboard example of competency columns (1:24:41 to 1:27:07); Lambert on students who know the material but test poorly (1:27:56, 1:28:13); Sprague on weighted grades and a college admissions matrix (1:29:42 to 1:30:41); Petrin as a parent on homework and deadlines (1:32:20 to 1:34:17). | |
| 1:34:33 | Grading motion and vote | Petrin: "I'll make a motion to, prove the change to the grading system." Sprague: "Let's be more specific." (1:34:33, 1:34:40). Tempesta: "retain the competency, system and all the work that that there is, but dissolve the linkage between it being in the grade" (1:34:44). Whitney's motion (1:35:52); Second. unidentified (1:36:09); "All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Okay." (1:36:15). | OBSERVATION MEDIUM |
| 1:36:37 | Summer credit recovery | Barry: letters to first-semester students with recoverable failing grades (1:36:49); "a six week program Monday through Thursday from 9 to 1 on the second floor in the high school" (1:37:14) with Friday field trips "within a 30 mile radius" for students who meet weekly goals (1:37:38). Horsky questions the field-trip reward and its cost (1:43:42, 1:44:11); Barry: "Most of them are cost free." (1:44:38), and recovered honors credit counts "at a 4.0, but not at a 5.0" (1:45:23). Extended exchange on AP weighting (1:48:46 to 1:53:09). | |
| 1:38:16 | Prom and graduation | Prom under a tent at the visitor center with a promenade over the bridge, which "Josh Nelson of CCTV will stream" live (1:38:16, 1:38:41); masks required, 6 to 10 p.m. (1:39:15). Graduation at Monarch Farms off Jarvis Hill Road with family seating clusters (1:39:39 to 1:42:11); "graduation at 6:00 on Thursday night" (1:42:54). Herzog on senior-week events (1:54:16). | |
| 1:55:42 | Revised 2021-22 calendar | "So it's the same content." Approved by voice vote (1:56:07 to 1:56:13). | |
| 1:56:15 | June agenda; realignment | Petrin: pay-to-play "it's completely fallen off the list" (1:57:25); realignment to get class sizes "more equal throughout the elementary schools" (1:57:36). Tempesta: September is too soon; "We have deficits. We need to gain ground. It is the time to get more aggressive and experimental." with "community by in" (2:01:53). Horsky: "We have a duty to the taxpayer and the students of Claremont" (2:02:28) and asks for "a public hearing next month" (2:02:50). Tempesta: an earlier model freed "about 6 or 7 teachers" at a class size of about 18 (2:04:55). Whitney: "parent group assemblies" first (2:07:58). The administration will sketch the options for June (2:13:21). | |
| 2:15:28 | Board Facebook page | Petrin: "we do have a Claremont School Board Facebook page, which is really used to put information out" and "I usually put the agenda on there" (2:15:28); he has also shared meeting videos (2:15:48); it is "not a back and forth between people" (2:16:19). Lambert takes it over (2:16:10). | POSITIVE |
| 2:17:15 | Adjournment | Horsky: "I'd like a motion to adjourn the second." (2:17:16); Second. (unidentified); voice vote (2:17:24). | |
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 May 5, 2021, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM No agenda, packet or minutes survive, and most movers and seconders are unidentified on the recording
MAP.md records no Drive material for this meeting; the district's shares hold no year folder older than 2022. This meeting adopted a five-year strategic plan and a district-wide grading change, and the recording is the only public account. RSA 91-A:2, II, in the text in force since January 1, 2019, requires minutes naming members and persons appearing, describing the subject matter and final decisions, and recording the members who moved and seconded each motion, "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting". The MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule applies because the record mitigates the gap: the board approves two sets of minutes on tape (0:03:21), including its retreat's. The recording cannot replace them: the agenda motion ("I move that.", 0:02:44), the minutes motion (0:03:21) and the strategic-plan motion (0:28:49) come from unidentified voices; the seconds on the grading change (1:36:09), the calendar (1:56:09) and adjournment (2:17:23) are unidentified; and the plan has no audible second. Every vote was by voice, so no individual vote is recorded on tape.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019)
OBSERVATION What the grading vote adopted is unclear: "conceptual" separation, or the full proposed scale
The presentation laid out a specific new scale: letter grades from A plus to C minus, "Notice no D's.", "a 70 as a cutoff" and a "CR for credit recovery" worth zero (0:40:48, 0:41:23). The superintendent then told the board, "We're not talking about the the exact grading format, just the separation of the competencies from from the grade" (1:08:08), and "It's conceptual." (1:17:34). The motion as made was "to accept the proposed new grading system, which separates the competency based evaluation from" a numerical or letter grade (1:35:52, 1:36:07), and the assistant superintendent said it would apply to "all schools" (1:17:33) from next year (1:18:27, 1:18:28). A reader of the recording cannot tell whether the board approved the separation only, leaving the scale for later, or the scale as presented; minutes would normally settle that. The chair also asked whether the board wanted public input before deciding (1:09:53), recalling that the earlier change "was contentious" (1:09:31); members answered that the public had already spoken through complaints and a survey (1:12:48, 1:13:06), and the board voted the same night. No statute or rule examined for this page requires public input on a grading change, so this is an observation about the record's clarity, not a finding.
Sources: recording only; no rule cited.
OBSERVATION A five-year strategic plan was adopted with no text in the public record
The superintendent summarized the plan's six focus areas on slides and said "We'll post it on the web for beginning tomorrow." (0:10:55). It was adopted on a motion from an unidentified voice, "I need to adopt the Claremont Public School strategic plan 21 through 26." (0:28:49), with no second heard and a voice vote (0:28:57). No copy of the plan survives in the district's shares, so the document the board adopted cannot be read alongside this recording. No rule requires a strategic plan to be published; the observation is that the adopted text, and the vote's mover and seconder, are not recoverable from any public record checked.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification): minutes must record final decisions and the members who moved and seconded each motion
OBSERVATION Realignment: the board asks for a public hearing and forums, with no process yet fixed
Members split on how to begin elementary realignment: Horsky asked for "a public hearing next month" (2:02:50); Sprague favored public forums because concerns raised last time "were legitimate" (2:00:31); Whitney asked for "parent group assemblies" before any public presentation (2:07:58); the superintendent said the change could not be made for September and would need to enter the budget cycle (1:58:28, 2:00:59), describing it as a source of "significant" savings (2:02:12). No vote was taken. No statute examined for this page requires a hearing before a school board changes attendance areas or grade configurations within the district, so this records the commitments made, for comparison with later meetings.
Sources: recording only; no rule cited.
POSITIVE The board minuted its April 18 retreat and approved those minutes in public
The board's goal-setting retreat on Sunday, April 18, 2021 was a convening of a quorum to discuss board business, and so a meeting under RSA 91-A:2, I that needed notice and minutes. Tonight the board approved "Minutes from April 18th, 2021. School board retreat" together with the April 7 minutes (0:03:21, 0:03:39). That closes the question raised on the March 17, 2021 page about whether the retreat would be treated as a meeting. The chair also described the retreat as held "at no taxpayer cost" (0:24:47). The retreat minutes themselves do not survive in any share checked.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, I and II (2019 codification)
POSITIVE Agendas and meeting videos posted to a board page run as one-way information
Petrin reported that the board's Facebook page is "really used to put information out", that "I usually put the agenda on there" and that he had been sharing the meeting videos (2:15:28, 2:15:48), and that it is "not a back and forth between people" (2:16:19). RSA 91-A:2, II requires only that notice be posted in two appropriate places at least 24 hours ahead, so posting agendas and videos to a public page goes beyond the minimum. Running the page without member-to-member exchanges also keeps it clear of RSA 91-A:2-a, II, under which "Communications outside a meeting, including, but not limited to, sequential communications among members of a public body, shall not be used to circumvent the spirit and purpose of this chapter as expressed in RSA 91-A:1." The same night the assistant superintendent described posting the vaccination-clinic notice by email, on the SAU website and on several community pages (0:08:41).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; notice in 2 appropriate places, 24 hours); RSA 91-A:2-a, II (2019 codification; source note 2008, 303:4, eff. July 1, 2008)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: Claremont School Board Meeting of 5/5/21 (show 11510; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, the API refuses requests from this environment)
- Google Drive: no packet folder, agenda, strategic plan 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.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/11510 SchoolBoard050521.mp4.CSV (651 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/11510 SchoolBoard050521.mp4Input/Transcripts/11510 SchoolBoard050521.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 144Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/11510 SchoolBoard050521.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, I and II, 2019 codification (in force Jan. 1, 2019 to Oct. 2, 2023): meeting defined; notice in two places 24 hours ahead; minutes content, movers and seconders, five-business-day inspection
- RSA 91-A:2-a, I and II, 2019 codification (2008, 303:4; unamended): deliberation only in meetings; no circumvention through outside or sequential communications