Participants
Everyone heard or named as present in the recording. Names follow the project's 2015-2023 roster (including its corrections section) and the speaker attribution report for this recording, since no minutes survive; transcript renderings and dialogue-file labels are noted where they differ.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Adds the summer school update to the agenda (0:01:27); suggests finding $5,000 for vaccination incentives (0:24:00); has the Monday forum warned as a non-meeting (0:35:00); declines a roll call on the reopening vote (0:42:11); describes the district's past alternative program (1:12:18); publicly corrects his July statements on Education Freedom Accounts (2:07:44 to 2:09:59). |
| Heather Whitney | Board member; vice chair | Proposes using relief money for vaccination incentives, "50 for first shot, 100 for a second?" (0:22:02, 0:23:14); seconds the reopening motion (0:36:24); moves the Puerto Rico trip (1:39:52); seconds the athletics motion and its amendment (2:01:49, 2:05:58). |
| Steven Horsky | Board member | Moves the amended agenda (0:01:55); seconds the minutes (0:02:39); questions masks for visitors (0:36:43, 0:37:11); questions the graduation data at length (1:07:56, 1:22:02); moves the out-of-district athletics rule and amends it to non-cut sports (2:01:04, 2:05:47); asks for a new policy committee member (2:11:58); moves to adjourn (2:13:38). |
| Michael Petrin | Board member; SAU 6 chair | Seconds the agenda (0:02:07); moves the July 21 minutes (0:02:35) and the reopening plan (0:36:15); notes that paying vaccination incentives needs a board vote (0:26:27); compares graduation rates (1:16:56); questions the athletics rule (1:56:33). |
| Nicholas Stone | Board member | Asks about college credit for incoming ninth graders (1:28:08) and the playing-time effect of out-of-district players (2:05:15). |
| Joshua Lambert | Board member | Seconds the trip motion ("Josh seconds", 1:40:07); comments on the athletics question (2:04:18). No roll answer captured. |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Board member, Absent | Called in the roll (0:01:12) with no answer; on August 18 he said he "was not present" (show 11825). |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Presents the reopening recommendation and COVID metrics: "masks are optional, except for busses" (0:04:24); "no remote model at all offered" (0:04:51); Sullivan County at 3.6 (0:07:38); a target of 80% vaccination (0:08:31, 0:20:11); describes the Monday forum on elementary restructuring, "It is not for next year." (0:29:00). |
| Mimi Rhines | Stevens High School counselor; summer school coordinator (labeled "Mimi Rhimes" in the dialogue file; spelling per the roster's corrections) | Summer school report (0:43:29 to 0:47:33). |
| Nicole Gordon | Assistant principal, Stevens High School | Graduation and completion report (0:48:44 to 1:05:07); state comparison (1:17:19). |
| Patricia Barry | Principal, Stevens High School | The former alternative program (1:05:22 to 1:10:43); presents the EF Tours trip to Puerto Rico (1:32:41 to 1:39:24). Some rows near the start of her section may be Gordon's (attribution report). |
| Ben Nester | Director of Special Education, SAU 6 | "in one year, 25% of the graduating class were alternative program students" (1:10:01); early intervention (1:30:07). |
| Sean (surname not stated) | Athletic director, Claremont Middle School | Presents the out-of-district participation proposal (1:43:14 to 1:54:43). |
| Doug (surname unverified) | Athletic director, Stevens High School (transcribed "Doug Belgrave" here; "Mr. Beaupre" on the July 21 recording) | Introduces himself (1:43:20); on eligibility and recruiting rules (1:49:43, 1:58:02). Attribution medium-low. |
| Mary Woodman | School district clerk and recording secretary | Calls the roll (0:01:07 to 0:01:18). |
| Unidentified | Various | 42 of 584 rows (7.2%), including the adjournment second and parts of the graduation question period. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives. The chair places the summer school update as item "one B right after the reopening of school recommendation" (0:01:27). 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 |
|---|
| 0:00:22 | Call to order; Pledge; roll call | Roll as transcribed at 0:01:07 to 0:01:18. |
| 0:01:27 | Approval of the agenda | Summer school update added. Horsky: "I will make a motion to approve the agenda, as amended." (0:01:55); Petrin seconds (0:02:07); voice vote (0:02:16). |
| 0:02:24 | Minutes of July 21, 2021 | Petrin: "I'll move that. We accept the minutes for July 21st, 2021." (0:02:35); Horsky: "Thanks. I'll second." (0:02:39); voice vote (0:02:41). |
| 0:02:41 | Citizens' comments | "Seeing none. I'll close citizens comments" (0:02:52). |
| 0:02:52 | Superintendent's report | Reopening metrics and recommendation; summer program; Monday forum. The board agrees to post the forum as a non-meeting (0:35:00). See flag 3. |
| 0:35:12 | Action: reopening of school recommendations | Petrin: "Like a motion that we plan on reopening schools based on the matrix provided to us tonight." (0:36:15); Whitney: Second. (0:36:24). The chair: "I don't see any need for a roll call vote" (0:42:11); voice vote with at least one no; the count is unclear on tape ("5 to 1, your neighbor?" then "So 3 to 214.", 0:42:42, 0:42:46). See flag 1. |
| 0:42:55 | 1B: summer school update | Report. No action. |
| 0:48:24 | Stevens High School graduation rate follow-up | Report and questions. No action. See flag 6. |
| 1:32:41 | Senior trip: EF Tours to Puerto Rico, April 2022 | Whitney's motion "to say for what you want to do is expedite. E.F. tours to senior student trip to Puerto Rico in April 2022." (1:39:52); "Josh seconds" (1:40:07); voice vote, "All those in favor. All opposed." (1:42:44); no opposition is audible. |
| 1:42:58 | Athletic committee: out-of-district participation | Horsky moves "to adopt the policy that's been presented" pending a formal policy from the policy committee (2:01:04, 2:01:28); the chair calls it "a placeholder policy for now because we have to go through first read second or third read." (2:01:41); Whitney seconds (2:01:49). Amended: "I'd like to amend my original motion to non cut sports only at this time." (2:05:47); Whitney seconds (2:05:58). Voice vote; "One abstention." (2:07:25, 2:07:37). See flag 4. |
| 2:07:44 | Other business; next agenda | Chair's correction on Education Freedom Accounts (flag 5); handbook, reopening details and hiring updates for the next meeting (2:10:47, 2:11:43); a policy committee vacancy (2:11:58); free school meals (2:12:53). |
| 2:13:38 | Adjournment | Horsky moves (2:13:38); unidentified second (2:13:41); voice vote (2:13:44). |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/11793 SchoolBoard080421.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
Topics in the order discussed
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:27 | Agenda and minutes | Summer school update added; agenda and July 21 minutes approved by voice vote (0:01:55 to 0:02:41). No citizens' comments (0:02:52). | MEDIUM |
| 0:03:30 | Reopening recommendation and COVID metrics | "So I do think it would be wise to vote on it tonight." (0:04:24). "masks are optional, except for busses", "three foot distancing to the extent possible" (0:04:24); "No monitoring except as mandated by the state of New Hampshire" and "no remote model at all offered" (0:04:51). State vaccination "closer to 58% for the state" for second doses (0:06:54); Sullivan County "at 3.6, the lowest county of, of transmission" (0:07:38); the state epidemiologist's target of "around 80%" (0:08:31). "the most comfortable, least restrictive matrix we could have" (0:20:11). | |
| 0:21:14 | Vaccination incentives | Whitney: UNH is dropping masks and vaccine requirements (0:21:14); "could we use Covid money to financially incentivize parents coming and getting vaccinations" (0:22:02); "50 for first shot, 100 for a second?" (0:23:14); "5000 would be a good." (0:23:29). Sprague: "I don't think we can use cares money" (0:23:16); "even though the vaccination rate in the report for Sullivan County is 58%, I think it's about 42 in Claremont." (0:23:38); a $5,000 budget line is possible (0:24:00). Petrin: paying people needs "the board approval" and has not been voted (0:26:27). | |
| 0:28:02 | Summer program staffing; Monday forum | Staff who worked "all six weeks of the summer program" risk fatigue (0:28:02). Third community forum Monday "at 530 at Stephen's" (0:28:37) on elementary restructuring: "It is not for next year." (0:29:00), but a feasibility look for the budget cycle (0:29:26). Sprague: "I think three can go." (0:34:41); Tempesta: "we can worn it as a non meeting and and not, not have discussion about it." (0:34:53); Sprague: "So let's let's worn it as a non meeting. And that way everybody wants to go. Can go" (0:35:00). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:35:12 | Reopening vote | Sprague: "if they want to ride the bus, that's the way it is." (0:35:12). Horsky questions masks for visitors: "You don't have to wear them in Walmart." (0:37:11); Tempesta: "vendors we have barely let in the building" (0:37:38). Sprague: "Our vaccination rate in Claremont was higher than 42%. Steve, I'd be right with you. If it was 67%." (0:38:30). Motion carried by voice vote with dissent; tally unclear (0:42:11 to 0:42:48). | MEDIUM |
| 0:42:55 | Summer school | Runs "July 12th" to "August 19th", "from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Thursday" (0:43:44); "eight teachers teaching six different subjects" (0:44:05). "137 students were invited to come and recover 200 credits, and I had 100 students confirmed" (0:44:44); weekly attendance about 80, 67, then 55 (0:44:57); "as of today we've recovered 76 credits" (0:45:11). Of "the infamous group of 30", one student has completed and graduated (0:47:33). | |
| 0:48:44 | Class of 2021 completion | Gordon: more graduates are choosing two- or four-year schools (0:49:13, 0:49:45). After adjustments, "130 students at the beginning of year who were projected to graduate", of whom "88, which is approximately 67% who completed" (0:52:52); recent years ran 78, 79% (0:53:54). "43 students who were, non-compliant": "18 who did not meet their credit requirement" (0:54:25), four in adult education (0:55:19), three who withdrew (0:55:41), "16 who were dropped" at 18 with "chronic and sustained absences" (0:56:09, 0:56:17), and two continuing (0:57:24). Interventions and an alternative program are under study (0:57:51 onward). The state average is "somewhere between 85 and 87%" (1:17:19). | POSITIVE |
| 1:05:22 | The former alternative program | Barry: the program ended about four years ago when "there was some budget cuts and a position was changed, the director's position was eliminated" (1:05:22). Nester: "in one year, 25% of the graduating class were alternative program students." (1:10:01). Sprague recalls bringing in "a company called Ombudsman" (1:12:43). Whitney asks whether pushing completion helps students who are not ready (1:15:07). Horsky probes the dropped and withdrawn counts (1:22:02 to 1:24:18). | |
| 1:32:41 | Senior trip to Puerto Rico | The canceled pandemic-year trip's deposit: "the almost $9,000 that we had given them in fundraising money" was recovered (1:33:03). Tour companies now fly rather than bus (1:33:23); students and staff surveyed chose Puerto Rico (1:34:05). "It's about $1,000 more than those" bus tours, offset by "the refund from last year and a good cushion of fundraising in the bank" (1:39:24). Horsky on COVID risk and insurance (1:40:12, 1:42:04). Approved by voice vote (1:42:44). | |
| 1:43:14 | Out-of-district athletes | Sean: out-of-district players had been allowed "under the radar" by former athletic directors with "no formal policy" (1:43:54); the program must not become "a feeder program to other schools" (1:45:30) or breach the interscholastic association's recruiting rule (1:47:13). Proposal: students from tuition towns, held to the same eligibility and conduct standards, whose school lacks the program, paying "a fee proportional to the total cost of the program divided by the number of participants" (1:52:00, 1:52:23), estimated at $245 for football (1:54:15). Petrin sees "two different arguments" (1:58:14). Motion, amendment to non-cut sports, one abstention (2:01:04 to 2:07:37). | OBSERVATION |
| 2:07:44 | Chair corrects his Education Freedom Account statements | "I want to, make a clarification" about "some statements I made about the state budget that were were inaccurate" (2:07:44); the grant "was changed and it was changed to just the adequacy money" (2:08:25); "I did not know that. I know it now." (2:09:04); the income limit is "300% of, of poverty", and the 40th-percentile exemption he described "also was removed" (2:09:29); "that was another inaccurate statement that I made." (2:09:59). | POSITIVE |
| 2:10:47 | Next agenda; hiring; policy committee; meals | Next meeting: Stevens handbook, elementary reopening, quarantine and contact tracing (2:10:47). Asked for "any updates on hiring at all?" (2:11:43), the superintendent answers "All over the place with ships." (2:11:53); no nominations are presented. Horsky: "Donna was the other member of our policy committee. We need a new one." (2:11:58). Free meals through the USDA are "extended current program through the end of the next year" (2:12:53). | OBSERVATION |
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 August 4, 2021, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM No agenda or minutes survive, and the split vote on reopening has no audible tally or names
MAP.md records no Drive material for this meeting; the district's shares hold no year folder older than 2022. RSA 91-A:2, II, in the text in force since January 1, 2019, requires minutes naming members, describing the subject matter and final decisions, and recording the members who moved and seconded each motion, open to 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: draft minutes existed and were corrected and approved on August 18 (show 11825). That correction also shows the draft's reliability problem: it recorded Lovett voting "by phone" on the closing motion although he said he was not present. On the recording, the reopening plan, the meeting's main decision, passed on a voice vote after the chair said "I don't see any need for a roll call vote" (0:42:11); someone voted no, and the count heard is "5 to 1, your neighbor?" followed by "So 3 to 214." (0:42:42, 0:42:46), which cannot be resolved into a tally or names. A roll call was not legally required, since no member participated remotely, but without minutes the public cannot learn who opposed the plan. The adjournment second is also unidentified (2:13:41).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019)
OBSERVATION No teacher nominations at the first August meeting after the board deferred them from June
On June 2 the board let the superintendent fill budgeted vacancies over the summer, the chair explaining "we're going to allow you to defer those nominations to, to August" (see the June 2, 2021 page, flag 2). RSA 189:39 provides that "Superintendents shall nominate and school boards elect all teachers". Tonight, asked for "any updates on hiring at all?" (2:11:43), the superintendent replied only "All over the place with ships." (2:11:53), and no nominations or elections were taken up. The deferred elections may have come on August 18 or later; this page records that they did not come on August 4, so a reviewer checking whether the summer hires were ever elected by the board should look to the later meetings.
Sources: RSA 189:39 (superintendents nominate, school boards elect teachers; 1971, 371:2, unamended)
OBSERVATION A quorum plans to attend a community forum announced as a non-meeting
To let every member attend Monday's forum on elementary restructuring, the board agreed to "worn it as a non meeting" with members present but not discussing (0:34:53, 0:35:00). RSA 91-A:2, I, as it read in 2021, defines a meeting as "the convening of a quorum of the membership of a public body" for "the purpose of discussing or acting upon a matter or matters over which the public body has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory power", and lists only four exclusions (bargaining strategy, legal counsel, a party caucus, circulating draft documents); the statute has no "non-meeting" category. Members who only listen may fall outside the definition, and posting notice that a quorum may attend is the cautious course. But the forum's subject, elementary restructuring, is a matter within the board's control, and if members discuss it there, the session becomes a meeting that needs minutes. The point is recorded so the forum's conduct can be checked against that line.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, I (2019 codification; meeting defined, exclusions (a) to (d))
OBSERVATION Out-of-district athletes admitted under a "placeholder policy" adopted by motion
The middle school athletic director told the board that out-of-district participation had been allowed "under the radar" with "no formal policy" (1:43:54). Tonight the board adopted the directors' proposal by motion, the chair calling it "a placeholder policy for now because we have to go through first read second or third read." (2:01:41), and Horsky saying "I wouldn't even call it a policy at this time" (2:01:55). As amended it covers non-cut sports only (2:05:47), with a per-player fee estimated at $245 for football (1:54:15), and passed with one abstention (2:07:37). The district's policy-adoption procedure is not in any share checked, and no statute examined for this page governs it, so this is not a finding; the observation is that a rule with fees and eligibility conditions now operates on the strength of a motion, its terms live only in a slide deck that does not survive, and the policy committee that must write the formal policy has lost a member (2:11:58). The June 2 and July 21 meetings had already discussed the same question (see those pages).
Sources: recording only; no rule cited.
POSITIVE The chair publicly corrected his own inaccurate statements about Education Freedom Accounts
On July 21 the chair had said departing students take "the state money and the local money", about $20,000 each (see the July 21, 2021 page, flag 5). Tonight he said those statements "were were inaccurate" (2:07:44): the grant is "just the adequacy money" (2:08:25), "I did not know that. I know it now." (2:09:04), eligibility is limited to "300% of, of poverty", and the 40th-percentile exemption he had described was removed (2:09:29). That matches RSA 194-F:2's grant of "the per pupil adequate education grant amount under RSA 198:40-a, plus any differentiated aid" and RSA 194-F:1's income test. The chair's dollar figure for a family of four is not checked here. No rule requires a member to correct the record; doing so on camera, unprompted, is the practice that keeps a public record reliable.
Sources: RSA 194-F:1 (eligible student; 2021, 91:431, eff. Aug. 24, 2021); RSA 194-F:2 (grant amount)
POSITIVE A full public accounting of the class of 2021's non-completers
After the principal said at graduation that about 30 seniors had not made it, the board asked for a follow-up, and Stevens staff presented it in open session: 88 of 130 projected graduates, about 67%, against 78 to 79% in 2017 to 2019 and a state average of 85 to 87% (0:52:52, 0:53:54, 1:17:19), with every one of the 43 non-completers placed in a category and the interventions and gaps described (0:54:25 to 0:57:24). The presenters gave counts only, no student names. No statute requires a board presentation of this kind; publishing an unfavorable figure with its breakdown goes beyond the state's own reporting, which the presenter noted had not yet posted 2020 data (0:53:54).
Sources: recording only; no rule cited.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: Claremont School Board Meeting of 8-4-21 (show 11793; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, the API refuses requests from this environment)
- Google Drive: no packet folder, agenda, reopening matrix, presentation slides 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/11793 SchoolBoard080421.mp4.CSV (584 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Dialogue/11825 SchoolBoard081821.mp4.CSV (August 18, 2021 meeting, cited for the approval and correction of this meeting's minutes)Input/Videos/11793 SchoolBoard080421.mp4Input/Transcripts/11793 SchoolBoard080421.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 148Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/11793 SchoolBoard080421.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, with its four exclusions; minutes content, movers and seconders, five-business-day inspection
- RSA 189:39 (1971, 371:2; unamended): superintendents nominate, school boards elect teachers
- RSA 194-F:1 and RSA 194-F:2 (2021, 91:431, eff. Aug. 24, 2021): Education Freedom Account eligibility and grant amount