Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Member names follow the February 9, 2022 deliberative-session minutes, which list the same seven members; other spellings follow the project's 2015 to 2023 roster. No minutes of this meeting were available to check speakers against.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Calls the meeting to order (0:00:17), moves and passes the agenda himself (0:02:00), opens each discussion item to the audience, and on COVID says "I think we hold the course" (1:51:35) while asking the superintendent to tell state officials the board wants "a transition to endemic planning" (1:52:27). Offers to contact Vital Communities about a candidate forum (1:39:27). Transcribed "Greg. Spread" in the roll call and "Mr. Sprog" by a commenter. |
| Heather Whitney | Vice chair | Questions the tech-center reductions on the public's behalf (0:20:29), reads from the center's Perkins grant application (0:54:42), explains the board's tax reasoning (1:21:00) and presses for data on learning days lost to quarantine: "if 22 students are out for ten days, that's 220 days of learning lost" (1:47:18). |
| Steven Horsky | Member | Proposes a controlled-access connector from the middle school to the tech center (0:29:20), reads prepared remarks on the center's decline (0:40:47), defends a half-time director (0:58:24), and explains why he avoids answering all-board emails (1:36:17). Asks about a drop of 39 registered high school students (1:44:39). Answers to Steven in the roll call. |
| Michael Petrin | Member | Asks what prevents an eighth-grade feeder program next year (0:32:29); questions preschool class capacity (1:13:06) and states that the district is not required to run a pre-K program (1:18:03). Moves the nonpublic session (2:03:36). Transcribed "Michael. Patron" in both roll calls. |
| Nicholas Stone | Member | Speaks as a 2018 Stevens graduate who took tech-center courses (0:53:43); on COVID data, "if not us, who?" (1:55:32). Identification of the 2018-graduate passage rests on the attribution report's cluster evidence (medium confidence). |
| Joshua Lambert | Member | Recognized because he "hasn't spoken tonight" (1:30:42); asks that the preschool's half-typical, half-special-education model be explained to the public (1:30:45). His answer on the nonpublic roll call is not separately audible (see flag 4). |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Member | Answers the attendance roll (0:01:25); thanked by a speaker at the podium (1:26:41). No attributed speech. His answer on the nonpublic roll call is not separately audible (see flag 4). |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Gives his report as the frame for the discussion items: the tech-center plan (0:05:33), the summary of reductions (0:13:04), the preschool recommendation (1:05:28) and COVID data (1:40:38). The dialogue file's row at 0:03:35 begins with the chair closing citizens' comments before the superintendent speaks. |
| Ben Nester | Director of Special Education | Joins late and presents the preschool history from 2014-15 and the administration's recommendation to "revert back to the 1819 model, which removes one teacher and one classroom" (1:10:48). Transcribed "Mr. Nestor". |
| Paige (surname not stated) | Pre-K coordinator | Answers questions on sessions, related services and the Head Start arrangement (1:16:29); says the waitlist exists because "I currently have six open positions for paraprofessionals" (1:31:34) and that removing a classroom takes away "24, potentially 24 spots" (1:32:45). Transcribed Page. |
| Richard Seaman | Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources | One answer, on the agency that ran an earlier candidate forum (1:37:28). Title per the February 9, 2022 minutes. |
| Mary Woodman | School board clerk | Calls the roll for the nonpublic vote (2:04:06). The attendance roll at 0:01:20 is labeled Unidentified in the dialogue file. |
| Josh (surname not stated) | Audience, Ward 3 | Introduced by the chair as "Joshua. Race one three" (0:49:13). Asks what student outcomes are expected "by eliminating a nurse position" and the guidance counselor (0:49:29, 0:49:52), and later about the preschool waitlist (1:31:15). |
| Unidentified | Audience, Ward 2 | Asks for the slides to be emailed and why the director is "being cut back" if the program is growing (0:57:20, 0:58:00); asks whether the consultants are in the budget (1:03:31) and for the podium to be moved (1:03:57). Possibly more than one voice. |
| Unidentified | Audience (realtor) | Thanks the board and describes buyers who see school ratings online (1:25:08). |
| Jen Gallagher | Audience, Ward 2 | Self-identified; first says ward one, then corrects to two (1:26:36, 1:26:41). Asks "why are we cutting a classroom from the little guys?" (1:27:06), describes her own family's use of the program, and asks about high school volunteers (1:31:59). |
| Unidentified | Audience, Ward 3 (mask commenter) | Reads a prepared statement asking the board to revisit masks in schools (1:57:44) and closes: "masking our kids forever is not supported by most parents" (2:00:23). |
| Whitney Skillen | Audience, Ward 2 | Self-identified ("Whitney Skilling", 2:00:54). Agrees with the chair on planning for the endemic phase, focusing on long-term health and learning effects (2:01:34). She won a board seat at the March 2022 election (roster). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting was located. The list below follows the chair's transitions on the recording. The chair names the four discussion items at 0:02:43: a preschool update, the Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center (SRVRTC), a school board candidate forum and COVID protocols. The superintendent presented his report item by item alongside them.
Items in the order taken up. No item was voted on except the agenda and the motion to enter nonpublic session.
| Taken up | Item | What happened |
|---|
| 0:00:17 | Call to order, pledge, attendance roll | Called to order "of two, two, two, two"; pledge at 0:00:39; all seven members answer the attendance roll (0:01:20). |
| 0:01:36 | Agenda | A member notes the agenda's printed start time (0:01:46). The chair: "Looking for a motion. I'll make a motion that we accept the agenda as presented for the discussion. All those in favor? I closed." (0:02:00). No second or tally is audible. |
| 0:02:23 | Previous minutes | "Previous approval. We didn't have any minutes." The chair adds "We've got several." and "Several meetings to to approve." (0:02:38, 0:02:43). No minutes approved. |
| 0:02:43 | Citizens' comments | The chair explains that under a recently passed policy citizens' comments "cannot involve one of the anything on the agenda that's a discussion or action item", with comment invited during those items instead (0:03:10). None offered; closed at 0:03:35. |
| 0:03:35 | Superintendent's report | Presented as an overview tied to each discussion item; no student report (0:04:37). |
| 0:05:33 | SRVRTC (tech center) | Superintendent's plan for schedule alignment and an eighth-grade feeder; board questions; public comment from 0:49:13. Discussion only. |
| 1:04:24 | Preschool update | History and the recommendation to go from four classrooms to three; public comment. Discussion only. |
| 1:36:59 | School board candidate forum | Consensus that the chair contact Vital Communities and NH Listens (1:39:27, 1:40:03). No vote. |
| 1:40:03 | COVID protocols | Data presentation, board discussion and two public comments. No change voted. |
| 2:03:08 | Announcement | Deliberative session: "Next Wednesday, 630. Snow days the 10th." at the Stevens High School auditorium (2:03:16). |
| 2:03:36 | Nonpublic session | Petrin moves "to go to nonpublic for RSA 91-A colon. Three the dismissal, promotion or" "compensation of any public employee"; an unidentified Second. (2:03:50); roll call, every audible answer Yes. (2:04:06 to 2:04:23). The recording ends here. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/12180 SchoolBoard020222.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
Chronological topics. Quotations are as transcribed; bracketed words are corrections.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:46 | Agenda start time | A member: "It does say the start time seven." Another: "There are normal type of 630." The chair: "I'm so used to I never look at the times." (0:02:00). | OBS |
| 0:02:23 | No minutes to approve | "We didn't have any minutes." The chair notes several meetings' minutes are outstanding (0:02:43). The June 15, 2022 minutes later record approval of the January 5, January 18, February 2 and February 16, 2022 minutes in one sitting. | MED |
| 0:03:10 | Citizens' comment policy | "So we've recently passed a policy that citizens comments cannot involve one of the anything on the agenda that's a discussion or action item." The chair says the public will have an opportunity during those items. | POS |
| 0:05:33 | Tech center plan | The superintendent ties the plan to the strategic plan's "time on learning" goals, points to Newport's single campus and shared staff (0:07:04), and proposes aligning middle and high school schedules with the center. He says "1,520% of our students who graduate from Stevens graduate with some type of college credit" (0:12:01) [likely 15 to 20 percent; the transcript fuses the figures], and that in 2020 "we had 11 qualifying scores, but we had 125 students get actual college credit" (0:16:09). | |
| 0:13:04 | The reductions | Summary of what was agreed with the budget subcommittee: "the director position to part time", "to cut the vacant nurse position", the 0.6 guidance position and the vacant accounting position, aiming near a 12% overhead figure (0:13:55). | MED |
| 0:20:29 | Board questions on the cuts | Whitney asks for the overhead chart to be explained "for the public" and says vacant budgeted positions are being removed (0:21:24). The superintendent: the nurse and guidance positions were vacant; the accounting courses "did not run" for lack of enrollment (0:23:12). Asked whether the new schedule costs more, "We might need a couple" more sections (0:26:54). Sprague: teachers would teach five sections a year instead of six (0:27:06). | |
| 0:29:20 | Connector idea | Horsky: "Would there be a way to create a controlled access point from the middle school to this building with that money?" The superintendent: "It's a tough sell because it's not a direct Covid loss type of thing." (0:30:37). | |
| 0:32:29 | Feeder program | Petrin asks what prevents an eighth-grade feeder program next year: "I'm kind of looking for some action." (0:33:45). The superintendent says the full schedule will be budgeted for the following year, with parts for the fall if possible (0:36:32). | |
| 0:37:03 | Region 10 agreement | Seat allocations: "We get six, Newport get six" (0:37:48). Sprague: "So it isn't the region ten that prevents us from having competing programing. It's the state." (0:39:22). No statute was cited for either point. | |
| 0:40:47 | Horsky's prepared remarks | The center fell from eight programs to four, which he attributes to enrollment and scheduling rather than cuts; "It's hard to justify, as a board member, a program that has half as many courses as Newport at a full time position" (0:43:58). | |
| 0:45:38 | Pre-K space in the tech center | Whitney asks whether the pre-K program encroaches on space meant for career and technical education: "I've got it in writing that it's an issue." (0:46:58). The superintendent recounts the building's history (0:46:14, 0:47:03). | |
| 0:49:13 | Public: nurse and guidance | Josh (Ward 3) asks "what are the improved student outcomes that students should expect by eliminating a nurse position." The superintendent cites a long-standing stipend arrangement for nurse coverage and few significant injuries (0:51:03, 0:51:34). Stone: "I graduated in 2018" and found the guidance counselors supportive (0:53:43). | |
| 0:54:42 | Perkins application | Whitney reads the plan to hire consultants: "We will contract with a consultant to help develop and implement a program". Josh: "That would be in the future and hasn't been done." Sprague: "It's it's dated May of 2020." (0:55:53, 0:55:58). Whitney later: "It's being funded by the Perkins grant." (1:03:42). | |
| 0:57:20 | Public: half-time director | A Ward 2 resident asks why the director is "being cut back" if enrollment is rising (0:58:00). Horsky: "we don't have the ability to utilize a full time position." (0:58:52). Whitney favors pairing the director role with adult education (1:01:52). A request to move the podium so the audience can see and hear (1:03:57). | |
| 1:04:42 | Preschool recommendation | The superintendent reports 63 students and recommends keeping the typical-peer model with three teachers: "There's too much risk programmatically and financially" in a separate special-education model (1:05:28). Nester's history: a state-partnered improvement plan for 2014 to 2019 after state review of outcome data (1:07:48); "revert back to the 1819 model, which removes one teacher and one classroom" (1:10:48); "we don't want to invite New Hampshire oversight again or risk another audit" (1:11:46). | OBS |
| 1:13:06 | Capacity and legal duty | Nester: "that's the New Hampshire rules. One teacher, one pair of 12 kids, something like that." Petrin: "your max would be 72." (1:13:32). Petrin: "We we as a district do not have to run a pre-K program." Paige: "So, from a legal standpoint, yes. But from a professional standpoint" it is a hard no (1:18:03, 1:18:24). Horsky: "we're cutting a program. Really, we're right sizing it." (1:19:28). | OBS |
| 1:21:00 | Taxes and wages | Whitney: property-tax increases fall hardest on "a 78 year old widow on a fixed income"; "we've had a reduction of $200,000 a year that was taken away by the state" (1:23:56). Figures are the speaker's; no source was presented. | |
| 1:26:34 | Public: preschool | Jen Gallagher: "why are we cutting a classroom from the little guys?" (1:27:06). Paige: the waitlist exists because "I currently have six open positions for paraprofessionals" (1:31:34); losing a classroom takes away "24, potentially 24 spots" (1:32:45). Petrin: "the waitlist is for the neurotypical kids." (1:33:06). | |
| 1:34:12 | Social media and email | Horsky: "we can't all come out onto Facebook altogether and tell you what our thought is, because the moment we do, it's considered a meeting." He does not answer emails addressed to the whole board "because I creates a discussion which creates a quorum" (1:36:17). | POS |
| 1:36:59 | Candidate forum | The chair recalls an earlier forum; Horsky and others identify Vital Communities (1:37:40). The chair will reach out to "find out what's going on and see what's possible" (1:39:27); the superintendent adds that NH Listens may have run it (1:39:43). | |
| 1:40:38 | COVID data | Cases "dipping back down" from the Omicron peak; elementary attendance down about six points from the usual 93 to 94 percent (1:42:30). Horsky notes "the number of registered students is also declined by 39" at the high school (1:44:39); an audience voice calls his comparison "a fallacy" (1:45:32). The superintendent will follow up (1:46:09). | |
| 1:47:18 | Learning lost | Whitney: "if 22 students are out for ten days, that's 220 days of learning lost." Sprague: "personally, I'm not ready to declare the pandemic over in Claremont." (1:49:12) and "I think we hold the course." (1:51:35); he asks the superintendent to tell Dr. Chan "my board is very concerned and really want to see a transition to endemic planning." (1:52:27). Whitney: "I don't personally have any problem like straying from the herd." (1:54:54). Stone: "if not us, who?" (1:55:32). Horsky: protocols have "cost me 15 days worth of work in the last three months" (1:55:51). | |
| 1:57:41 | Public: masks | A Ward 3 resident reads studies on cloth and surgical masks and asks the board to revisit "the masks in schools question"; "masking our kids forever is not supported by most parents." (2:00:23). The study citations are the speaker's. | |
| 2:00:54 | Public: long-term effects | Whitney Skillen agrees with planning for the endemic phase but asks about "the long term mental health impacts the long term physical impacts" and social delays (2:01:34). | |
| 2:03:36 | Nonpublic session | Motion by Petrin under "RSA 91-A colon. Three" for the dismissal, promotion or compensation of a public employee; roll call called by the clerk, including "Joshua. Lambert. Rob. Lovett jr." in one breath followed by a single Yes. (2:04:11, 2:04:15). Recording ends at 2:04:36. | OBS |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer's aid, not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each names the rule it rests on as that rule read on February 2, 2022, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies. The COVID-19 state of emergency and Emergency Order #12 had ended on June 11, 2021, so ordinary RSA 91-A rules governed this meeting. RSA 189:74 (the 30-minute public comment period) was not yet law; it took effect September 6, 2022.
MEDIUM No minutes were ready for approval, and this meeting's minutes surface only as approved four months later; no copy is in the public shares
The chair opens the minutes item with "Previous approval. We didn't have any minutes." and says several meetings' minutes are outstanding (0:02:23, 0:02:43). The June 15, 2022 minutes then record approval of the January 5, January 18, February 2 and February 16, 2022 minutes together, with the April 6 minutes still "In process"; the April 6, 2022 minutes record "No minutes" at that meeting's approval item. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting", and draft minutes satisfy that duty, so a late approval is not itself a violation. What the record shows is a backlog: no minutes were approved at this meeting, the February 16 meeting tabled the December 1, 2021 minutes (see the February 16, 2022 page), the April 6 meeting approved none, and January's minutes waited until June. This meeting's minutes cannot now be found. The page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule because the record mitigates the absence: minutes were written and approved. The limit of the evidence: the district's 2021-22 packet share (2021 22 CSB Packets (Web)) exists but could not be fully listed through the Drive interface, so the drafts may sit in a folder this search could not open.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II and II-b (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1; in force to Oct. 2, 2023); June 15, 2022 minutes; April 6, 2022 minutes
MEDIUM The tech-center reductions were settled with the board's budget subcommittee, and no notice or minutes of its sessions were located
The superintendent presents the reductions with figures showing "what the rationale was at the time when we" met with the budget subcommittee (0:13:04): the director to part time, the vacant nurse position, the 0.6 guidance position and the vacant accounting position. A subcommittee of a school board is itself a public body under RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), which reaches "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof", so each session at which it met was a meeting requiring 24-hour notice and minutes under RSA 91-A:2, II. No notice, agenda or minutes of any budget subcommittee session from this budget cycle were located. The page grades this MEDIUM rather than HIGH, and so differs from pages where a subcommittee's sessions are described at length with no record: here the only evidence of the sessions is one passing reference, and the district's 2021-22 packet share could not be fully listed, so the records may exist where this search could not reach.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (2022 codification; source note ends 2008, 354:1); RSA 91-A:2, I and II (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1)
OBSERVATION A member says the agenda printed a 7:00 start against the usual 6:30; the actual starting time cannot be checked
"It does say the start time seven." Another voice: "There are normal type of 630." The chair: "I didn't notice that" and "I'm so used to I never look at the times." (0:01:46 to 0:02:00). RSA 91-A:2, II requires notice of the time and place of a meeting at least 24 hours in advance. If the notice also said 7:00 and the board convened at 6:30, a resident relying on the notice would have missed the citizens' comment period, which closed with no speakers at 0:03:35, before a large audience took part in the later items. The notice, the agenda and the call-to-order time are not in the record, so this is an observation: the posted notice would settle it.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; notice of the time and place, 24 hours excluding Sundays and legal holidays)
OBSERVATION Nonpublic session: the motion stated the ground in words, one member's answer is not audible, and nothing after the roll call is on record
Petrin's motion names "RSA 91-A colon. Three" and recites the substance of paragraph II(a), "the dismissal, promotion or" "compensation of any public employee" (2:03:36); RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires the motion to "state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II" and a roll-call vote, and the words used match II(a) even though the paragraph letter is not spoken. The clerk calls "Joshua. Lambert. Rob. Lovett jr." together and one Yes. follows (2:04:11, 2:04:15), so one of the two answers is not audible on the recording. The recording ends as the roll closes. Whether the board returned to public session, took any decision, or voted to withhold the nonpublic minutes (RSA 91-A:3, III requires disclosure within 72 hours unless two-thirds of members present so vote in public session with a stated finding) cannot be determined, because the minutes of this meeting were not located (flag 1).
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a) and III (2022 codification; source note ends 2021, 163:1 and 172:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2022)
OBSERVATION The preschool discussion turned on legal duties and a state ratio that no one cited
Petrin says the district does "not have to run a pre-K program" and can deliver services to identified children elsewhere; the coordinator agrees "from a legal standpoint" (1:18:03, 1:18:24). Federal law requires a free appropriate public education for children with disabilities from age 3 and education with nondisabled children "to the maximum extent appropriate"; it does not require a general preschool, so the statement is broadly consistent with the statute, but the least-restrictive-environment duty is the reason the half-typical model matters, which the administration's recommendation reflects (1:05:28). Nester's "New Hampshire rules. One teacher, one pair of 12 kids" (1:13:26) and the state oversight and audit he describes (1:07:48, 1:11:46) were not tied to any rule or document on the record, and this page has not verified them.
Sources: 20 U.S.C. §1412(a)(1)(A) (FAPE from age 3) and (a)(5)(A) (least restrictive environment)
POSITIVE A member explains on the record why he will not deliberate by all-board email or on Facebook
Horsky tells the audience that board members cannot respond together on Facebook "because the moment we do, it's considered a meeting", and that he does not answer emails addressed to the whole board because a reply "creates a discussion which creates a quorum" (1:36:17). That is the concern RSA 91-A:2-a addresses: public bodies deliberate only in meetings, and communications outside a meeting, including "sequential communications among members of a public body", may not be used to circumvent the chapter. Stating the practice publicly helps residents understand why members do not answer them collectively.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2-a, I and II (2022 codification; source 2008, 303:4, unamended)
POSITIVE The chair opened every discussion item to the audience and took questions at length
The board's new policy keeps agenda items out of citizens' comments (0:03:10), but the chair invited the audience to speak on the tech center (0:49:13), the preschool (1:25:05, 1:26:30) and COVID protocols (1:57:32), and residents asked follow-up questions that board members and staff answered. A request to move the podium so the audience could see and hear was accepted (1:03:57, 1:04:16). No statute then required any public comment period at a school board meeting (RSA 189:74 took effect September 6, 2022), so this practice exceeded the legal minimum of the time.
Sources: RSA 189:74 (2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022; not in force on this date)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: Claremont School Board of 2/2/22 (show 12180; the Cablecast API refuses requests from this environment, so the extent is taken from the last dialogue row, 2:04:36)
- Agenda and minutes of this meeting: not located. MAP.md records no packet folder. A search on 2026-10-03 found the district's
2021 22 CSB Packets (Web) folder (created June 30, 2021), but the Drive interface lists only its folders 18. CSB 4.6.22 and 19. CSB 5.4.22; folders for earlier 2021-22 meetings, if any, could not be opened from here. Title searches for 2.2.22 found nothing.
CSB Agenda minutes 6.15.22 .pdf (June 15, 2022 minutes, filed in the 1. CSB 7.20.22 packet): records approval of the "Feb. 2, 2022" minutes, Horsky moving and Lambert seconding, Skillen and Miles abstainingCSB Board Public Hearing & Regular minutes 4.6.22.pdf (April 6, 2022 minutes; "No minutes" at the approval item; venue Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center)CSB Deliberative Minutes 2.9.22 (1).pdf (board officers and administrators' titles in February 2022)- Related page: Claremont School District, Deliberative Session, February 9, 2022 (the session announced at this meeting, where voters restored the tech-center director and guidance funding)
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/12180 SchoolBoard020222.mp4.CSV (581 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/12180 SchoolBoard020222.mp4Input/Transcripts/12180 SchoolBoard020222.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 161Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/12180 SchoolBoard020222.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), 2022 codification: committees and subcommittees of a school board are public bodies
- RSA 91-A:2, I, II and II-b, 2019 codification (source note ends 2018, 244:1; in force until 2023, 188:1): meeting definition, notice of time and place, minutes within five business days, website posting
- RSA 91-A:2-a, I and II, 2022 codification: deliberation only in meetings; no circumvention by outside communications
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a), III, 2022 codification (source note ends 2021, 163:1 and 172:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2022): nonpublic motion and roll call, employee-matters ground, 72-hour disclosure
- RSA 189:74: school board public comment period, effective September 6, 2022 (cited to show it was not yet in force)
- 20 U.S.C. §1412(a)(1)(A) and (a)(5)(A) (IDEA): free appropriate public education from age 3; least restrictive environment