Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Member names and officer titles follow the February 9, 2022 deliberative-session minutes; 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 | Explains the meeting was unscheduled (0:02:36); seconds the main motion (0:04:12); says "I hate to see the school board get caught up in what I see as a culture war" and asks for lead time on masks only (0:04:51, 0:12:16); calls for roll-call votes because a member is remote (0:47:16); votes yes on the motion as amended. |
| Heather Whitney | Vice chair | Moves the matrix revision (0:03:08) and restates it before each vote (0:49:26, 0:54:36); cites European practice and an article in The Atlantic (0:29:51, 0:33:14); states her qualifications when a speaker asks (0:32:02); "adults need to accept the burden of risk" (0:46:57). Votes yes on the motion as amended. |
| Michael Petrin | Member | Moves the agenda and the tabling of the December 1, 2021 minutes (0:01:44, 0:01:57); "I am not a Covid denier. I am not a mask denier." (0:15:19); moves the amendment (0:44:22, 0:45:08). Votes yes. Transcribed "Michael Patrick" and "Mr. Patron". |
| Steven Horsky | Member | "I'm not going to keep a mask on a child forever." (0:07:57); objects to delay because the matrix dates from September (0:17:21); moves the question (0:49:02). Votes yes on the motion as amended. His roll-call answer on the attendance roll is labeled Unidentified (0:01:06). |
| Joshua Lambert | Member (remote) | Participates remotely (0:01:14). Opposes: "I don't think we can take masks off of busses." (0:13:41); reads the federal bus requirement (0:29:12); "It's not the right time." (0:43:29). Votes yes on the amendment (0:52:38) and no on the motion as amended (0:56:14). |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Member | Questions which case-rate measure the matrix uses (0:21:31 to 0:24:49): "Yeah, but now suddenly, since it doesn't fit the narrative, we're just going to change it." (0:23:03). Abstains on the amendment, then changes to yes after a tie (0:52:44, 0:53:34); votes no on the motion as amended (0:56:19); moves to adjourn (0:57:07). |
| Nicholas Stone | Member | Asks what the nurse means by a recommendation that is "really a requirement" (0:27:55); defends members' opinions as valid (0:35:22). Votes yes on the motion as amended. Identification by elimination (low to medium confidence). Transcribed "Nipple stone" and "Nicholas. Star". |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Reports active cases (0:06:45); says counsel advised against removing bus masks: "So I would insist that we keep those on the busses." (0:19:19); says the state requirements are "in the packet" (0:28:25). Not named on the recording; identification from his role and the attribution report (medium confidence). |
| Melissa Lewis | Principal, Disnard Elementary School | Called up by the chair (0:10:14); asks for time to prepare families: "Monday would be great" (0:13:00); relays that the remote feed was "only voice. No visual." (0:12:36). Transcribed "Disney Art school". |
| Veronica (Ronnie; surname not stated) | District nurse (title not stated) | Explains five days' isolation "and then mask for an additional five days" (0:20:06); recalls the September plan to give a week or two before changes (0:20:31); says the state told her "they're calling it recommendations, but it's really not" (0:26:39). |
| Mary Woodman | School board clerk | Calls the attendance roll and both roll-call votes (0:01:03, 0:52:25, 0:55:54). One remark in her cluster, "It is a sudden change, though." (0:18:08), may be another voice. |
| Unidentified | Audience (opposing the change) | Asks board members "What are your qualifications?" (0:31:38) and argues for following the CDC (0:32:14, 0:35:53). |
| Whitney Skillen | Audience, Ward 2; public health professional | "Masking is is a critical public health tool" and "Claremont's vaccination rate is 48.3%." (0:37:22, 0:37:48); asks that the matrix stand (0:38:25). Self-identified "Whitney Skilling". |
| Michael (surname not stated) | Audience, Ward 3 | "I absolutely support the idea that masks go away tonight." (0:41:20). |
| Bonnie Miles | Audience | Asks the board to be sure and suggests waiting until "after spring vacation" (0:50:32, 0:51:31). Surname from her self-introduction on February 9. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
An agenda was before the board (0:01:32) and the superintendent refers to a packet (0:28:25), but neither was located. The order below follows the recording.
Items in the order taken up, with dispositions
| Taken up | Item | What happened |
|---|
| 0:00:18 | Call to order, pledge, attendance | All seven members present; Lambert "Remotely. He's here remotely." (0:01:14). |
| 0:01:32 | Agenda | Petrin moves the agenda as written; the chair seconds; voice vote (0:01:44, 0:01:49). |
| 0:01:49 | Minutes of December 1, 2021 | Petrin: "I make a motion to table the December 1st, 2021 minutes until the next meeting." The chair seconds; voice vote. Reason: "Just what we just got these." (0:02:02). |
| 0:02:02 | Citizens' comments | Limited under the board's policy to "anything to do with something other than Covid protocols"; none; closed (0:02:36). |
| 0:03:08 | COVID-19 decision matrix | Whitney's motion: masks optional at all times, plexiglass recommendation removed, seating at teacher discretion, no visitor or building-use restrictions, spectator rules as the state requires, masks optional on transportation with N95s encouraged. Seconded by the chair (0:04:12). Amendment (Petrin, 0:44:22): follow state rules for students returning from isolation, federal rules for masks on transportation, effective Monday, February 21. Roll call on the amendment: a tie, then 4 to 3 after Lovett Jr. changed his abstention to yes (0:53:13, 0:54:11). Roll call on the motion as amended: 5 to 2, Lambert and Lovett Jr. opposed (0:55:54 to 0:56:53). |
| 0:57:03 | Other business; adjournment | None; Lovett Jr. moves to adjourn (0:57:07). |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/12210 SchoolBoard021622.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
Chronological topics. Quotations are as transcribed; bracketed words are corrections.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:03 | Remote member | The clerk calls "Doctor Lambert"; the chair: "Remotely. He's here remotely." (0:01:14). No reason for remote attendance is stated on the recording. | OBS |
| 0:01:49 | December minutes tabled | The December 1, 2021 minutes are tabled because members "just got these": the chair wants to "give people a chance to look them over before we vote on them" (0:02:02). | MED |
| 0:02:36 | Why the meeting was called | "as many of you know, this was not a scheduled meeting. There was, I guess, what I would characterize some urgency over the board over the weekend." The chair asks a member who wanted the meeting to explain; Whitney instead makes her motion (0:03:08). | OBS |
| 0:03:08 | The motion | "So I'd like to make a motion to revise the Claremont School District decision making matrix to reflect the following changes." First item: "Masks optional at all times for students and visitors." Read again for the clerk at 0:09:12. | |
| 0:04:20 | Lead time | Sprague: "I hate to see the school board get caught up in what I see as a culture war" (0:04:51); he supports the changes but wants time for staff to prepare students. Whitney: "So there is no transition as of today" because the matrix already allows optional masks at the current level (0:06:26). Tempesta: "currently today it's 79. Yesterday it was at 90." (0:06:45). Sprague: "transmission rate is is meaningless" with home testing; Whitney: "but then the matrix is meaningless" (0:07:25). | |
| 0:07:32 | Horsky | "I'm not going to keep a mask on a child forever." (0:07:57); cloth masks have no value in his view. | |
| 0:10:14 | Principal's view | Lewis: elementary families may still want masks; "any lead time is just helpful to plan" (0:11:26); "Monday would be great" (0:13:00). She relays that the remote feed is "only voice. No visual." (0:12:36). | OBS |
| 0:13:38 | Lambert opposes | "I don't think we can take masks off of busses." CDC and pediatricians "are still recommending universal masking" (0:14:03); "I'm not going to sit here and pretend to be a doctor" (0:14:54). | |
| 0:15:19 | Petrin | "I am not a Covid denier. I am not a mask denier." He describes outbreaks at the nursing home where he works and concludes that "continued risk of development for kids and social development outweighs the risk of people contracting" COVID (0:17:02). | |
| 0:17:21 | Horsky on timing | The matrix has existed since September, so "the clock already started back in September" (0:17:44). | |
| 0:18:21 | Buses and isolation | Tempesta: counsel says "it's not recommended by our council [counsel] to go there" on bus masks (0:18:45); "So I would insist that we keep those on the busses." (0:19:19). The nurse: after five days out, "and then mask for an additional five days" (0:20:06). | POS |
| 0:21:12 | Which measure? | Lovett Jr.: by the Covid Act Now site the county fell below 100 per 100,000 on February 7, "So the soonest that we could enact this would be Wednesday of next week." (0:21:31); "Yeah, but now suddenly, since it doesn't fit the narrative, we're just going to change it." (0:23:03). The superintendent says the district uses the state's site (0:24:36); the nurse says the data are unreliable with home testing (0:25:00). | |
| 0:26:28 | Recommendation or requirement | The nurse: the state says "they're calling it recommendations, but it's really not" (0:26:39); "if we don't follow it, we can be in trouble with the state" (0:28:00). Tempesta: the requirements are "in the packet" (0:28:25); counsel "texted me just prior to the meeting that there are federal" rules for buses (0:28:40). Lambert reads: "School bus operators, including operations by public school districts and their passengers, are required to wear masks as defined by the order issued by the CDC." (0:29:12). | POS |
| 0:29:51 | Whitney's case | European countries never masked primary pupils; "Nick said it two meetings ago that if not us, who if not now, when" (0:30:29); claims of harm to children's mental health (0:30:57). These are the speaker's characterizations; no study was entered in the record. | |
| 0:31:29 | Public comment | An opponent: "What are your qualifications?" Whitney lists her degrees, including anesthesia, and says she has "worked in critical care" (0:32:02); she cites "The Case Against Masks at School" in The Atlantic (0:33:14). Stone: "everyone's opinion is valid, whether it be for or against" (0:35:22). Skillen: "Masking is is a critical public health tool"; changing protocols outside the matrix "would betray the trust and transparency under which it was created" (0:37:48). Michael (Ward 3): "I absolutely support the idea that masks go away tonight." (0:41:20). The nurse: vaccinated students need not stay home; "Nobody has to stay home unless they're symptomatic." (0:42:13). | |
| 0:43:02 | Lambert | Masks protect others; staff are at risk; "It's not the right time." (0:43:29). Later: "I'm the only one currently working in a school" and a nearby district nearly went remote (0:47:29). | |
| 0:43:50 | Amendment | Petrin: "I would give the leeway of pushing until Monday"; the amendment as he restates it: "So just to follow the state guidelines is for returning to school. And follow the federal guidelines for masking during transportation. And then we pushed the start date till Monday the 21st." (0:45:08). The chair: "Make sure whatever gets decided here gets written down and given to Mary." (0:44:47). | OBS |
| 0:45:28 | Before the vote | Whitney: N95 masks are available to any educator; "adults need to accept the burden of risk" (0:46:57). Horsky: "We're once again sacrificing the children for the adults" and moves the question (0:49:02). Miles asks the board to wait until "after spring vacation" (0:51:31). | |
| 0:52:00 | Vote on the amendment | Roll call (0:52:25); Lovett Jr.: "I'm confused on what we're voting on. I'm going to abstain." (0:52:44). The chair: "So we have a tie." Lovett Jr., told that defeat means reverting to the original motion: "Then I'll change mind. Yes." (0:53:34). Result: "It's 4 to 3." (0:54:11). Individual answers are fragmentary in the transcript; only Lambert's Yes. (0:52:38) and Lovett Jr.'s are clearly attributable. | OBS |
| 0:54:24 | Vote on the motion as amended | Whitney restates it "As of Monday" February 21, ending "transportation will remain the same" (0:55:33). Roll call: Whitney, Horsky, Petrin, Stone and Sprague yes; Lambert (relayed by the chair and clerk) and Lovett Jr. no (0:55:54 to 0:56:40). "Five. Two." (0:56:53). | POS |
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 16, 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:2, III rules governed remote participation. Whether masks should have been made optional is a policy judgment for the board and is not assessed here.
MEDIUM Minutes of December 1, 2021 reached the board eleven weeks later, and this meeting's own minutes are not in the public shares
The board tabled the December 1, 2021 minutes because members "just got these" (0:02:02). RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes, drafts included, to be "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting". The board receiving December minutes in mid-February does not prove the public could not inspect a draft earlier, but it is strong evidence of a backlog, consistent with the chair's "We didn't have any minutes" at the February 2 meeting (show 12180) and with the June 15, 2022 minutes, which record approval of the January 5, January 18, February 2 and February 16, 2022 minutes in a single sitting. This meeting's minutes, where the adopted matrix text should be recorded (flag 4), were not located. The page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule because the record mitigates the gap: minutes were written and later approved. The district's 2021 22 CSB Packets (Web) folder exists but could not be fully listed, so the documents may sit in a folder this search could not open.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1; in force to Oct. 2, 2023); June 15, 2022 minutes
OBSERVATION An unscheduled meeting, labeled an "Emergency Session" by CCTV, with no notice or minutes to show how it was called
The chair says "this was not a scheduled meeting" and that the urgency arose "over the weekend" (0:02:36); the Cablecast title calls it an emergency session. RSA 91-A:2, II requires notice of the time and place at least 24 hours in advance, excluding Sundays and legal holidays, "Except in an emergency", which exists where "immediate undelayed action is deemed to be imperative by the chairman or presiding officer"; if a meeting is held as an emergency, "The minutes of the meeting shall clearly spell out the need for the emergency meeting". A weekend request and a Wednesday meeting leave time for ordinary 24-hour notice, and an agenda was before the board (0:01:32), so the meeting may well have been noticed normally and the CCTV label may be informal. The posted notice and the minutes would settle which; neither was located.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; notice, emergency exception and minutes requirement)
OBSERVATION A member took part and voted remotely; no reason for remote attendance is on the record
Lambert joined remotely (0:01:14) and voted on both roll calls. With the state of emergency over, RSA 91-A:2, III(a) allowed remote participation only when attendance "is not reasonably practical", and "Any reason that such attendance is not reasonably practical shall be stated in the minutes of the meeting"; III(c) requires a remote member to be able to hear and speak with the others and to be audible to the public at the meeting place. The reason is not stated on the recording, and the minutes that would state it were not located. During the meeting a principal relayed that the remote feed was "only voice. No visual." (0:12:36); Lambert was audible in the room throughout. A quorum was physically present, as III(b) requires, and votes were taken by roll call (flag 5).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, III(a)-(c), (e) (2019 codification; in force to Oct. 2, 2023); NHPR, June 10, 2021 (reporting: state of emergency ended June 11, 2021)
OBSERVATION The policy adopted exists only as spoken; the final restatement does not repeat the isolation-masking part of the amendment
The chair asked that "whatever gets decided here gets written down and given to Mary" (0:44:47). The amendment, in its mover's words, had three parts: state guidelines for students returning to school, federal guidelines for masks on transportation, and a start date of Monday the 21st (0:45:08). Whitney's restatement before the final vote gives the date and says "transportation will remain the same" (0:55:33) but does not mention the return-from-isolation masking that the nurse had described as a state requirement (0:20:06, 0:26:39). The amendment carried 4 to 3 after the chair announced a tie and a member changed his abstention to yes (0:53:13, 0:53:34), and the individual answers on that roll call cannot be recovered from the transcript. The written matrix as revised, and the minutes recording the motion and each member's vote, would settle exactly what the board adopted; neither was located. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to include "final decisions".
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; minutes include final decisions and the names of the persons making and seconding motions)
POSITIVE Both votes were taken by roll call because a member was remote
The chair: "since we have someone remote, I'm going to ask for a roll call." (0:47:16), and the clerk called each member on the amendment and on the motion as amended (0:52:25, 0:55:54). RSA 91-A:2, III(e) requires "All votes taken during such a meeting shall be by roll call vote." The chair applied the rule unprompted, which also gave the public a member-by-member record on the main question.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, III(e) (2019 codification)
POSITIVE The board checked federal law with counsel and kept masks on buses
The original motion made masks optional on transportation. A member raised the federal requirement (0:13:41, 0:29:12), the superintendent reported that counsel advised against dropping bus masks (0:18:45, 0:28:40), and the amendment kept federal rules for transportation (0:45:08). The CDC order requiring masks on public conveyances, published at 86 FR 8025, was in force on the meeting date; its text refers to buses that "bring America's children and teachers to school". The board adjusted its own motion to stay within a federal rule it had not first considered.
Sources: CDC, Requirement for Persons To Wear Masks While on Conveyances and at Transportation Hubs, 86 FR 8025 (Feb. 3, 2021; effective Feb. 1, 2021)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: School Board Meeting Emergency Session of 2/16/22 (show 12210; the Cablecast API refuses requests from this environment, so the extent is taken from the last dialogue row, 0:57:26; MAP.md records an
eventDate of February 17, 2022)
- Agenda, packet 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 could not be opened from here. Title searches for this date 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. 16, 2022" minutes, Horsky moving and Lambert seconding, Skillen and Miles abstainingCSB Deliberative Minutes 2.9.22 (1).pdf (board officers in February 2022)- Related pages: Claremont School Board, February 2, 2022 (COVID protocols discussed and kept; "if not us, who?"); Deliberative Session, February 9, 2022
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/12210 SchoolBoard021622.mp4.CSV (338 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/12210 SchoolBoard021622.mp4Input/Transcripts/12210 SchoolBoard021622.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 163Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/12210 SchoolBoard021622.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, II and III, 2019 codification (source note ends 2018, 244:1; in force until 2023, 188:1): notice and its emergency exception, minutes within five business days and their contents, remote participation and roll-call votes
- 86 FR 8025 (CDC conveyance mask order, effective February 1, 2021)
- Emergency Order #12 (March 23, 2020): remote-meeting relief that ended with the state of emergency on June 11, 2021 (cited to show it no longer applied)