Participants
Everyone heard or named as present. Spellings follow the agenda and minutes except where noted. 20.2% of dialogue rows are unidentified, mostly pledge, ayes and short fragments.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Michael Petrin | Chair | Presides; abstains on the August 24 minutes “because I was not here” (0:02:33); limits citizens' comments to comments (0:04:03); proposes an added meeting on September 21 (1:32:49). |
| Heather Whitney | Vice Chair | Asks for the summer program's academic growth data (0:15:14); questions the 20-day threshold in policy JICD (0:28:41); asks how to avoid lapsed grants (0:43:04); explains liability limits on parent carpools for athletics (1:37:37). |
| Steven Horsky | Member | Seconds the agenda (0:01:59); moves the August 24 minutes (0:02:27); reports for the policy subcommittee (0:25:37); moves the staff nominations (1:15:47) and the special-meeting motion under SB 420 (1:29:49); asks about free meals with the one-time money (1:25:06); moves to adjourn (1:41:51). |
| Frank Sprague | Member | Reports for the technical center visioning committee (0:21:06); moves JICD and JICK to second reading (0:35:03, 0:35:32); questions Title I reimbursement (0:47:15) and ESSER II spending (1:04:08); seconds adjournment (1:41:55). |
| Joshua Lambert | Member | Seconds the August 24 minutes and JICK (per the chair, 0:02:33, 0:35:36); compares lapsed grants to store credit (1:01:39). |
| Bonnie Miles | Member | On the visioning committee's next speaker (0:23:24); questions on fuel costs and bus drivers (1:28:00, 1:41:06). The dialogue file's label is by elimination (medium confidence). |
| Whitney Skillen | Member | Moves the agenda (0:01:53); answers the citizen on where her questions fall (0:06:07); on JICD's optional sections (0:28:05); questions the grant invoices and Title V (0:41:17, 0:50:44); asks the business office for a recommendation on the SB 420 money (1:20:32). |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Superintendent's report: opening of school, the FableVision literacy initiative, COVID guidance, summer program data (0:06:59); ESSER III update deferred (1:03:07); staff nominations (1:08:55). |
| Richard Seaman | Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources, SAU 6 (agenda) | Audit schedule and grant status (0:36:47); SB 420 options and a capital reserve recommendation (1:16:33). |
| Stephanie Hurst | SAU 6 literacy specialist (“our literacy person”) | Presents the FableVision initiative (0:10:48); explains why grant activities could not be approved late (0:49:09, 0:59:00). |
| Ben Nester | Director of Special Education, SAU 6; acting secretary | Calls the roll at the chair's request (0:01:13). |
| Arlene Hopkins | Citizens' comments, Ward 3 | Introduces herself as “Arlene Hopkins” (0:03:16); the minutes print “Arlene Hawkins”. Asks where the board's minutes are posted, where the technical center report falls on the agenda, and whether about $2 million had been reimbursed; later questions summer data (0:19:10) and lapsing grants (0:53:00). |
| Chelsea Weatherford | Submitted the minutes | Named only in the minutes; not identified on the recording. |
Agenda
The posted agenda (Claremont School Board Agenda 9.7.22.pdf, created in the district's Drive folder Friday, September 2) lists a 6:30 p.m. “Claremont Public Schools NON-Meeting RSA 91- A:2, I” for “(2) Strategy or negotiations with respect to collective bargaining”, then the meeting at 7:00 p.m. Its minutes line reads “Minutes approval: August 25, 2022”, which the chair corrected to August 24 (0:02:14). The Stevens High School graduation profile was removed at the meeting.
Official agenda items with the time each was taken up and its disposition. Agenda wording is quoted from the posted agenda; dispositions from the recording and the minutes.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:29 | I. Call to order, Pledge | Called to order by the chair. |
| 0:01:05 | II. Roll call | All seven present; roll read by Ben Nester. |
| 0:01:25 | II. Agenda | Item V.2, the graduation profile, removed. Motion Skillen, second Horsky; carried (0:01:53, 0:02:00). |
| 0:02:08 | II. Minutes | August 24 minutes. Motion Horsky, second Lambert; carried, the chair abstaining (0:02:27, 0:02:33, 0:02:51). |
| 0:03:01 | II. Citizens' comments | One speaker, Arlene Hopkins (Ward 3). |
| 0:06:37 | II/IV. Student representative report | None; the representative had another obligation. |
| 0:06:59 | III. Superintendent report | Opening of school; FableVision; COVID; summer program. |
| 0:20:47 | V.1 School Board Sub-Committee Report Out | Visioning, budget and policy reports. JICD to second read: motion Sprague, second Whitney; carried (0:35:03, 0:35:08, 0:35:11). JICK to second read: motion Sprague, second Lambert; carried (0:35:32, 0:35:36). |
| 0:01:25 | V.2 Stevens High School Graduation Profile 2022 (Mimi Rhines) | Removed; the minutes say postponed to September 21. |
| 0:36:35 | V.3 Audit Report Update (Richard Seaman) | Audit schedule and grant status; discussion, no vote. |
| 1:03:03 | V.4 ESSER III Update (M. Tempesta) | Deferred to a meeting in two weeks; ESSER II, playground and the Stevens gym and auditorium HVAC discussed. |
| 1:08:45 | V.5 Claremont Staff Nominations | Motion Horsky to accept the nominations as presented, second Skillen; carried (1:15:47, 1:16:09). |
| 1:16:24 | V.6 New Hampshire Senate Bill 420 (Additional Funds); Special Town Meeting (RSA 197:3) Discussion | Motion Horsky that the board hold a special meeting under SB 420 “in pursuance to RSA 197, section three”; an unlabeled second (Skillen per the minutes); carried (1:29:49, 1:30:08). Date not set. |
| 1:32:49 | VI. Other business | Added meeting proposed for September 21; transportation for athletics. |
| 1:41:51 | VII–VIII. Closing, adjournment | Motion Horsky, second Sprague on the recording (1:41:55); the minutes name Whitney as seconder. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/14595 SchoolBoard090722.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording. Quotations are as transcribed; bracketed words are corrections, with the transcript's wording kept where the correction changes sense.
Chronological topics with the most concrete material first.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:29 | Opening, agenda, minutes | The chair: the graduation item “was not ready in time” (0:01:25); “August 25th is actually the 24th.” (0:02:14); on the minutes, “And I'm going to abstain because I was not here.” (0:02:33). | MEDIUM |
| 0:03:16 | Citizen: where are the minutes? | Hopkins: “I've been searching the website, looking for school board minutes, and I've not been able to locate them.” (0:03:41). The chair: “citizens comments are just that. They're citizens comments. It's not time for a back and forth between the board and the administration.” (0:04:03). She is referred to the technology director, saying “because I know it's New Hampshire law that they should be posted on the website.” (0:04:25). | OBS |
| 0:04:46 | Citizen: committee reports and reimbursements | Hopkins: “It's helpful to have the specific committee reports listed so that I, as a member of the public, know what you're going to be talking about so I can come and listen and learn.” (0:05:09). She asks about “about $2 million that was supposed to be reimbursed to the school district.” (0:05:29); Skillen points her to the audit item (0:06:14). | |
| 0:06:59 | Superintendent: opening of school, FableVision | School opened the day before; a partnership with FableVision and author Peter Reynolds around The Dot (0:07:35); Hurst describes a family engagement night and books for every student (0:10:48, 0:11:32). Administrators trained by counsel on bullying, harassment and Title IX (0:10:06). | |
| 0:13:37 | COVID | Low community risk; no quarantining; five days and back (0:14:20). | |
| 0:15:14 | Summer program | Tempesta: “135 students the first week on average”, “the average of 104 bus riders a day” and “about 96% attendance rate for the whole thing” (0:17:00, 0:17:33). Academic growth data not yet compiled; to be presented at the next meeting (0:18:51, 0:20:37). | |
| 0:21:06 | Technical center visioning committee | Sprague: the committee is “trying to find its its way”; Newport's and Claremont's calendars and schedules do not line up (0:21:34); a regional technical high school concept raised (0:22:48). The state CTE director is to speak next time (0:23:28). | |
| 0:24:55 | Budget subcommittee | To schedule meetings soon; building requests expected in October (0:25:13). | |
| 0:25:37 | Policies JICD and JICK | Horsky: two policies “for first read approval”, “One is JICK and the second is JICG.” [JICD], with the optional superintendent-authority section to be removed (0:26:09). Whitney: on additional services after 20 cumulative suspension days, “20 days seemed excessive to me.” (0:28:41); Skillen and Horsky disagree (0:29:11, 0:29:50). Sprague: “Make a motion that we move policy J I'd to second read.” (0:35:03); then JICK (0:35:32). Both carried. | MEDIUM |
| 0:36:29 | Teacher negotiations | Whitney: “It's just the teachers negotiation. But it's moving as expected.” | POSITIVE |
| 0:36:47 | Audit schedule | Seaman: “We did today get the draft of the unity 2020 audit.” The SAU's next, then Claremont 2020, on the schedule “provided from Mike Campos, our partner at Sanderson.” [Michael Campo, Plodzik & Sanderson] (0:37:14): “With our audits completed by February, and most importantly, the submittal of the single audit done by the March 15th deadline, which is a federal requirement.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:37:44 | Federal grants unspent or unreimbursed | Seaman: reimbursed “about $1.1 million over the course of the last four months for the expenditures that have been incurred against these grants.” (0:38:10). For Claremont, “we've got $828,000 that has not been spent or has not been reimbursed on, on these grants.” (0:38:40); about $64,000 ready to submit, so “So there's $764,000 of those grants that, as of yet, are not in a position that we can be reimbursed.” (0:39:08). Most is Title I, which may carry over: “we have the ability with the title one dollars to carry over any unexpected dollars from title one into next year.” (0:40:01). Titles II, IV and V lapse: “If we don't spend it, those we lose” (0:40:49). | MEDIUM |
| 0:43:04 | How it happened | Seaman: grant activities “should all be identified, submitted to the state and approved by the end of August at the latest, and then do what we say we're going to do.” (0:43:36); “That has not been going on in the past for those that have been managing our title money.” (0:44:18). The voter-approved budget is “roughly $34 million. There's another $3 million of grants” (0:45:12). Asked why Title I staff activities were not approved, he says “Apparently, we have found over the years many ways not to have it done.” (0:48:08) and “It was not a good process. It has not been a good process.” (0:48:56). | MEDIUM |
| 0:49:09 | Why money is left | Hurst: budgeted positions left unfilled and programs that went virtual left balances; late activities are refused because the state directs them to the current year's grant: “The sad fact is, because of Covid, we missed out on opportunities to spend that money during the grant year.” (1:00:03). Seaman: “It has historically, in Claremont, been a hard process.” (0:54:29). A remaining Claremont Christian Academy allocation of $109.87 (0:46:34). | MEDIUM |
| 0:53:00 | Citizen on lapsing grants | Hopkins asks why approved grant money would be lost; the deadline is September 30 (0:56:41, 0:57:11). The chair asks her to wrap up (0:57:23); she closes: “I want to see our children benefit from opportunities to be successful in their learning.” (0:57:25). Whitney and the chair stress that unspent grants do not fall on the tax rate (0:57:46, 1:00:44); Lambert: “think of it as like Kohl's cash” (1:01:39). | |
| 1:03:03 | ESSER III, ESSER II, HVAC | Tempesta asks for another meeting in two weeks to present ESSER III (1:03:28). Sprague: “Mike, was there an SR two?” (1:04:08). Seaman on the Stevens gym and auditorium HVAC: the earlier figure was $375,000, and “the number that was thrown out was in the seven hundreds because of current supply.” (1:06:24); he has slowed it “unilaterally”. | |
| 1:08:45 | Staff nominations | Tempesta: “24 teachers hired between meetings.” (1:08:55); “There's only one Esser funded teacher on this whole list.” (1:11:13); “There's 2 or 3 emergency certs.” (1:12:06). Skillen to new staff: “thank you for choosing Claremont.” (1:15:27). Horsky moves the nominations as presented; carried (1:16:09). | OBS |
| 1:16:24 | SB 420 aid | Seaman: “Claremont was provided with an additional $429,867.51 of additional adequacy aid above what we included in our budget.” (1:17:19). “The challenge to this is we don't have the authority to use that $430,000.” (1:18:05); the voted appropriation is transcribed “37,000 393,080 $0.08” [apparently $37,393,080.08]. Two options: a special meeting to appropriate it, or let it “reduce the tax rate by what will equate to about $0.65.” (1:19:25); the budget had already “reduced our tax rate by $1.13.” (1:19:53). | OBS |
| 1:20:32 | Recommendation: capital reserve | Seaman recommends the capital reserve, which “currently has $500,000 for seven buildings” (1:23:05); “It doesn't get spent without the approval of the board.” (1:23:34); the money goes to “the trustee of the trust funds in Claremont.” (1:24:19). Horsky asks about free meals; Seaman: “we have a guaranteed surplus from food service of $27,000 a year.” (1:25:21) and about $300,000 in the food service fund (1:26:41). A fuel reserve is also floated (1:28:23). | OBS |
| 1:28:54 | Vote to hold a special meeting | Seaman: “we need to give 30 day notice of the meeting” and finish in time for the tax rate. Horsky moves to “request that this board hold a special town meeting in pursuance to RSA 197, section three” (1:29:49); carried (1:30:08). Seaman will “follow up with council on this one and make sure of what we actually have to submit” (1:30:21); on next year's aid, “don't expect anything next year.” (1:30:50). | OBS |
| 1:32:49 | Added meeting; transportation | “So the third Wednesday is what, the 21st?” (1:32:49). Seaman thanks the bus drivers (1:33:47). A middle school athletics trip was cancelled for lack of a driver (1:35:02). Whitney: “if the school is providing the service, we can't essentially sublet it out to parents” without assuming the liability (1:37:37). Contracting is no easier; drivers are scarce everywhere (1:40:32). | |
| 1:41:51 | Adjournment | Motion Horsky, second Sprague; vote called. | MEDIUM |
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 September 7, 2022, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM Claremont's FY2020 audit had not been drafted 26 months after year-end, and the stated single-audit deadline does not match the regulation
The business office reported that the draft Unity FY2020 audit had arrived that day, with the SAU's and then Claremont's FY2020 to follow, and all audits current “by February” (0:36:47, 0:37:14). Claremont's FY2020 (year ended June 30, 2020) was therefore still without a draft audit more than two years after year-end, with FY2021 scheduled for November. The administration itself described the single audit as “a federal requirement”, due “by the March 15th deadline”. The Uniform Guidance sets the due date as the earlier of 30 days after the auditor's report or nine months after year-end, which for a June 30 year is March 31, not March 15; a March 15 internal target is earlier and therefore harmless, but the record does not say whose deadline it is. For FY2020 and FY2021 the nine-month dates were March 31, 2021 and March 31, 2022, extended by six months under OMB M-21-20 for year-ends through June 30, 2021. Claremont's federal expenditures for those years are not stated on the record, so whether a single audit was required for each is not confirmed here; this flag stays at MEDIUM for that reason, matching the August 17 and 24 pages.
Sources: 2 CFR 200.501(a), 2022 CFR edition ($750,000 threshold); 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1), 2022 CFR edition (earlier of 30 days after the auditor's report or nine months after period end); OMB M-21-20, App. 3 sec. IX (six-month delay through June 30, 2021 year-ends)
MEDIUM Federal grant management: $764,000 of Claremont awards not yet reimbursable three weeks before the September 30 deadline, and an administration that calls its own process “not a good process”
The assistant superintendent for finance reported $828,000 of Claremont grant money unspent or unreimbursed, of which $764,000 had no invoice behind it, with the grants “closing out the end of September” (0:38:40, 0:39:08, 0:56:41). Title I balances could carry over; Titles II, IV and V would be lost (0:40:01, 0:40:49). He described the cause as a control failure: activities should be approved by the state by August and executed, “That has not been going on in the past” (0:44:18), “Apparently, we have found over the years many ways not to have it done.” (0:48:08). Federal education formula funds are available for obligation for the award year and one additional year (the Tydings period), after which they lapse, and a recipient must maintain effective internal control over each federal award. Mitigation on the record: $1.1 million was claimed in the previous four months (0:38:10), the 2022-23 grants had been budgeted and approved in advance (0:56:26), COVID program cancellations explain part of the balances (0:59:00), and unspent grant money does not raise the local tax rate (1:00:44). Not graded HIGH because the final lapse amount after September 30 is not in this record.
Sources: 20 U.S.C. §1225(b) (GEPA Tydings Amendment: funds remain available one additional fiscal year); 2 CFR 200.303(a), 2022 CFR edition (effective internal control over the federal award)
MEDIUM The minutes misstate who opened the meeting and when, omit a seconder, and name a different seconder for adjournment
RSA 91-A:2, II: “The names of the members who made or seconded each motion shall be recorded in the minutes.” The minutes record “Motion made by Frank Sprague to move policy JICD & JICK to ‘second read’ ; all in favor via voice vote”: two motions with two different seconders on the recording (Whitney for JICD, 0:35:08; Lambert for JICK, 0:35:36) are merged and neither seconder is named. The minutes name Whitney as seconder of adjournment; on the recording Sprague says “I'll second.” (1:41:55). They also state the meeting was “called to order by Vice Chair Heather Whitney 6:30pm”, the same wording as the August 24 minutes, when the chair called this meeting to order (0:00:29) and the agenda set 7:00 p.m. after a 6:30 bargaining session. The chair's abstention on the August 24 minutes (0:02:33) is not recorded, and the citizen who introduced herself as Arlene Hopkins appears as “Arlene Hawkins”.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II, 2022 codification (movers and seconders recorded in the minutes; source note ends 2018, 244:1)
MEDIUM The minutes reached the public share on the twelfth business day, after the next meeting
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be open to public inspection not more than five business days after the meeting (here, by Wednesday, September 14). The only public copy located, CSB minutes 9.7.22 final.docx.pdf, sits in the September 21 packet folder and was created in Drive on September 23, 2022, the twelfth business day and two days after the next meeting. As on the August 24 page, the date measures when the file reached the share, not when a draft first existed, and the same pattern (minutes posted only with or after the following meeting) recurs across these three meetings. That pattern is what a citizen at this meeting described when she said she could not find the minutes (0:03:41).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II, 2022 codification (minutes open to inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting); CSB minutes 9.7.22 final.docx.pdf (Drive metadata: created 2022-09-23)
OBSERVATION The special-meeting vote cites RSA 197:3, and the reserve recommendation depends on the fund's own terms
The agenda and the motion cite RSA 197:3 (1:29:49). As codified in 2022, RSA 197:3 requires any special-meeting vote to raise or appropriate money to be by ballot with ballots cast equal to at least half the district's voters, and lets a board petition the superior court for permission to hold a special meeting in an emergency. RSA 197:3-a separately lets the governing body of a district that uses the official ballot (SB 2) form under RSA 40:13 hold such a meeting in a single session, after consultation with the budget committee, with a public hearing at least 14 days before and a posted warrant; Claremont is an SB 2 district. The record does not show which route counsel advised (the business office said it would ask, 1:30:21), and the “30 day notice” stated on the night (1:28:54) was not matched to a statute here. Separately, the recommendation to place the aid in the capital reserve rested on the statement that “It doesn't get spent without the approval of the board.” (1:23:34); under RSA 35:15, I trustees hold capital reserve funds until the district votes to withdraw them or has named agents to expend them, so the board's authority depends on the warrant article that created the fund, which is not in this record. Both points are for a reader to check against the special meeting's warrant.
Sources: RSA 197:3, 2022 codification (special meetings; ballot and one-half turnout; emergency petition; source note ends 2021, 77:1); RSA 197:3-a, 2022 codification (single-session special meeting for official-ballot districts; hearing at least 14 days prior; source 2013, 197:1); RSA 35:15, I (trustees hold capital reserve funds until the district votes to withdraw or has named agents; source note ends 2021, 105:2, eff. Aug. 30, 2021)
OBSERVATION A citizen could not find the board's minutes on the district website
Since January 1, 2019, a public body that maintains a website must either post its approved minutes there in a consistent and reasonably accessible location or post a notice saying where they may be reviewed. A citizen told the board she had searched the website and could not locate the minutes (0:03:41); a voice answered that they are there (0:04:25), and she was referred to the technology director. The 2022 website cannot be inspected from here, so this page cannot say which was right; the citizen's account and the posting lag in flag 4 point the same way.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II-b(a), 2022 codification (approved minutes on the website, or a notice of where they may be reviewed)
OBSERVATION Twenty-four teachers “hired between meetings” were elected by the board the day after school opened
RSA 189:39 provides that “Superintendents shall nominate and school boards elect all teachers”. The superintendent described the 24 as “hired between meetings” (1:08:55), and the board elected them by a single motion on September 7, the day after classes began (1:16:09). The record does not say whether any of them taught before the vote; offers made subject to board election are common, and the board did elect them. Noted because the order of events, as described, put the hiring before the election the statute assigns to the board.
Sources: RSA 189:39 (superintendents nominate, school boards elect all teachers; source note ends 1971, 371:2)
POSITIVE The collective-bargaining session was disclosed on the agenda
Strategy or negotiations with respect to collective bargaining are excluded from the definition of a meeting under RSA 91-A:2, I(a), so the statute requires no notice of such a session. The district listed it on the public agenda anyway, with its time and the statutory basis, and the vice chair gave a one-line public status of the teacher negotiations (0:36:29). The agenda numbers the exclusion “(2)”, where the statute letters it (a).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, I(a), 2022 codification (“Strategy or negotiations with respect to collective bargaining” excluded from “meeting”); Claremont School Board Agenda 9.7.22.pdf
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/14595 SchoolBoard090722.mp4.CSV (649 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/14595 SchoolBoard090722.mp4Input/Transcripts/14595 SchoolBoard090722.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 174Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/14595 SchoolBoard090722.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, I(a), II and II-b(a), 2022 codification (source note ends 2018, 244:1): collective-bargaining exclusion; minutes content and five-business-day inspection; website posting
- RSA 197:3 and RSA 197:3-a, 2022 codification: special school district meetings
- RSA 35:15, I: capital reserve funds held by trustees
- RSA 189:39: superintendents nominate, school boards elect teachers
- 2 CFR 200.303(a), 2 CFR 200.501(a) and 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1), 2022 CFR edition: internal control; single-audit threshold and due date
- OMB M-21-20 (Mar. 19, 2021), App. 3 sec. IX: COVID-era six-month single-audit delay
- 20 U.S.C. §1225(b): Tydings Amendment carryover period
- 2022 N.H. Laws ch. 318 (SB 420), approved and effective July 1, 2022, named as the source of the added aid; its terms are given on this page only as the business office described them.