Participants
Everyone in the record. Spellings follow the minutes and the rules of procedure. Many floor voices are not identified on the recording; where the minutes name a speaker whose voice cannot be matched with confidence, the person is listed with that caveat.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Tracy Pope | School District Moderator | Presides; reviews the rules of procedure; explains that she missed the February 9, 2022 deliberative session after breaking her leg; puts each question. |
| Joshua Lambert | School Board member; proponent | Moves an amendment to the February 9, 2022 minutes; reads the article and speaks for it as written (0:08:58). |
| Heather Whitney | School Board Vice Chair | Introduces the board; per the minutes moves approval of the February 1, 2021 minutes, asks whether the amendment would restrict spending, and moves the question. Her voice is not separately labeled in the dialogue file. |
| Steven Horsky | School Board member | Seconds three motions per the minutes. |
| Frank Sprague | School Board member | Speaks in favor of the amendment (minutes); not identified on the recording. |
| Bonnie Miles | School Board member | Leads the Pledge (0:01:16; transcribed “one miles”). |
| Whitney Skillen | School Board member | Introduced as present. |
| Michael Petrin | School Board Chair | Not among the members introduced by the vice chair, and not named anywhere in the minutes. Attendance not established. |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Introduces the administration (0:02:02). |
| Michael Koski | Assistant Superintendent | Presents the spending spreadsheet (0:14:20); transcribed as “Cassidy” and “Cosby”. |
| Richard Seaman | Business and finance director | Introduced; recognized with Lambert per the minutes. No attributed speech. |
| Matt Upton | District attorney (Drummond Woodsum) | Introduced; per the minutes answers that the amendment would not prohibit a reading-only plan and that the Department of Education approves the plan. Which recorded voice is his is not established. |
| Ben Nester; Jeff Small | Director of Special Education; Director of Technology | Introduced. |
| David Putnam | Voter, Ward 2 | Presents the written amendment (recognized at 0:16:49); speaks for it at 0:29:10. |
| Gary Merchant | Voter, Ward 2 (minutes) | Seconds the amendment and speaks for it, per the minutes. His voice is probably among the unidentified speakers at 0:24:20 and 0:27:31, but the recording does not name him. |
| Unidentified | Former school board member (ASR “Mr. Blackman”) | Speaks for the amendment at 0:32:59. Not in the minutes. |
| Chelsea Weatherford | Administrative assistant, SAU 6 | Thanked for organizing and posting notices; author of the minutes. |
| Joshua Nelson | Executive Director, CCTV / CCMC (minutes) | Thanked for filming the meeting (0:02:59). |
Agenda
Items from the posted agenda (11.3.22 Agenda Special District Meeting); dispositions from the recording and the draft minutes.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:01:16 | I. Call to order; A. Pledge | Called to order by Moderator Tracy Pope; Pledge led by Bonnie Miles. |
| 0:01:52 | I.B Introductions | Superintendent introduces the administration; Vice Chair Whitney introduces the board. |
| 0:03:36 | I.C Rules of Procedure | Moderator reviews the printed rules: proponent five minutes, two minutes per speaker, written amendments. See flag 4. |
| 0:05:52 | II.A Minutes, February 9, 2022 deliberative session | Amended to list Joshua Lambert and Rob Lovett as present; approved by voice vote. Minutes: motion Lambert, second Horsky. See flag 3. |
| 0:07:03 | II.B Minutes, February 1, 2021 virtual deliberative session | Approved by voice vote. Minutes: motion Whitney, second Horsky. On tape the moderator explains these were missed when the 2021 minutes were approved in February 2022. See flag 3. |
| 0:07:55 | III.A Article 1, appropriation of $482,094.01 (RSA 197:3-a) | Read by Lambert. Main motion to move the article made and seconded from the floor (0:13:42); movers not named on tape or in the minutes. Amendment by David Putnam, second Gary Merchant (minutes). Question moved (Whitney, second Horsky per minutes) and carried at 0:34:29; amendment carried by voice vote at 0:34:55; article as amended carried by voice vote at 0:35:24 (minutes: “The Amended Article passed.”). |
| 0:35:52 | IV. Closing activities | Moderator closes the meeting. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/14693 SchoolBoardSpecial110322.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
Topics in recording order. Quotations are from the dialogue transcript as transcribed; brackets mark editorial insertions.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:52 | Introductions | Tempesta introduces Koski, Seaman, attorney Matt Upton, Nester and Small. The moderator thanks the CCTV director and Chelsea Weatherford, who handled “organizing, posting public notices”. | |
| 0:03:36 | Rules of procedure | The moderator summarizes: “Proponents of an article will speak first and will be given five minutes to speak.” Amendments must be in writing and signed by mover and seconder. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:05:27 | Missed deliberative session, February 2022 | Pope: “I fell and I broke my leg”. The minutes record that Charlene Lovett filled in as moderator. | |
| 0:06:28 | February 9, 2022 minutes amended | Lambert: “We're not listed as being present at the delivery of session for both of us.” [deliberative session] Approved as amended. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:07:03 | February 1, 2021 minutes | Pope: the 2021 minutes “should have been approved at the February 9th, 2022 meeting and only the February 4th minute were approved”. Approved by voice vote. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:08:58 | Article read | Lambert reads the article: “raise and appropriate an additional $482,094.01 to be added to the current fiscal year operating budget for the purposes of improving student achievement”. ASR renders RSA 197:3-a as “Harris 81973” and “RSA 19738”. | |
| 0:10:07 | Proponent’s case | “The Warren article as written is exactly how it should be.” [warrant] “If you type it up too much, it might not work.” | |
| 0:13:22 | Main motion | An unidentified voice: “We are not in the traditional several two type format.” [SB 2] A motion to move the article is made and seconded from the floor. | MEDIUM OBSERVATION |
| 0:14:20 | Spending proposal | Koski: K–5 pilots of Wit and Wisdom and CKLA; “when those pilots are finished, we expect to purchase one of those programs”; supplemental language-arts materials and behavioral training. | |
| 0:16:49 | Putnam amendment presented | The moderator recognizes David Putnam. The next six minutes include two untranscribed stretches. The minutes give the amendment’s text: funds “shall only be used as outlined in the plan approved by the Claremont School Board and submitted to the State of New Hampshire Department of Education”, with an accountability component covering reading, language arts, science, technology and mathematics and an annual progress report to the Department and the board. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:24:20 | Speaker for the amendment | Unidentified (minutes suggest Gary Merchant): “What this memo does ensures quite clearly that the money will be utilized” | |
| 0:25:58 | Is the amendment restrictive? | Unidentified questioner (the minutes attribute this question to Heather Whitney): “would we be prohibited from doing so?” Answer at 0:26:34: “There is some level of flexibility”; “this again is language straight out of the statute”. | |
| 0:27:44 | Intent: flexibility | Unidentified: “it provides more flexibility to the school board and construction to go beyond language arts and mathematics”. | |
| 0:29:10 | Putnam on plan approval | “it all has to be approved of by a plan submitted to the state”. He adds that without a plan the money would “return this money to the taxpayers”. | |
| 0:31:07 | Caution from the district side | Unidentified (the minutes give the Department-approval point to attorney Upton): “So we tried to write it way to give us the maximum flexibility”. “The amendment doesn't change that.” | |
| 0:32:59 | Former board member | “it's been my experience as a former school board member”; the Department will give guidance if the plan needs correcting. | |
| 0:33:44 | Question moved; votes | Question moved and carried by voice vote (0:34:29); amendment carried (0:34:55); article as amended carried (0:35:24). No count was taken or requested. The transcript of the final vote is garbled; the result comes from the minutes. | MEDIUM |
| 0:35:52 | Close | Pope: “Thank you for your attendance tonight.” | |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer’s aid. They are not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each rule-based flag names the provision it rests on and links to the text; an Observation marks a point that no verified rule settles. Severity: HIGH (likely breach of a binding rule or missed statutory deadline), MEDIUM (probable process gap), OBSERVATION (notable, no confirmed rule), POSITIVE (practice beyond the legal minimum).
MEDIUM The meeting approved two sets of old minutes although RSA 197:3-a bars “any other business”
The warrant called this meeting under RSA 197:3-a, a single-session special meeting limited to an increase or reduction of appropriations in response to a change in RSA 198:41 aid. Paragraph VII ends: the legislative body shall not “act on any other business at the meeting.” The agenda nonetheless carried, and the meeting voted on, approval of the minutes of the February 9, 2022 deliberative session (amended at 0:06:28) and of the February 1, 2021 virtual deliberative session (0:07:03). The warrant itself named only Article 1.
Paragraph VIII excuses compliance with RSA ch. 197 and several other chapters for meetings under this section; it does not relax ¶VII. Nothing in the record suggests the votes on the minutes affect the article’s validity, and approving a prior session’s minutes is housekeeping that the deliberative sessions themselves had missed, as the moderator explained. That is why this is graded MEDIUM rather than HIGH. Separately, ¶VII speaks of approving or disapproving the proposed increase; whether a floor amendment that attaches spending conditions without changing the amount fits within it is not addressed by the text, and this page does not decide it.
Sources: RSA 197:3-a, VII and VIII (2013, 197:1; no other business; chapters excused); 11.3.22 Agenda Special District Meeting; warrant
MEDIUM Minutes reached the public share three months later and omit the main motion’s mover and the amendment vote
A district meeting is a public body (“Any legislative body” of a school district, RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d)), so RSA 91-A:2, II applies: minutes open to inspection within five business days, naming members, persons appearing, and the mover and seconder of each motion. The only minutes located are a draft with a Drive createdTime of 6 February 2023, filed in the packet for the February 8, 2023 deliberative session, 95 days after the meeting. createdTime dates this copy’s arrival in the share, not its writing.
On content: the motion to move the article was made and seconded from the floor at 0:13:42, and the minutes name neither person. The tape shows three separate votes at the end (move the question, the amendment, the article as amended); the minutes record the first and the last only. They do name the movers and seconders of the amendment, the motion to move the question and both minutes approvals. The minutes are also dated “November 3, 022” in their page headers.
Limb applied (html_briefing §5): MEDIUM, because the meeting was noticed and documented and minutes exist; their timing and two content gaps are the issue.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (any legislative body of a school district); RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; minutes within 5 business days; mover and seconder); draft 11.3.22 Special District Minutes
OBSERVATION Approval of the 2021 deliberative-session minutes came twenty-one months late
The moderator explains at 0:07:03 that the February 1, 2021 minutes “should have been approved at the February 9th, 2022 meeting” and were missed. A copy of those minutes was in this meeting’s packet (2.1.21 Minutes from Virtual District Meeting). RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be available, not approved, within five business days, so late approval is not itself a breach; it is recorded here because a member also found the February 2022 minutes omitted two attendees (0:06:28).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (availability, drafts suffice); 2.9.22 District Meeting Minutes; 2.1.21 Minutes from Virtual District Meeting
OBSERVATION The printed rules of procedure describe an SB 2 deliberative session, not this single-session meeting
The 11.3.22 Rules of Procedure handed to voters say “Claremont is an SB2 community”, “All Warrant Articles are subject to the Deliberative Session Procedures”, “Amendments, if carried, will be placed on the ballot in lieu of the original Warrant Article” and “Warrant Articles do not require a motion to be passed on to the voters.” Under RSA 197:3-a, I this meeting was held “in a single session for deliberating and voting, and without regard to the provisions of RSA 40:13”: there was no ballot, and the vote in the room was final. Someone corrected course on tape at 0:13:22 and a motion was made.
The sheet also tells voters that any one voter who doubts a non-counted vote may require a counted show of hands. Where RSA 40:4-b governs, the remedy is a secret ballot on the request of seven voters. Whether RSA 40:4-b reaches a school district meeting held under RSA 197:3-a was not verified, so this is an Observation, and no vote was questioned at this meeting.
Sources: RSA 197:3-a, I (single session, without regard to RSA 40:13); RSA 40:13 (official ballot); RSA 40:4-b (questioning a vote)
OBSERVATION The recording leaves the amendment’s presentation largely untranscribed
The dialogue file holds 123 rows over about 36 minutes. Two rows span long silences in the transcript: 0:16:49 (about three minutes, during which the moderator recognizes David Putnam and the written amendment is presented) and 0:20:55 (about three and a half minutes, while copies of the amendment are distributed and opposition is invited). The amendment’s wording, Gary Merchant’s second and Frank Sprague’s support survive only in the draft minutes. Whether the audio in those stretches is silent or simply was not transcribed was not checked against the video.
Sources: Cablecast recording; draft minutes
POSITIVE Notice and the signed warrant were posted thirteen days ahead, and counsel attended
RSA 197:3-a, V requires the meeting notice, including the warrant, to be posted at least 7 days before the meeting, one place being the district website if one exists. The notice and the signed warrant were both created in the district’s public packet folder on 21 October 2022, thirteen days before the meeting. The district attorney was present to answer voters’ questions, as members had asked on October 19, and each voter received the article, the spending spreadsheet and the amendment in writing. The newspaper notice ¶V also requires was not checked.
Sources: RSA 197:3-a, V (notice with warrant 7 days before); RSA 198:40-f, II (2022 codification; the plan language the amendment tracks)
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/14693 SchoolBoardSpecial110322.mp4.CSV (123 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/14693 SchoolBoardSpecial110322.mp4Input/Transcripts/14693 SchoolBoardSpecial110322.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 179
Laws and rules cited on this page