Participants
Everyone named in the minutes or heard on the recording. Spellings follow the agenda and minutes. Where the minutes name a mover or seconder that the dialogue file leaves unidentified, this page follows the minutes and says so.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Michael Petrin | Chair | Calls the meeting to order (0:00:13), leads the pledge (0:00:26), takes the agenda (0:01:18), opens citizens' comments (0:01:39) and the contract item (0:01:57), invites public comment on the item (0:13:06), calls the ratification vote (0:13:29) and announces the next two meetings (0:13:46). Never named on the recording; identified as chair by the agenda and minutes. |
| Heather Whitney | Vice Chair; negotiating team | Present (minutes). The minutes record her seconding the agenda and the ratification motion. The chair: "We do have Heather and Whitney here on the team." (0:02:29). |
| Joshua Lambert | Member | The minutes record him moving the agenda, the ratification and the adjournment. The dialogue file leaves those three motions unidentified (0:01:27, 0:13:20, 0:14:16); the third is introduced "Anybody go three for three." which fits one member making all three, and this page follows the minutes. |
| Whitney Skillen | Member; negotiating team | Present (minutes), which record her seconding the adjournment. Named by Seaman as a negotiator (0:02:54, transcribed "Whitney skilling"). |
| Bonnie Miles | Member | Present per the minutes. No dialogue row is attributed to her. |
| Steven Horsky | Member | Absent per the minutes. The roll call is mostly lost in transcription ("Steven. For Steve.", 0:01:03). |
| Frank Sprague | Member; negotiating team | Absent per the minutes. Named by Seaman as one of the three board negotiators (0:02:54). |
| Unidentified board member | Negotiating-team member (Heather Whitney or Whitney Skillen) | Explains the committee's choice to weight raises toward early-career teachers (0:11:06 to 0:12:23). The two present negotiators cannot be told apart from the recording. |
| Unidentified board member | Member asking about salary-schedule columns | Asks what the BA plus 15 columns mean (0:12:42, 0:12:44). |
| Richard Seaman | Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations, SAU 6 | Presents the negotiation history, the teacher-turnover analysis, salary comparisons and costs (0:02:54 to 0:09:35). Not named on the recording; identified by the attribution report and the minutes ("Richard Seaman gives an overview of the negotiations"). |
| Michael Koski | Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, Innovation & Assessment, SAU 6 | Explains the joint evaluation committee and its deadlines and notes insurance give-backs (0:09:52 to 0:10:43). Introduced by Seaman as "Mike Kosky" (0:09:35). |
Agenda
Items from the posted agenda (1.9.23 CSB Agenda), with the time each was taken up and its disposition from the recording and the minutes.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:13 | I. Call to order, pledge | Scheduled 6:30 p.m. Pledge at 0:00:26. |
| 0:00:43 | II. General business: roll call | Roll largely untranscribed (0:00:55 to 0:01:09). Minutes: five present, Horsky and Sprague absent. |
| 0:01:18 | Agenda, amendments and approval | Approved as presented by voice vote (0:01:30). Minutes: Lambert moved, Whitney seconded. |
| 0:01:39 | Citizens' comments | "We have any comments?" None; the minutes record "No citizen comments." |
| 0:01:57 | 1. "Discussion/Ratification of the SREA 2024-2025 contract." | Presentation by Seaman and Koski; one member question; public invited to comment on the item (0:13:06), none. Motion at 0:13:20, second at 0:13:27, carried by voice vote at 0:13:29 with no opposition audible. Minutes: "Josh Lambert makes a motion to accept the contact between the Claremont School Board and the Sugar River Educator Association ; seconded by Heather Whitney; all in favor via voice vote." The agreement itself runs July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2025 (see flag 3). |
| 0:13:46 | II. Other business / future agenda items | Regular meeting Wednesday, January 11; budget public hearing Tuesday, January 17. |
| 0:14:14 | III-IV. Closing, adjournment | Motion to adjourn (0:14:16) carried by voice vote (0:14:25). Minutes: Lambert moved, Skillen seconded. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/14835 SchoolBoard010923.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
Topics in chronological order.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:39 | Citizens' comments | "We have any comments?" Nobody speaks. | |
| 0:01:57 | Contract item opened | The chair introduces "the ratification of the Share Day 2024 2025 project" [the SREA 2023-2025 agreement]; the contract and a presentation are in the packet. "We do have Heather and Whitney here on the team." (0:02:29). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:02:54 | How the deal was reached | Seaman: three board negotiators (Whitney, Skillen, Sprague); "there was a declared impasse coming out of the negotiations and working with a mediator", settled "Just before Christmas" (0:03:24). The tentative agreement in the packet is signed for both sides on 12/22/22. | |
| 0:03:24 | Teacher turnover | "Claremont is a great training ground for new teachers." The packet analysis covers 2005 to 2022: "the analysis that we have here addresses 399 teachers who have terminated or left or retired" (0:03:55); "22% of those that leave left in the first year." then "another 14% left after the second year. Another 17% left after the third year." (0:04:28). | POSITIVE |
| 0:04:51 | Strategy and comparables | Money aimed at the lower steps of the grid. A new teacher "coming into Claremont School District was making 40,728." and "The second Sol Mountain are making $4,000 more." [Fall Mountain] (0:05:29). A larger bump after year three to hold teachers with 4 to 10 years (0:05:58). In the packet schedule, step 1 on the bachelor's track becomes $42,052 in 2023-24 and $43,629 in 2024-25. | |
| 0:06:42 | Raises | With inflation near 8%, "we're not going to be able to be in a position of offering an 8% increase." Two-year agreement: "And in year one we're looking at a 3.25% increase. And in year two we're looking at a 3.75% increase." (0:07:16). | |
| 0:08:06 | Cost | "The total increase from the negotiation in year one is $767,000." for 172 teachers, plus 235,000 for retirement loading: "So it's just over $1 million." "In year two, the increase on the salary side is 438,000." with benefits of 134,000 (0:08:44): "So total cost of 570 200." [about $572,000]. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:08:54 | No separate warrant article | Last year's four other agreements were separate warrant articles. "In the case of the Syria and the teachers, there is not a separate warrant article." [SREA] It is built into the budget: "approving the budget approves the contract, not approving the budget and ending with a default budget does not approve the contract." (0:08:54); "there will not be a separate warrant article." (0:09:22). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:09:52 | Teacher evaluation | Koski: a committee of SREA members and administrators will design a new evaluation system, agreement due April 1, 2024, and "Fall September of 2024 will be the implementation of that new system." (0:10:13). The agreement text sets a six-member committee, three appointed by each side. | |
| 0:10:43 | Insurance | Koski: "there are some, give backs in insurance by the teachers." The agreement moves the board's share of the health plan to 95% from July 1, 2023. Not mentioned on the recording: the agreement's ESSER stipends. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:11:06 | Why weight early-career pay | A negotiating-team member: "we fail to keep these young teachers and we fail to keep talent", and "We have educators right now that are working two jobs to keep a roof over their heads." (0:12:01). | |
| 0:12:39 | Questions | One member asks what the plus 15 columns mean; answered as 15 college credits (0:12:44). | |
| 0:13:06 | Public comment on the item | "Any questions or comments from the public on this item at this point seeing none." | POSITIVE |
| 0:13:20 | Ratification | Motion (Lambert per the minutes), heard only as "Set agreement between the Claremont School Board and the Education Association." Second at 0:13:27. "Further discussion. Seeing none. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed?" (0:13:29). Carried by voice vote. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:13:46 | Calendar | "As we know, we have a meeting this Wednesday." and the budget hearing next Tuesday. | |
| 0:14:16 | Adjournment | "Anybody go three for three. I'd like to make the motion to adjourn this meeting." Carried. | |
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 January 9, 2023, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies. The RSA 91-A:2, II requirement that minutes name each motion's mover and seconder (2018, 244:1, eff. January 1, 2019) applies; the minutes meet it, and the draft reached the public share within five business days.
OBSERVATION The teachers' contract costs go to voters only inside the operating budget, not as a separate warrant article
Seaman told the board the agreement's cost, "just over $1 million" in year one and about $572,000 more in year two (0:08:06, 0:08:44), would not be a separate warrant article: "approving the budget approves the contract, not approving the budget and ending with a default budget does not approve the contract." (0:08:54). He contrasted it with last year's four other agreements, which were separate articles. RSA 273-A:3, II(b) requires that "Only cost items shall be submitted to the legislative body of the public employer for approval at the next annual meeting", and RSA 273-A:1, IV defines a cost item as "any benefit acquired through collective bargaining whose implementation requires an appropriation". Routing the cost items through the operating budget does submit them to the voters, but in a form where they cannot vote on the contract alone, and a vote for the operating budget becomes a vote on the contract. This page has not verified a rule that requires a separate article, so this is an observation. The March 2023 warrant and the budget's labor lines would show how the cost items were presented.
Sources: RSA 273-A:3, II(b) (cost items submitted to the legislative body at the next annual meeting; 2013, 244:1); RSA 273-A:1, IV (cost item defined; 2014, 13:1)
OBSERVATION The public share received this meeting's agenda and packet about four hours before it began, and holds no public notice
The packet folder 1. CSB Meeting 1.9.23 was created on January 9, 2023 at 2:15 p.m. Eastern, and the agenda and tentative agreement were uploaded in the next minute; the meeting began at 6:30 p.m. The folder holds no public notice, unlike the January 11 folder, which carries a newspaper advertisement. RSA 91-A:2, II requires notice of the time and place "at least 24 hours, excluding Sundays and legal holidays" before the meeting, in two appropriate places, one of which may be the website. Drive dates show when the public share received a file, not whether notice was posted elsewhere. A copy of the posted notice would settle it.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II, 2022 codification (24-hour notice in two places); Drive folder 1. CSB Meeting 1.9.23
OBSERVATION The agenda and minutes misdescribe the contract the board ratified
The agenda item reads "Discussion/Ratification of the SREA 2024-2025 contract." and the minutes record a motion "to accept the contact between the Claremont School Board and the Sugar River Educator Association". The tentative agreement in the packet is between "The Claremont School Board and the Sugar River Education Association" and runs "from July 1, 2020 2023" [2020 struck, 2023 inserted] to June 30, 2025, two contract years, 2023-24 and 2024-25. The motion on the recording names only "the Education Association" (0:13:20). The errors do not change what was ratified, since the packet carries the document, but a reader relying on the agenda or minutes would take the contract to cover a different period.
Sources: 1.9.23 CSB Agenda; draft 1.9.23 CSB Meeting Minutes; Tentative SREA Agreement 12.22.22 (Article XVIII)
OBSERVATION The agreement promises ESSER-funded stipends that nobody mentioned before the vote
Appendix A of the tentative agreement adds: "All employees shall receive a $1000 ESSER Stipend on the first payroll in September of the 2023-2024 contract year and $500 on the first payroll in September of the 2024-2025 contract year", prorated for part-time staff. ESSER is temporary federal pandemic relief money. Neither the presentation nor the board discussion (0:02:54 to 0:13:06) mentions the stipends, their total, or which ESSER grant would pay them, and Seaman's cost figures are given only as salary increases and benefit loading. Federal formula funds remain available for obligation only through a fixed period (one extra year under the Tydings Amendment), so a September 2024 payment depends on the grant's remaining period; the record does not identify the grant, so no finding is made.
Sources: Tentative SREA Agreement 12.22.22 (Appendix A); 20 U.S.C. §1225(b) (federal education funds available for obligation one additional fiscal year)
POSITIVE The board published the agreement and its evidence, and asked the public for comment before voting
The packet carries the full tentative agreement and a two-page analysis of teacher departures from 2005 to 2022 with salary comparisons to six neighboring districts, and Seaman walked through it on the record (0:03:24 to 0:05:58). Besides the citizens' comment period (0:01:39), the chair asked for public comment on the contract item itself before the vote (0:13:06). Publishing the evidence behind a negotiated cost of about $1.6 million over two years, and inviting comment on it, exceeds what RSA 91-A requires.
Sources: Additional Information 1.9.23.pdf; Tentative SREA Agreement 12.22.22 (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/14835 SchoolBoard010923.mp4.CSV (66 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/14835 SchoolBoard010923.mp4Input/Transcripts/14835 SchoolBoard010923.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 182Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/14835 SchoolBoard010923.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 273-A:3, II(b) (2013, 244:1, eff. Sept. 22, 2013): cost items submitted to the legislative body
- RSA 273-A:1, IV (2014, 13:1, eff. July 13, 2014): cost item defined
- RSA 91-A:2, II, 2022 codification (2018, 244:1): notice, minutes, mover and seconder, five business days
- 20 U.S.C. §1225(b): carryover of federal education funds for one additional fiscal year