Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Spellings and wards follow the approved minutes, which list each public speaker; where the dialogue file's label differs, the minutes' name is used and the difference is noted. Unidentified voices stay unidentified.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Michael Petrin | Chair | Presides. Gives a chair's report on the January 17 meeting: "And last meeting was not a pretty meeting." (0:04:24) and "I probably should have stopped and asked for order." (0:05:05). Tells Pope the default-budget method was run "by legal counsel" (2:12:00). Proposes a Visioning Committee report at the first March meeting (2:30:41). |
| Heather Whitney | Vice chair | Moves the January 11 and 17 minutes (0:02:35). Gives her reasons for the January 17 cut: cost per pupil "increased 57.2%, and that is adjusted for inflation" with enrollment down (0:33:55) and the teachers' contract as "the single most important thing" (0:35:16); tells Mimi Rhines "There was no other place that you can take that dollar amount from other than staff, period." (1:26:47). Asks whether the warrant's Note A reflects the staff cuts (1:13:12). |
| Frank Sprague | Member | Moves the agenda as amended (0:02:01) and the hockey cooperative (0:09:55); questions middle school section counts (0:29:16); asks the board to sign the MS-26 and default-budget forms (2:39:10); announces the February 28 candidate forum (2:40:43). Rendered Greg in the roll call. |
| Steven Horsky | Member | Calls the plan a solution to "a problem that I guess I technically created and I will, I will own that." (1:05:05); says people wrongly heard him propose cutting the tech center and athletics (1:05:33). |
| Whitney Skillen | Member | Asks about Title I and special education effects (0:31:10), the principals' worst concerns (0:54:10) and advanced options (1:06:43). Near the end, makes a formal request that the administration investigate the middle school reports raised in public comment, describing her own experience as a student (2:42:18). |
| Bonnie Miles | Member | Asks about traffic safety with the grade moves (0:27:54); relays a parent's alternative grade plan (2:29:29). |
| Hannah Petrin | Student representative | Student representative's report on school events (0:06:30). |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Presents the reduction plan: "we we had about 6 or 7 days to get it together." (0:15:37); splits the $1,000,000 as 15% elementary, 25% secondary, 20% shifted to Title I and II, 40% to ESSER (0:17:11, 0:17:45). Says scores have been "pretty underperforming for a long time" (1:19:26). Cautions against discussing a student matter in public (2:45:57). |
| Mike Koski | Assistant Superintendent | Answers on pre-K supports (0:39:26), free dual-credit courses (1:11:09), teacher quality and turnover (1:20:21), and a 15% staff reduction as 6 to 9. positions (1:30:25). |
| Richard Seaman | Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations | Says Note A was not recomputed for the cuts (1:13:31); explains the default budget as "based on the proposed budget that the board brings to the deliberative session" (2:11:39); refers Crawford to RSA 40:13 and counsel (2:19:23). See flag 1. |
| Ben Nester | Director of Special Education | Calls the roll (0:01:32); adds that pre-K would move from four days to five (0:46:23). |
| Chris Pratt | Principal, Stevens High School | Presents the hockey cooperative with Mascoma (0:08:34); argues for an eighth-grade academy at Stevens (0:57:41) and three-year graduation options (1:07:33). |
| Melissa Lewis | Principal, Disnard Elementary | Speaks for pre-K in the elementary schools (0:42:43) and states two concerns: staff reduction and parent voice (0:56:28). |
| Kristina Sanford | Preschool Director (minutes) | Labeled "Christina (surname not stated)" in the dialogue file; the minutes name her. Describes the isolation of pre-K at the tech center and "26 bed referrals in the last three months" (0:44:39). |
| Christine Baker | Principal, Bluff Elementary | Supports earlier pre-K and a multi-teacher fifth grade (0:50:45). |
| Frank Romeo | Principal, Claremont Middle School | Describes recess and advisory for fifth graders (0:51:55) and the logistics of "roughly 250 new students" (0:55:07). |
| Dr. Alex Herzog | Director, SRVRTC | On the Region 10 agreement and renovation funding (2:33:34). |
| Arlene Hawkins | Citizen, Ward 3 | Opening comment thanking staff for website help (0:03:31; labeled unidentified in the dialogue file, named in the minutes). On the plan: cites the SAU organizational study and asks whether the restructuring is "being driven by best practices rather than a financial reduction" (1:32:46). |
| David Putnam | Citizen, Ward 2 | Asks for data that the plan will raise achievement (1:14:52). |
| Mimi Rhines | Citizen, Ward 1; Stevens staff member | "And then you guys cut $1 million and there was no discussion." (1:21:31). Transcribed "Mimi Ryan's" and "Meeting your eyes"; the minutes spell "Mimi Rhimes" and give her ward once as 1 and once as 2. |
| Candace Crawford | Citizen, Ward 2 | Gives per-pupil costs and asks whether money added at deliberative would raise the default (1:27:14, 2:18:31). |
| Lisa Holtz | Claremont resident; elementary teacher | On social-emotional needs and relationships (1:35:10). |
| Jennifer Austin | Parent (minutes: Ward 2) | Raises a matter involving her child at the middle school and says a report to an administrator went unanswered (1:39:40, 1:43:41). This page does not repeat the details; see flag 3. |
| Raquel Fluette | Citizen, Ward 2; Maple Avenue PTO president | Labeled "Raquel (surname not stated)" in the dialogue file; surname from the minutes. Says the plan "needs more work" (1:47:55); asks about athletics and class-size overflow (2:12:30, 2:26:47). |
| Ann Fine | Citizen, Ward 2 | "Restore the cuts and explore educational options in a thoughtful and carefully planned manner." (1:49:41). Transcribed an fine. |
| Mary Lovett | Citizen, Ward 2 | On grant funding, dual enrollment and access to information (1:50:20, 2:23:18). The minutes spell the name "Marion Lovett"; the January 17 minutes say Mary. |
| Jenna Gage | Second-grade teacher, Maple Avenue; ward not stated | Says her students need "more teachers and more individualized instruction" (1:54:53). |
| Laura Snelling | School nurse, Maple Avenue (Ward 3 on tape; minutes: Ward 2) | Supports pre-K and grade 5 moves, opposes grade 8 at Stevens, and says the cut saves her "$0.30 a day" (1:59:48). |
| Michelle Beaton | Citizen, Ward 2 | Labeled "Michelle (surname not stated)" in the dialogue file; surname from the minutes. Recomputes the cost-per-pupil rise as "a 14% increase instead of a 57% increase" (2:01:20) and asks for the restructuring evidence (2:03:38). |
| Nicholas Stone | Citizen, Ward 3; former member and 2023 candidate | Labeled in the dialogue file as an unidentified Ward 3 school board candidate. The minutes list "Nike Stone (Ward 3)" in this position, and the speaker refers to "my time on the board" (2:05:23), which fits Nicholas Stone's 2021 to 2022 service per the project roster. Probable identification. |
| Molly DeLuca | Citizen, Ward 2; former restructuring committee member | Asks for more time (2:07:00). |
| Scott Pope | Citizen, Ward 2 | Asks why the default fell by $1,000,000 (2:11:01): "The default is the default based on the last year." (2:11:55). |
| Cassandra Edwards | Citizen, Ward 3; Disnard teacher | On administrator support and turnover (2:20:46). |
| Unidentified citizen | Public comment, second turn | Regrets that the community would have to "restore the budget" against the board (2:25:49). Not named on tape; the minutes do not resolve which listed speaker this is. |
Agenda
Items from 2.1.23 CSB Agenda.docx.pdf; agenda wording is quoted from that document. Dispositions from the recording, checked against the approved minutes.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:28 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | Agenda: "6:30PM Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance". Nester calls the roll (0:01:13); minutes: all six present. |
| 0:01:40 | Agenda amendments and approval | Item 3 (school year calendar) removed. Sprague moves; the chair says the second was "Bonnie or Whitney" (0:02:07); carried on a voice vote. Minutes: "seconded by Whitney Skillen". |
| 0:02:22 | Minutes of January 11 and January 17, 2023 | Whitney moves, first naming "January 9th and January 11th", then "11th and 17th as written" (0:02:42); second by Whitney [Skillen] (0:02:46); carried on a voice vote. Minutes: "approve the January 11, 2023 & January 17, 2023 minutes as presented". See flag 4. |
| 0:03:13 | Citizens' comments | One speaker, Arlene Hawkins per the minutes (0:03:31). The transcript renders the podium prompt "name and ward, please" as "Nathan Ward, please". |
| 0:03:56 | School board chair report | The chair's reflection on order at the January 17 meeting. |
| 0:06:20 | Student representative report | Hannah Petrin. |
| 0:08:12 | 1. Stevens boys varsity ice hockey cooperative, adding Mascoma | Sprague moves (Mascoma transcribed "Macedonia" and "Manitoba"), Whitney seconds (0:10:07); carried on a voice vote (0:10:31). |
| 0:10:43 | 2. Budget reduction presentation; follow-up from CSB 1.17.23 | Superintendent's slides, board questions, principals' remarks, public comment. No motion or vote. |
| 0:01:40 | 3. Vote on Claremont school year calendar | Removed from the agenda at the start; carried to a future meeting. |
| 2:30:11 | 4. Visioning Committee continuation | The chair asks the committee to report at the first March meeting; no vote. |
| 2:39:43 | Other business, future dates | Deliberative session February 8, snow date February 9, Stevens High School (the transcript garbles the date as "February. March 8th"); candidate forum February 28 (2:40:43); candidate filing closing (2:41:34). |
| 2:46:54 | Adjournment | A member moves; carried. Minutes: Whitney moved, Skillen seconded. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/14875 SchoolBoard020123.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:02:35 | January 17 minutes approved | "To make, a motion to accept the minutes of January 9th and January 11th as written." corrected to "17th, 11th and 17th as written." (0:02:42). No discussion. | OBS |
| 0:03:56 | Chair's report on order | "This board is run and, based off of Robert's Rules of Orders." The chair says he should have stopped disturbances from the audience and will be "tightening the ship up a little bit" (0:06:02). | POSITIVE |
| 0:11:49 | Origin of the plan | Tempesta: "There was a board vote to cut an additional million from the budget, kind of predicated upon looking in budget committee at the at the minimum requirements that 306 is." The revised tax impact is "$0.39 less" than the $0.95 increase (0:14:48). | |
| 0:15:37 | Six or seven days | "we we had about 6 or 7 days to get it together." Grade 5 to the middle school, grade 8 to Stevens, pre-K into the elementary schools (0:16:20). | OBS |
| 0:17:11 | Where the million comes from | "about 15% would be elementary staff reduction of the million dollars, 25% at the secondary level, and shifting teachers to another budget to title one entitle two would be about 20%"; behavioral assistants to ESSER-funded academic support specialists for "the 40% remaining" (0:17:45). | OBS |
| 0:20:17 | Class sizes | Elementary class-size tables by school; the administration would not go "much beyond 12 or 13" in K and pre-K (0:21:08); middle-to-high capacity and sample schedules (0:21:48, 0:23:33). | |
| 0:33:21 | Whitney's reasons | "our cost per pupil has increased 57.2%, and that is adjusted for inflation" (0:33:55); the contract is "the single most important thing that we can do" (0:35:16); the minimum standards she was given "have actually changed" (0:37:35). | |
| 0:42:43 | Principals and pre-K | Lewis, Sanford, Nester, Baker and Romeo on pre-K, fifth grade and logistics; Sanford: "26 bed referrals in the last three months" (0:44:39); Romeo: "roughly 250 new students" (0:55:07). | |
| 0:57:41 | Eighth grade at Stevens | Pratt describes "almost like an eighth grade academy approach" (0:58:15) and acknowledges "half the school really is going to be middle school students" next year (1:01:27). | |
| 1:05:05 | Horsky owns the cut | "a problem that I guess I technically created and I will, I will own that. There was misconceptions about what was said at the meeting." | |
| 1:13:12 | Note A not recomputed | Whitney asks whether the warrant's Note A cost would "reflect the decrease in total FTE". Seaman: No. (1:13:31); "based on the best information that we had at the time that the negotiation was done." (1:13:47). | OBS |
| 1:14:27 | Public comment opens | "We're we're trying to follow the rule of three minutes per person." Twenty-plus turns follow, with second turns from 2:09:07. | POSITIVE |
| 1:21:31 | "There was no discussion" | Rhines: "And then you guys cut $1 million and there was no discussion. There was no asking them." Whitney: "There was no other place that you can take that dollar amount from other than staff, period." (1:26:47). The chair stops a board member from answering for the administration: "I don't think you can take that answer from one, I mean, from one board member." (1:24:27). | |
| 1:29:51 | How many positions? | Crawford asks what a 15% reduction means in positions. Koski: 6 to 9. (1:30:25); Tempesta: "For 4 to 7, I think." (1:30:37). | OBS |
| 1:39:40 | A parent's report about her child | A parent describes repeated incidents involving her child at the middle school and says a report to an administrator was not followed up (1:43:41). Details are not reproduced on this page. | OBS |
| 2:01:20 | Cost per pupil disputed | Beaton: "if you look for inflation, it looks like we have a 14% increase instead of a 57% increase." Crawford earlier: Claremont below the state average per pupil (1:27:14). | |
| 2:11:01 | Why did the default fall? | Pope: "The default for 2324 is 37 million 342." and now "36 million"; "The defaults also cut by $1 million. Is that correct?" (2:11:31). Seaman: Yes. and "It's based on the proposed budget that the board brings to the deliberative session." (2:11:39). Pope: "The default is the default based on the last year." (2:11:55). Petrin: "we run by legal counsel" (2:12:00). | MEDIUM |
| 2:18:31 | Can deliberative raise the default? | Crawford asks whether money added at the deliberative session would raise the default. Seaman: "once the default budget is set, it stays set at that number, which is what we had coming out of last year's delivery." (2:19:09), then points her to "the RSA, which covers this 40-13" (2:19:23). | MEDIUM |
| 2:32:31 | Visioning Committee and Region 10 | Whitney wants a decision on staying in the Region 10 agreement; Herzog raises whether renovation money depends on remaining in it, and the answer on tape is that it does (2:33:39, 2:34:07). | |
| 2:39:10 | Budget forms signed | Sprague: "I've got a an miss 226 and a miss DSB." [MS-26 and the default budget form, MS-DSB] for signature. Neither form is in the packet. | MEDIUM |
| 2:42:18 | A formal request to the administration | Skillen asks the administration to investigate the middle school reports "as soon as possible". Tempesta: "it is being dealt with. So I can't talk about specifics of this." (2:45:57). | OBS |
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 February 1, 2023, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies. RSA 40:13 was last amended in 2019, so its current text is the text in force on this date.
MEDIUM The default budget fell by $1,000,000 with the proposed budget, on an explanation that is not the statute's definition
The January 17 hearing summary gave the default as $37,342,948; the warrant in this meeting's packet gives $36,342,948, exactly $1,000,000 less, after the board cut the proposed budget by $1,000,000. Asked why (2:11:01), Seaman answered "It's based on the proposed budget that the board brings to the deliberative session" and that the board's vote "is begin to establish what the default budget will be" (2:11:39); Pope objected that the default is "based on the last year" (2:11:55), and the chair said the method had been run by counsel (2:12:00). RSA 40:13, IX(b) does not define the default from the proposed budget. It starts from "the same appropriations as contained in the operating budget authorized for the previous year", adjusts for debt service, contracts and other obligations, and reduces by one-time expenditures "and by salaries and benefits of positions that have been eliminated in the proposed budget". A $1,000,000 reduction is lawful under that last clause only to the extent it consists of positions eliminated in the proposed budget, and the administration had not yet identified those positions (Koski: 6 to 9., Tempesta: "For 4 to 7, I think.", 1:30:25, 1:30:37). RSA 40:13, XI(a) requires a default budget form identifying each change "by account code" with reasons and the reductions for eliminated positions; members were asked to sign that form this night (2:39:10) but it is not in the packet. Seaman's answer to Crawford, that the default "stays set", is consistent with XI(b) ("This amount shall not be amended by the legislative body"), which also lets the governing body adjust the default before the ballots are printed when "acting on relevant new information", on an amended form. The form itself would settle whether the $1,000,000 is lawful eliminated-position arithmetic; the explanation given to the public was not the statutory test.
Sources: RSA 40:13, IX(b), XI(a) and XI(b) (2022 codification; last amended 2019, 192:2); packet: warrant Article 2, default $36,342,948; Claremont Budget Summary 1.17.23 (default $37,342,948)
OBSERVATION A grade reconfiguration assembled in a week to fill an unallocated cut, with no board vote and a contract cost not recomputed
The plan answered a figure, not a program decision: Tempesta said the administration had "about 6 or 7 days" (0:15:37), and the packet heads it "Rationale for Grade Shift To Meet Budget Reduction for Deliberative Session". The 15/25/20/40 split (0:17:11) was the only allocation of the $1,000,000 on the record; the number of positions was given as a range that changed between two administrators (1:30:25, 1:30:37). The board took no vote on the reconfiguration; members spoke for it and the public speakers who addressed it asked, with few exceptions, for more time. Separately, Seaman confirmed that the warrant's Note A cost of the teachers' contract ($1,002,364 in the first year) was not recomputed for the staffing reductions (1:13:31). No verified rule requires a hearing or vote before a reconfiguration is proposed, so this is an observation; it records that the voters were asked to decide on a budget whose staffing consequences were still a range.
Sources: Budget Reduction Emergency Action ... for CSB Meeeting 2.1.23 (packet)
OBSERVATION A parent reported sexual harassment of students at the middle school and said an earlier report went unanswered
In public comment a parent described repeated incidents involving her child and other students at the middle school and said she had reported them to an administrator without follow-up (1:39:40, 1:43:41); later she said the principal had not been told (2:44:26). A board member made a formal request that the administration investigate (2:42:18), and the superintendent said "it is being dealt with" and urged that specifics not be discussed in open session (2:45:57). Under the Title IX rule in force in 2023 (the 2020 rule), "actual knowledge" includes notice "to any employee of an elementary and secondary school", and a recipient with actual knowledge "must respond promptly in a manner that is not deliberately indifferent." What the district did is not in this record, so this is an observation, not a finding; the parent's account, if accurate, describes notice to an employee. This page follows the project's privacy rule and does not repeat the details given at the podium.
Sources: 34 CFR 106.30(a) (2022 edition; actual knowledge); 34 CFR 106.44(a) (2022 edition; prompt response)
OBSERVATION The January 17 minutes were approved without correction
The board approved the January 11 and January 17 minutes "as written" with no discussion (0:02:42, 0:02:46). The January 17 draft states both budget motions in dollars ending "thirteen", records the final budget vote differently from the chair's announced count, and names a different adjournment seconder from the one on tape (see the January 17 page, flag 3). Once approved, those minutes are the board's official record of the vote that set the figure on the warrant. The minutes of this meeting record the movers and seconders the recording supports, except the agenda motion, where the chair on tape was unsure of the seconder (0:02:07) and the minutes name Whitney Skillen.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification; minutes contents); draft 1.17.23 CSB meeting minutes
POSITIVE Notice, packet and minutes were all on time
The public notice ad reached the packet folder on January 20, twelve days ahead; the agenda and the full reduction plan were posted on January 27, five days before the meeting, so the public could read the plan before commenting on it. The approved minutes' Drive file was created on February 6 (evening), the third business day after the meeting, inside the five-business-day window of RSA 91-A:2, II, and they list every public speaker by name and ward.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification; 24-hour notice; minutes within 5 business days)
POSITIVE Long public comment with administrators answering, and a chair who corrected his own conduct of the prior meeting
Public comment on the plan ran from 1:14:27 to 2:29:15, with second turns, and administrators answered questions at the podium (positions, dual credit, default budget, athletics). The chair opened by acknowledging that the January 17 meeting "was not a pretty meeting" and that he "probably should have stopped and asked for order" (0:04:24, 0:05:05). No statute requires either; RSA 91-A requires only that the meeting be open.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification; meetings open to the public)
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.
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 40:13, IX(b), XI(a) and XI(b), 2022 codification (last amended 2019, 192:2): definition of the default budget; default budget form; not amendable by the legislative body
- RSA 91-A:2, II, 2022 codification (source note ends 2018, 244:1): notice; minutes contents; five business days
- 34 CFR 106.30(a) and 34 CFR 106.44(a), 2022 annual edition (the 2020 Title IX rule, 85 FR 30026): actual knowledge; prompt response