Participants
Names and titles follow the agenda masthead, the roll call and the minutes. The dialogue file gives several motions and seconds to the wrong voice or to Unidentified; movers and seconders on this page follow the minutes, and the footer lists the differences.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Heather Whitney | Chair | Presides; states the nonpublic grounds (0:01:12); presses for a plan on the visioning committee's data (0:10:31); asks for a shared district calendar (0:16:47); asks what remains in the capital reserve (0:23:57); raises the community eligibility provision (0:56:58); skips items 5 and 8 for time (1:08:02, 1:10:40); reports the failed May 17 recording (1:11:14). |
| Frank Sprague | Vice chair | Moves the roof addition (minutes; the dialogue file gives the motion to the superintendent at 0:24:25); moves the meal-price increase (0:33:07); on participation and past deficits (0:33:20, 0:36:42); on high-school cafeteria numbers (0:41:47); moves policy IGA (1:09:15); seconds the CCTV appointment (1:08:31). |
| Steven Horsky | Member until his resignation; SAU 6 chair | Reads his resignation, "effective immediately" (0:03:51 to 0:05:16). |
| Bonnie Miles | Member | Answers the roll (0:00:47). Moves the nonpublic session and seconds the roof addition (minutes). No rows in the dialogue file. |
| Whitney Skillen | Member; Policy chair | Asks for the scope of work on the $90,000 section (0:23:13); moves the CCTV appointment (1:08:26); seconds IGA (1:09:30); moves BG and the withdrawals (1:09:47, 1:10:10). Seconds the nonpublic motion and the meal-price motion (minutes). Addressed as Miss Gillen and Miss Guilherme in the transcript. |
| Jennifer Gallagher | Member | Answers the roll (0:00:47). Seconds the policy withdrawals (minutes). No rows in the dialogue file. |
| Arlene Hawkins | Member | Asks that the administration supply the visioning committee's data (0:09:31); wants a district events calendar (0:15:57); urges families to apply for reduced-price meals (0:39:38); proposes outreach help with applications (0:47:29); asks about the food-service coordinator's workload (1:00:25); seconds BG (1:09:58); volunteers for the secretaries' bargaining (agenda); asks for the publicist's report (1:13:26). |
| Michael C. Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Commits to supply the visioning data (0:11:30); reports on CMS traffic and central-office outreach (0:12:38); presents the roof addition (0:21:14). Rendered Mr. Pesto at 1:12:41. |
| Mike Koski | Assistant Superintendent | On school-level outreach for meal applications (0:54:11), PowerSchool cross-training (1:04:52) and reconstructing the May 17 minutes (1:11:51). |
| David Jack | Interim business administrator (Municipal Resources, Inc.) | Presents the food-service contract and the meal-price recommendation (0:25:26, 0:32:39). |
| Danielle Skinner | Data Manager / Food Service Coordinator / PowerSchool (agenda) | Answers board questions on lunch debt, applications and the community eligibility provision (0:42:27 to 1:07:29). Labeled Miss Skinner in the dialogue file; the agenda and minutes give her full name. |
| Ben Nester | Director of Special Education | Reads the roll calls at the chair's request (0:00:35, 0:00:47, 0:01:43). |
| Candace Crawford | Citizens' comments, Ward 2 | Speaks for the SRVRTC visioning committee on data needed for the SREB contract (0:05:59 to 0:11:12). The minutes print "Candy Crawford (Ward 2)". |
| Joella Merchant | Appointee to the CCTV board | Appointed by voice vote (1:08:56); the chair welcomes her. She does not speak. |
| Mary Henry | Business administrator (incoming) | Listed on the agenda for item 4; no rows in the dialogue file. |
| Chelsea Weatherford | Recording secretary | Submitted the minutes; asked to reconstruct the May 17 minutes (1:11:14). |
| Unidentified | Various | 36 rows, including the motion to enter nonpublic session (0:01:08) and several seconds and voice votes. |
Agenda
Items and wording from the posted agenda (created on Drive Tuesday, June 20, 2023); dispositions from the recording and the minutes. The nonpublic session and the resignation are not on the agenda.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:05 | I. Call to order and pledge | Called to order by the chair. |
| 0:00:42 | II. General business: roll call | All seven present (0:00:47). |
| 0:00:58 | Nonpublic session (not on the agenda) | The chair: "We did have a request for a nonpublic session this evening." Motion from an unidentified voice (0:01:08); the minutes: "Request for a non- public meeting session RSA 91-A3 B, C, and K. Bonnie Miles makes a motion to go into non-public session; seconded by Whitney Skillen". Roll call, seven Yes (0:01:43 to 0:01:46). Return by roll call (0:03:21), "at 8:00PM" per the minutes. No decision announced; no motion to seal. |
| 0:03:31 | II. Consent agenda: "Amendments and Final Approval of board agenda", "Minutes Approval- June 7, 2023" | Interrupted by Horsky's resignation (0:03:51); then approved by unanimous consent (0:05:36). |
| 0:05:36 | II. Citizens' comments | Candace Crawford, Ward 2, on the SRVRTC visioning committee (0:05:59). |
| 0:12:38 | III. Superintendent report: "CMS Traffic Flow"; "Central office outreach to schools" | Report and discussion; no action. |
| 0:20:51 | IV.1 Additional SHS Roof Construction (Vote required) (Exhibit A) | Sprague moved, Miles seconded (minutes); voice vote, approved (0:24:48 to 0:25:05). |
| 0:25:10 | IV.2 Food Service Contract Approval (Vote Required) | Presented by David Jack; no vote taken. Jack: "I don't think we need to vote on it" (0:39:10). |
| 0:33:02 | IV.3 Claremont School Lunch Price Approval for FY24 (Vote Required) | Sprague moved (0:33:07), Skillen seconded (minutes; the dialogue file gives a Second. to Hawkins at 0:38:46); voice vote, approved (0:38:47). |
| 0:40:02 | IV.4 Lunch Debt Accounting (Exhibits B and C: policies EF and EFAA) | Questions to Danielle Skinner; no action. |
| 1:08:02 | IV.5 Claremont School Board Facebook Page (Discussion/ Potential Vote) | Deferred to the next meeting without objection. |
| 1:08:26 | IV.6 CCTV Board Appointment (Vote required): Joella Merchant (Exhibit D) | Skillen moved, Sprague seconded (1:08:26, 1:08:31); voice vote, approved (1:08:56). |
| 1:09:12 | IV.7 Policies: IGA second read (Exhibit E); BG (Exhibit F); "Vote for withdrawal of policies: BGA, BGB, BGC, BGE, and BGF." | IGA: Sprague moved second reading and approval (1:09:15), Skillen seconded (1:09:30); approved (1:09:39). BG: Skillen moved (1:09:47), Hawkins seconded (1:09:58); voice vote (1:10:00). Withdrawals: Skillen moved (1:10:10), Gallagher seconded per the minutes; approved (1:10:38). |
| 1:10:40 | IV.8 School Board Sub-Committees | Skipped for time; to the next meeting. |
| 1:10:59 | V. Other business: 1. Hawkins volunteers for the secretaries' bargaining; 2. "May 17, 2023 Minutes Issues" | Noted; members asked to send notes to reconstruct the May 17 minutes (1:11:14). |
| 1:12:15 | VI. Future dates and agenda items | 7/13 SAU 6, 7/19 board; dates for a disruptive-behaviors retreat and a self-evaluation retreat to be set by email. |
| 1:13:51 | IX. Adjournment | By consensus, no objection. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/15153 SchoolBoard062123.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:58 | Into nonpublic | The chair, after a motion and a second: "we do have an RSA. Our essay is 91-A3, 2B91A colon 32C91-A colon three two K so three." [RSA 91-A:3, II(b), II(c) and II(k)] (0:01:12). Roll call read by Nester, seven Yes (0:01:43, 0:01:46). The next row on the recording is the return roll call (0:03:21). | MEDIUM OBSERVATION |
| 0:03:51 | Horsky resigns | "Tonight, I am disheartened to be resigning from my position as a member of the Claremont School Board, effective immediately." (0:04:05). "the divisive national politics and lack of respect and decorum towards me have made my time on the board over the last few months unbearable." (0:04:23). "What I will not tolerate is a lack of respect and personal attacks from board members, especially when they interfere with my ability to do my job as a board member and saw six chair." (0:04:45). | |
| 0:05:59 | Visioning committee data | Crawford: the committee is "holding off signing the contract until we can be assured by the administration that the data can be provided" and the data's existence "cannot be confirmed until after mid-July" (0:06:34); "41% of the graduates of Stevens High School, class of 23, are going directly into employment with no further education", citing the June 11 Valley News (0:07:08). The superintendent: "I will follow up with them directly tomorrow" (0:11:51). | |
| 0:12:38 | Superintendent's report | Claremont police studied CMS traffic before Principal Romeo started; the district will seek the study (0:12:38, 0:13:12). A master calendar and a commitment to "25, 30% of the day in the schools" for central office (0:14:48). Board members ask for a shared events calendar (0:15:57, 0:18:26). | |
| 0:21:14 | Roof addition | The superintendent: the board had allocated "a little bit over $500,000"; the bid "came in at 280,000" with a "$90,000 additional section" offered as an alternative; "So the original figure of 350, the 280 in the 90 would make that at 370." (0:22:16). Skillen: the estimate "doesn't include a detailed scope of work" for the $90,000 section (0:23:13). The chair: "Do we have any idea what's left in that capital reserve account? That expendable trust" (0:23:57). The superintendent: "I thought that was 500,000." (0:24:05); "you have to go to the trustees of that. It's protected. Take a board vote to access that." (0:24:25). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:25:26 | Food-service contract | Jack: "It's actually year two of of contract that you bid for five individual years a year ago." The projection on page 34: "income of $751,867. You got total costs of 787928. It's indicating that you will have a deficit $36,000, $36,061." (0:26:26); the district covers a deficit up to that figure and the contractor anything above (0:26:52). At this time of year "you don't have the option to to bid it out" (0:29:41). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:32:39 | Meal prices | Jack: "the recommended increase of $0.25 on an elementary full price breakfast, $0.50 on a middle and high school, full price Baptists [breakfasts], $0.50 on an adult breakfast" and $0.50 on lunches. Sprague: Bluff's free and reduced participation fell from "almost 73%" pre-COVID to 57% (0:33:20); "We generally had a deficit of 23, 24,000" (0:36:42). Approved by voice vote (0:38:47). Hawkins: "$0.40 for a reduced lunch is an excellent price" (0:39:38). | |
| 0:42:27 | Lunch debt and applications | Skinner: applications go "to every household" because targeting families would identify them (0:44:11); eligibility "does not retro back, which is a huge misconception in this district" (0:44:59). The meal-charge policy's first step is principals contacting families, but "the principals were not in agreement with that process" (0:50:06), so collection fell to her, and "The cost of me trying to do all this was heavily outweighing what we were getting in from people paying the debt" (0:50:06). | |
| 0:56:58 | Community eligibility provision | The chair: "we're at 38.9% of our kids are eligible. And if we hit 40%". Skinner: the 40% must come from direct certification; "There's a 1.6 multiplier" so a 40% school gets 64% federally paid "But the district general fund has to pay the other 36%" (0:58:55); "if you get to that 62, the federal government pays for all 100% of your meals." (0:59:26). Pre-K and Bluff qualify, "This is their last year to qualify." (0:58:23). | |
| 1:00:25 | One person, three jobs | Hawkins on the coordinator's food-service, data-manager and PowerSchool duties. Koski: "we have asked the to do more in roles in each one of our positions than has been done in the past." (1:01:12). Skinner: "this is my hurricane." (1:03:46). | |
| 1:08:26 | CCTV board appointment | Skillen: "I'd like to make a motion to approve Joel, a merchant, as a candidate for the CCTV board." [Joella Merchant]. No discussion; approved (1:08:56). | |
| 1:09:12 | Policies | IGA adopted (1:09:39); BG, "the policy on policy development adoption and review" (1:09:55), adopted; BGA, BGB, BGC, BGE and BGF withdrawn (1:10:38). | POSITIVE |
| 1:11:14 | The May 17 minutes | The chair: "there was a glitch in our technology where the CCTV did not record. And so miss Chelsea miss whether it was unable to, transcribe the minutes." She asks members for notes. Koski: "What we're trying to do is get as many people in the room as we can to reconstruct it" (1:11:51). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:13:26 | Publicist's report | Hawkins asks for a date for the publicist's report; the chair will tie it to the Facebook discussion (1:13:37). | |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer's aid, not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each one cites the rule it rests on as that rule read on June 21, 2023; check the recording and the primary source before relying on any of them. Severity: HIGH, a likely breach of a binding rule or a missed statutory deadline; MEDIUM, a probable process gap or control weakness; OBSERVATION, notable with no confirmed rule; POSITIVE, practice beyond the legal minimum. This page carries no HIGH flag.
MEDIUM A roughly 90-minute nonpublic session with no seal vote, and no nonpublic minutes located
RSA 91-A:3, III, as it read on this date: "Minutes and decisions reached in nonpublic session shall be publicly disclosed within 72 hours of the meeting, unless, by recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present taken in public session, it is determined that divulgence of the information likely would affect adversely the reputation" of a non-member, render a proposed action ineffective, or pertain to terrorism (statute). The board entered nonpublic session after the roll (0:01:43) and, per the minutes, returned "at 8:00PM". No motion to seal was made on the recording after the return (0:03:21 to 0:05:36), and the public minutes record none. Unsealed nonpublic minutes therefore had to be public by Saturday, June 24, 2023. They are not in the June 21 packet folder, not attached to the public minutes, and were not found in the district's shares by this project; the district's Unsealed Minutes folder was created only in January 2025. A Drive search is not proof that no minutes exist, which is why this is MEDIUM and not HIGH. The public minutes say nothing about what was discussed or decided. This page does not infer a connection between the session and the resignation that followed it.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, III (2022 codification; source note ends 2021, 163:1 and 172:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2022); minutes, item II
OBSERVATION The nonpublic motion did not state its exemptions; the chair read three, one of them the tuition-contract ground
RSA 91-A:3, I(b): "Any motion to enter nonpublic session shall state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II", and "The vote on any such motion shall be by roll call" (statute). The motion on tape is "To make a motion. We go into nonpublic." (0:01:08); after the second the chair supplies the grounds as transcribed, "91-A3, 2B91A colon 32C91-A colon three two K" (0:01:12), before the roll call. The roll call met the statute. The minutes cite "RSA 91-A3 B, C, and K", without the paragraph number. The three grounds are II(b), "The hiring of any person as a public employee"; II(c), matters likely to affect adversely the reputation of a person "other than a member of the public body itself"; and II(k), a school board's consideration of a pupil tuition contract under RSA 194 or 195-A, whose own text requires that the contract be made public before approval "together with minutes of all meetings held in nonpublic session". Nothing in the public record says which ground applied to what.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(b), II(c), II(k) (2022 codification)
OBSERVATION $90,000 approved with no fund named and no one able to state the reserve's balance
The board approved "the expenditure for the additional $90,000 for the SHS roof construction" (minutes) by voice vote (0:24:48 to 0:25:05). Just before, the chair asked what was left "in that capital reserve account? That expendable trust" (0:23:57); the superintendent answered "I thought that was 500,000." (0:24:05) and that drawing on it requires the trustees and a board vote (0:24:25). The motion as minuted does not name the fund, the trust, or the account the $90,000 comes from, and the packet's Exhibit A is a contractor estimate. Skillen noted the estimate lacks a detailed scope of work for the added section (0:23:13). This page cites no statute: the capital-reserve chapter was amended effective July 16, 2023, and the record does not establish which kind of fund paid. The trustees of trust funds' records and the FY23 expenditure detail would settle it.
Sources: Exhibit A, Additional SHS Roof Construction; minutes, item IV.1
OBSERVATION A food-service contract renewal listed as "Vote Required" went without a vote
Federal rules allow a school food authority's contract with a food service management company "a duration of no longer than 1 year", with "options for the yearly renewal" not exceeding "4 additional years" (7 CFR 210.16(d), 2023 edition). Jack describes this as "year two" of a five-year bid (0:25:29), with a projected deficit of $36,061 that the district would absorb (0:26:26), and says the state was still reviewing the contract. The agenda heads the item "Food Service Contract Approval (Vote Required)"; the board voted only on meal prices, and Jack advised "I don't think we need to vote on it" (0:39:10). The record does not show who, if anyone, exercised the renewal for the district, or whether the contract returned to the board after the state's review.
Sources: 7 CFR 210.16(d) (2023 annual edition); agenda, item IV.2
OBSERVATION The May 17 meeting was not recorded, and its minutes are to be rebuilt from members' notes
The chair reports "a glitch in our technology where the CCTV did not record" the May 17 meeting, so the recording secretary could not produce minutes, and asks members for notes (1:11:14); the assistant superintendent says the aim is "to reconstruct it" (1:11:51). RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes within five business days whether or not a recording exists (statute); the board's practice of drafting minutes from the broadcast left it with nothing when the recording failed. The May 17 deadline itself passed weeks earlier; see the June 7 page. Two policies had their first reading on May 17, so the reconstruction carries weight. CCTV / CCMC, whose equipment failed, is the publisher of these pages (see footer).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification); June 7, 2023 page, flag 1
OBSERVATION The minutes reached Drive on the sixth business day
RSA 91-A:2, II sets "not more than 5 business days after the meeting" (statute). Both copies located were created on Drive on Thursday, June 29, 2023, the sixth business day after June 21: the draft in the July 19 packet folder and the copy in the Claremont Meeting Minutes share, the same minute (identical byte size). Drive creation shows when the public could see the file on Drive; it does not prove when the minutes were first open to inspection at the office. One day, on a proxy measure, is an Observation.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification)
POSITIVE Notice posted fifteen days ahead, a policy-on-policy adopted with the obsolete set withdrawn, and every motion minuted with mover and seconder
The public notice for this meeting was created in the packet folder on June 6, 2023, fifteen days before the meeting, well beyond the 24 hours RSA 91-A:2, II requires. The board adopted policy BG on policy development, adoption and review and, as Skillen had announced on June 7, voted separately to withdraw the five policies it superseded (1:10:10 to 1:10:38), so the policy manual does not carry contradictory rules. The minutes name a mover and a seconder for every motion, as RSA 91-A:2, II requires, and record both nonpublic roll calls by name.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification); public notice
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: School Board Meeting 6/21/23 (Claremont Community Television (CCTV) / Claremont Community Media Center (CCMC); title as MAP.md records it)
- Drive packet folder 14. CSB 6.21.23 (created June 6, 2023), 11 documents per MAP.md:
- Minutes:
9. Claremont School Board meeting minutes 6.21.23.pdf (Claremont Meeting Minutes share; created June 29, 2023), with Horsky's resignation letter attached; the identical draft, draft Claremont School Board meeting minutes 6.21.23.pdf, is in 16. CSB 7.19.23 (created June 29, 2023). Nonpublic-session minutes: not located.
- Related pages: Claremont School Board, June 7, 2023; SAU 6 Board, July 13, 2023 (the SAU 6 chair Horsky vacated)
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/15153 SchoolBoard062123.mp4.CSV (366 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/15153 SchoolBoard062123.mp4 (local copy of the recording)Input/Transcripts/15153 SchoolBoard062123.mp4.json (diarized transcript)Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 197 (video-to-document map)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- State, as codified for the meeting date: RSA 91-A:2, II; RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(b), II(c), II(k) and III; RSA 288:1 (state holidays, for the business-day count)
- Federal, 2023 annual edition: 7 CFR 210.16(d)
- Mentioned for dating only: 2023, 36:2 (amended RSA 35:9, eff. July 16, 2023)