Regular meeting of the Claremont School Board, six of seven members present, Candace Crawford's first as a member. The board extended the Claremont Middle School transportation waiver for the fall season, moved immunization policy JLCB to a second reading, sent the head-lice policy back for a first reading, accepted $4,000 in gifts, heard the business administrator's adequacy-aid presentation and a technology update, and set a special meeting for August 9 on an alternative-education program proposed for the Tech Center building. Built from the Cablecast recording's attributed dialogue, the agenda and exhibits, and the approved minutes. Timestamps link to the same moment in the Cablecast recording.
Body
Claremont School Board (seven members)
Date
Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Start time
Agenda 6:30 p.m.; the minutes record a 6:30 p.m. call to order and give no adjournment time. Called to order at 0:00:07; adjournment by consent at 2:39:17. No nonpublic session.
Location
Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center, Claremont (agenda and minutes)
Board composition
Present (minutes): Heather Whitney (chair), Frank Sprague (vice chair), Arlene Hawkins, Bonnie Miles, Jennifer Gallagher, Candace Crawford (appointed July 19, 2023). Absent: Whitney Skillen. No student representative is listed. Ben Nester, director of special education, reads the roll; the district clerk's seat was vacant in 2023.
Recording
Cablecast: School Board Meeting 8/2/23 (observed extent 2:39:34 from the last row of the dialogue file; the Cablecast API refuses requests from the build environment, so the run time was not confirmed). Runs from the call to order to adjournment.
Minutes
11. CSB meeting minutes 8.2.23.pdf (2023 Meeting Minutes share; file created Tuesday, August 8, 2023, the fourth business day after the meeting); copy CSB meeting minutes 8.2.23 (1).pdf in the August 16 packet folder. Tom Rock's letter is attached to the minutes. Submitted by Chelsea Weatherford.
Participants
Names follow the agenda masthead, the minutes and speakers' own introductions; where the minutes and the transcript spell a name differently, the minutes' spelling is used and the transcript's noted.
Name
Role
Participation
Heather Whitney
Chair
Presides; moves the handbooks ahead of the presentation (0:17:35); proposes the JLCB amendment for children awaiting vaccinations (1:55:01); argues for nurse checks in the head-lice policy (2:00:40); relays the CTE-use advice (2:13:46); proposes the August 9 meeting (2:25:22).
Frank Sprague
Vice chair
Asks about salary on internal transfers (0:09:08); moves to limit the waiver to the season (1:08:59) and moves the question (1:10:16); moves JLCB to second reading and its amendment (1:53:56, 1:57:54); says “I was a guidance counselor” (0:46:21) and that he started an alternative program at Stevens (2:19:31).
Arlene Hawkins
Member; SAU 6 board chair
Presents the two policies in Whitney Skillen's absence (1:52:05); asks the chair to direct timely posting of policies (2:09:22); asks for a presentation on the alternative program (2:17:40); adds the August 23 SAU 6 retreat (2:39:02).
Bonnie Miles
Member; Capital Improvement chair
Questions on combined classes (0:15:21), handbook pagination and AI (0:26:43, 0:28:09); moves the elementary handbook (0:22:37) and the waiver extension (1:08:03); says the Capital Improvement subcommittee needs a third member (1:50:15). Identified by elimination: no one names her on this recording.
Jennifer Gallagher
Member
Asks about staffing (0:09:52); opposes the handbook vote as premature (0:22:54, 0:23:25); seconds the amendment and the final waiver motion (1:09:56, 1:11:25); reports that the Curriculum and disruptive-behavior subcommittees have not met (2:10:58, 2:38:31).
Candace Crawford
Member (appointed July 19)
Asks for an SAU staff list (0:11:57); finds a stale conference date in the elementary handbook (0:20:32); moves the fall-season waiver (1:11:09); joins Capital Improvement (1:51:34); raises the Tech Center location (2:12:27) and the roof permit (2:37:21).
Superintendent's report: CMS band camp (0:05:56); the letters-of-interest explanation (0:06:23); new SAU office staff (0:07:23, 0:07:57); teacher vacancies and combined classes (0:09:57, 0:15:35); the waiver recommendation and bus drivers (1:03:24, 1:05:08).
Mike Koski
Assistant superintendent
On digital-textbook rostering (0:45:06); confirms the Visioning Committee contract was mailed (2:11:45).
Mary Henry
Business administrator
Draft budget timeline and a whole-board budget process (1:12:27, 1:12:49); audit work (1:14:11); adequacy-aid presentation (1:15:09–1:32:16); answers on free-and-reduced outreach (1:33:03, 1:33:27).
Jeff Small
Director of technology
District website and app, the school-board Facebook group, an application-coordinator position (0:34:04, 0:38:58), the new phone system and radios (0:56:10, 0:58:38).
Ben Nester
Director of special education
Reads the roll as “our honorary secretary” (0:00:32, 0:01:06); explains the alternative program's aims (2:18:29, 2:18:55).
Melissa Lewis
Principal, Disnard Elementary
Presents the shared elementary handbook (0:18:07); on CHINS filings (0:20:56).
Chris Pratt
Principal, Stevens High School
Presents the high-school handbook: dress-code visual, community-service clarification, AI and academic honesty (0:23:51, 0:25:56, 0:28:27).
Alex Herzog
Citizens' comments, Ward 2; SRVRTC director
Reports the summer camp, about 35 middle-school students (0:02:39).
Steven Horsky
Citizens' comments, Ward 2; former member
Asks to keep the existing head-lice policy (0:04:24, 0:05:10). His surname is not spoken; the minutes name him.
Hope Damon
State representative
Introduces herself as “State representative Hope Damon Sullivan, district eight” (0:05:29); later gives free-and-reduced and Medicaid counts: “we're missing several hundred kids” (1:37:37). The minutes spell her name Damen.
Unidentified
Board table and room
97 rows in the dialogue file, mostly crosstalk; the seconds on the elementary-handbook motion and some votes are among them.
Named, not present
Staff and others referred to
Shaun Laplante (CMS athletic director), the SHS athletic director the minutes call Mr. Beaupre, and the transportation director the minutes call Pam Mley; nurse Roni (minutes spelling), who proposed the policy updates; Steve Holt, buildings and grounds; Tom Rock, Ward 2, author of the letter in the minutes; Chelsea Weatherford, who drafts the minutes.
Agenda
Items and wording from the posted agenda (created on Drive Monday, July 31, 2023); dispositions from the recording and the minutes. The chair took the handbooks first.
Roll read by Ben Nester (0:01:06); minutes: six present, Skillen absent. Consent agenda (agenda approval, July 19 minutes, three donations): the chair reads the gifts and takes consent without dissent (0:01:46); no vote taken. Citizens' comments (0:02:21): Herzog, Horsky, Damon; closed at 0:05:44.
a. CMS band camp. b. “Response to citizen concern related to letters of intent not being attached to agenda last meeting” (agenda): “the reason for that was we didn't get those redacted in time” (0:06:23). c. Back to School Festival, August 26 (0:06:44). d. SAU office staff (0:07:23). Questions on salaries, staffing and combined classes (0:09:08–0:17:05).
Moved ahead by consent. Elementary handbook (Lewis, 0:18:07): Miles's motion to accept, seconded, put to a vote and set aside when Gallagher said she was not ready (0:22:37–0:23:26). High-school handbook (Pratt, 0:23:41): no vote; changes to be made. The middle-school handbook was not ready (0:33:37). See flag 1.
Discussion. Jeff Small on the website and app, an application coordinator for budget season, phones and radios. Consensus to take the school-board Facebook page down and see who notices (1:02:36); no vote.
Agenda: “Possible extension of waiver policy”. Miles moves an extension (1:08:03); Sprague moves to amend to the sports season (1:08:59), seconded by Gallagher (1:09:56); question moved; amendment adopted by voice (1:10:19); Crawford's restated motion for the fall season passes by voice (1:11:09, 1:11:37).
Capital Improvement: Crawford joins (1:51:41). Budget: no report. Policy: JLCB moved to second reading with the chair's amendment (1:53:56–1:58:39); JLCC moved, discussed and returned for a first reading at the next meeting (1:58:58–2:08:41). Curriculum: not yet met (2:10:58). Visioning: contract mailed; the alternative-program location (2:11:12–2:34:42); special meeting set for Wednesday, August 9, at 6:30 (2:35:50). Disruptive behaviors: not yet met (2:38:31).
Herzog on the Tech Center summer camp (“about 35 students in attendance”); Horsky on head lice: “I recommend keeping it as it is” (0:05:10); Damon introduces herself (0:05:29).
The superintendent answers the July 19 complaint: “There was too much personal information on those”, since “rectified” (0:06:44). The letters were posted the morning after the July 19 vote (July 19, 2023 page, flag 1).
Brianna Connell (out-of-district coordinator), Megan Fagans, Lori Mowrey (staff accountant; transcript Laurie Maori), Karen White to payroll, and curriculum director Catlin McLaughlin (minutes spellings): “Kat Lynn, who goes by Kat McLaughlin” (0:07:57).
Science vacancies; some teachers asked to leave their contracts, “which we're trying to hold them to their contracts right now as they were signed”. Bluff may combine grades (0:10:42); fifth-grade openings with “we just don't have any candidates at all” (0:15:35).
One handbook for all three elementary schools. Crawford finds conferences dated “November 14th, 2022” (0:20:32); the minutes record her correction as page 14, the transcript as page 19. Motion, partial vote and withdrawal (0:22:37–0:23:26).
Dress-code visual; community-service hours (“if they don't have all 48 hours of community service, they don't graduate”, 0:25:56); AI detection (0:28:27). The chair questions C-minus athletic eligibility (0:30:01).
Small: “I don't have the time to devote to that” (0:38:07); proposes an application coordinator, “I wouldn't say this is a full time job” (0:40:21); offers to take down the board's Facebook group (0:48:34).
Extension recommended; three new drivers in training, ready “by September or October on the conservative side” (1:05:08). Amended to the fall season and adopted (1:11:37).
History of the formula since the 2019 lawsuit; FY2024 hold-harmless at 104% (1:19:37); “base adequacy aid went from 3866 to 4100” (1:29:13); “$142,000 under” FY2023 because of the statewide property tax (1:30:17).
Henry: “We can't go door to door” (1:33:27); qualifying pupils bring “$2,300 a student” (1:35:00). Damon: just over 700 qualified last year and “we're missing several hundred kids” (1:37:18, 1:37:37).
Hawkins: the update drops the notarized letter formerly required for a religious exemption (1:52:05), as RSA 141-C:20-c, II has read since 2022, 55:1, eff. July 19, 2022. The chair's amendment substitutes the scheduled appointment date for a child awaiting vaccinations, citing fairness with homeless students (1:55:01, 1:55:44).
Horsky's view is noted (1:53:21); the chair favors symptom-based nurse checks and removal with parent pickup, rechecks on return (2:07:05, 2:07:55); Miles on the burden to families without washers (2:06:06). Set for first reading at the next meeting (2:08:40).
Crawford objects to the location (2:12:27); Nester cites the “almost $3 million out of district budget” and a dropout rate “perhaps the highest in the state” (2:18:29, 2:18:55); Sprague: “do not have kids, an alternative program in a building with their peers” (2:19:31). Special meeting set for August 9; Miles asks whether CCTV can record two meetings the same night (2:35:52).
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 August 2, 2023, or says that no rule is relied on; 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 Three motions were moved and seconded with no disposition in the minutes, one of them omitted entirely
Elementary handbook. Bonnie Miles moved “that we accept the elementary Claremont Elementary, 2324 family and student elementary handbook” (0:22:37); a member seconded (I'll second., 0:22:48); the chair called All in favor? and then All opposed?, and Jennifer Gallagher answered Yes. (0:22:54). The chair then said her understanding had been “that there was a unanimous consent to vote” (0:23:15), Gallagher said “I wasn't ready yet” (0:23:25), and the chair said “We can wait” (0:23:26). No withdrawal of the motion was stated. The minutes do not mention the motion; they say the board “recommends some changes to be made prior to the handbook being approved at the next meeting” (minutes). Policy JLCB (immunization). Frank Sprague moved it to a second reading (1:53:56); he then moved to amend the motion with the chair's proposed wording, the chair seconding (1:57:54). The chair put the motion as amended and called All in favor? (1:58:20, 1:58:39); one vote was taken. The minutes record that vote as “all in favor to amend the motion via voice vote” (minutes) and record no vote on the motion to move JLCB to a second reading. Policy JLCC (head lice). Candace Crawford moved it forward; Miles and Arlene Hawkins are both heard seconding (1:58:58, 1:59:17, 1:59:18); after discussion the chair undertook to send changes and the policy was set for a first reading at the next meeting (2:08:40). The motion was never voted on or withdrawn on tape, and the minutes record it with no disposition. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to record final decisions and that “The names of the members who made or seconded each motion shall be recorded in the minutes” (statute; in force since 2018, 244:1). The first motion's mover and seconder are not recorded at all. Graded MEDIUM, not HIGH: the minutes exist and were filed on time, the outcomes (no handbook approved, JLCC returned for a first reading) are recoverable from the minutes' narrative, and the defect is in how motions were closed and recorded rather than in a missing record.
OBSERVATION An alternative-education program was being planned for the Tech Center building, which state law dedicates to career and technical education
Crawford reported that a new alternative-education program was to be placed at the Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center and said “It's not an allowed use” (2:12:27). The chair reported advice that there are “RSA that indicate or require that we use this facility for CTE related activities” but, as she relayed it, “no, teeth in those RSA or sanctions” (2:13:46); both attribute the advice to a state official the transcript calls Doctor Beard and Jeff Beard, whose surname this project has not settled. The statute in force on August 2, 2023, RSA 188-E:3, II (2023 codification), provided that a CTE facility built or renovated with state CTE construction money “shall become the property of the school district or public academy, for use by the career and technical education center exclusively” (statute; source note ends 2021, 210:2). The chair said “although monies were given by the state” (2:14:27) but the record does not show which state grant funded which part of the building. Ben Nester said he hoped to start the program in September (2:22:53), and the chair said the board had already “gave him the the go ahead in that meeting” on the program but had not known the location (2:32:37, 2:32:53). Nothing was decided; the board set a meeting for August 9 to hear options (2:35:50; see the August 9, 2023 page). The enforcement consequences the speakers described are their characterizations; no sanction provision was verified for this page.
OBSERVATION The CMS transportation waiver asks parents to release the district from injury claims, and the vice chair relayed counsel's caution
Exhibit G has a parent “release, waive, discharge and covenant not to sue the District, the Board” for injury, including death, to the child when carried by an approved adult in a private vehicle (Exhibit G). The superintendent relayed the principal's and athletic directors' recommendation to extend it (1:03:24). Sprague moved to limit it to the season because, “According to our lawyer, this is not liability free” (1:08:59). The board adopted Crawford's motion “to accept the transportation waiver form for the fall sports season for the Claremont Middle School” (1:11:09, 1:11:37). No statute or case on the enforceability of a parent's pre-injury release for a minor was verified for this page, so none is cited; the point is recorded because the board acted on a document its own counsel had qualified.
Sources: Exhibit G; the recording. No statute or case is relied on.
OBSERVATION The business administrator had no timeline yet for the district's outstanding audits
Mary Henry said the business office was restructuring with “Audit being one of them”, that she was meeting the auditors weekly, and “I don't have timelines for all the audits yet” (1:14:11, 1:14:38). On July 19 she had put the fiscal management plan back to October for the same reason (July 19, 2023 page, flag 6). The recording does not say which fiscal years were unaudited. The documents that would settle it are the issued audit reports and their dates, compared with the single-audit due date in the federal Uniform Guidance for any year with federal expenditures above the threshold.
Sources: the recording. No deadline is asserted because the fiscal years are not stated.
OBSERVATION Roof work at Stevens High School went ahead without a city permit
Crawford raised that “there was not a, permit granted” for the construction at the high school and that a “second offense, $100 fine” applied (2:37:21). The chair said “The $50, permit has been paid for” (2:37:55) and that the city office did not have it but “we have record of it” (2:38:15); Hawkins asked whether the fine was paid and the chair said yes. The minutes record that “the permit has been paid as well as the fine” (minutes). This rests on members' statements; neither the permit nor the fine notice is in the packet, and no city ordinance was reviewed.
Sources: the recording; the minutes.
POSITIVE Gifts were noticed on the agenda, recorded in the minutes and accepted in public session
The consent agenda listed $2,000 from Claremont Savings Bank and $1,000 from the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation for Bluff Elementary and $1,000 from Claremont Savings Bank for the Back to School Festival (agenda; the agenda prints Byrnes), and the chair read them aloud before the consent agenda was taken (0:01:46). Under RSA 198:20-b, III(b), as amended by 2023, 38:1, effective July 18, 2023, for funds under $20,000 “the school board shall post notice of the funds in the agenda and shall include notice in the minutes of the school board meeting in which such funds are discussed”, and acceptance “shall be made in public session of any regular school board meeting” (statute). All three steps are in the record two weeks after the amendment took effect. Whether the district has adopted the enabling article that ¶I requires is not shown in this record.
Sources: RSA 198:20-b, III(b) (source note ends 2023, 38:1, eff. July 18, 2023); agenda Exhibits A and B.
POSITIVE The adequacy-aid presentation was posted in advance with its sources, and its key rates match the statute
The business administrator's slide deck (Exhibit H) was in the public folder the day before the meeting, and she walked the board and viewers through the formula from FY2020 on and pointed to the NHDOE and DRA sources (1:15:09, 1:31:54). Her figures “base adequacy aid went from 3866 to 4100” and free-and-reduced “from 1900 to $2300 a kid” (1:29:13) match RSA 198:40-a, II(a)–(b) as amended by 2023, 79:150, effective July 1, 2023, which sets “A cost of $4,100 per pupil in the ADMR” and “An additional $2,300 for each pupil” eligible for a free or reduced-price meal (statute). She later corrected her own phase-out figure on the record (2:36:31). Her statements about the hold-harmless grant and its phase-out were not checked against statute and are reported as her characterization.
Sources: RSA 198:40-a, II(a)–(b) (source note ends 2023, 79:150, eff. July 1, 2023); Exhibit H.