Participants
Everyone in the record. Names follow the agenda and both sets of minutes; where the dialogue file labels a person differently, the row says so. Rows marked “named, not present” come from documents or from references on the recording.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Heather Whitney | Board chair | Presided (124 rows). Took the consent agenda by absence of objection at 0:01:43; opened and closed citizens’ comments; moved the clerk’s appointment herself at 0:32:05; seconded the first seal and moved the second. Asked for a public forum on the school-improvement designations: “it will build trust and folks will know there’s a plan” (0:29:29). Accepted the incoming clerk’s point of order at 0:16:49. Not to be confused with member Whitney Skillen. |
| Frank Sprague | Vice chair; Finance Committee chair | Moved the first nonpublic session, the exits from both, the first seal, the deliberative-session date and its amendment, and adjournment; volunteered for the paraprofessional negotiating team. Pressed on the special-education stipend memorandum: “this doesn’t tell us how many additional students they have” (0:51:53). Described himself here as a former Stevens principal (“when I was the principal”, 0:45:58); the corpus holds other accounts of his Stevens role, not reconciled here. |
| Candace Crawford | Member | Asked “What is a 504? I don’t know what the relevance is” (0:08:13); established that all Claremont schools but Stevens receive Title I money; called opt-out scoring “an inaccurate measure” (0:26:20); proposed putting the public forum off “until after March” (0:30:25); moved the athletic-director memorandum; asked at 1:02:52 whether the board had voted to accept the Byrne donation. Named as a paraprofessional negotiator. |
| Arlene Hawkins | Member; SAU 6 board chair | Seconded the first nonpublic entry and exit, the deliberative-session motion and amendment, the second nonpublic entry and adjournment (per the minutes). “I don’t feel I have enough information in order to know what I’m voting on” (0:54:40). Added the December 7 SAU meeting to future dates at 1:03:12. At the December 6 meeting she requested the correction that put the first seal vote into the approved minutes. |
| Whitney Skillen | Member; policy subcommittee chair | The dialogue file gives her the “I’ll second” on the clerk’s appointment; both minutes name Gallagher (flag 12). Declined the negotiating seat: “I’m actively working on the policy audit. So you got this” (0:47:23). Asked whether a test opt-out could sit in a 504 plan. The transcript renders her Skilling and Scaling in roll calls. |
| Jennifer Gallagher | Member; curriculum and ad hoc disruptive-behaviors committees | Arrived 6:32 p.m. per the minutes. Moved the second nonpublic session with its exemption stated (0:59:12). Read a prepared statement on the campaign rally and asked that it be minuted; both minutes reproduce it (flag 8). Seconded the clerk’s appointment per the minutes. |
| Bonnie Miles | Member — Absent | Recorded absent in both minutes. Her name is read in the rolls and no answer is attributed to her. One roll segment at 0:16:43 transcribes as “One miles. Yes. Yes. Hawkins. Yes.”; this page does not treat it as her vote. No written submission. |
| Michael C. Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Reported Bluff’s identification (“it’s a serious situation”, 0:16:53); introduced the clerk candidate; gave the deliberative-session window correctly; presented both memoranda and conceded the athletic-director attachment no longer applied (flag 3). Rendered Mr. Contessa at 1:01:01. The SAU 6 board dismissed him on January 11–12, 2024. |
| Michael “Mike” Koski | Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, Innovation & Assessment | Gave the school-improvement briefing (0:17:39 to 0:31:04): three federal categories, the Covid data gap, the moving bottom five percent, opt-outs scored as non-passing. Rendered Mr. Kosky. |
| Mary Henry | Business Administrator, SAU 6 | Presented the budget timeline from 0:33:07, promised default and proposed budgets on the same day with a written reconciliation, reported the ESSER claim deadline and about $300,000 of ESSER II not drawn, and $6,300 of October interest from a new sweep account. |
| Ben Nester | Director of Special Education, SAU 6 | Read the rolls up to the first seal. On the students’ 504 report: “I’m not aware of that, but I’ll. I’ll look into it” (0:07:23). Moved the caseload memorandum discussion toward nonpublic session: “I don’t know how much we can or should get into outside of a non public” (0:53:39). Rendered Mr. Nestor. |
| Noelle Kronberg | Board clerk — appointed at this meeting | Present before her appointment: prompted the chair to confirm a seconder at 0:15:23 and raised the point of order at 0:16:21 (flag 16). Appointed at 0:32:34; read the three later roll calls and wrote both sets of minutes. Appointed SAU 6 board clerk on November 9. The transcript renders her Noelle Cronenberg and Noel; this page follows her own minutes. |
| Nicole Bouchard | Student representative, Stevens grade 10 | College access for underclassmen, spirit week, the loss of a help block, morning announcements; raised the 504 concern first; on bathroom vandalism, “consequences should be higher” (0:06:02). Rendered new Cole. |
| Kylee Plummer | Student representative, Stevens grade 10 | Reported a Newport tech-center field trip with no transport and no notice to Stevens (0:04:06–0:04:57); described walking breaks being removed from 504 plans, speaking of her own plan (0:07:53). Labeled Kylie Plummer in the dialogue file; the agenda and minutes spell it Kylee. |
| Jeff Small; Angela Vivian | Director of Technology; Human Resource Director — listed, not heard | On the agenda’s central-office roster and both minutes mastheads. Neither speaks on the recording. |
| Shaun Laplante | Stevens High School athletic department — named in the packet | Author of the Byrne Foundation grant proposal, which says he was middle-school athletic director the previous year (flag 11). Signs over the district address slaplante@sau6.org. |
| Dorothy M. Byrne | President, The Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation, Inc. — named in the packet | Signed the reply letter and cheque in the packet exhibit. Thanked by the chair at 0:01:43 for “once again contributing so generously to our district”. |
| Others named, not present | — | Chris Pratt, Stevens principal (the chair will contact him, 0:10:28; he became interim superintendent only on January 12, 2024). Frank Romeo, middle-school principal (source of the athletic-director proposal, 0:49:27). Chelsea Weatherford, SAU executive assistant (to book the deliberative session, 0:46:28). Tammy Yates and Karen Ladd, consulted by the superintendent for the teachers’ association (0:49:55). |
| Citizens’ comment speakers | — | None. Opened in the segment at 0:01:43 and closed at 0:02:16; both minutes: “Citizens Comments - none”. See flag 13. |
Agenda
Items as posted in “_CSB Agenda 11.15.23.docx.pdf”, with the time each was taken up and its disposition from the recording and both sets of minutes. The agenda’s numerals run I to VI and then IX; the minutes reproduce the jump and reprint three scheduled times (6:45 as 6:50, 7:10 as 7:20, 8:30 as 8:20).
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:04 | I. Call to order, Pledge | Agenda: “6:30 PM Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance.” No clock time spoken or minuted. |
| 0:00:34 | II. Roll call | Read by Ben Nester (“Then this should be your last time”). The answers are pooled in two segments. Minutes: “Present: Heather Whitney, Frank Sprague, Whitney Skillen, Jennifer Gallagher (6:32pm), Arlene Hawkins, Candace Crawford; absent: Bonnie Miles”. |
| 0:00:58 | II. Consent agenda “(vote required)”: agenda amendments, $3,000 Byrne donation, minutes of 11.1.23 | Two floor amendments from the chair: the clerk’s appointment and “a brief nonpublic to occur immediately after student board member report”. The donation item reads, on the agenda, “Acceptance of a donation of $3000.00 from The Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation to purchase medals, a championship trophy and to pay for referees for the Claremont Futsal League”; the chair read it as the “Claremont Football League”. Disposed of at 0:01:43: “Seeing none. We’re going to accept that agenda, the consent agenda.” No motion, seconder or vote. Minutes: “No objections to any of the above items. No discussion followed. Consent agenda accepted.” See flag 2, flag 17. |
| 0:01:43 | II. Citizens’ comments | No speakers; closed at 0:02:16. See flag 13. |
| 0:02:32 | II. Student board members | About eleven minutes: college access, spirit week, 504 plans, the lost help block, morning announcements, Newport tech-center communication, bathroom vandalism. Commitments: Nester to look into the 504 reports; the chair to contact the Stevens principal. |
| 0:14:02 | Floor amendment: nonpublic session | Moved by Sprague (“say 91-331”), seconded by Hawkins; roll at 0:14:20. Minutes: RSA 91-A:3, II(c). Out on Sprague’s motion at 0:14:56. Sealed “for one year” at 0:15:26, first by voice vote, then by roll call at 0:16:41 after the point of order. See flag 1, flag 5, flag 16. |
| 0:15:46 | III. Superintendent report (6:45 p.m.) | One item: schools identified for improvement under ESSA. No vote; the board asked for more information and a public forum, minuted as a future item “update/public forum on school improvement list”. See flag 9. |
| 0:31:17 | IV.1 Floor amendment: appointment of board clerk | Moved by the chair at 0:32:05. Seconder: Gallagher per the minutes, Skillen per the dialogue file (0:32:15). Voice vote at 0:32:32; minutes: “Unanimously approved”. See flag 7, flag 12. |
| 0:32:51 | IV.2 Budget timeline/process (Mary Henry) | Report only. Minutes: “Budget timeline shared in board packet”; budget books to the finance committee “by 12/6, likely before”. The timeline is not among the packet’s five documents (flag 14). ESSER and interest reports followed (flag 10). |
| 0:40:21 | IV.3 Deliberative session date (vote) | Agenda: “Move date to a Saturday to allow for greater community participation.” Sprague moved Saturday, February 3 with February 10 as weather date (0:43:41), Hawkins seconded; amended to 9 a.m. at Stevens (0:44:38). Carried by voice vote, “Motion passes unanimously” (0:46:55). The minutes still list “Deliberative Session 2/7/24” under future dates (flag 15). |
| 0:47:01 | IV.4 Board representative, paraprofessional negotiation | Sprague and Crawford volunteered; the chair declared them at 0:47:39. No motion or vote. Minutes: “Candace Crawford and Frank Sprague offered, board accepts”. See flag 2. |
| 0:47:56 | IV.5 SREA MOU stipend (vote) | Two memoranda. Athletic-director stipend ($8,500 per the minutes): Crawford/Sprague, carried by voice vote at 0:58:10. Special-education caseload stipend: to nonpublic under RSA 91-A:3, II(a) on Gallagher’s motion (0:59:12), Hawkins second, roll at 0:59:46; out at 1:00:17; sealed one year (1:00:41); no vote on the memorandum, which went back to the union (1:01:01). See flag 3, flag 21. |
| 1:01:23 | V. Other business | Gallagher’s prepared statement on the campaign rally; no response. See flag 8. |
| 1:02:46 | VI. Future dates / agenda items | Hawkins added the December 7 SAU meeting (1:03:12); both minutes carry it. |
| 1:03:42 | IX. Adjournment | Sprague moved, Hawkins seconded; “All in favor? Thank you.” (1:03:47). Minutes: “unanimously approved”, under the heading “8:20 PM”. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological topics. Quotations are from the dialogue transcript as transcribed; bracketed text is an insertion or correction. Quotations from the agenda, the minutes, the packet, board policy or a statute are attributed in the text.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:58 | A consent agenda carrying four decisions | “we have two additional items that had to be added last minute. One is the appointment of our Claremont School board clerk. And the second is a brief nonpublic to occur immediately after student board member report.” Then the minutes and the $3,000 donation “for the Claremont Football League” [Futsal]. At 0:01:43: “Is there any objection to the amendments to the acceptance of the donations or the approval of last minutes meetings? Seeing none.” | MEDIUM POSITIVE |
| 0:02:16 | Citizens’ comments | “Is there anyone in the audience who would like to comment?” ends the segment at 0:01:43; the next opens “Seeing no one in the audience commenting, we are going to close citizens comments.” | OBSERVATION |
| 0:02:32 | Student report: college access, a lost help block | Bouchard: “I think Stevens should start to branch out colleges and future job opportunities to students starting in lower grades.” At 0:03:18: “This year we have a 45 minute block called Focus Study where now we do excel [IXL] … But last year during that block, we had an opportunity to go to other teachers to get additional help.” | |
| 0:04:06 | A field trip with no transport and no notice | Plummer: “the night before Sunday night, it was like 9 p.m. and I just received an email from my teacher saying that there was no transportation available for me to get to Newport”. Her mother “called Stevens and was told that there no one informed Stevens that there was a field trip.” At 0:04:57: “So if not for my mom calling, I would have been marked cut and all my classes and had a detention.” The minutes record only “concerns regarding communication between Newport Tech and Stevens High School”. | |
| 0:05:14 | Bathroom vandalism; the student council | Bouchard at 0:05:38: “it was about 1 or 2 students doing vandalism and the boys bathroom every day”. Asked about the student council, Plummer at 0:09:41: “We’re not really in contact with the student council.” The chair at 0:10:28: “So could you have any objection to, myself reaching out to Chris Pratt”. | |
| 0:07:15 | Walking breaks removed from 504 plans | Sprague: “So, Ben, 504 plans. What is going on?” Nester: “Yeah, I’m not aware of that, but I’ll. I’ll look into it.” Plummer at 0:07:53: “I was a student with a 504 last year, and I had that on my 504, and I don’t think I would have survived my freshman year without the walks.” At 0:09:17: “And from our understanding, it’s being taken away.” Minutes: “students who have walking breaks in their 504s are reporting that those are being removed from 504s. Ben Nester will look further into this.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:08:13 | “What is a 504?” | Crawford asks; Nester’s answer is garbled in the transcript and is not reconstructed here; Sprague supplies “Accommodations, accommodations.” Crawford at 0:09:20: “Got it. Now I understand.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:13:54 | Into the first nonpublic session | Chair: “Is it going to be RSA 91-A3 comma two.” Sprague: “Make a motion that we go to nonpublic, say 91-331.” The subparagraph is not audible; the minutes record II(c). Roll from 0:14:20. The session itself is not on the recording: the entry roll ends at 0:14:41 and the motion to come out follows at 0:14:56. The minutes put the exit at 6:50 p.m. | HIGH OBSERVATION |
| 0:15:26 | A one-year seal by voice vote, then a point of order | Sprague: “Make a motion that we seal the minutes for one year.” Chair: “I’ll second. All in favor?” At 0:16:21 Kronberg, not yet appointed: “I’m sorry. We actually need a roll call. Vote to seal the minutes.” Tempesta: “Nice point of order.” Roll from 0:16:41; chair at 0:16:49: “To the point of order. Thank you, I appreciate it.” No reason for sealing was stated. | HIGH POSITIVE |
| 0:16:53 | Bluff named in the lowest five percent | Tempesta: “This is the, SSL with an a [ESSA]. Not just my Massachusetts accent. Okay. But, identifying, bluff as one of the top lowest 5% performing. And it’s a serious situation.” At 0:17:24: “There were 19 newly identified.” | OBSERVATION |
| 0:17:39 | Three categories and a Covid gap | Koski: “There are three different categories that schools can be identified in comprehensive support, targeted support and then additional targeted support.” At 0:22:20: “So it appears that all of a sudden like we fell off a cliff, when in fact, if we go back and look at data from 20 1819, we’ve been in a very similar position for a number of years.” At 0:23:15: “So it’s always the bottom 5%.” | OBSERVATION |
| 0:21:19 | Which schools | Hawkins: “the comprehensive is for the title one schools of which we have two in our”; Koski: Two CSI. Crawford at 0:24:42: “all the schools in Claremont are received title one money except Stevens High School.” Koski at 0:28:28: “That’s Disney [Disnard] and seems I believe middle school. So those are subgroup below the 5%.” Maple is not classified, he believes. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:25:26 | Opt-outs scored as non-passing | Koski at 0:25:39: “There’s a parent opt out for the state test. It does count against the school grade. It’s not a blank. It counts as a as a non passing score.” Crawford at 0:26:20: “It’s an inaccurate measure.” Hawkins at 0:27:14: families feel “their student is over tested already, and this is from having sat behind a desk.” | OBSERVATION |
| 0:28:54 | A public forum, and a proposal to wait | Chair: “What kind of time frame do you think we could have some sort of public forum”, and at 0:30:07: “What end of end of January to have a discussion.” Crawford at 0:30:25: “About what if we put it off until after March? Because, I mean, I hate doing.” At 0:30:50: “I’m really concerned about their general February time.” Chair: “I’m just looking for an update.” Koski: “I think that’s doable.” | OBSERVATION |
| 0:31:35 | The clerk’s seat is filled | Tempesta: “I’d like to introduce Noelle Cronenberg [Kronberg], who is applied for the position and recently was appointed for the Say You six [SAU 6] board to do be the clerk.” Sprague asks whether she will run; Kronberg at 0:32:27: “As long as I enjoy it between now and then.” Hawkins at 0:32:43: “She has a seat at the table.” | OBSERVATION OBSERVATION |
| 0:33:07 | Budget timeline, and an apology | Henry: “But I did give you a budget timeline in your packet. It might be in the way back.” At 0:33:55: “I put down December 6th for your. Is your regular meeting.” At 0:36:31: “I’m very sorry that this is as late as it is”. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:34:47 | Default and proposed budgets together | “But I’ll have the default budget and the proposed budget at the same day.” Worked examples: the bond payment, and at 0:35:24 “say we bought a copier and we’re not buying a copy of this year that would come off because that’s a one time expenditure”. At 0:36:20: “Please ask. The more questions, the better.” | POSITIVE |
| 0:36:49 | An ESSER claim deadline, and about $300,000 not drawn | “My good friend here came to me and said, Mary, did you see an email from the state which I had seen, but I hadn’t totally read it yet. I had to have all claims in by the 14th.” At 0:37:18: “we got in over, what, 1.1.7 million? … We lost. Well, we’ll say lost because we hadn’t written anything for it. Just around 300,000 off s or two [ESSER II].” Tempesta at 0:38:05: “It’s not like it wasn’t allocated. We just didn’t get the hires.” At 0:38:25: “2.56 is what it was, and we ended up just about 300,000.” | OBSERVATION |
| 0:39:20 | Sweep-account interest | “we made $6,300 in the month of October.” At 0:39:48: “Just having it in our savings is about 12 to 1300.” Skillen: “That was a really smart move, though. Thank you.” | POSITIVE |
| 0:40:21 | Three requests for a Saturday deliberative session | Chair at 0:40:33: “And I had three requests for consideration of moving our deliberative session date to a Saturday to allow for a lot more public comment and more folks to arrive and come.” Tempesta at 0:41:24: “First of all, the window opens the third through the 10th.” Chair at 0:42:00: “it seems to repetitively fall on the same night that the city council has been holding a meeting.” | POSITIVE OBSERVATION |
| 0:42:35 | Good faith, and a turnout test | Crawford: “it least it shows that we’re trying to be open and responsive.” Chair at 0:42:50: “We could also just trial it and do a compare and contrast to turnout.” | POSITIVE |
| 0:43:41 | The motion and amendment | Sprague: “schedule the deliberative session for Saturday, February 3rd and a weather rescheduled day of February 10th.” Amendment at 0:44:38: “Friendly amendment to to set the time for 9 a.m. at Stevens High school gym, auditorium.” Tempesta raises basketball; the chair floats tabling at 0:45:48; Sprague at 0:45:58: “I actually had to go over when I was the principal and stop the basketball practice”. Carried at 0:46:55. | POSITIVE |
| 0:47:01 | Two negotiators, no motion | “We are looking for a volunteer or a nomination for board representation for the reopen paraprofessional contract negotiations.” At 0:47:39: “So we’re going to accept Miss Crawford and Mr. Sprague to be our board representative.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:47:56 | Two memoranda of understanding | Tempesta: “MoU are basically short term one year agreements.” Caseload stipends for three special educators, “with the caveat that as soon as if we do hire someone, that it resorts back” (0:48:37). At 0:49:27: “we had an opening for at the middle school for an athletic director”; “This stipend didn’t exist in the teachers contract.” At 0:50:17 the figure comes through as “tripling the three season 2800 to make it $1,500 stipend”; the minutes and Crawford give $8,500. | MEDIUM |
| 0:51:09 | “We weren’t given any information” | Sprague: “The union is equating this to teaching an extra class.” At 0:51:53: “this this doesn’t tell us how many additional students they have.” At 0:52:20: “What were their caseloads before they took on the additional.” Tempesta at 0:52:41: “We have not done any of these. These are the first.” | POSITIVE |
| 0:53:39 | The answer moves toward nonpublic | Nester: “there’s unique differences for each of those three teachers as to why the union union came forward requesting the additional compensation.” Gallagher at 0:54:29: “we can move to a nonpublic motion.” Hawkins at 0:54:40: “I don’t feel I have enough information in order to know what I’m voting on.” | POSITIVE |
| 0:54:58 | The attached job description no longer applies | Crawford: “Staff gets an additional 8500 for doing this. Yeah. What is this. Activities coordinator memo.” Tempesta at 0:55:43: “So prior to this we had a full we had a full time position for this.” Crawford at 0:56:16: “So this doesn’t apply anymore.” Tempesta: “This this one doesn’t. You’re you’re absolutely right.” An amended version? At 0:56:48: “There will be. We’re in the process of doing that, and I didn’t.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:56:04 | Who left the post | Tempesta: “We had someone in a position, did a good job, left the position, went to another position, and now this was open.” The grant letter in the same packet is signed by the former middle-school athletic director (flag 11). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:57:17 | Work already under way | Hawkins: “Is that person currently doing the position”; at 0:57:37: “Have they already been doing that?” Tempesta: “They they just started that for the fall season because we were okay.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:58:00 | Athletic-director memorandum carries | Crawford: “I’ll make that motion.” Sprague: “I’ll second.” Chair at 0:58:10: “Opening discussion, seeing no discussion at. See? No discussion.” “Motion passes unanimously.” No funding source or budget line was stated. | MEDIUM |
| 0:59:12 | Second nonpublic session, exemption stated | Gallagher: “I make a motion to enter a nonpublic session under RSA 91, dash a colon three, subsection two, a promotion, compensation of any public employee, etc..” The chair had first offered “First a tuition agreement” (0:58:56). Kronberg’s first roll at 0:59:46. The session is not on the recording: Sprague moves to come out at 1:00:17. Seal for one year at 1:00:41, roll at 1:00:48. | HIGH POSITIVE |
| 1:01:01 | The caseload memorandum goes back, unvoted | Chair: “Given the discussion that we held in public, we are choosing to, at this time, request that Mr. Contessa [Tempesta] take the MoU, agreement request back to the union for reconsideration.” The minutes say “Based on the discussion in non-public”. Both are reported; this page does not choose. | POSITIVE |
| 1:01:23 | A prepared dissent on the campaign rally | Gallagher: “Recently, a campaign visit slash political rally was held at Stephens [Stevens] High. This was not a school sponsored event. This visit was not against policy.” At 1:01:45: “I understand that neither the board nor the administration appears to have been given an option to decline in such an instance, and I don’t think that that’s okay.” At 1:02:30: “There is always a choice to be made.” No member or administrator responded. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:02:52 | “Did you vote to accept this donation?” | Crawford: “You have to adopt. Did you vote to accept this donation from.” Chair: “The first? Yes, we did.” “In the consent agenda.” | MEDIUM |
| 1:03:12 | A missing date, and adjournment | Hawkins: “There’s another saw [SAU] board meeting on December 7th.” Sprague moves to adjourn at 1:03:42; Hawkins seconds. | |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer’s aid. They are not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each flag cites the rule it rests on, as it stood on November 15, 2023; an Observation rests on no confirmed rule.
HIGH Two nonpublic sessions were sealed for one year; the year ran out in November 2024, and neither the minutes nor the required list of withheld minutes appears in any district share
The board entered nonpublic session under what the minutes record as RSA 91-A:3, II(c) (roll at 0:14:20) and later under II(a) (roll at 0:59:46), and sealed the minutes of each “for one year”: “Make a motion that we seal the minutes for one year” (0:15:26) and “I’d like to make a motion to seal the minutes for one year” (1:00:41). On the board’s own terms both seals ended on November 15, 2024.
Paragraph III of RSA 91-A:3 makes disclosure within 72 hours the rule. The exception requires a “recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present taken in public session” at which “it is determined that” one of three circumstances applies (statute text). Neither motion named a circumstance, and neither set of minutes records one. The same paragraph requires that, where minutes are withheld, “a list of such minutes or decisions shall be kept and this list shall be made available as soon as practicable”, identifying the body, the date and time, the exemption relied on and “the date of the decision to withhold” (statute text).
The district’s “Unsealed Minutes” folder holds only three subfolders, 2025 Non-Public, 2026 Non-Public and 2027 Non-Public (listed again 2026-09-25); nothing covers 2023 or 2024. Neither the 2023 Meeting Minutes folder nor this packet holds a nonpublic minute or a withheld-minutes list. This is the unmitigated limb of the project’s missing-records rule: nothing on the record says the minutes were released elsewhere, and absence from a Drive share does not prove they were never produced on request.
What cuts the other way: both entries were moved, seconded and roll-called in public, as ¶I(b) requires; all six members present voted yes, meeting the two-thirds threshold; the second motion stated its exemption on its face; and the board took no action in nonpublic session. The recording carries neither session: the audio runs on across both, which on this project’s evidence means the broadcast was edited, so the sessions’ length cannot be read from the tape.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a), II(c), III (72-hour disclosure; seal by recorded two-thirds vote on a determination; list of withheld minutes) (2023, 189:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023; 2023 codification read 2026-09-25); district “Unsealed Minutes” folder; approved minutes.
MEDIUM Five decisions were taken with no motion, seconder or vote, four of them on an item the agenda marks “vote required”
The consent agenda, headed “Consent Agenda (vote required)” on the posted agenda, carried the addition of the clerk’s appointment, the addition of a nonpublic session, acceptance of $3,000 of private money and approval of the November 1 minutes. The chair disposed of all four by absence of objection at 0:01:43; the minutes say “No objections to any of the above items. No discussion followed. Consent agenda accepted.” The paraprofessional negotiators were then declared at 0:47:39 without a motion; minutes: “Candace Crawford and Frank Sprague offered, board accepts”. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to record final decisions and “The names of the members who made or seconded each motion” (in force since January 1, 2019); where no motion is made, no mover or seconder can be recorded. At 1:02:52, sixty-one minutes later, a member asked whether the donation had been accepted at all. Mitigation: everything happened in open session, no member objected, and general consent is a recognized parliamentary device. The gap is the agenda’s own “vote required”.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (final decisions; mover and seconder, 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019); _CSB Agenda 11.15.23.docx.pdf; approved minutes.
MEDIUM An $8,500 stipend was approved on a memorandum whose attached job description no longer applied, for work already begun, with no funding source stated
All three points come from the superintendent’s answers in open session. The attached “Activities coordinator memo” was superseded: “This this one doesn’t. You’re you’re absolutely right” (0:56:18), and the replacement was not ready (0:56:48). The work had started: “They they just started that for the fall season” (0:57:38), so the stipend is partly for work done before the board approved it. No budget line, fiscal year or source was named, and the business administrator, present, was not asked. RSA 273-A:1, IV defines a “cost item” as a bargained benefit “whose implementation requires an appropriation”, and RSA 273-A:3, II(b) sends only cost items to the legislative body; whether this memorandum needed new money is the question nobody put, and this page does not answer it. Mitigation: members asked the right questions and got straight answers; the superintendent named the association officers consulted; the vote was public; and the board declined the other memorandum it could not verify (flag 21).
Sources: RSA 273-A:1, IV; RSA 273-A:3, II(b); approved minutes, item IV.5 (“stipend is $8500”).
MEDIUM Students reported a Section 504 accommodation being removed across plans; the special-education director had not heard of it, and nothing closes the loop
Plummer described walking breaks in 504 plans, including her own, and said “from our understanding, it’s being taken away” (0:09:17); Nester answered “I’m not aware of that” (0:07:23), and the minutes record that he “will look further into this.” A 504 plan is how a federally funded district delivers a free appropriate public education to a student with a disability (34 CFR 104.33). The district must evaluate a student before “any subsequent significant change in placement” (104.35(a)), have placement decided “by a group of persons, including persons knowledgeable about the child” (104.35(c)(3)), and run procedural safeguards including “notice, an opportunity for the parents or guardian of the person to examine relevant records” (104.36) (regulation text). Whether removing a walking break is a significant change is a case-by-case judgment this page does not make. What the record shows: a reported pattern, a director unaware of it, and no later report of what he found in the records this project holds. The district’s policy KED sets out the 504 grievance route that 104.7(b) requires; nobody mentioned it. No student is identified here beyond what the two representatives said of themselves in open session.
Sources: 34 CFR 104.33; 34 CFR 104.35(a), (c)(3); 34 CFR 104.36 (all unamended since 65 FR 68054–55, Nov. 13, 2000; read 2026-09-25); 34 CFR 104.7; Claremont policy KED (adopted March 6, 2019).
OBSERVATION The draft minutes left out the first seal vote for twenty days; the board’s approval repaired it
Compared line by line, the draft (created November 21) and the approved minutes (created December 11) differ in one bullet, which the approved version adds: “Frank motioned to seal the minutes of the non-public session for one year; Heather Whitney seconded; roll call vote taken by Ben Nester, all board members present voting yes”. The recording bears it out (0:15:26, roll at 0:16:41). The approved December 6 minutes record that Arlene Hawkins requested the correction. While the draft stood, the public record showed a nonpublic session never sealed. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to record final decisions; a vote to withhold a record is one. The approval step did its job.
Sources: draft minutes; approved minutes; approved December 6, 2023 minutes (Hawkins’s correction); RSA 91-A:2, II.
OBSERVATION The minutes’ two clock times are sixty minutes apart; the recording puts the same moments 44 minutes 50 seconds apart
The minutes give 6:50 p.m. for leaving the first nonpublic session and 7:50 for entering the second. On the recording those moments are at 0:14:56 and 0:59:46. Either the broadcast is cut between them as well as across the nonpublic sessions, or the minutes’ times are approximations; the record does not say which. The minutes’ other times are the agenda’s schedule, silently reset (6:45 to 6:50, 7:10 to 7:20, 8:30 to 8:20). In 2023 RSA 91-A:2, II did not require start and end times (added by 2025, 112:1, eff. Aug. 22, 2025), so nothing here is a defect in law; it matters because these are the only times the public has for the sealed sessions.
Sources: approved minutes; agenda; RSA 91-A:2, II.
OBSERVATION The clerk appointment is within the board’s power; the pay attached to the seat was set by the board two weeks earlier, a decision RSA 194:10 gives to the district
RSA 197:26: “The school board shall fill vacancies occurring on the board, and in other district offices, except that of moderator, until the next annual meeting of the district” (statute text). The board did that on a motion and vote, and Sprague put the time limit on the record by asking whether the appointee would run in March (0:32:18). The concern lies with the November 1, 2023 meeting, where the board set the clerk’s pay at $300 per meeting (per that meeting’s record); RSA 194:10 provides that “At its annual meeting each school district shall determine the salaries of its school board and other district officers” (statute text). This meeting is where that rate began to be paid to someone. No record found shows the district meeting setting or delegating it.
Sources: RSA 197:26 (unamended since the 1942 revision); RSA 194:10 (unamended since 1927).
OBSERVATION A presidential campaign rally at Stevens High School reached the board only as one member’s dissent, and the policy that governs rentals was not discussed
Donald Trump held a campaign rally at Stevens High School on Saturday, November 11, 2023 (New Hampshire Public Radio, reporting). Gallagher did not name it; her statement said the visit “was not against policy” and that neither the board nor the administration “appears to have been given an option to decline” (1:01:23–1:01:45). Nobody answered. The board’s policy KF (adopted September 21, 2016, per its own history block; live copy read 2026-09-25) says “School District facilities are public facilities”, charges rental fees “per the established schedule”, and requires promotional material to state “The program is not a school sponsored event.” Its procedure KF-R requires a certificate of insurance naming the district and says “A letter will be sent to the person submitting the request for confirmation or denial.” The record does not show whether those steps were followed. A district that opens its buildings to community groups may not refuse a group for its viewpoint (Good News Club v. Milford Central School, 533 U.S. 98 (2001)), so the discretion may have been narrower than the policy’s words suggest. The observation is the absence of any accounting to the board, not the decision to host.
Sources: Policy KF; Policy KF-R; Good News Club v. Milford Central School, 533 U.S. 98 (2001); NHPR, November 12, 2023 (reporting).
OBSERVATION Bluff was identified for comprehensive support; a member proposed holding the public explanation until after the March vote
Federal law requires states to identify “not less than the lowest-performing 5 percent of all schools receiving funds under this part” for comprehensive support, and the district then develops each school’s plan “in partnership with stakeholders (including principals and other school leaders, teachers, and parents)” (20 U.S.C. §6311(c)(4)(D), (d)(1); statute text). The chair wanted a forum near the end of January; Crawford proposed “after March” (0:30:25), giving her reason as the February workload (0:30:50); this page attributes no other motive. The board settled on an update. Nothing was breached: no plan existed yet. The statute puts parents inside the planning, not after it. A second point was raised and dropped: opt-outs “counts as a as a non passing score” (0:25:39), and nobody asked how many Claremont has.
Sources: 20 U.S.C. §6311(c)(4)(D), (d)(1) (read 2026-09-25); approved minutes, item III.
OBSERVATION About $300,000 of a $2.56 million ESSER II award went undrawn, and the claim deadline was noticed on a colleague’s prompt
The claims were filed on time, so this is not a missed deadline. The shortfall came from positions not filled (“We just didn’t get the hires”, 0:38:05) and a smaller summer school. The deadline reached the business administrator through a colleague’s question about a state email (0:36:49). Federal education formula funds stay available for one additional year and then lapse (20 U.S.C. §1225(b)); internal control over federal awards is required by 2 CFR 200.303. No member asked which posts went unfilled or whether the larger ESSER III balance carried the same risk; the minutes reduce the item to three lines.
Sources: 20 U.S.C. §1225(b); 2 CFR 200.303 (2023 edition); approved minutes, item IV.2.
OBSERVATION The packet named the departed middle-school athletic director whom the superintendent described without a name, and no one connected the items
The Byrne grant proposal in the packet, signed by Shaun Laplante of the Stevens athletic department, says (packet text): “Last year, when I was the Athletic Director for the Middle School, I created a Futsal League” and “With my move to the High School we are able to use the High School Gym”. At 0:56:04 the superintendent described the vacancy behind the $8,500 stipend: “We had someone in a position, did a good job, left the position, went to another position”. The match rests on those two descriptions and is not treated as certain. It matters because it would have let members test the account that the post had been full-time against a document they already had.
Sources: Byrne Foundation Grant (Futsal) (1).pdf.
OBSERVATION The minutes and the dialogue file disagree on who seconded the clerk’s appointment
Both sets of minutes: “Heather Whitney motioned to appoint Noelle Kronberg, Jennifer Gallagher seconded”. The dialogue file attributes the “I’ll second” at 0:32:15 to Whitney Skillen, in a speaker cluster it marks medium confidence, and it cites this very second as evidence for that identification, which makes the reasoning circular. The minutes are followed here; the stakes are small, but RSA 91-A:2, II makes the seconder part of the record.
Sources: approved minutes, item IV.1; RSA 91-A:2, II.
OBSERVATION Citizens’ comments opened and closed within thirty-three seconds, with no one waiting to speak
The invitation ends the segment at 0:01:43; the close opens the one at 0:02:16. RSA 189:74 requires a school board to provide public comment “for no less than 30 minutes” (statute text). Whether that is a floor on elapsed time or on the opportunity is not settled by the text; no one was turned away, and no member of the public speaks on the recording. The board’s policy BEDH (adopted September 6, 2023) calls for comment at all board meetings. No violation is asserted.
Sources: RSA 189:74 (2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022).
OBSERVATION The budget timeline the board discussed is not in the posted packet
“I did give you a budget timeline in your packet” (0:33:27); the minutes: “Budget timeline shared in board packet”. The packet folder holds five documents (the agenda, the grant exhibit, the November 1 draft minutes and this meeting’s two sets of minutes). No statute requires a packet to be posted, so this is not a breach; it leaves the public without the calendar that drove the FY25 budget.
Sources: packet folder 26. CSB 11.15.23.
OBSERVATION Both sets of minutes misstate the statutory window and keep the superseded deliberative-session date
On tape the superintendent said “the window opens the third through the 10th” (0:41:24), which is right: RSA 40:13, III sets the first session “between the first and second Saturdays following the last Monday in January, inclusive of those Saturdays”, and the last Monday of January 2024 was the 29th. Both minutes say “the window is open February 1st-10th”. Both also keep “Deliberative Session 2/7/24” under future dates, after the board voted for February 3; the approved December 6 minutes still carry “Deliberative Session 2.7.24”. The session was held on February 3, 2024.
Sources: RSA 40:13, III (unamended since 2019, 192:2); approved minutes, items IV.3 and VI.
POSITIVE The incoming clerk stopped the meeting to require the recorded vote a seal needs, before she had been appointed
The first seal was taken by voice vote at 0:15:31. At 0:16:21 Kronberg interrupted: “We actually need a roll call.” She was right: RSA 91-A:3, III permits withholding only by “recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present taken in public session”. The roll followed at 0:16:41, and the chair thanked her. Her appointment came sixteen minutes later. Earlier, at 0:15:23, her question “Arlene, did you second?” is what let the minutes name the seconder of the first exit.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, III.
POSITIVE The $3,000 gift met RSA 198:20-b’s notice duty for sums under $20,000
Since July 18, 2023, RSA 198:20-b, III requires a prior public hearing only at $20,000 or more; below that, the board posts notice in the agenda and in the minutes. The donation was its own agenda item, posted seven days ahead with donor, amount and purpose, and both minutes repeat it. (Under the earlier $5,000 threshold the answer would be the same.) The board’s acceptance by general consent is the separate matter in flag 2. The donor’s letter reads “My contribution of three thousand dollars for your athletic program at Stevens High School is enclosed” (packet text); the narrower purpose on the agenda comes from the request letter.
Sources: RSA 198:20-b, III (2023, 38:1, eff. July 18, 2023); grant exhibit.
POSITIVE Draft minutes on the fourth business day, and an approved version filed as well
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes open to inspection within five business days. The draft was created in the 2023 Meeting Minutes folder on Tuesday, November 21, the fourth business day. The approved version followed on December 11, so a reader can compare the two (flag 5). The minutes also reproduce Gallagher’s statement in full, “transcribed, as written”.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II; Drive creation dates of the draft and approved minutes (read 2026-09-25).
POSITIVE Residents asked for a Saturday deliberative session and got one, with a plan to measure turnout
The chair brought three residents’ requests (0:40:33), asked the administration for the obstacles first, and named the conflict with city council nights (0:42:00). Crawford framed it as showing “we’re trying to be open and responsive”; the chair proposed comparing turnout (0:42:50). The session was held on Saturday, February 3, 2024.
Sources: RSA 40:13, III.
POSITIVE The business administrator promised the default and proposed budgets together, with the reconciliation shown, and volunteered the bad news
In an official-ballot district voters choose between the proposed and default budgets. Henry committed to presenting both the same day with a sheet showing “what’s going into the budget and what’s coming out” (0:34:47), invited questions (0:36:20), reported $6,300 of interest from the new sweep account (0:39:20), and in the same report disclosed the ESSER II shortfall (flag 10).
Sources: RSA 40:13; approved minutes, item IV.2.
POSITIVE The board declined to approve a memorandum it could not verify, took no action in nonpublic session, and sent it back
The superintendent recommended signing the caseload memorandum (0:49:08). Sprague could not get caseload numbers; Hawkins said she lacked enough information to vote (0:54:40); Gallagher moved nonpublic session with the exemption stated (0:59:12). The board split the two memoranda, approved the one it had facts for, and on returning announced that the other would go back to the union (1:01:01).
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a).
Appendix — source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: Claremont School Board 11/15/23 (show 15413; project copy 1:04:29)
- Drive folder: 26. CSB 11.15.23 — 5 documents:
_CSB Agenda 11.15.23.docx.pdf (created November 8, 2023);
Byrne Foundation Grant (Futsal) (1).pdf (proposal, reply, cheque image; the cheque’s OCR is garbled and nothing is taken from it);
draft CSB Meeting Minutes 11.1.23.docx (1).pdf;
draft CSB Meeting Minutes 11.15.23.docx (1).pdf;
Approved CSB Meeting Minutes 11.15.23 (1).pdf
- Minutes in the 2023 Meeting Minutes folder: 18. CSB Meeting Minutes 11.15.23.docx (1).pdf (draft, created 2023-11-21); 19. Approved CSB Meeting Minutes 11.15.23 (1).pdf (created 2023-12-11)
- 20. Approved CSB minutes 12.6.23.pdf: records the correction to these minutes
- Board policies (live copies read 2026-09-25): KF Building Rental and Service Charges; KF-R; KED
- Not located: minutes of either nonpublic session, and any list of withheld minutes (Unsealed Minutes folder lists only 2025–2027 subfolders, checked 2026-09-25); the budget timeline referred to at 0:33:27; an approved version of the November 1, 2023 minutes (not found in the earlier build’s check of 2026-08-29; not re-checked).
- Adjacent pages: November 1, 2023; October 18, 2023; Finance Committee, November 30, 2023; December 6, 2023.
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
- Right-to-Know: RSA 91-A:2, II (mover and seconder since Jan. 1, 2019; start/end-time clauses from Aug. 22, 2025, not applied); RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a), II(c), III (2023, 189:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023)
- District officers and meetings: RSA 197:26; RSA 194:10; RSA 40:13, III; RSA 189:74
- School money and bargaining: RSA 198:20-b, III (2023, 38:1, eff. July 18, 2023); RSA 273-A:1, IV; RSA 273-A:3, II(b)
- Federal: 34 CFR 104.33, 104.35, 104.36, 104.7; 20 U.S.C. §6311(c)(4)(D), (d)(1); 20 U.S.C. §1225(b); 2 CFR 200.303 (2023 edition)
- Case law, as context: Good News Club v. Milford Central School, 533 U.S. 98 (2001)