| 0:00:20 | Opening; who presides | “My name is Charlene Lovett, and I am the interim moderator today. So if I make a mistake, please forgive me.” Pratt thanks her “as being interim moderator” (0:02:18, where the transcript renders her name “challenge for”). Nobody says how she came to preside. | HIGH |
| 0:07:38 | Rules of Procedure: doubted votes | Read aloud: “any voter who does the accuracy of any non county vote may require the moderator to determine a vote by counted show of hands or counted standing vote”. The printed sheet reads “doubts the accuracy of any non-counted vote” (quoted from the Rules of Procedure). | MED |
| 0:09:46 | Board goals | Whitney: the budget “was created to support a singular goal. And that goal is to dramatically improve academic growth”. Priorities: implement the district-wide curriculum, attract and retain staff, improve teaching practice and school culture (0:10:32). | |
| 0:11:23 | Finance committee goals | Sprague: interventions begun with federal money continue only with “documentation of success”; “we put televised every single meeting, every minute of every meeting” (0:11:51); the budget subcommittee is now a year-round Finance Committee (0:30:44). | |
| 0:15:30 | Curriculum, coaching and professional development | Crawford: “It will take a minimum of a year to see these scores improve” (0:17:03). | |
| 0:19:01 | Disruptive behaviors and social workers | Gallagher: “The board did approve an additional social worker for a total of three district wide social workers. Previously, all three elementary schools were sharing a single social worker with Stephens High.” (0:21:20). | |
| 0:22:51 | CTE expansion | Crawford: health-science program and a continued career counselor at the tech center. | |
| 0:25:23 | Staff retention and contracts | Sprague on entry-level pay and the teachers' contract: “we have really made some great strides in becoming competitive” (0:27:33). | |
| 0:28:19 | Costs outside the district's control | Whitney: state aid decisions, “the Esser grant expiring that will expire in 2024” (0:28:36), unfunded mandates, energy and insurance costs. | |
| 0:32:30 | Budget presentation (Henry) | Fund structure, expense functions, objects and revenues. Base adequacy for FY25 “is $4,182. For fiscal year 24, the current year is $4,100” (0:38:59), which is the 2 percent statutory adjustment. Retirement “19.64% of all wages on teachers” (0:39:24). | POS |
| 0:40:16 | Proposed versus default | Henry reads the definition of default budget, stopping at “reduced by one time expenditures contained in the operating budget”, then: “our budget is 210,633 higher than what the proposed or excuse me, than the default” (0:41:05). | OBS |
| 0:42:33 | Tax effect and the $420,000 | “over last year's general budget were 1.2 million higher, or 3.55% increase, but the total amount to be raised after revenues is 0.34%”. The board “decided to use that fund balance to offset taxation”; the increase to be raised is “$796,718” before that and 376 thousand after (0:43:03, 0:43:32); about “$30.66 per 100,000 of property value” (0:44:20). On January 17 the same figure was given as 852,000. | |
| 0:47:34 | Budget changes | Positions moved back from ESSER, two coaches, a technology person, the CTE program, a CMS academic coordinator, math materials “roughly 124,000”, and “all Esser positions were removed unless otherwise noted” (0:48:07). Trust funds: part of the Stevens roof replaced for “$370,765” (0:49:16). | |
| 0:51:49 | Article II read | “totaling $39,582,407”; “Should this article be defeated, the default budget shall be $39,371,774”. | |
| 0:54:05 | For Article II: a board member as voter | “Even though I am a member of the board. I support this budget because I have no questions about it. The process to develop this budget within the Finance committee was transparent and professional. It was televised on CCTV”. | |
| 0:57:27 | For Article II: second board member | “Many hours were spent televised hours, as Whitney said, to provide sufficiency, transparency and accuracy.” | |
| 0:59:25 | Against Article II | “What are we doing with this money that is being set aside for these positions?” A child is “getting taught by videos off of YouTube”; disruptive children take time from others; “I do not agree with this budget” (1:00:45). | |
| 1:01:15 | Superintendent's reply | Pratt: “I can't disagree with the concerns that we're seeing in my short time here. That's what the budget is trying to do.” The curriculum funding aims “to get away from the the YouTubes and stuff like that”. | |
| 1:02:57 | Gap in the transcript | No transcribed words from here to 1:04:41 (about 104 seconds) and from there to 1:06:32 (about 111 seconds). The minutes place Tom Luther's process remarks in this part of the debate. | OBS |
| 1:06:32 | For Article II: district employee | “My family has been in Claremont for over a century”; criticism of teachers “really betrays” understanding; “I work in the it”. | |
| 1:08:28 | For Article II: Gary Merchant | “I feel this community is finally coming around.” School spending is “an investment” (1:08:58). | |
| 1:10:27 | Reconsideration restricted | “RSA 40 colon 13 comma Roman numeral four. I moved to restrict reconsideration.” “Of article two.” Passed by voice vote (1:10:37). Paragraph IV of RSA 40:13 incorporates RSA 40:10, the section that authorizes the restriction; it lasts only until the session adjourns. | |
| 1:10:37 | Article III: secretaries | Speaker for: secretaries are “the face of the public Claremont Schools” (1:12:57). | |
| 1:15:50 | Article IV: maintenance and custodians | Sprague: “our entry level wages were just not competitive”; the cost is “literally pennies on the dollar” (1:17:04). | |
| 1:18:41 | Article V: the year error | The moderator reads “$189,210 is the estimated a crease this 2015 that correct?”; a voice answers “Been 2025.” (1:19:24). After an attempted vote without a second, the moderator corrects herself: “Oh I'm sorry, you're right, you're right. I should know that.” (1:20:22). Amendment adopted (1:20:55). | POS |
| 1:22:04 | For Article V: paraprofessionals | Matt Bean: “I've been a paraprofessional for the Claremont School District” for seven years; “We are educators. We are de-escalation masters. We are interventionists.” (1:22:41). The moderator holds him to two minutes (1:24:08). | |
| 1:26:51 | For Article V: a teacher and parent | “These people don't have a living wage here in town.” “I can't think of any establishment in town that pays less than their starting rate” (1:29:01). | |
| 1:29:23 | Superintendent on the support-staff articles | “so, as interim superintendent, I support all these articles.” | |
| 1:30:22 | For Article V: a 30-year paraprofessional | “I'm at the top. There's no more steps for me. And I make a whopping 2456 an hour on 32 hours a week, and I have to work a second job.” (The figure is presumably $24.56.) | |
| 1:31:48 | Closing | “Our average voting percentage for school board elections is 13 to 17% of our registered voters.” | |