Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Spellings follow the agenda and approved minutes; where the dialogue file's label differs, the minutes' name is used and the difference is noted. Unidentified voices stay unidentified.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Vice chair, presiding; chair, Finance subcommittee | Presides. Reads one exit-interview comment aloud: "I was burnt out only after one year. Unnecessary stress from certain board members." (0:21:06). Presents the budget timeline and says the finance meetings will be televised again (0:22:03); "We met today." (0:22:24). Credits staff who carried vacancies, which let the district avoid "a warrant article" for the roof (0:40:00). |
| Candace Crawford | Member; chair, SRVRTC and Capital Improvement subcommittees | Reads the roll (0:00:59). Proposes a survey of new hires (0:17:48). Asks about the Stevens roof and says "we did move 400,000 from reserves" (0:31:30); explains the surplus as unfilled positions (0:32:02). Asks for an audit deadline and an auditor's report to the board (0:35:30). Reports for the Finance subcommittee (0:41:04) and for the SRVRTC subcommittee (0:48:56). Asks for data on the substitute pay increase (0:58:01). |
| Arlene Hawkins | Member; curriculum subcommittee representative | Answers the roll as Early knocking (0:01:08). Reports the curriculum subcommittee's schedule (0:47:18). The approved minutes credit her with the community-discount remark (0:16:13), the questions on when the auditors will present (0:37:48) and the motion to adjourn (1:02:18); the dialogue file leaves all three unidentified. |
| Michael Petrin | Member; chair, ad hoc Communications subcommittee | Suggests a local-business discount card for teachers (0:14:10). On the surplus: "1.54% is not not a big miss." (0:37:10). Praises the Tech Center's assistant director (0:55:58). |
| Bonnie Miles | Member; SRVRTC subcommittee | Suggests sharing retention ideas with the City Council (0:19:28); describes the assistant director's presentation (0:55:29). |
| Whitney Skillen | Member; chair, Policy subcommittee | Asks where the gaps can be closed (0:09:01); announces a policy meeting on October 2 (0:46:11); seconds adjournment (1:02:20). |
| Heather Whitney | Chair | Absent. Not on the roll; the vice chair refers to her availability and "time off" (1:02:07). The approved minutes list her under both Present and Absent. |
| Noelle Kronberg | Board clerk | Not heard on the recording; the roll is read by a member. The approved minutes are submitted in her name. |
| Christopher Pratt | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Reads a summary of his written report (0:01:59). On ESSER: "we have the end of September to spend the money" (0:33:25). Says new policies are needed for "title one fundings and the corrective action plan that they have us on" (0:46:28). Introduces the new career counselor, a former colleague from Brattleboro (0:52:58). |
| Patrick O'Hearn | Human Resources Director | Presents the FY24 exit-interview data: burnout, lack of support, heavy workloads, behavior, pay for support staff, and "frustration with lack of clear communication and prompt responses from administration" (0:05:50); "16 participants in the data" (0:07:55) of "40 ish staff leaving" (0:08:24). Recommends market reviews, targeted PD, an engagement survey and stay interviews. |
| Mary Henry | Business Administrator | FY24: "$544,145.29 in surplus", encumbrance now "down to 65,000" (0:23:43); extra special-education revenue "roughly 205,000" (0:24:47). Audits: "we're currently almost done with 21" (0:27:31); "we are still buried" (0:28:21). Corrects the roof attribution: "To distribute." "Out of district placement." (0:31:43, 0:31:45). |
Named but not present: Michelle Herrington, the Tech Center's assistant director (Michelle Harrington; called "the new, director, actor director" on tape, "Assistant Director" in the minutes); Dr. Michael Herrington, Stevens principal (doctor Harrington); Mike, the district's auditor, whose surname and firm are not spoken; Assistant Superintendent Michael Koski (Kosky). The new career counselor is not named.
Agenda
Items from CSB Agenda 9.18.24 (1).pdf; agenda wording is quoted from that document. Dispositions from the recording, checked against the approved minutes.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:29 | I. Call to order, pledge | Agenda: "6:30 PM Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance". Vice Chair Sprague presides. |
| 0:00:59 | II. Roll call | Read by Crawford; six present, Whitney absent. |
| 0:01:16 | Consent agenda: agenda; minutes of September 4, 2024 | No changes; voice vote, carried (0:01:37). Minutes: "Voice vote taken, all present voting yes". |
| 0:01:50 | Citizens' comments; student report | "I don't see any citizens". Agenda: "Student Board Member Report will resume in October." |
| 0:01:59 | III. Superintendent's report | Summary read; the full report is posted online (0:03:12). |
| 0:03:21 | IV.1 Exit Interview Data (discussion) | O'Hearn presents; questions and suggestions. No vote. See flag 6 and flag 8. |
| 0:21:41 | IV.2 Set Budget Timeline Calendar & Review Budget Deadlines (Exhibit A) | Sprague presents the calendar. No vote. |
| 0:23:43 | IV.3 Finance Report (Exhibit B): fund balance; audit progress | Surplus and revenue figures; audit status; a retention vote is expected in October (0:24:28). No vote. The minutes head this item "(Exhibit C)". See flag 3 and flag 5. |
| 0:40:42 | IV.4 Sub-committees | Capital Improvement: nothing to report (0:40:49). Finance: report by Crawford on a meeting held that day (0:41:04); see flag 1. Policy (0:46:11); Curriculum (0:47:18); SRVRTC (0:48:56); ad hoc Communications, "something next meeting" (0:48:46). The agenda's Finance sub-item "Employee Needs Moving Forward" is not taken up. |
| 0:57:54 | V. Other business | Crawford on substitute pay data (0:58:01). |
| 1:00:31 | VI. Future dates | Board October 2; joint City Council meeting September 30 at 6:30 at the Tech Center (1:00:56, 1:01:12). |
| 1:02:18 | VII. Adjournment | "I move to adjourn." Second. (1:02:20); carried. Minutes: Hawkins moved, Skillen seconded, "at 7:36pm". |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/16021 SchoolBoard091824.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:59 | Superintendent's report | A general summary: the report "provides a comprehensive overview of the district's current initiatives, achievements, and ongoing challenges". "The report is posted online like always." (0:03:12). | |
| 0:03:35 | Exit-interview data | "So some of the themes that I found when reviewing the data was burnout from staff." (0:04:42); "Heavy workloads was something I saw quite consistently. Especially with special education paraprofessionals and support staff." (0:05:17). | POSITIVE |
| 0:07:55 | Sixteen responses | "16 participants in the data", about 15 in-depth conversations. Target 70%: "we had roughly, I don't know, 40 ish staff leaving" (0:08:24). Sprague: offering the interview is "required by policy" but participating is voluntary (0:08:15). | OBS |
| 0:10:17 | Recommendations | An "annual market review" of pay, especially for support staff; PD tailored to roles; an engagement survey sent "last week" (0:12:03); stay interviews (0:13:02); a new-hire survey, which Crawford also urges (0:17:48). | |
| 0:14:10 | A discount card for teachers | Petrin proposes partnering with local business; Pratt describes golden-apple and teacher-of-the-month gift cards (0:14:37); Miles suggests asking the City Council (0:19:28). | |
| 0:21:06 | "Certain board members" | Sprague reads: "I was burnt out only after one year. Unnecessary stress from certain board members." "I don't know how we fixed that, but that's something that we may want to think about what we did." (0:21:27). | POSITIVE |
| 0:21:41 | Budget timeline; televised finance meetings | "chair of the board, Whitney has made it her intention that these will all be televised again" (0:22:03); deadlines set by "the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration" (0:23:22). | |
| 0:23:43 | FY24 surplus | "the report I sent you had $544,145.29 in surplus." "the encumbrance has gone down to 65,000." "$648,000 was the roofs." (0:24:07). A retention vote at the next meeting (0:24:28). "You add the 200,000 on its 740,000. That we have, but you can only retain part of the 540." (0:25:34). | OBS |
| 0:25:56 | Audit status | "hopefully by the end of fiscal year 25, we should have everything current with the exception of fiscal year 24" (0:26:17). "Right now, we're currently almost done with 21." "I went back in the beginning and reconciled cash all the way back to 2020." (0:27:31). | MEDIUM |
| 0:27:56 | "Still buried" | Henry: "we are still buried" (0:28:21). Pratt: "many, many years of catch up in regards to, being all right with the state and the feds" (0:29:45). Henry: "Fiscal year 24, to me, is accurate. My beginning balances, I still worry about because we haven't been totally audited" (0:30:31). | MEDIUM |
| 0:31:07 | The Stevens roof | Henry: "a little under 600,000" (0:31:27). Crawford: "we did move 400,000 from reserves four." "Hundred." "And 20, the general fund, to help cover some of the costs for that." Henry: "To distribute." "Out of district placement." (0:31:43, 0:31:45). Crawford then: "the roof costs 600,000, for which 400,000 came out of our reserves" (0:32:02). | MEDIUM OBS |
| 0:33:25 | ESSER | Pratt: "we have the end of September to spend the money." Crawford: "I don't even want to go to the SR [ESSER] issue because that is so convoluted"; a report in October (0:33:54). | OBS |
| 0:35:30 | Will the auditors report? | Henry: "Mike said he will come out to do that, or he could do it by a zoom" (0:35:49); FY20 and FY21 in November, FY22 and FY23 in June (0:38:21); "I don't want to promise 24." (0:36:27). | MEDIUM POSITIVE |
| 0:37:10 | 1.54% | Petrin: "when you're talking $544,000 is a, say, a surplus, when you take that down to the total budget, that's a 1.54%". | OBS |
| 0:41:04 | Finance subcommittee met that day | Crawford: the committee reviewed the FY24 close, unfilled positions, absenteeism ahead of the City Council meeting, and its fall schedule. Sprague: attendance "around 91%" (0:42:52); absenteeism is "about 30% of our kids" (0:43:03). | MEDIUM |
| 0:46:28 | Title I corrective action plan | Pratt: the policies to come "all revolve around title one fundings and the corrective action plan that they have us on", "so they can release the funds". | MEDIUM |
| 0:48:56 | The Tech Center report | Crawford: the committee met "the new, director, actor director at the tech center, Michelle Harrington. And she's been on the job for 17 days"; she "has interviewed 150 students" (0:49:34); a medical program with "17 already enrolled" (0:54:18). | |
| 0:52:28 | A career counselor hired | Crawford: "a career counselor has been hired." Pratt: "She's someone I started working with when I started in Vermont about 20 years ago. She was my head of counseling" (0:52:58); "today was the first day" (0:53:23). | OBS |
| 0:58:01 | Substitute pay | Crawford wants data on whether the board's increase in substitute pay reduced teachers covering classes. O'Hearn will check market rates (0:59:25). | |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer's aid, not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each one names the rule it rests on, as that rule read on September 18, 2024, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM The Finance subcommittee met with the administration the day of this meeting; no notice or minutes of that session were found
Sprague: "We met today. We'll talk about that under the committee report." (0:22:24). Crawford then reported what the subcommittee did: it reviewed the FY24 close, unfilled positions, absenteeism and its schedule, and asked for reports (0:41:04 to 0:45:13). A subcommittee of a school board is a public body under RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), which ends "or any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto", so the meeting needed 24 hours' posted notice and minutes under RSA 91-A:2, II. This board's agenda lists Finance subcommittee dates only from November 12, 2024. No notice or minutes of a September 18 session were found in this meeting's packet folder, in the October 2 packet folder, or by a Drive search for the date; a negative from search alone is not proof that none exists. Graded MEDIUM rather than HIGH under the project's severity rule because the record mitigates it: the subcommittee's business was reported in public session the same evening and is summarized in the approved minutes.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (subcommittees are public bodies); RSA 91-A:2, II (2024 codification; notice and minutes); CSB Agenda 9.18.24 (Finance subcommittee dates)
MEDIUM The approved minutes list the chair as both present and absent, and adopt a roof-funding account the business administrator corrected on tape
The approved minutes read "Present: Candace Crawford, Arlene Hawkins, Bonnie Miles, Michael Petrin, Whitney Skillen, Frank Sprague, Heather Whitney" and then "Absent: Heather Whitney". She did not answer the roll (0:00:59, 0:01:08) and the vice chair presided. On the roof, Crawford said "we did move 400,000 from reserves" for it; Henry corrected her twice, "To distribute." "Out of district placement." (0:31:43, 0:31:45), and Crawford restated the reserves account anyway (0:32:02). The minutes record both: "$420,000 was moved to cover out of district costs" and, a line later, that "the roof was covered by reserves". They also put the fund balance "Down about $60,000 after roof projects", where Henry said the encumbrance fell to $65,000 (0:23:43), and head the finance report "(Exhibit C)" where the agenda says Exhibit B. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to include "the names of members" and the subject matter and decisions; the board approved these on October 2 without correcting them.
Sources: approved minutes 9.18.24, roll call and item IV.3; RSA 91-A:2, II (2024 codification; minutes contents)
MEDIUM Three years of district audits outstanding in September 2024; if federal spending reached the threshold, the single audits were years overdue
Henry reported the FY21 audit "almost done" (0:27:31), FY22 and FY23 targeted before June 30, 2025, and would not promise FY24 (0:36:27); she had reconciled cash "all the way back to 2020". Under the Uniform Guidance in force for those years, an entity that "expends $750,000 or more" in federal awards in a fiscal year must have a single audit, and the reporting package is due "nine months after the end of the audit period" (30 days after the auditor's report if sooner). For a June 30 fiscal year that put FY21 at March 31, 2022 and FY23 at March 31, 2024. The record does not state the district's federal expenditures by year, but it describes "Three years of Esser funding" (0:44:37) and a Title I "corrective action plan that they have us on" with funds to be released once policies are adopted (0:46:28). This is graded MEDIUM because the threshold is not established on this record; if it was met, each of these audits missed its federal deadline. The candor of the report is credited in flag 9.
Sources: 2 CFR 200.501(a) (2023 edition; $750,000 threshold); 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1) (2023 edition; nine months)
MEDIUM The draft minutes reached the public share on the tenth business day
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting", which made September 25, 2024 the deadline. The draft's Drive file was created at 10:06 a.m. on October 2, 2024 in the October 2 packet folder (modified the same morning), the tenth business day. The September 4 minutes had been on time (see the September 4 page, flag 7). Graded MEDIUM because the minutes exist and Drive dates show when the public could read them online, not whether a draft was available at the SAU office sooner.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2024 codification; 5 business days); DRAFT CSB meeting minutes 9.18.24 (Drive createdTime 2024-10-02, 14:06 UTC)
OBSERVATION The FY24 surplus was presented on a figure that the stated change in encumbrances would move by about $584,000, and the ESSER deadline was misdescribed
Exhibit B's grand total shows a balance of $1,193,077.05, encumbrances of $648,931.76 and a budget balance of $544,145.29 (1.54% of the $35,300,311.92 budget). Henry said the encumbrance "has gone down to 65,000" because the roof purchase order was rolled into the new year (0:23:43, 0:24:07). On the exhibit's own arithmetic, a $65,000 encumbrance leaves about $1,128,077, not $544,145.29; the difference, $583,931.76, matches the roofs only if their cost has been charged elsewhere, which the report did not say. Members then discussed the $544,000 as the year's result (0:37:10), and a retention vote was set for October (0:24:28); RSA 198:4-b, II caps retained unassigned funds at 5% of the net assessment, so the starting figure matters. Separately, Pratt said "we have the end of September to spend the money" (0:33:25); the U.S. Department of Education's notice set September 30, 2024 as the deadline to obligate ESSER funds and January 28, 2025 to liquidate them. No GASB departure is shown by a single board report, so this is an observation; the audited FY24 statements would settle the figure.
Sources: Exhibit B, Claremont FY24 Budget Report 6-30-24 (grand total); RSA 198:4-b, II (5% retention cap); U.S. Department of Education, ARP ESSER obligation and liquidation deadlines (June 2024)
OBSERVATION The exit-interview report the board discussed was not posted with the public packet
O'Hearn said members "Should have a copy of the documents entitled HR Exit Interview Data" with appendices A and B (0:03:35, 0:07:19). The packet folder holds five files (agenda, budget timeline, FY24 budget report, superintendent's report, September 4 draft minutes) and no exit-interview document. The SAU 6 budget timeline filed for the September 12 SAU 6 meeting lists for this meeting "Exit Interview reive (redacted info)", indicating a redacted version was planned. A member of the public watching the discussion of "16 participants" and a comment about board members (0:21:06) could not read the report. No verified rule requires a board to post discussion materials with its agenda, so this is an observation.
Sources: Drive folder: 4. CSB 9.18.24; SAU6_Budget_Timeline (SAU 6 packet, 1. SAU6 9.12.24)
OBSERVATION A career counselor began work with no nomination or election in the board's record, and the superintendent named her as a former subordinate
The board learned of the hire in a subcommittee report: "a career counselor has been hired" (0:52:28); Pratt: "She was my head of counseling" in Vermont, and "today was the first day" (0:52:58, 0:53:23). The September 4 and September 18 minutes record no nomination or vote on this post. RSA 189:39 provides that "Superintendents shall nominate and school boards elect all teachers employed in the schools", and the board approved the assistant director's job description on September 4 after she was already working. Whether a career counselor is a teacher for RSA 189:39 depends on the position's credential, which the record does not state, so this is an observation. Nothing on the record suggests the counselor is unqualified; the observation concerns the board's role in hiring.
Sources: RSA 189:39 (superintendent nominates, board elects teachers); approved minutes 9.18.24, item IV.4.e
POSITIVE Staff-departure findings presented in public, including criticism of the board itself
The HR director reported the reasons staff gave for leaving, including "frustration with lack of clear communication and prompt responses from administration" (0:05:50), stated the small response base plainly (0:07:55) and proposed ways to raise it. The presiding officer read aloud the comment blaming "certain board members" and asked the board to think about it (0:21:06, 0:21:27). Sprague said the finance committee's budget meetings would be televised again (0:22:03). None of this is required by statute.
Sources: approved minutes 9.18.24, item IV.1
POSITIVE A candid audit status, with the auditor to report to the board in public
The business administrator gave the audit backlog year by year, said what she could not promise (0:36:27), described reconciling cash back to 2020 (0:27:31), and arranged for the auditor to present FY20 and FY21 results to the board in November and FY22 and FY23 in June (0:38:21). Pratt: "we always have the auditors come in and present to the board in the community" (0:39:20). An auditor's report in open session is not required by any statute located for this date.
Sources: approved minutes 9.18.24, item IV.3
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/16021 SchoolBoard091824.mp4.CSV (351 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/16021 SchoolBoard091824.mp4Input/Transcripts/16021 SchoolBoard091824.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 237
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d): public bodies include subcommittees
- RSA 91-A:2, II, 2024 codification (source note ends 2023, 188:1): notice; minutes contents; five business days
- RSA 189:39 (1971, 371:2): superintendent nominates, board elects teachers
- RSA 198:4-b, II (2020, 38:25): retention of unassigned funds up to 5%
- 2 CFR 200.501(a) and 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1), 2023 annual edition: single-audit threshold and due date
- U.S. Department of Education, ARP ESSER deadlines: obligate by September 30, 2024; liquidate by January 28, 2025