Participants
Everyone in the record. Name spellings, wards and attendance follow the approved minutes and, for the nonpublic session, the nonpublic minutes; where the transcript renders a name differently, the Participation cell says so.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Heather Whitney | Board chair | Presides; reads the consent agenda including the $10,000 gift (0:01:20); seconds the nonpublic motion as recorded on tape (0:20:17), though the minutes give the second to Hawkins; moves to return to public session (0:21:04); moves the deferral of the remaining items (0:39:12). |
| Frank Sprague | Member; Finance subcommittee chair | Moves the nonpublic session (0:20:00); questions out-of-district placements, program quality and placement processes (0:29:21 to 0:38:25). |
| Candace Crawford | Member; SRVRTC subcommittee chair | Speaks during citizens' comments about the adult-education grant (0:11:17); seconds the return to public session (0:21:07); questions the special-education shortfall (0:24:56 to 0:28:34). |
| Arlene Hawkins | Member; Policy subcommittee chair | Seconds the nonpublic motion (minutes); announces policies coming in the next packet (0:40:53). The transcript renders her name "Hopkins" in the roll call. |
| William Madden | Member | Present (roll call, 0:00:44); not otherwise heard by name. |
| Loren Howard | Member | Present (roll call, 0:00:44); not otherwise heard by name. |
| Michael Petrin | Vice chair | Absent (minutes). |
| Noelle Kronberg | School board clerk | Calls the roll (0:00:44) and the roll-call votes; records the nonpublic minutes. The chair calls her "Miss Cromer" in the transcript (0:21:09). |
| Lilly Clark | Student board member | Student report: spring sports, Music in the Parks, the senior play, a trunk-sale fundraiser, the principal's advisory committee, the senior trip and prom (0:13:26 to 0:18:13). Spelled Lilly in the minutes; the dialogue file has Lily. |
| Miles Sheehan | Student board member | Unavailable (minutes). |
| Noel Beauchaine | Stevens student, representing Miles Sheehan | Describes a new school newspaper (0:18:32). Name per the minutes; the transcript renders "Noel Hussain". |
| Chris Pratt | Superintendent, SAU 6 | On placement processes (0:33:23, 0:35:02); announces a two-hour delay for the next day (0:41:10). Present in the nonpublic session (nonpublic minutes). |
| Mary Henry | Business administrator, SAU 6 | Reports the deficit and the spending freeze (0:21:40 to 0:24:43); will bring the MS-22 to the next meeting (0:39:45). |
| Mike McCosker | Director of Student Services, SAU 6 | Describes the July 2024 request for about $1 million and the canceled follow-up meetings (0:25:37 to 0:27:21); contracted services (0:29:05); placement quality (0:31:57); students returning (0:37:22). |
| Attorney Matt Upton; Patrick O'Hearn; a union representative | Present in the nonpublic session only | Listed under "Other persons present" on the nonpublic minutes form; the representative's handwritten name is not reliably legible in the copy read for this page, so it is not printed. The board's attorney met the board in the non-meeting recess (public minutes). |
| Kevin Tyson | Citizens' comments | Recommends a single authoritative source for board policies, a glossary of policy terms, and the requirement keywords of IETF RFC 2119 (0:02:31 to 0:05:13). The chair calls him "Mr. Tyson"; the full name is from the minutes. He maintains this project; see the footer. |
| Mimi Rhines | Citizens' comments, Ward 1; Stevens school counselor and senior-trip co-director | Thanks the board for the trip gift; opposes the closing of the adult-education HiSET program (0:05:35 to 0:07:15). The transcript renders "Mimi Ryan's". |
| Wayne Hemingway | Citizens' comments, Ward 1; state representative and city councilor (as he states) | Election publicity and turnout, his apology over a social-media comment about teachers, conduct at the 3/19 meeting, and Unity's withdrawal (0:07:47 to 0:10:38). |
| Hillary Walsh | Citizens' comments, Ward 1; adult-education teacher | Asks whether there is a plan to restore the program (0:12:31). The transcript renders "Hilary Walch". |
Agenda
Items in the order of the posted agenda (CSB Agenda 4.2.25), with dispositions from the approved minutes and the recording. Agenda wording is quoted from the agenda.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:18 | I. Call to order, Pledge | Called to order by the chair. |
| 0:00:44 | II. Roll call | Present: Crawford, Hawkins, Howard, Madden, Sprague, Whitney. Absent: Petrin (minutes). |
| 0:00:58 | II.a Consent agenda | Agenda approval; minutes of 3.19.25; and the agenda's "SHS Senior Class Trip Donation (Exhibit A & B)", a $10,000 gift from the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation (spelled "Byrnes" on the agenda) for a trip to Woburn and Boston. Approved by consent, no objection (0:01:50). |
| 0:01:50 | II.b Citizens' comments (policy BEDH) | "Citizens comments are open for non-agenda items." Speakers: Tyson, Rhines, Hemingway, Walsh; Crawford also speaks (0:11:17). Closed at 0:13:17. |
| 0:13:17 | II.c Student board member report | Lilly Clark; Noel Beauchaine for Miles Sheehan. |
| 0:19:37 | III.1 Nonpublic session, RSA 91-A:3, II(a), (c) and (i) | Sprague moves, Hawkins seconds (minutes); roll call, all present in favor; in at 6:50. Recess for "a non-meeting with attorney Matt Upton" 7:55 to 8:17; out at 8:20, on Whitney's motion seconded by Crawford, roll call, all in favor (minutes). The nonpublic minutes record a grievance hearing "unanimously denied by the Board" and a personnel matter with no action. No motion to seal. |
| 0:21:22 | III.2 Business Administration Update: 2021 Audit and Out-of-District Education Costs | Discussion only. Henry on the deficit and freeze; McCosker and Pratt on out-of-district placements. The 2021 audit is not discussed on the recording. |
| 0:39:12 | III.3 Strategic plan update; III.4 Teacher Appreciation Week (Exhibit C); III.5 Subcommittee reports | Deferred to the next meeting without objection, "due to time" (minutes). Item III.5(b) was to include Crawford's notes of a meeting with Mr. Campo, "Exhibit to be provided on the day of the meeting" (agenda). |
| 0:39:45 | VI. Other business | Henry: the MS-22 for signature at the next meeting; Hawkins: policies in the next packet (0:40:53); Pratt: a two-hour delay tomorrow (0:41:10). |
| 0:39:59 | VII. Future dates and agenda items | 4/10 SAU 6 board; 4/16 board, with NHSAS results and the SRVRTC presentation (agenda; tape 0:40:12). |
| 0:41:28 | VIII. Adjournment | Consent adjournment at 8:43 p.m. (minutes). |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/16433 SchoolBoard-040225.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
Topics in the order they were discussed.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:20 | Senior-trip gift on consent | The chair names the foundation and the $10,000 gift aloud; no objection (0:01:50). The packet's Exhibit A is the donor's letter and an image of the cheque. | MEDIUM |
| 0:02:31 | Public: policy sources | Tyson: the board needs one authoritative policy source, "The forest [first] is known as the single source of truth." (0:02:52); "Several of the links in that document are broken" (0:03:18); "the entire site contains 14 broken links" (0:03:39); he proposes a glossary (0:04:15) and "IETF RFC 2119" keywords (0:04:45) and offers help with tools (0:05:13). | |
| 0:05:35 | Public: adult education | Rhines: "The closure of the Adult Ed high set program is a decision that I am deeply disappointed in this board for making." (0:06:09); suggests working with the city or downsizing (0:06:52). | OBS |
| 0:07:47 | Public: Hemingway | "Voting turnout is poor for the school 15% this year and barely 9% last year." (0:09:08); apologizes for a social-media comment about teachers (0:09:38); asks those who attended March 19 to "come here and apologize for their actions to this board" (0:10:38); "unity is separating from the system" and he hopes the board looks for cuts. | |
| 0:11:17 | Board member on the adult-education grant | Crawford: "I discovered a former business administrator chose not to renew the contract for Delta [adult] education", "and we have to wait three years before we can renew the contract." Walsh: "The grant has been gone for two years, and it has been non funded from a grant for two years." (0:12:31). Whitney: "We are having a finance meeting." (0:13:08). | OBS |
| 0:13:26 | Student reports | Clark: spring sports, Music in the Parks on May 9, the senior play, a trunk sale on April 26, Dr. Herrington's principal advisory committee (0:16:22), the senior trip, a Puerto Rico trip, prom on May 10. Beauchaine: a student newspaper with a former newspaper designer as adviser (0:18:32). | |
| 0:20:00 | Motion to enter nonpublic | Sprague: "I'd like to make a motion to go to the non public under RSA 91-8 colon, three comma Roman numeral two." The chair adds that the agenda lists "multiple subsets" and "there's multiple things that we're going to be discussing. Unrelated items." (0:20:17). Roll call (0:20:33); the recording resumes at 0:21:04. | OBS |
| 0:21:40 | Deficit and spending freeze | Henry's opening, split by the transcript across several rows, gives a deficit of about 1.4 million for this year, much of it encumbrances. "We're about a million over in tuition and about 700,000 over in contracted services." (0:21:53); "We have about 300,000 sitting in, salaries because we didn't hire." and "we have a freeze on all spending currently, unless it's necessity." (0:22:19); "it's not because of anything that was within our control." (0:22:44); she is reviewing past fund balances "with the auditors" (0:23:35); "We're not the only district in a deficit right now currently." (0:24:23). | MEDIUM |
| 0:25:37 | The July 2024 request | McCosker: "I was told that the previous director had asked for an extra million dollars because of projected out of district that was not included in the budget." Then "every subcommittee meeting from that point until we got to budget Committee got canceled. So we never dealt with that issue." and "We were short 900,000 somewhere around there." (0:26:25). Crawford restates: the special-education budget "for the current year was about $1 million short" (0:26:43). | MEDIUM |
| 0:29:05 | Contracted services | McCosker: positions filled by contract cost more; "I can't tell you exactly how much more it would cost to plug someone in through contracted services versus our own hire. It is more." Postings are being refreshed for hiring season (0:29:33). | |
| 0:30:04 | Placement quality and volume | Sprague raises a report that a Brattleboro program overcharged districts (0:30:20); McCosker: "I'm very confident that we're getting what we pay for with any school that our students are going to." (0:31:57). Sprague: "I have never, in my experience, seen anything resembling the amount of placements that exists." (0:32:51). Pratt: "They weren't processes in place." (0:33:42), now there are; the academy program is bringing students back (0:35:35). | MEDIUM |
| 0:37:22 | Students returning | McCosker: "I'm looking at three for next year coming back." Sprague recalls a past finding that the district's top problem was tier-one instruction (0:38:04). | |
| 0:39:12 | Remaining items deferred | Whitney: "Given that we're at quarter of nine. Is there any objection to us moving the remainder agenda items to the next agenda?" Henry: "For the next meeting, I'll be bringing forward the miss 22 for you to sign." (0:39:45) [the MS-22]. | OBS |
| 0:40:53 | Policies; weather delay | Hawkins: policies are coming in the next packet. Pratt: a two-hour delay for tomorrow (0:41:10). | |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer's aid. They are not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each one names the rule or document it rests on, and a reader should check the cited source and the recording before relying on it.
MEDIUM A projected overrun of about $1.4 to $1.5 million, foreshadowed by a July 2024 request the board never took up
The business administrator projected a current-year (FY2025) deficit of about 1.4 million on tape (0:21:40); the approved minutes print "roughly at $1.5 million deficit, largely based on encumbrances (tuition and contracted services)". She put special-education tuition about $1 million over and contracted services about $700,000 over, partly offset by about $300,000 of unspent salaries (0:21:53, 0:22:19), and imposed a freeze on non-essential spending. The director of student services said that in July 2024 the previous director had asked for about $1 million more for unbudgeted out-of-district placements, that the follow-up subcommittee meetings were canceled, and "So we never dealt with that issue." (0:25:37, 0:26:25).
RSA 32:8 bars a school board from incurring a liability "for any purpose in excess of the amount appropriated by the legislative body for that purpose, or for any purpose for which no appropriation has been made, except as provided in RSA 32:9-11" (statute text; 1993, 332:1, unamended). RSA 32:10 allows transfers between appropriations, and RSA 32:11 (Emergency Expenditures and Overexpenditures) requires an application for authority, which "shall be made prior to the making of such expenditure" except for a "sudden or unexpected emergency" (statute text). This meeting's record shows no transfer vote, no 32:11 application, and no figure for how the overrun will be covered beyond the freeze and the hope that encumbrances fall. Whether 32:8 is engaged depends on how the appropriation's purposes are defined and on what is finally paid, which this record does not show. Graded MEDIUM as a control weakness: a shortfall reported to a subcommittee in July 2024 was, on the director's account, not addressed until a deficit was announced nine months later. The administrator's statement that the deficit was "not because of anything that was within our control" (0:22:44) and the district's new placement processes (0:33:42) are the administration's mitigation.
Sources: RSA 32:8 (limitation on expenditures); RSA 32:10 (transfers); RSA 32:11 (emergency expenditures and overexpenditures); approved minutes 4.2.25, item III.2
MEDIUM The gift exhibit publishes a cheque's bank details and a student's name, from a donor who asked to remain anonymous
Exhibit A in the public packet folder is the donor's letter and an image of the $10,000 cheque. The letter is addressed by full name to a member of the Class of 2025, says "I prefer to remain anonymous, thank you.", and the cheque image carries the bank's name and the encoded number line at its foot. This page reproduces none of those details. The foundation's name was also printed on the agenda and read aloud at 0:01:20. RSA 91-A:5, IV exempts "confidential, commercial, or financial information" from disclosure; it permits withholding and does not require it, so this is a judgment the district could have made, not a statutory breach. The project has recorded the same kind of exposure in the 4/17/24 and 9/4/24 packets. The acceptance itself was noticed on the agenda and recorded in the minutes; at $10,000 it was below the $20,000 threshold at which RSA 198:20-b, III(a) requires a prior public hearing. Graded MEDIUM as a recurring control weakness in packet preparation.
Sources: Exhibit A- Donation Letter (1).pdf (described, not reproduced); RSA 91-A:5, IV (exemption permits withholding; 2024 codification); RSA 198:20-b, III(a) (prior public hearing at $20,000 or more; 2023, 38:1)
MEDIUM Draft minutes reached the public share on the seventh business day
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be "promptly recorded and open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting" (statute text, 2024 codification). From Wednesday, April 2, the fifth business day was Wednesday, April 9. The draft minutes were uploaded to the packet share at 12:37 p.m. on Friday, April 11 (Drive createdTime 2025-04-11, modifiedTime one minute earlier), the seventh business day, as part of the 4/16/25 packet. Drive metadata shows when the file became visible in that share, not whether a copy was available for inspection elsewhere. The 3/19/25 minutes went up on the ninth business day (see that page), so this is a pattern rather than a one-off. Graded MEDIUM: the meeting was noticed and packeted and only the minutes were late.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2024 codification); Drive metadata for 4.2.25 DRAFT CSB Meeting Minutes (2).pdf, read 2026-10-03
OBSERVATION Nonpublic session: an emergency-functions exemption cited with no matching matter recorded, and the one decision found only in the nonpublic minutes
The motion, as the minutes record it, cited "RSA 91-A:3, II (a (1, 2), c, i)". Exemption II(i) covers emergency functions "directly intended to thwart a deliberate act that is intended to result in widespread or severe damage to property or widespread injury or loss of life" (agenda text quoting the statute). The nonpublic minutes describe only two matters: a grievance hearing, "unanimously denied by the Board", and a personnel matter with no action. Neither is an emergency-functions matter, so either (i) was not used or its subject went unrecorded. RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires the motion to state the exemption relied on, and III requires decisions reached in nonpublic session to be disclosed within 72 hours unless sealed; no seal was moved. The nonpublic minutes file was created on April 3, 2025, the next day, and now sits in the district's Unsealed Minutes share (its 2025 Non-Public folder was created in January 2026), so whether it was public within 72 hours cannot be determined from Drive. The approved public minutes do not mention the grievance decision. The 22-minute recess "for the purpose of a non-meeting with attorney Matt Upton" was moved and voted by roll call (minutes); consultation with legal counsel is outside the definition of a meeting under RSA 91-A:2, I(b).
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(i), III; RSA 91-A:2, I(b) (consultation with legal counsel); 4.3.25 CSB nonpublic minutes Unsealed
OBSERVATION An agenda item titled for the 2021 audit, with no audit discussed, and an exhibit promised for the day of the meeting
Item III.2 was headed "Business Administration Update 2021 Audit and Out-of-District Education Costs" (agenda). The recording contains no discussion of the FY2021 audit; the business administrator mentions only reviewing past fund balances "with the auditors" (0:23:35), and the minutes record nothing about the audit. That an FY2021 audit was an agenda topic in April 2025 is itself a sign of how far the district's audits had lagged. Item III.5(b) was to include Crawford's notes of a meeting with the auditor, Mr. Campo, as an "Exhibit to be provided on the day of the meeting" (agenda); no such document is in the packet folder, which holds five files, and the item was deferred with the rest of the agenda (0:39:12). No rule is cited; the 4/16/25 record is where the deferred items should appear.
Sources: CSB Agenda 4.2.25 (2).pdf; packet folder 18. CSB 4.2.25
OBSERVATION The end of the adult-education HiSET program: who decided is disputed on the record
A Stevens counselor told the board the program's closure was "a decision that I am deeply disappointed in this board for making" and that it was never raised in budget season (0:06:09). A board member answered from the table, during citizens' comments, that a former business administrator chose not to renew the funding (0:11:17); the approved minutes record that "a former administrator chose to not renew the grant without Board knowledge and the district must wait 3 years to reapply". An adult-education teacher said the grant has been gone for two years (0:12:31). This meeting's record contains no board vote on the program, and the chair referred the question to an upcoming finance meeting (0:13:08). If a grant lapsed without the board's knowledge, that is a reporting gap between administration and board; this page did not identify the grant or verify the three-year bar, so no rule is cited.
Sources: approved minutes 4.2.25, item II.b; the recording at the times linked above
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/16433 SchoolBoard-040225.mp4.CSV (228 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/16433 SchoolBoard-040225.mp4Input/Transcripts/16433 SchoolBoard-040225.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md (section 261)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- Appropriations: RSA 32:8 (1993, 332:1); RSA 32:10; RSA 32:11 (last amended 2013, 115:1)
- Right-to-Know: RSA 91-A:2, I(b); RSA 91-A:2, II (2024 codification); RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(i), III; RSA 91-A:5, IV (2024 codification; amended 2026, 269:6)
- Gifts and unanticipated funds: RSA 198:20-b, III(a) (2023, 38:1, eff. July 18, 2023)