Participants
Everyone in the record. Name spellings, roles and attendance follow the agenda masthead and the approved minutes; where the transcript or the dialogue file's labels differ, the Participation cell says so.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Heather Whitney | Board chair; Finance Committee member | Reorders the agenda and adds the nonpublic session (0:01:06, 0:01:43); moves approval of each handbook (0:08:19, 0:10:43, 0:12:47); seconds the nonpublic motion (0:20:36); moves to seal its minutes for five years (0:21:25); opens the financial item: we have a massive deficit anywhere between 1 and $5 million (0:22:29); opens public comment on it (1:11:25); presses Henry on how long the schools can stay open (1:16:16). |
| Michael Petrin | Vice chair; Capital Improvement chair | Seconds the SHS handbook (the chair names Mr. Peter, 0:08:19); finds more than half the lines on page one of the FY2025 report overspent (1:04:40). The minutes also credit him with seconds on the fiscal policies, the JED/JEDA withdrawal and the seal motion, and with a remark on the $3 million adequacy payment that the dialogue file gives to Sprague (see flag 5). Transcript: Mr. Peterson. |
| Arlene Hawkins | Member; Policy Committee chair | Moves the nine second-read policies and three procedures (0:14:30), the first-read adoption of JFAA and GBCE (0:17:58) and the withdrawal of JED and JEDA (0:18:03); asks how the district avoids a repeat (0:46:17); explains the July SAU office closure (1:07:05). |
| Candace Crawford | Member; Finance Committee | Reports the Finance Committee's revision of the DB wording (0:15:12); relays the auditor's advice (0:39:55); describes the special-meeting route and why she doubts it (0:52:30); says we've already spent a million and a half of the 26 money paying the 25 bills (0:57:00); says the board has waited six months for monthly expense-to-budget reports (1:08:42); explains why the board went public (1:34:50). |
| Frank Sprague | Member; Finance Committee chair | Moves the nonpublic session under RSA 91-A:3, II(a), (c) and (l) (0:20:03); explains the September 1 adequacy payment (0:37:57; the dialogue file marks the attribution uncertain and the minutes give this remark to Petrin); finds nothing in the administration's plan to fix special education (0:50:20); explains catastrophic aid (1:18:38). |
| William "Bill" Madden | Member; Policy Committee | Reports on the handbook review with Herrington (0:06:19); calls the April presentation somewhat deceptive (0:29:48) and asks whether a forensic review is planned (0:31:55); asks whether IRS payments are current (0:33:35) and whether school will open (0:33:58); asks what staff charged their time to during the July office closure (1:06:12); wants a weekly cash breakdown (1:33:42). Seconds the CMS handbook (0:10:43). |
| Loren Howard | Member; Policy Committee | Separates the FY2025 deficit from the older "structural deficit" (0:41:55); cites 2.5 million in overtures [overages] for special education from the report the board received that week (1:02:30); says board members have seen few financial documents (1:01:30). The minutes credit him with moving JFAA and GBCE (see flag 5). |
| Noelle Kronberg | School board clerk | Calls the roll (0:00:36) and the three roll-call votes; signs the minutes. The chair renders her Miss Kronborg and Miss Cronenberg. |
| Christopher Pratt | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Introduces the handbook work (0:04:18); asks Madden whether he is accusing the administration (0:40:51); says a list of items not required by the state went to the Finance Committee (0:47:10); says the figures are still being reconciled (1:05:41); commits that school will open on schedule (1:15:22) and that the documents will reach the board 24 hours before the next meeting (1:36:32). |
| Mary Henry | Business administrator, SAU 6 | Says IRS payments are up to date (0:33:50); cash covers the district through the end of September, with October being worked on (1:16:42); bills are not going to get paid and some are going to be very late (1:17:18). |
| James O'Shaughnessy | District counsel, Drummond Woodsum | Arrives during the recess. Describes a state of fiscal distress (0:24:26), the Tuesday meeting with Commissioner of Education Caitlin Davis (0:24:51), a possible petition to the Sullivan County Superior Court for a special meeting (0:26:57) and budget cuts; says neither the city nor the district can borrow to pay the deficit (1:24:36); relays the commissioner's request for a detailed cash-flow statement (1:30:35). He introduces himself as John O'Shaughnessy in the transcript (0:23:27); the chair and minutes say Jim/James. |
| Mike Koski | Assistant superintendent, SAU 6 | Says the administration is also working hard and that errors were carried forward from prior years (0:57:35, 0:57:59). |
| Patrick O'Hearn | HR director, SAU 6 | Overtime limits and position control under way (1:03:21, 1:03:50). |
| Michael Herrington | Principal, Stevens High School | Reports the handbook review with Madden (0:04:57). Transcript: Harrington. |
| Kerry Kennedy | New principal, Claremont Middle School | Introduced by the chair (0:08:54); reports final handbook edits (0:09:02). |
| Melissa Lewis | Principal, Disnard Elementary | Answers the elementary handbook questions (0:11:22 to 0:12:24); the minutes name her for this, and the dialogue file labels these rows Unidentified with a Bluff principal role (see footer). |
| Bluff Elementary principal | Principal, Bluff Elementary | Introduces himself by role only (0:12:40); the agenda lists Dale Chenette as Bluff's principal, but no name is spoken on tape. |
| Hope Damon | State representative (introduces herself for Sullivan District 8) | Public comment (1:12:05): the state paid 67% of requested special-education aid for the year just ended; a new law limits proration; asks about a city bond and short-term cash solutions. |
| Gary Merchant | Citizens' comments, Ward 2 | Asks for a detailed cash-flow statement within 48 hours and suggests delaying school opening until there is a plan (1:19:46, 1:20:40). |
| Mark Blount, Michelle Herrington, Mike McCosker, Jeff Small | Maple Avenue principal; SRVRTC director; student services director; technology director | Listed on the agenda or masthead; no words attributed. Kennedy refers to Mr. Small (0:10:01). |
Agenda
Items from the posted agenda (placed in Drive August 8), in the order the board took them after reordering by consent. Dispositions from the recording and the approved minutes.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:02 | I. Call to order; II. Roll call | All seven present (minutes). |
| 0:00:44 | II.a Consent agenda | "Amendments and Final Approval of board agenda" and "Minutes Approval- 6.18.25" (agenda). Floor amendment by consent: handbooks and policies first, a nonpublic session added, the financial update last, and the honor-roll item removed (0:01:43, 0:02:45). No objection; no count recorded. |
| 0:03:42 | II.b Citizens' comments | No one comes forward. |
| 0:04:07 | III.1 Handbook approvals | Stevens High School handbook as amended in the meeting: Whitney, second Petrin, voice vote (0:08:19). Claremont Middle School: Whitney, second Madden (0:10:43). Elementary: Whitney, second Hawkins (0:12:47); approved (0:13:27). All unanimous by voice (minutes). |
| 0:14:05 | III.4c Policy Committee | Second read adopted: DA, DB, DBJ, DEA, DFA, DGA, DIE, DK, JLCF with procedures EHB-R, DAF-R(2), DAF-R(3) (0:16:25); minutes: Hawkins, second Petrin. First read adopted: JFAA and GBCE (0:18:03); minutes: Howard, second Whitney (the tape has Hawkins moving). Withdrawn: JED and JEDA (0:19:10); minutes: Hawkins, second Petrin. |
| 0:19:10 | Recess | "a ten minute recess" until counsel arrives (chair). |
| 0:19:56 | Added: nonpublic session, RSA 91-A:3, II(a), (c), (l) | Sprague moves, Whitney seconds; roll call, all in favor; 7:02 p.m. Out at 8:20 p.m. on a roll call (0:21:01). Motion to seal the minutes for five years, roll call, all in favor (0:21:25, 0:21:40); sealed until 8/14/2030 (minutes). No reason for sealing is stated on tape or in the minutes (see flag 2). |
| 0:21:53 | III.2 Financial status update | Discussion. Counsel's presentation, board discussion, then public comment opened on the item (1:11:25). No vote. Direction to the administration: options and the commissioner's cash-flow statement for the August 20 meeting, delivered 24 hours ahead (1:35:35 to 1:36:33). |
| Removed | III.3 Honor roll initiative | Removed at the reordering (0:02:45). |
| Not taken up | IV. Other business: Goshen tuition agreement | Agenda: "Sign Goshen Tuition Agreement- no changes have been made except updating board members and the date." Not mentioned on tape; the minutes repeat the agenda line with no action. |
| 1:36:39 | VI. Adjournment | "If there is no objection. Meeting adjourned." Consent adjournment 9:34 p.m. (minutes). |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/16764 School Board 081425.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:44 | Consent agenda and reordering | The chair moves the financial update to the end because The guest is Jim O'Shaughnessy, who's the district's attorney and adds a nonpublic session (0:01:06, 0:01:43). Citizens' comments: none (0:03:42). | OBS |
| 0:04:07 | Handbooks approved | Pratt: principals spent two to three months totally revamping the handbook (0:04:18). Herrington and Madden reviewed the SHS handbook that day (0:04:57); open points are the dress code and the diploma pathways (0:06:19, 0:06:40). New CMS principal Kerry Kennedy introduced (0:08:54). All three handbooks approved by voice (0:08:19, 0:10:43, 0:13:27). Crawford thanks Madden for the review (0:13:33). | |
| 0:14:05 | Policies | Hawkins moves the second-read package, which have had a first read previously (0:14:30); Crawford: the DB wording now follows Howard's revision, and the policies went to a second read because the administration had not seen them; the administration has since approved them (0:15:12, 0:15:39). Adopted (0:16:25). JFAA and GBCE adopted on first read (0:18:03); JED and JEDA withdrawn as replaced by policy JH (0:18:36, 0:19:10). | OBS POSITIVE |
| 0:19:10 | Recess, nonpublic session, seal | Recess while counsel travels. Sprague moves nonpublic under RSA 91-8 colon three comma LLAC [RSA 91-A:3, II(a), (c), (l)] and reads each ground (0:20:03); roll call. On return: motion to come out, roll call (0:21:01); I'd like to make a motion to seal the minutes of the meeting for five years. (0:21:25); roll call (0:21:40). No reason for the seal is given. | MEDIUM |
| 0:21:53 | The chair discloses the deficit | Whitney: as of fiscal year 25, we have a massive deficit anywhere between 1 and $5 million. The district is struggling to keep doors open and to meet payroll (0:22:29). | HIGH |
| 0:23:27 | Counsel: fiscal distress and the options | O'Shaughnessy: the auditor reports a significant deficit that you're carrying over as a, an operating deficit from last year to this year (0:23:27); the health insurer and other vendors are owed payments in arrears (0:23:55); there is insufficient cash flow , a state of fiscal distress (0:24:26). On Tuesday board members, the administration and counsel met the Commissioner of Education, the Bureau of Public School Finance, the Department of Revenue Administration and state lawyers (0:24:51); the commissioner wants an update by the end of the next day (0:26:01). Option one, encouraged by the state: petition Sullivan County Superior Court for permission to hold a special meeting to seek a supplemental appropriation; The judge has to agree that an emergency exists (0:26:57, 0:27:55). Option two: budget cuts. The governor's office is aware (0:28:25). These are counsel's descriptions; the page has not verified the special-meeting statute. | HIGH OBS |
| 0:29:12 | Madden: "deceptive", forensic review, IRS, opening | In April the board heard 1 million, maybe as high as $1.5 million (0:29:48); he objects to the term structural deficit and asks for a forensic look because in three months we go from $1 million to X, and I don't even know what X is (0:31:55); he will not support asking taxpayers (0:32:23). Henry: IRS payments are up to date (0:33:50). Is school opening in jeopardy (0:33:58)? | |
| 0:37:57 | The $3 million in adequacy aid | The $3 million discussed with the state It's not extra funds. It's the money that is due. and arrives September 1 (0:37:57, 0:38:14). (Dialogue file: Sprague, uncertain; minutes: Petrin.) | OBS |
| 0:38:41 | "Structural deficit" versus the FY2025 deficit | Counsel declines to explain the difference, citing the 2021, 2022 and 2023 audit records (0:39:11). Crawford: that afternoon the auditor, Mike Campo, told her and Sprague to set the structural deficit aside and focus on the current year (0:39:55, 0:40:26). Howard: the structural deficit is the prior audits; tonight's is FY2025 (0:41:55). Pratt asks Madden whether he is calling the administration nefarious; Madden: I'm not accusing anybody of anything. (0:41:43). | MEDIUM |
| 0:45:01 | Board reactions | Madden: All of us at this in this room have failed. (0:45:01). Hawkins: the board would be failing the community if it were not outraged; how to avoid a repeat (0:45:40, 0:46:17). Pratt: the commissioner says the 2024–25 cash-flow problem comes first (0:47:37). Sprague: the administration's plan does nothing to fix special education (0:50:46). | |
| 0:51:33 | Crawford: the appropriation route, the audits, FY26 money | The steps to a supplemental appropriation (board vote to authorize counsel, a number, a judge's approval, a deliberative session, an SB 2 vote) make it a crapshoot in her view (0:52:30 to 0:54:05). The auditors are not the cause of delay: The auditors can only do their job if we give them the information on which to do the audits. (0:56:00); the FY2022 audit is still not done (0:56:24). And: we've already spent a million and a half of the 26 money paying the 25 bills (0:57:00). | HIGH MEDIUM |
| 0:57:28 | Koski, Howard, Crawford, O'Hearn, Petrin | Koski: there is a reason we're doing it's 22 audits in 24, 25 ; prior errors were carried forward (0:57:35, 0:57:59). Howard: when you look at the numbers we budgeted for the previous year versus what we spent, there are massive overages (1:00:52), including special education (1:02:30). Crawford: special education is not the only cause (1:02:10). O'Hearn: overtime limits, position control (1:03:21). Petrin: on page one there's 40 something lines and 20 some other are in the overspent (1:04:40). Pratt: we're still working on the reconciliations for the 24, 25 year (1:05:41). | HIGH |
| 1:06:12 | The July SAU office closure; information to the board | Madden asks what staff charged their time to during the two-week July closure (1:06:12); Pratt: closed To the public (1:06:50); Hawkins explains the arrangement (1:07:05). Madden: And when I ask for information, I get stonewalled. (1:08:24). Crawford: the Finance Committee has asked for monthly expense-to-budget reports for six months and not received them (1:08:42). | |
| 1:11:25 | Public comment opened on the item | The chair offers three minutes at the podium (1:11:25). Rep. Hope Damon: the state paid 67% of requested special-education aid for the year just ended; a new statute limits proration; has a city bond been considered; what are the short-term solutions (1:12:05 to 1:15:12). Sprague: that aid covers extraordinary costs only (1:18:38). | POSITIVE |
| 1:15:21 | How long can schools stay open? | Pratt: school will open on schedule (1:15:22). Henry: through the end of September, working on October, because the next adequacy payment comes November 1 or 2 (1:16:42); Is the debt going to accumulate? Yes. (1:17:18). Pratt: SchoolCare agreed a payment plan and the city is releasing money a week early (1:18:04). | HIGH |
| 1:19:29 | Gary Merchant, Ward 2 | Asks for a detailed cash-flow statement within 48 hours and, until there is a solution, I would advocate for you folks to consider delaying the opening of the school until this thing is solved. (1:20:40). Crawford: most costs are contractual and continue regardless (1:22:23). | |
| 1:23:16 | Borrowing ruled out; the state's role | Crawford: the auditor discouraged a bond; the district cannot borrow, the city would have to (1:24:17). Counsel: Under current law, neither the city nor the school district can borrow money to pay for for debt. (1:24:36); the fix may have to come from the state (1:27:34); he blames rising special-education costs partly on legislative changes (1:27:50, 1:28:12). These are counsel's characterizations. | |
| 1:29:12 | Next steps | Pratt asks for a clear directive (1:29:30); Whitney asks for options with reasons (1:29:46). Counsel: the commissioner asked for a detailed cash flow statement, starting with the current cash balance and covering through the end of September (1:30:35); he proposes bringing in a business administrator with a CPA background (1:31:54). Madden wants weekly figures (1:33:42). Crawford: the board debated whether to go public before it had all the information (1:34:25, 1:34:50). Documents promised 24 hours before the August 20 meeting (1:36:32). | OBS |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer's aid: points where the record raises a question under a statute, rule or accounting standard, or where the board did something worth noting. They are not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each flag cites the rule it rests on.
HIGH The district's own FY2024–25 budget report shows general-fund spending $1.53 million over budget, and nothing in the record invokes the statutory exception
The packet for this meeting contains Claremont FY24-25 Financials 8-8-25 (1).pdf, a general-ledger budget report for fund 100 covering July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, printed August 8, 2025. Its grand total reads: budget $37,644,714.81; spent $39,170,152.24; balance ($1,525,437.43), or ($1,588,738.07) after $63,300.64 of encumbrances, minus 4.22% (budget report). Board members read the same report aloud as overages everywhere (1:00:52, 1:04:40), and Crawford said FY2026 money had already gone to pay FY2025 bills (0:57:00). RSA 32:8 bars a school board from paying or agreeing to pay money, or incurring liability, "in excess of the amount appropriated by the legislative body for that purpose ... except as provided in RSA 32:9-11". The emergency route in RSA 32:11, I requires the school board to apply to the commissioner of education "prior to the making of such expenditure", with budget-committee approval or a public hearing; no such application appears in this record. Mitigation the record supplies: Pratt said the figures were still being reconciled (1:05:41); the report's budget column may not equal the voted appropriation; part of the shortfall is revenue (special-education aid paid at 67%, 1:12:05), which RSA 32:8 does not reach. The audited FY2025 budgetary comparison, still years away on this record, is the document that would confirm or clear this.
Sources: RSA 32:8 (no expenditure beyond appropriation; 1993, 332:1); RSA 32:11, I (emergency expenditures only on prior application to the commissioner of education); FY24-25 budget report, printed 8/8/2025 (packet)
MEDIUM Nonpublic minutes sealed for five years with no statutory reason stated
The nonpublic motion named its grounds, RSA 91-A:3, II(a), (c) and (l), and was taken by roll call (0:20:03), as RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires. The seal motion was put as seal the minutes of the meeting for five years
(0:21:25) and carried on a roll call (0:21:40); the minutes record only that it passed and the date, 8/14/2030. RSA 91-A:3, III allows minutes to be withheld beyond 72 hours only when, by recorded two-thirds vote in public session, "it is determined that divulgence of the information likely would affect adversely the reputation of any person other than a member of the public body itself, or render the proposed action ineffective, or pertain to terrorism". The vote count satisfies the statute; the determination is not on the record. Given counsel's later statements that the business administrator was no longer in charge of the district's finances (August 20), a reputation ground may well have applied, but the board did not say so.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and III (motion and roll call; sealing requires a stated determination); approved minutes 8.14.25
MEDIUM The FY2022 audit was still being completed in August 2025, and FY2023 to FY2025 had not been audited
Crawford: the FY2022 audit is still not done
, because the district was extremely slow, very slow in providing that information to the auditors
(0:56:24); Koski acknowledged 22 audits in 24, 25
(0:57:35); the agenda's future items list a "Possible Audit Presentation on FY 2022". If federal expenditures reached $750,000 in a year, 2 CFR 200.501(a) required a single audit and 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1) set its deadline at nine months after year end (March 31, 2023 for FY2022). This record does not state annual federal expenditures, so the flag is MEDIUM. RSA 21-J:19 permits rather than requires an audit within a year, so state law alone sets no missed deadline. The practical consequence was on display: the board was asked to act on unaudited, unreconciled numbers with no audited opening balance.
Sources: 2 CFR 200.501(a) (2022 edition); 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1) (2022 edition); RSA 21-J:19 (permissive)
OBSERVATION Where did the board deliberate about going public?
Crawford: the board members of the board, have had a lot of discussion of whether to, bring this tonight to the public
(1:34:25). No earlier public session in this record carries that discussion; the August 6 meeting the board had announced did not take place (see flag 6), and the only closed session on this record is the one held this evening under exemptions for personnel, reputation and legal advice, whose minutes are sealed. Legal advice about disclosure would fit II(l); a policy decision about informing the public would not fit any exemption. RSA 91-A:2-a, II provides that communications outside a meeting "shall not be used to circumvent the spirit and purpose of this chapter". The record does not say where or how the discussion took place, and nothing here shows a violation; the unsealing of the nonpublic minutes in 2030, or the board's own account, would answer it.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2-a, II (communications outside a meeting); RSA 91-A:3, II(l)
OBSERVATION The approved minutes and the recording differ on movers, speakers and one of counsel's options
Four points. (1) The minutes credit Loren Howard with moving the first-read adoption of JFAA and GBCE, seconded by Whitney; on tape Hawkins asks Would anyone like to make a motion other than me?
and then says I'll make a motion to accept or adopt.
(0:17:30, 0:17:58). (2) The minutes give Petrin the second on the JED/JEDA withdrawal; the dialogue file gives I'll second.
to Madden, marked uncertain (0:18:57). (3) The remark that the $3 million is adequacy aid due September 1 is Petrin's in the minutes and Sprague's (uncertain) in the dialogue file (0:37:57). (4) The minutes describe counsel's first option as an "emergency meeting with the county"; on tape it is a petition to Sullivan County Superior Court for permission to hold a special meeting
(0:26:57). RSA 91-A:2, II requires the minutes to record who moved and seconded each motion; the mover/seconder discrepancies are worth a correction motion, and the description of the court route matters because it is the only lawful path to new money that counsel named. The dialogue file's diarization merges voices, so points (2) and (3) may be label errors rather than minutes errors.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (mover and seconder recorded; 2024 codification); approved minutes 8.14.25
OBSERVATION The published August 6 meeting did not happen, and this August 14 meeting was not on the published schedule
On June 18 the chair announced the next meeting as August 6, and the June 18 agenda listed board meetings on 8/6/25 and 8/20/25. MAP.md records no August 6 meeting, recording, packet or minutes, and this meeting's consent agenda approves the June 18 minutes, which fits no meeting in between. This Thursday meeting appears on neither list. Its agenda was in Drive on August 8, six days ahead, and RSA 91-A:2, II requires only 24 hours' notice, so nothing here shows a notice defect; what is missing is any public record of the August 6 cancellation and of when this date was set. The nonpublic session was added by floor amendment (0:01:43), which RSA 91-A does not forbid.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (24-hour notice; 2024 codification); CSB Agenda 6.18.25 (future dates); the June 18, 2025 page
POSITIVE The board took the crisis public, opened comment on it, adopted its fiscal controls and posted draft minutes within four business days
With incomplete numbers, members chose to disclose: The public needs to know what the situation is.
(1:34:50). The chair opened comment on the financial item itself (1:11:25), beyond the opening comment period that policy BEDH places on non-agenda topics, and a state representative and a resident used it. The same night the board adopted the Finance Committee's fiscal-control policies (annual signer reports under DGA, annual auditor selection and a firm-delivered audit report under DIE, two-signature activity-fund payments under DK). And the draft minutes were in Drive by August 20 (file modified at 13:22 and created at 15:13 UTC), the fourth business day, inside RSA 91-A:2, II's five.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (five business days; 2024 codification); Drive metadata for 8.14.25 DRAFT CSB Meeting Minutes.pdf (read 2026-10-03); policy BEDH
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/16764 School Board 081425.mp4.CSV (458 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/16764 School Board 081425.mp4Input/Transcripts/16764 School Board 081425.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md (section 269)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- Municipal budget law: RSA 32:8; RSA 32:11, I
- Right-to-Know: RSA 91-A:2, II (2024 codification; the 2025, 112:1 additions took effect August 22, 2025, after this meeting); RSA 91-A:2-a, II; RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(l), III
- Audits: RSA 21-J:19; 2 CFR 200.501(a) and 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1) (2022 annual edition)
- District policy: BEDH, public comment