Participants
Everyone heard or recorded as present. Spellings follow the agenda and the draft minutes, which list the citizens' comment speakers in speaking order; where the dialogue file's label differs, the difference is noted. Unidentified voices stay unidentified.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Heather Whitney | Chair, presiding | Presides. Reads counsel's advice on the vacancy and Sprague's letter requesting reinstatement (2:10:07, 2:11:20); says she asked Sprague "kind of offhandedly would do any chance that you would do it" (2:21:46); seconds both Sprague motions and votes for reinstatement; opposes the Lavallette motion (2:47:22). Seconds the forensic-audit motion on tape (1:39:44); the draft minutes name Hawkins. |
| Michael Petrin | Vice chair; Capital Improvement | Moves Sprague's reinstatement twice (2:13:49, 2:52:49); seconds the EHAG motion (3:04:44); volunteers for the superintendent and business administrator search committee (2:08:07); asks for a plain-language meeting on what happened financially (3:10:24). The ASR renders his name Patron. |
| Arlene Hawkins | Member; chair, Policy subcommittee | Opposes reinstatement as circumventing the board's own process (2:14:10, 2:17:40); seconds the Lavallette motion and speaks for it (2:45:49); reads the by-laws' voting and abstention text aloud (2:56:31, 2:58:09). Presents policies (3:02:33) and moves their adoption and the withdrawal of five old policies. Asks about free and reduced lunch applications (3:15:03). Asks to leave the Curriculum committee. |
| Candace Crawford | Member; chair, Finance and SRVRTC subcommittees | Moves the bus sale (1:29:37), the forensic audit (1:39:31), the $17,000 tuition rate (1:53:40) and reopening the vacancy (2:51:31). Says the board "were told incorrectly that we could just vote" on a trust-fund withdrawal (1:37:11); describes a tuition-revenue estimate "artificially inflated by 500,000" (1:32:51). Recommends leaving the seat open until March (2:24:13); votes against reinstatement. |
| William "Bill" Madden | Member | Questions timekeeping software (1:00:11), McKinney-Vento transport costs (1:43:43), NEASC accreditation and internal controls (1:47:13) and who hired the psychology interns (1:58:29). Reports on the SchoolCare annual meeting: premiums "expected to go up between 9.5% and 35%" (2:59:59). Volunteers for the search committee. Votes for reinstatement after saying the idea "looks like a back room, cigar filled smoke" to some (2:15:57). |
| Loren Howard | Member | Seconds the grant, bus, tuition and reopening motions. Moves to appoint Don Lavallette (2:43:49) and explains his vote (2:44:00 to 2:45:32). Abstains on Sprague's reinstatement (2:53:22), which then carries 3–2. Reports he attended the NHSBA delegate assembly (3:14:04). Rendered Lauren by the ASR. |
| Frank Sprague | Former member; reinstated to the vacant seat | Not present. His letter requesting reinstatement is read into the record (2:11:20); reinstated 3–2 with one abstention. |
| Noelle Kronberg | Board clerk | Took minutes remotely (0:00:33); signs the draft minutes. |
| Kerry Kennedy | Interim Superintendent, SAU 6 | Superintendent's report (0:23:26): class sizes after the Bluff consolidation (0:27:18), a change of middle-school principal (0:33:06), leave-bank discrepancies (0:34:38), a grant-manager vacancy (0:40:20), the $16,000 grant (0:49:35), due-process training (1:22:18). Answers follow-up items, including that "Mr. McCusker had hired" the interns (1:58:20). |
| Matt Angell | Senior Comptroller / Interim Business Administrator, SAU 6; in-person clerk | Calls the roll. Financial update: Positive Pay, bus sale, tax rate (1:30:00), the capital reserve withdrawal (1:34:11), law enforcement and a forensic audit (1:38:56 to 1:41:22), tuition (1:53:09). Says of vendor records "I can't let them take copies of it." (2:02:19). Says the FY2023 to FY2025 audits begin "the week after next" (3:11:19). |
| Jim O'Shaughnessy | District counsel | Reports the former business administrator's termination by mutual agreement (1:06:03); confirms the related records are public under the Right-to-Know law (1:06:46). Five of his rows are labeled Donald in the dialogue file (see the footer). |
| Jeff Small | Director of Technology, SAU 6 | Presents the first version of the software and subscription inventory (1:12:36). |
| Melissa Lewis | Disnard Elementary principal (per the draft minutes) | Updates enrollment figures: Disnard is "up to 309" (0:30:25). |
| Courtney Porter | School social worker; mental-health coordinator | Describes food-insecurity supports and the grant-funded wellness coach (0:46:50 to 0:55:59). |
| Dr. Michael Herrington | Stevens High School principal | Explains the program of studies is being revamped around career clusters and will come to a later meeting (2:03:03). |
| Gary Merchant | Citizens' comments, Ward 2 | Asks the board to reopen the vacancy search to more applicants (0:04:16). |
| Amanda Barton | Citizens' comments, Ward 2 | Asks whether the tax increase needs a vote; asks about restructuring and teacher retention (0:06:11). |
| Rod Beaton | Citizens' comments, Ward 2 | Raises middle-school staffing and the loss of the band teacher (0:09:19, 0:10:51). |
| Rebecca (surname printed "Vinduska" in the draft minutes) | Citizens' comments, Ward 1; CMS teacher and SREA building representative | "We are so short staffed." Describes safety and consistency problems at the middle school (0:12:04 to 0:15:02). The spelling of her surname differs across district records and is not settled. |
| Michelle Beaton | Citizens' comments, Ward 2 | Middle-school staffing, leadership and access to alumni-association funds (0:15:19). The dialogue file labels her Michelle; the surname is from the draft minutes' speaking order. |
| Cassandra Edwards | Citizens' comments, Ward 3; Disnard SREA building representative | Class sizes after the Bluff consolidation (0:17:21); adds Maple second-grade figures during the superintendent's report (0:31:38). |
| Michelle Springer-Blake | Citizens' comments, Ward 2 | Special-education staffing and restructuring (0:19:36 to 0:22:05). The dialogue file labels her Michelle; the name is from the draft minutes' speaking order. |
| Don Lavallette | Applicant for the vacant seat; Ward 2 | In the first comment period, defends the vacancy process as transparent (0:22:16; labeled Donald in the dialogue file, named Don Lavallette in the draft minutes' speaking order). On the vacancy item, calls reinstatement "an insult" and asks the board to choose between "Mr. Tyson me, or don't fill it" (2:31:59). |
| Kevin Tyson | Applicant for the vacant seat | Speaks on the vacancy item about his volunteer tutoring and Education Options (2:38:38 to 2:40:50); at the end of the meeting suggests Google Forms for collecting public questions (3:17:02). See the footer's maintainer disclosure. |
| Matt Bean | Comment on the vacancy item, Ward 1 | Opposes reinstatement; supports Lavallette (2:32:32 to 2:35:20). |
| John Cloutier | Comment on the vacancy item, Ward 1; state representative | Introduces Claremont's legislators and offers help (2:35:37). Representative Wayne Hemingway is noted as present. |
| Cameron Lowney | Comment on the vacancy item, Ward 2 | "It is the most smoke filled room thing I can imagine." (2:37:38). The draft minutes spell Lowney; the dialogue file has "Camron Lownie"; the spelling is not settled. |
| Sherry Williams | Comment on the vacancy item, Ward 1 (Ward 3 on October 15) | Asks the board to choose between "two highly qualified candidates" (2:42:05). |
| Unidentified | Various | Ninety-seven short rows, mostly crosstalk; two carry the grant motion (0:58:12, 0:58:26), which the draft minutes give to Petrin. |
Agenda
The posted agenda (created on Drive November 4, 2025, 02:30 UTC, about 45 hours ahead) with the point at which each item is taken up and its disposition. Agenda wording is quoted from the agenda; motions and votes follow the draft minutes and the recording.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:06 | I. Call to order | Whitney presides. |
| 0:00:51 | II. Roll call | Angell: all six present. |
| 0:01:04 | II.a Consent agenda | Agenda: "Consent Agenda (vote required)", covering agenda amendments, minutes and the manifest. Added: Madden's SchoolCare report. Removed: policy JICI (adopted October 15) and item 2, moving the alternative programs to Bluff (0:02:44). "Seeing none the consent agenda is accepted." (0:02:14). No vote; draft minutes: "Consent approval". See flag 6. |
| 0:03:07 | II.b Citizens' comments | Eight speakers, 0:03:41 to 0:22:16; closed and opened for board discussion at 0:22:56. |
| 0:23:18 | II.c Superintendent's report | Professional development, due process for out-of-school suspensions, class sizes, technology audit. Grant of $16,000 accepted by voice vote (Petrin per the minutes, second Howard, 0:58:37). See flag 2. |
| 1:04:02 | III.1 Nonpublic session (taken early) | Agenda: "Non-Public Meeting Session RSA91-A:3 II (k)". Moved early because counsel bills "by the 15 minute increments" (1:04:09); roll call 6–0 (1:04:49 to 1:04:57); out on Crawford's motion, Howard second, roll call 6–0 (1:05:33). See flag 3. |
| 1:26:18 | II.d Financial update | SchoolCare withholding, Positive Pay, bus sale (Crawford, second Howard, voice vote, 1:29:50), tax rate, "Past Trust Fund Withdrawals" (1:34:11), forensic audit (Crawford; second Whitney on tape, Hawkins in the minutes; friendly amendment; voice vote, 1:42:41), tuition rate $17,000 (Crawford, second Howard, voice vote, 1:54:41). See flag 1 and flag 11. |
| 1:55:14 | II.e Follow-up items | Whistleblower notice posting; the 2024 federal-funding letters, linked from the agenda; compensation posting; who hired the interns; Director of Student Services search; where to find raw FY26 budget data. See flag 4 and flag 12. |
| 2:02:45 | III.3 SHS program of studies | Not ready; to a later meeting. Item 2 had been struck. |
| 2:05:20 | III.4 Sale or lease of the Masonic Temple and Bluff School | Agenda: "Sale of any property would require voter approval via warrant article on Voting Day, March 2026". Board consent by no objection (2:07:19). |
| 2:07:19 | III.5 Superintendent and business administrator search committee | Madden and Petrin volunteer; no vote. |
| 2:09:09 | III.6 Vacant school board seat | Agenda: "(Discussion, Vote or Consensus)". Petrin moves to reinstate Sprague, Whitney seconds; deferred for discussion (2:13:49). Public comment 2:31:03 to 2:42:42. Howard moves to appoint Lavallette, Hawkins seconds: 3–3, fails (for Howard, Hawkins, Crawford; against Madden, Petrin, Whitney per the minutes; 2:49:34). Crawford moves to reopen to new applicants, Howard seconds: 3–3, fails (2:51:58). Petrin moves to reinstate Sprague, Whitney seconds: 3 for (Madden, Petrin, Whitney), 2 against (Crawford, Hawkins), Howard abstaining; declared passed under the by-laws' "present and voting" rule (2:55:23 to 2:57:08). All by show of hands. See flag 7. |
| 2:59:03 | 7 (added) SchoolCare annual meeting | Madden's report. |
| 3:01:21 | Subcommittee reports | Finance: next meeting November 12 at 1:00 (3:01:34). Policy: EHAG moved to second read (voice vote, 3:05:14); ADB, JFABD, JLF and revisions to DK and JLDBB adopted on first read (Hawkins, second Crawford, voice vote, 3:06:32); BG, JED, JEDA, JIA and JHB withdrawn (Hawkins, second Crawford, voice vote, 3:08:03). Curriculum to be revitalized. |
| 3:10:10 | IV. Other business | Requests for a financial-history meeting, a music-program update and free-lunch outreach; Tyson's Google Forms suggestion (3:17:02). |
| 3:17:49 | VI. Adjournment | "Any objection to meeting adjourned. Meeting adjourned." No motion is recorded in the minutes. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/16951 SchoolBoard110525.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording. Quotations are as transcribed.
Topics in the order taken up, with the most concrete material first.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:04 | Agenda and consent agenda | Two items removed and one added; "Seeing none the consent agenda is accepted." The manifest is part of the consent agenda; Angell later refers to "the manifest that we're going to be signing this evening" (1:26:44). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:03:41 | Citizens' comments: the vacancy | Merchant: "The board remains evenly split between two candidates." (0:03:51) and asks to "open the search to additional applicants" (0:04:16). Lavallette (labeled Donald): "We had four strong candidates. Three of them showed up." (0:22:16). | |
| 0:06:11 | Citizens' comments: staffing and restructuring | Barton asks whether voters must approve the tax increase and urges teacher-retention measures (0:07:27). Beaton: the band teacher "lost a, I think, 15,000 out of his salary or something when band and music were cut" (0:11:07). Rebecca: "We are so short staffed." (0:12:39). Michelle Beaton: "If they're almost 40% down their staff from last year." (0:15:59). Edwards on doubled class sizes at Maple (0:17:53). Springer-Blake: a parent was told in an IEP meeting "that we just didn't have enough special educators" (0:21:38). | |
| 0:26:36 | Student safety; class sizes | A middle-school student was hit by a car on the Friday before; "That student is recovering." (0:26:59). Maple: three kindergartens of 18; grade 3 average 24; grade 4 a class of 28 (0:28:04); Kennedy: "Very well within the industry standard." (0:28:35). Disnard averages 18.1, Maple 20.2 (0:30:03); Lewis updates Disnard to 309 students (0:30:25). | |
| 0:33:06 | Middle-school principal changed again | After "a quick resignation", Jennifer O'Neil, appointed interim principal by the board on October 15, has been moved to "a different need", and a reassigned staff member "will be taking over as the middle school principal" (0:33:31), "till the end of the year" (0:34:22). The name is not audible; the draft minutes name Dale Chenette. No board vote on this appointment appears in the record. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:34:38 | Leave banks and timekeeping | HR is reconciling leave balances because Frontline and Infinite Visions "weren't talking to each other". The Visions self-service module "hasn't been turned on" in three years (0:37:33). Angell: "Timekeeping is kind of a mini disaster" (1:00:48). Madden: supervisor approval of time "none of that was being done" (1:01:12). | |
| 0:49:35 | $16,000 grant accepted | $10,000 from Dartmouth Health and $6,000 from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation; $5,000 retains WeRHope to place a wellness coach at the middle school (0:49:44). Asked whether a hearing is needed, Whitney: "No, it's under 20." (0:57:55). Voice vote, all in favor (0:58:37). The grant is not on the posted agenda. | MEDIUM |
| 1:04:09 | Nonpublic session | Whitney: "the reason why I'd like to do this is because we get build [billed] by the 15 minute increments. So this is because our nonpublic will include our attorneys." The motion cites "RSA 91, dash a colon three two K". The nonpublic minutes record a tuition-rate recommendation and a "non-meeting" with district counsel; no vote. | MEDIUM |
| 1:05:43 | Former business administrator terminated | Counsel: "Terminated by mutual agreement between the saw [SAU] and the business administrator. Her contract of employment was through June 30th, 2027." "The details of the agreement are in a termination. Separation agreement and release. That document will be on file at the Sao [SAU]." (1:06:27). Records are public under the Right-to-Know law: "Yes they are." (1:06:46). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:12:36 | Technology audit | Small presents "volume 1.0" of a software list; some programs cost "20,000, 17,000" (Whitney, 1:16:45); staff have used software without data-privacy agreements (1:13:43). | |
| 1:26:44 | Positive Pay; bus sale | Positive Pay will be trialed on this manifest; unmatched checks are held and denied if not reviewed in four hours (1:27:51). Three retired buses sold for the high offers of $1,100, $1,800 and $1,400 (1:28:40). | |
| 1:30:00 | Tax rate | Angell: the tax rate "is based upon what the voters voted for in March" minus estimated revenues, "and in the past, the estimated revenues were artificially set high" (1:30:26). Crawford: the tuition estimate "was set at 780,000, which was artificially inflated by 500,000" (1:32:51). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:34:11 | Capital reserve withdrawal | Angell: a "capital reserve fund required voter approval to withdraw the funds" (1:34:11); "The prior business administrator said that the board was authorized her to withdraw the money" (1:34:39); "It was $150,000." (1:35:00). Crawford: "we were told incorrectly that we could just vote. And we in fact, needed the district vote to do that." (1:37:11). Angell: "It was just done incorrectly." (1:38:38). Whitney says the fund was liquidated for special-education costs, not the building purchase (1:37:57). | HIGH |
| 1:38:56 | Law enforcement; forensic audit | "I am speaking with law enforcement." (1:38:56), "specifically about stipends" (1:39:07). "Lieutenant Eaton has asked the school board to hire a forensic auditor." (1:39:18); Angell identifies the New Hampshire State Police (1:41:54). Madden objects to an open-ended engagement (1:40:20); Angell: "I will bring the contract here for your approval." (1:41:22). Passed by voice vote with that friendly amendment (1:42:41). | POSITIVE |
| 1:43:43 | McKinney-Vento transport | Board members now sign off on a "voucher supplement account summary" (1:44:16). Transport for one homeless student: "It's about $500 a day." (1:45:15); federal law requires it (1:45:39); costs may be split 50-50 with another district but are reported gross (1:46:08). | |
| 1:47:13 | Accreditation and internal controls | Madden asks whether the NEASC deferral reviews internal business controls; Angell: "That's a review of the curriculum." (1:49:06). Madden: "The prior administration lied to us habitually." (1:49:19). | |
| 1:53:09 | Tuition rate | Recommended "17,000, a year for or per student for the high school"; special-education costs stay with the sending district (1:53:53). Voice vote, all in favor (1:54:41). The recommendation had been discussed in the nonpublic session (1:08:29). | MEDIUM |
| 1:55:14 | Follow-up items | Whistleblower notice: the state labor-law poster in each staff area carries it; only maintenance has not confirmed (1:56:29). The 2024 letters on withheld federal funds "were addressed only to the administrative team, and the information was not presented to the board" and are now linked from the agenda (1:56:54). Interns: "Mr. McCusker had hired those" (1:58:20); Madden disputes it (1:58:29). Director of Student Services: no candidate brought forward (2:00:36). | POSITIVE |
| 2:01:21 | Raw budget data | Whitney points to the budget documents on the SAU website. Angell: "I can't publish detailed vendors information." (2:02:06); the public can "Review at the meeting." (2:02:17); "So but I can't let them take copies of it." (2:02:19). | MEDIUM |
| 2:05:41 | Masonic Temple and Bluff School | Administration will bring sell-or-lease recommendations in December so a warrant article can go to voters: "in both cases we need voter approval." (2:06:07). Board consents without a vote. | |
| 2:07:19 | Search committee | Counsel's office will guide an ad hoc superintendent and business-administrator search committee; Madden and Petrin volunteer. The district's employment attorney offered to discuss "alternative administrative models, including executive directorship" (2:08:07). | |
| 2:09:09 | Vacancy: counsel's advice and Sprague's letter | Whitney reads counsel's email: RSA 671:33 says the school board "shall feel [fill] vacancies"; if it does not, "there is a risk that the City Council votes to fill it" (2:10:07, 2:10:42); counsel also "said that the law that he cited is not a controlling law" (2:11:04). She reads Sprague's letter asking for reinstatement (2:11:20). Petrin moves reinstatement (2:13:49). | OBSERVATION |
| 2:14:10 | Vacancy: board debate | Hawkins: "We are circumventing our own process." Howard: reopening "feels a little bit like of a time waster" (2:15:00). Whitney on how the letter arose: "I said, kind of offhandedly would do any chance that you would do it. And he said he would consider it." (2:21:46). Crawford: the NHSBA's attorney said seats have stayed open past 45 days; "I would recommend that we do nothing" (2:23:27, 2:24:13). | OBSERVATION |
| 2:31:03 | Vacancy: public comment | Lavallette: reinstating "somebody who quit" is an insult (2:31:25). Bean supports Lavallette and opposes Tyson as having worked for "a group that likes to direct families from going away from public schools" (2:33:50). Lowney: "it looks yucky from the public perspective." (2:38:15). Tyson describes his volunteer tutoring and says of Education Options, "We are not in the business of getting people out of schools." (2:39:53). Williams: "you have two highly qualified candidates" (2:42:05). | |
| 2:43:49 | Vacancy: the Lavallette motion | Howard moves Lavallette. He says his vote "had nothing to do with Kevin's conservative politics" and that "adopt [EdOpt] is not as neutral as it's being projected to be" (2:44:00, 2:44:21). Hawkins speaks for Lavallette as "a public educator" (2:47:09). Whitney opposes: "being the president of the union is is is a biased position to have come from." (2:48:39). Tie, 3–3 (2:49:34). | OBSERVATION |
| 2:51:31 | Vacancy: reopen, then reinstate | Crawford's motion to reopen to new applicants ties 3–3 (2:52:14). Petrin renews the Sprague motion (2:52:49); Howard: "I'm going to abstain" (2:53:22). Hawkins reads the by-laws: "Abstentions are counted, but have no bearing on the outcome of the vote." (2:56:31). Crawford: "So that means that the motion passes 3 to 2." (2:55:50). Hawkins then reads the NHSBA recommendation that abstaining "to force a tie vote, is counter to members public duty." (2:58:09). | OBSERVATION |
| 2:59:17 | SchoolCare premiums | Premiums "expected to go up between 9.5% and 35%" (2:59:59). | |
| 3:02:33 | Policies | ADB (written reporting of work-related drug convictions, a federal requirement), JFABD, JLF, DK and JLDBB adopted on first read; EHAG on generative AI held to a second read after a constituent's ChatGPT review (3:04:04); five obsolete policies withdrawn. | |
| 3:10:24 | Other business | Petrin asks for a plain-language meeting on the financial history. Angell: the audits "have been scheduled to begin the week after next" (3:11:19); he must also prepare three budgets and corrective action plans (3:11:50); likely January. Tyson suggests Google Forms rather than email to collect public questions (3:17:02). | |
| 3:17:49 | Adjournment | "Any objection to meeting adjourned. Meeting adjourned." | |
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 November 5, 2025, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
HIGH The interim business administrator reported that a $150,000 capital reserve withdrawal in May 2025 was made on a board vote alone, where a district vote was required
Under "Past Trust Fund Withdrawals" Angell said that "the building improvement and maintenance capital reserve fund", one funding source he found while reviewing the Masonic Temple purchase, "required voter approval to withdraw the funds" (1:34:11), that the prior business administrator told the trustees "the board was authorized her to withdraw the money" (1:34:39), and "It was just done incorrectly." (1:38:38). Crawford agreed: "we were told incorrectly that we could just vote. And we in fact, needed the district vote to do that." (1:37:11). The document linked from the agenda, Trust Fund Withdrawal 5-20-25_0001.pdf, is Mary Henry's May 20, 2025 letter to the Trustees of Trust Funds requesting, "on behalf of the Claremont School Board", $888,998.42 from five funds, including "$150,000.00 from the Building Repair & Renovation Capital Reserve Fund for roof replacement Stevens High School", with the May 7, 2025 board minutes attached. Those minutes record each withdrawal approved by a board voice vote after Henry told the board that "the Board has the right to remove money from trust funds". RSA 35:15, I directs trustees to hold capital reserve funds "until such time as the town, district or county shall have voted to withdraw funds", and ¶II(a) requires, for a school district, "a majority vote of the legal voters present and voting at an annual or special meeting". What the record does not settle: whether any district meeting article authorized the board to withdraw from this fund; whether the other capital reserve withdrawals in the same letter ($283,860.00, $28,788.01 and $1,350.41) stand on the same footing; and what the money paid for, since the minutes say "FY24 roof expenditures", the letter says roof replacement, Henry presented the package as covering special-education overruns, and Whitney said this fund "was liquidated to offset unanticipated special education expenses" (1:37:57). Angell said he is still reviewing it.
Sources: RSA 35:15, I and II(a) (capital reserve funds withdrawn only on a vote of the district meeting); Trust Fund Withdrawal 5-20-25_0001.pdf (letter of May 20, 2025 with the May 7, 2025 minutes)
MEDIUM A $16,000 grant was accepted although the agenda gave no notice of it
The board accepted $16,000 from Dartmouth Health and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation by voice vote (0:58:37). Asked about a hearing, the chair said "No, it's under 20." (0:57:55), and the draft minutes record "No hearing is needed as it is under $20,000". That is correct as far as it goes: RSA 198:20-b, III(a) requires a prior public hearing only for $20,000 or more. But ¶III(b) adds that for amounts under $20,000 "the school board shall post notice of the funds in the agenda and shall include notice in the minutes of the school board meeting in which such funds are discussed." The posted agenda lists the superintendent's report topics and does not mention this grant. The minutes do record it. The authority to accept such funds also depends under ¶I on a district meeting article "authorizing indefinitely" the board to accept unanticipated money; whether Claremont has adopted one was not verified for this page.
Sources: RSA 198:20-b, I and III(a)–(b) (unanticipated funds; agenda notice under $20,000; as amended by 2023, 38:1); CSB Agenda 11.5.25.pdf
MEDIUM The nonpublic session: a tuition-contract exemption used for a general tuition rate, a disputed mover, and minutes posted after 72 hours
The agenda and the motion cite RSA 91-A:3, II(k), "Consideration by a school board of entering into a student or pupil tuition contract", which applies where discussion in public "would likely benefit a party or parties whose interests are adverse". The nonpublic minutes describe the business: Angell "discussed tuition rates" and "his recommendation regarding tuition rate to be set by Board", with no vote; the board then set a $17,000 rate for all incoming high-school students in public (1:54:41). Whether a general rate recommendation is the consideration of a tuition contract that II(k) describes is open; the chair's stated reason for taking the session early was counsel's billing (1:04:09), and the nonpublic minutes record a "non-meeting" with district counsel during it. Second, the recording has the chair making the motion ("That is my motion.", 1:04:35), while the draft minutes give it to Hawkins, seconded by Petrin. Third, the nonpublic minutes were not sealed, so RSA 91-A:3, III required disclosure "within 72 hours of the meeting"; the scanned PDF was created on Drive on November 12, 2025, seven days after, and sits in a "2025 Non-Public" folder created January 11, 2026. The handwritten form is partly illegible in its scanned text, including the recorder's name. Graded MEDIUM: the 72-hour finding rests on Drive dates, and the vote on tuition itself was public.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, II(k) and III (tuition-contract exemption; disclosure within 72 hours); RSA 91-A:2, I(b) (consultation with legal counsel is not a meeting); 11.5.25 CSB nonpublic minutes unsealed
MEDIUM The business office said the public may review vendor records at meetings but may not take copies
Answering a citizen's October 15 request for raw budget data, Angell said "I can't publish detailed vendors information." (2:02:06), that the public can "Review at the meeting." (2:02:17), and "So but I can't let them take copies of it." (2:02:19). The draft minutes put it as "they can view manifests at meetings". RSA 91-A:4, I gives every citizen "the right to inspect all governmental records in the possession, custody, or control of such public bodies or agencies, and to copy" them, and ¶IV(a) requires the body to "make available for inspection and copying any such governmental record within its files when such records are immediately available". Particular items in vendor records may be withheld under a specific exemption, but the statute has no rule limiting access to viewing at a board meeting. The remark answers a question about publishing; it is graded MEDIUM because it states a copying practice narrower than the law and was not corrected on the record.
Sources: RSA 91-A:4, I and IV(a) (right to inspect and copy governmental records; as amended through 2024, 49:1, 2)
MEDIUM The public minutes omit the start and end times and credit two motions differently from the recording
Since August 22, 2025, RSA 91-A:2, II has required minutes to include "the start time and end time of the meeting, and name of the person who produced the minutes", and "The names of the members who made or seconded each motion shall be recorded in the minutes." The draft minutes name their author (Noelle Kronberg) and give the nonpublic times, but state no start or end time; the adjournment line under "8:30 PM Adjournment" is blank. On movers and seconders, the recording and the minutes differ twice: the nonpublic motion (the chair on tape at 1:04:09; Hawkins, seconded by Petrin, in the minutes) and the forensic-audit second (the chair, "I second.", at 1:39:44 and 1:39:57; Hawkins in the minutes). The grant motion is by an unidentified voice on tape and Petrin in the minutes. The split votes on the vacancy are recorded by name, which the show-of-hands votes on tape do not show. Graded MEDIUM as documentation gaps in a draft; the Google Doc was last modified November 26, 2025.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (minutes contents; source note ends 2025, 112:1); 11.5.25 DRAFT CSB Meeting Minutes
OBSERVATION The consent agenda, including the manifest, was "accepted" without a vote, and the October 15 manifest is not mentioned
The agenda heads the item "Consent Agenda (vote required)". The chair took objections to the agenda changes and said "Seeing none the consent agenda is accepted." (0:02:14); the draft minutes write "Consent approval" against both the minutes and the manifest lines, and no minutes are listed for approval. Unanimous consent is a recognized way for a body to decide, so this is not graded as a defect in itself. The October 15 manifest, which that meeting's minutes record as "Not addressed at this time", does not appear in this meeting's record either; Madden's description of board members signing off on "a voucher supplement account summary" (1:44:16) suggests a separate review practice the minutes do not document. RSA 197:23-a allows the treasurer to pay "only upon orders of the school board".
Sources: RSA 197:23-a (payments only on orders of the school board); October 15, 2025 page, flag 6
OBSERVATION The vacancy was filled by reinstating the member who had resigned, on three votes of six, after the chair asked him to consider it
RSA 671:33, II(a) provides: "The school board shall fill vacancies occurring on the school board", and appointees serve "until the next district election". The chair read counsel's advice that the board should act at this meeting or risk the City Council filling the seat, and also that the cited law "is not a controlling law" (2:10:07 to 2:11:04); Crawford reported the NHSBA's attorney saying seats have stayed open longer (2:23:27). After the two applicants who had come through the board's process each drew three votes, the chair seconded Petrin's renewed motion to reinstate Sprague, whom she had asked "kind of offhandedly" whether he would serve (2:21:46). It carried 3–2 with Howard abstaining, on the by-laws' rule that abstentions "have no bearing on the outcome" (2:56:31). Three points are open on this record. First, RSA 671:33, II(a) turns the appointment over to the selectmen (for a city, its governing body under RSA 21:28, I) "if the remaining members are unable, by majority vote, to agree upon an appointment"; whether that majority is measured against the remaining members or those voting is not settled, and three of six is not a majority of the remaining members. Second, the by-laws text Hawkins read, ending with the NHSBA recommendation on abstentions, matches the by-laws Google Doc the district serves today, which differs from the adopted June 5, 2024 PDF; which copy governed is not established. Third, the board had no written vacancy policy (2:18:17). Several speakers and two members called the reinstatement a departure from the board's own process; the record supports describing the sequence, not a legal defect.
Sources: RSA 671:33, II(a) (school board fills board vacancies; selectmen if members cannot agree by majority vote); RSA 21:28, I (selectmen includes a city's governing body); Claremont School Board By-Laws, adopted June 5, 2024 (PDF); Claremont School Board By-Laws (live Google Doc)
OBSERVATION The claim that last year's tuition revenue estimate was inflated by $500,000 is not supported by the FY2025 actual reported three weeks earlier
Crawford said tuition revenue had historically been about $250,000 a year and that "Last year, the amount that was stated on the miss 2524 [MS-24] was set at 780,000, which was artificially inflated by 500,000. So there was $500,000 less raised in taxes" (1:32:51). The FY2025 MS-25 the board signed on October 15 reports actual "Tuition from All Sources" of about $722,763 (as read from the scanned form), close to the $780,000 estimate. If that line is the same revenue, the FY2025 estimate was not overstated by $500,000. The general point, that past revenue estimates ran high and the rate is now being set on realistic revenues (1:30:26), is the speakers' characterization and may rest on other lines. The FY2025 MS-24 worksheet and the FY2024 actuals would settle it.
Sources: FY 25 MS-25.pdf (October 15, 2025 packet; revenue line 2); MS24 (3).pdf (October 15, 2025 packet)
OBSERVATION The middle school's principal changed three weeks after the board appointed an interim, with no board action on the replacement
On October 15 the board voted 5–0 to appoint Jennifer O'Neil interim Claremont Middle School principal. Here Kennedy reports a "quick resignation", O'Neil moved to "a different need", and a reassigned staff member "will be taking over as the middle school principal" until the end of the year (0:33:06, 0:33:31, 0:34:22); the draft minutes name Dale Chenette. No motion or vote on the new appointment appears in the record, and the personnel item listed as agenda item 2 was struck at the outset. No statute verified for this page requires a board vote on a principal's assignment, so this is an observation; the board's own October 15 practice was to vote.
Sources: October 15, 2025 page, agenda (O'Neil appointment); 11.5.25 DRAFT CSB Meeting Minutes
OBSERVATION The former business administrator left by mutual agreement three weeks after an unpaid suspension was announced; the terms were not stated
On October 15 the superintendent read a statement that the business administrator's two-year contract had a for-cause termination clause and that she had been placed on unpaid disciplinary suspension. Here counsel reports a termination "by mutual agreement" effective November 4, under a "Separation agreement and release" on file at the SAU, on a contract that ran to June 30, 2027 (1:06:03, 1:06:27). Whether any payment is owed under the agreement was not stated. Counsel confirmed the records are public (1:06:46); RSA 91-A:4, I is the route to the agreement itself. The agreement is between the employee and SAU 6, not this board.
Sources: RSA 91-A:4, I (right to inspect governmental records); October 15, 2025 page
POSITIVE The board authorized a forensic audit and kept the contract for its own approval
Told that the New Hampshire State Police had asked for a forensic auditor in connection with stipends (1:39:07, 1:39:18, 1:41:54), the board authorized the administration to engage a forensic audit firm. When Madden objected to an open-ended commitment (1:40:20), Angell offered "I will bring the contract here for your approval." (1:41:22), and the motion was amended to say so before passing (1:42:41). The chair committed to share the dollar figure with the public. That keeps a large discretionary engagement under board control and on the public record.
Sources: 11.5.25 DRAFT CSB Meeting Minutes (motion and friendly amendment)
POSITIVE A standing follow-up section answered the previous meeting's open questions and published the 2024 federal-funding letters
The chair said "we should have follow up section on every board agenda" (1:55:14). Under it the administration answered the October 15 questions on the whistleblower notice (1:56:29), staff compensation, the interns' hiring and the raw budget data, and the board published, as links on the agenda, four NHDOE letters from 2024 on compliance and withheld federal funds that the chair said had been "addressed only to the administrative team, and the information was not presented to the board" (1:56:54). Publishing those letters goes beyond responding to a records request.
Sources: Claremont Letter of Non-Compliance April 2024; Claremont Letter of Non-Compliance August 2024; Claremont Letter of Compliance October 2024; Closeout - ESEA Programmatic Monitoring FY23
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: Claremont School Board - 11/5/25 (show 16951); excerpt of the vacancy item: Claremont School Board - School Board Vacancy Discussion - 11/5/25 (show 16958)
- Drive folder: 11. CSB 11.5.25 (1 document per MAP.md):
- Documents linked from the agenda and read for this page:
Trust Fund Withdrawal 5-20-25_0001.pdf (letter of May 20, 2025 with the May 7, 2025 minutes); Claremont Letter of Compliance_October 2024 (1).pdf; Claremont Letter of Non-Compliance April 2024 (1).pdf; Claremont Letter of Non-Compliance August 2024 (1).pdf; Closeout - ESEA Programmatic Monitoring FY23 - Claremont (1).pdf; ed-306.22-2026-standard-regulation.pdf. The agenda's other links (policies under review) were not opened.
- Minutes:
11.5.25 DRAFT CSB Meeting Minutes (2025 Meeting Minutes folder); nonpublic: 11.5.25 CSB nonpublic minutes unsealed (created November 12, 2025; Unsealed Minutes share, "2025 Non-Public" folder)
- From the October 15, 2025 packet, cited in flag 8:
FY 25 MS-25.pdf; MS24 (3).pdf (not opened)
- Not found: Sprague's letter, the separation agreement, the forensic-audit contract, and the software inventory Small presented; none is in the packet folder.
- Related pages: Claremont School Board, October 15, 2025.
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
- RSA 35:15, I and II(a) (last amended 2021, 105:2): capital reserve withdrawals by vote of the district meeting
- RSA 198:20-b, I and III (2023, 38:1, eff. July 18, 2023): unanticipated funds; hearing at $20,000; agenda and minutes notice below it
- RSA 91-A:2, I(b) and II (source note ends 2025, 112:1, eff. Aug. 22, 2025): counsel consultations; minutes contents and movers
- RSA 91-A:3, II(k) and III (2023, 189:1): tuition-contract exemption; 72-hour disclosure
- RSA 91-A:4, I and IV(a) (2024, 49:1, 2): inspection and copying of governmental records
- RSA 197:23-a: payments on orders of the school board
- RSA 671:33, II(a) (2021, 42:1): school board fills board vacancies; RSA 21:28, I (2008, 183:1): "selectmen" includes a city's governing body