Participants
Everyone heard on the recording. Names follow district documents (the 12/17/25 agenda masthead); the dialogue file's labels agree. No public comment was taken and no members of the public spoke.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Candace Crawford | Board member; Finance Committee chair (presiding) | Opens the session (0:00:03); presses on whether the FY26 starting number was valid (0:02:52); counts SAU positions (0:21:41); questions the substitute line (0:36:19); says the alternative program should leave the Tech Center (1:08:00, 1:08:11); sets the Monday session (1:15:36); adjourns (1:27:27). 327 attributed rows. |
| Heather Whitney | Board chair; Finance Committee member | Asks whether the prior budget and tax rate were accurate (0:02:59, 0:03:44); recalls the earlier board commitment to move the alternative program (0:54:39); raises arts versus core academics (0:46:45), athletics costs (1:20:18), the orange health plan (1:21:48), the grant-funded social worker (1:23:10) and school nursing (1:24:45). 294 attributed rows. |
| Matt Angell | Interim Business Administrator, SAU 6 (agenda title: Senior Comptroller/Interim Business Administrator) | Presents the draft four-school FY27 budget: payroll-system fault (0:00:22), health-insurance method (0:05:09, 0:06:51), vacancies (0:13:18), 2% increase (0:30:37), substitutes (0:35:22), Bluff lease idea (1:09:16). 292 attributed rows. |
| Kerry Kennedy | Interim Superintendent, SAU 6 | Explains the unbudgeted alternative programs (0:41:07 to 0:42:14) and the regional special-education collaborative (1:02:09); notes the committee is not a decision-making body (1:14:15); proposes televising the next session (1:15:08). 66 attributed rows. |
| Mary | Mentioned, not present | Named by Angell as having had the same withholding problem with last year's data (0:01:13). The prior budget was prepared under business administrator Mary Henry; the tape gives only the first name. |
| Josh | Mentioned, not present | The CCTV/CCMC staff member who would record the next session (1:15:08, 1:15:36). First name only on tape. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda was posted or found. The items below are reconstructed from the chair's transitions; the committee took no motions and no votes.
Reconstructed order of business, December 12, 2025
| Taken up | Item | Disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:03 | Call to order; budget update | "I'm going to turn over to Matt Angel to give us an update on where we stand on the budget." Discussion only. |
| 0:30:08 | Return to the budget's starting point | Crawford: "Let's go back to the budget." The draft at about 2% to 2.5% for a four-school model. Discussion only. |
| 1:07:29 | Questions before the next draft | Crawford asks what else needs answering; the alternative program and Bluff School are settled as a direction to staff, not by vote (flag 5). |
| 1:13:37 | Next meeting | Monday at 1:00 p.m., on CCTV if available (flag 6). |
| 1:27:27 | Adjournment | Declared by the chair, no motion. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/17037 SchoolBoard-Finance-121225.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording. Timestamps link to the same moment in the Cablecast recording.
Discussion timeline, December 12, 2025
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:03 | Call to order | Board Member Crawford: "The finance committee of the Claremont School Board is now in session. It's 930. And we are discussing the budget for the upcoming year." No roll call, agenda or statement of who is a member. | |
| 0:00:22 | Payroll system fault | Interim Business Administrator Angell: "the system didn't calculate employee withholdings for a certain group of employees", about 101 employees (0:00:45); he is waiting on vendor support and says a predecessor (Mary) had the same problem and "just forced it in the budget" (0:01:13). | |
| 0:01:35 | Health insurance in the current budget | Angell says current-year health insurance "had to have been budgeted lower than what your available positions are". Whitney asks whether the FY26 starting number was valid (0:02:39) and says "we know 100% that the tax rate was calculated incorrectly" (0:03:44). Angell: two schools of thought on budgeting vacancies (0:04:12); "I'm getting the sense that they deliberately undervalued it." (0:05:09). | OBS |
| 0:05:34 | Health insurance in the draft | Budgeting every proposed position would raise health insurance "an increase of 23%" (0:05:44). Angell assumes about 23 vacancies and puts $1 for each one's health insurance (0:06:51); rate increase 11.3% (0:07:09). Crawford: "It's it's not a reliable estimate." (0:08:53). | OBS |
| 0:08:59 | Administrators' contract, professional development | The administrators' CBA requires "about $3,000 in professional development per administrator"; the current budget carries about $1,000 (0:09:17). Crawford: budgeting on experience rather than the maximum "isn't wrong" (0:10:07 to 0:10:13). | |
| 0:13:18 | Vacancies and position counts | "We're about 78 positions vacant." The draft cuts "almost 20 positions" (0:17:25); of 61 vacancies carried, SAU positions are included (0:17:55). Angell lists the SAU positions (0:18:15); Crawford counts "13 people" against more than 13 budgeted now (0:21:41 to 0:22:04). | |
| 0:25:39 | Curriculum framework | Whitney asks that curriculum and professional-development work be reflected as an administrative line shift, not a redeployment (0:27:10). | |
| 0:27:31 | Dental insurance | Angell: about 15% of employees on district health insurance do not take dental (0:27:50); the district pays 50% (0:28:56); "If you want to do 100% dental insurance, it's only going to cost about $300,000." (0:29:05). (A teacher answered this exchange at the December 17 board meeting.) | |
| 0:30:37 | Where the draft stands | "So right now where I'm at, I'm at a 2% increase." for a four-school model; New Hampshire Retirement System withholdings may add "3 to $400,000", about 2.5% (0:31:01). | |
| 0:31:44 | Full-time substitutes | Each elementary school asked for a full-time substitute at about $100,000 with benefits (0:32:05); current substitute line about $250,000; draft line 185,000 (0:35:22); Angell's goal "at least a 0% increase or a slight reduction" (0:35:52). Members insist interventionists not be used as substitutes (0:39:11). | |
| 0:39:55 | Tech Center and alternative programs | Machine tool instructor restored (0:40:45). Kennedy: the behavior programs "were not in a budget" (0:41:07); staff "being paid, but they're not budgeted under a certain line item" (0:41:45); "They're cannibalizing other budget." (0:41:53). | OBS |
| 0:42:40 | Program-based building budgets | Angell asked principals to budget by program rather than line item (0:42:40); "we're not on a budget model" that lets him explain per-grade costs (0:43:49). Secretaries left at current-budget levels (0:44:51). | |
| 0:45:01 | Athletics and the arts | Athletics funded as the athletic director requested and per the teachers' CBA team list (0:45:06, 0:45:34); buildings' requests funded in full, "It will be like this year never happened." (0:46:37). Whitney asks whether arts time could shift to core academics (0:46:45, 0:49:06). | |
| 0:50:55 | Three-school versus four-school cost | Kennedy: "We haven't gotten there yet." (0:50:59). Angell: the efficiency is in the four-school model; going to three eliminates a principal, custodian and secretary but few teachers (0:51:32). | |
| 0:53:19 | Buildings, the Masonic building and Bluff School | Whitney recalls an earlier board motion to move the alternative program out of the Tech Center for FY26 and the purchase of the Masonic building for it (0:54:39, 0:55:16). Angell: "Do we want to keep the Masonic Temple or not?" (0:58:05). Crawford raises Bluff School (0:59:11). Angell suggests renting Bluff to a nonprofit (0:59:54); Whitney cites an estimate of "almost 1.2" million in out-of-district savings (1:00:30). | |
| 1:02:09 | Special-education collaborative | Kennedy describes talks among southwest-region superintendents about a shared program (1:02:09). Camp "was not budgeted" (1:03:32); at least a general educator, special educator and para added (1:03:44). | OBS |
| 1:05:01 | Enrollment decline | Angell: "you're going to have a thousand kids in ten years" (1:05:12); more emphasis on the Tech Center expected (1:06:04). | |
| 1:07:29 | Direction on the alternative program | Crawford: "I don't see any reason why it will be in this facility." (1:08:00). Angell: administration will probably recommend leasing part of Bluff to a nonprofit (1:09:16). On the Masonic purchase: "It was poorly executed." (1:11:34). Kennedy: "ideally in March that would be on the ballot" (1:12:25). Angell: "I love the direction that you're giving me." (1:13:32). | OBS |
| 1:13:37 | Scheduling the next session | Kennedy: "This isn't a decision making." (1:14:15); "Just show me the minutes or whatever." (1:14:34). Settled: "Monday at 1:00" (1:15:36), on CCTV if possible (1:15:08). | HIGH OBS POS |
| 1:16:09 | Programs, stipends and athletics costs | Whitney asks which programs are under-used and whether costs beyond stipends (transport, uniforms) are budgeted (1:16:37, 1:20:18). Angell asks whether there is a cross-country ski team; the CBA lists it, so "I put it in the budget" (1:19:20). | |
| 1:21:46 | Health plan and grant-funded social worker | Whitney asks for the orange-plan premium and participation ("only four people", 1:21:59) and warns that a grant-funded elementary social worker must not be missed in the budget (1:23:10). | |
| 1:24:45 | School nursing | Whitney: "you do not need to have a registered nurse in every building" (1:24:45); she cites flexibility in the RSA without naming it (1:25:23). Crawford: "I think we have RSA and then we have actual implementation of the RSA." (1:26:14). | |
| 1:27:27 | Adjournment | Crawford: "Let's adjourn the meeting at 11:00." No motion or vote. | |
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 December 12, 2025, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
HIGH No minutes of this committee meeting exist in any district share located, nearly ten months on
The Finance Committee is a subcommittee of the school board and therefore a public body: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) reaches "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto". RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting", and, since 2025, 112:1 (eff. Aug. 22, 2025), minutes that state "the start time and end time of the meeting, and name of the person who produced the minutes". Five business days from Friday, December 12, 2025 ran to Friday, December 19. No minutes for this session were found in the FY 2025-2026 or 2025 packet archives, in the next two board packets (14. CSB 12.17.25 and 15. CSB 1.7.26), in the district's Claremont Finance Sub Committee folder (no files; folder last modified December 1, 2025) or in its 2025-2026 finance subfolder (created July 2, 2026, no files returned), or by Drive searches on the dotted date and on "finance committee" (re-checked 2026-10-03). The committee can produce minutes: the 12/3/25 board packet carries Copy of Finance 11.12.25.docx, and a public commenter quoted those November 12 minutes at the December 3 board meeting. Nothing for December 10 or December 12 followed. Severity follows the project's rule for missing records: a public body met, nothing on the record explains the absence, and no agenda or packet exists either, so the unmitigated (HIGH) limb applies rather than the MEDIUM limb for a meeting that was noticed and packeted with only its minutes missing. The recording itself is a full public account, which limits the practical harm, but the statute asks for minutes. Interim Superintendent Kennedy's own expectation on tape was minutes: "Just show me the minutes or whatever." (1:14:34). This is a negative from searches and listings that are known to be incomplete; it reads "not found", not "never existed".
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (committees and subcommittees are public bodies); RSA 91-A:2, II (notice; minutes within 5 business days; contents as amended 2025, 112:1)
OBSERVATION The meeting was announced on camera two days ahead, but no posted notice or agenda was located
At the December 10 Finance Committee session the chair said: "Friday in two days, we will have an additional meeting here and we will follow up on what we don't get done today" (about seven minutes into Cablecast show 17029; quoted from Dialogue/17029 SchoolBoardFinance121025.mp4.CSV, not from this page's file). RSA 91-A:2, II requires notice of the time and place posted at least 24 hours ahead (excluding Sundays and legal holidays) in two appropriate places, one of which may be the body's website. A statement at a prior televised meeting is public, but it is not a posting. No notice or agenda for December 12 is in any Drive share searched, and the SAU 6 website as it stood in December 2025 cannot be inspected from here, so this stays an observation: the record neither shows the posting nor rules it out.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (notice; minutes within 5 business days; contents as amended 2025, 112:1)
OBSERVATION Administrators said alternative-education staff were being paid from other budget lines because no line existed for them
Interim Superintendent Kennedy told the committee the behavior programs "were not in a budget. So they were proposed in a model of instruction, but budgetary. Nobody put a line item in." (0:41:07); "They're they're being paid, but they're not budgeted under a certain line item." (0:41:45); "They're cannibalizing other budget." (0:41:53); and "we've been cannibalizing lines, budget lines without even knowing it." (0:42:14). Of the middle-school program: "Camp was not budgeted." (1:03:32). Paying staff from lines appropriated for other purposes raises questions about budget transfers and about how the FY26 operating budget was presented to voters, but no transfer, amount or account was identified on tape, and no rule is verified here for the specific practice. The documents that would settle it are the FY26 expenditure detail by account and any transfer approvals. The administrators' remedy, a program line in the FY27 budget, is stated at 1:03:32 to 1:03:44.
Sources: the recording at the times shown; Dialogue/17037 SchoolBoard-Finance-121225.mp4.CSV
OBSERVATION Statements that the prior budget "deliberately" undervalued health insurance and that the tax rate was "calculated incorrectly" are not documented on the record
The interim business administrator said of the current-year budget: "I'm getting the sense that they deliberately undervalued it." (0:05:09), and that budgeting health insurance for every position in the proposed census "going to be an increase of 23% over the prior year" (0:05:44), against an 11.3% rate increase (0:07:09). He also described his own placeholder method: "for health insurance for those 23 people in the budget, I put in $1." (0:06:51). Board Chair Whitney said "we know 100% that the tax rate was calculated incorrectly" (0:03:44). Neither claim is tied on tape to a document or a figure that could be checked, and the business administrator himself called the difference "not necessarily incorrect. It's just a different assumption model." (0:08:03). The documents that would settle these are the FY26 budget detail for health insurance by position, the FY26 MS-26 and DRA tax-rate computation, and the FY26 audit when issued. Recorded here because the 12/17 budget presentation rests on the same correction: Crawford told the board that day that last year's budget had "missing and incorrect data" (December 17 recording).
Sources: the recording at the times shown; Dialogue/17037 SchoolBoard-Finance-121225.mp4.CSV
OBSERVATION Two committee members gave staff budget directions the full board had not adopted
Board Member Crawford, presiding, said of the alternative program: "From my perspective right now, I don't see any reason why it will be in this facility." (1:08:00), and later summarized "In your budget. You're going to plan for the camp and all. And yes going to bluff." (1:13:20 to 1:13:22). The interim business administrator answered "I love the direction that you're giving me. Yes. And I will make sure that that happens." (1:13:32). The interim superintendent cautioned that "This isn't a decision making." (1:14:15), and Crawford herself said "To me, I am only one person." (1:08:34). Five days later Crawford told the full board that "The school board has not yet taken a position on either model" while listing, among the premises the budget was built on, that the alternative programs "move out of the tech center, and we think into Bluff School" (December 17 recording). A committee's direction to staff is not a board decision; the question for a reader is which choices in the FY27 draft were made by two members of a seven-member board before the board discussed them. No by-law text on the committee's authority was verified for this page.
Sources: the recording at the times shown; Dialogue/17037 SchoolBoard-Finance-121225.mp4.CSV
OBSERVATION A further session was set for Monday at 1:00 p.m., to be televised, and the corpus holds no trace of it
The committee settled on "Monday at 1:00" (1:15:36), that is Monday, December 15, 2025, with CCTV to be asked to record it (1:15:08). The project's Cablecast index has no Finance Committee recording between December 12 and the December 17 board meeting, MAP.md has no section for it, and no notice, agenda or minutes were found. Whether the session was held is not known from here. Board Chair Whitney referred on December 17 to "when we had our finance meeting" without a date. If it was held, it joins the corpus's list of committee meetings without a public record; if it was cancelled, no cancellation was found.
Sources: the recording at the times shown; RSA 91-A:2, II (notice; minutes within 5 business days; contents as amended 2025, 112:1)
POSITIVE A committee working session was televised, and the committee asked that its next one be televised too
RSA 91-A requires notice and minutes for a subcommittee; it does not require a video recording. This session was carried by Claremont Community Television (CCTV) / Claremont Community Media Center (CCMC), and the interim superintendent proposed the same for the next one: "My assumption is that you'll want it on CCTV if Josh can accommodate that." (1:15:08). She also planned to rely on the recording herself ("I'll watch the video.", 1:14:43). A Maple Avenue teacher told the board on December 17 that she watches the finance committee meetings, which shows the recordings reach the public. Disclosure: the project's maintainer sits on the CCTV/CCMC board (see footer).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (notice; minutes within 5 business days; contents as amended 2025, 112:1) (sets the minimum the recording exceeds)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: Claremont School Board : Finance Committee - 12/12/25 (show 17037)
- No packet, agenda, notice or minutes found (re-checked 2026-10-03): the FY 2025-2026 Meeting Documents and 2025 Meeting Documents archives; the next board packets
14. CSB 12.17.25 and 15. CSB 1.7.26; the district's Claremont Finance Sub Committee folder (owned by sau6webmaster; last modified December 1, 2025; no files returned) and the Finance folder linked from the board's web page, whose 2025-2026 subfolder (created July 2, 2026) returned no files; and Drive searches on the dotted date and on "finance committee".
- Comparator:
Copy of Finance 11.12.25.docx, in the 12/3/25 board packet (MAP.md section 285), shows the committee's November 12 meeting was minuted and filed.
- Related pages: Finance Committee, December 10, 2025; Claremont School Board, December 17, 2025 (the budget presentation this session prepared).
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 91-A:1-a, VI(d): "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto" is a public body
- RSA 91-A:2, II (source note ends 2025, 112:1, eff. Aug. 22, 2025): 24-hour posted notice; minutes within 5 business days; minutes contents including start and end time and the name of the person who produced them