| 0:01:46 | Meeting procedure reminders | The chair reads by-law 2.03 on decorum and by-law 1.11 on subcommittee chairs: subcommittee minutes "must be recorded and available for public inspection on the SA website within five days of the meeting" (0:02:40); "We need five days before we get those minutes. No joke." (0:03:17). To the public: "School board meetings are held in public, but they are not a meeting for the general public. That means that we have work to do." (0:03:48); citizens' comments "are intended to be the topics that are not going to be covered on the agenda" (0:04:10); "If we're having a vote, we will open it up for discussion before we take the vote. It shouldn't be during public comments." (0:04:34). The minutes quote the by-law text, including its citation "per RSA 91-A:II" (a chapter with no section). | |
| 0:04:57 | Tech-center recognitions | A tech-center student nominated for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program in career and technical education, one of five from New Hampshire (0:05:49); the SRVRTC director describes a pilot student-ambassador program and introduces five ambassadors (0:08:20, 0:12:00). | |
| 0:15:44 | Superintendent search | Petrin: the committee narrowed the field, the full board held second interviews, and the board decided to "work with our attorney to try to reach an agreement with Doctor Broderick to be our next superintendent." The chair: no contract signed yet; a background check remains; "the the minutes from our nonpublic from Monday night will be made public. They are public now." (0:16:35); "There were it was a 5 to 2 vote. That's and the two people voting against were Mr. Howard and myself." (0:17:02). | POSITIVE |
| 0:18:07 | Agenda changes | Pre-K cost comparison deferred because Angell is on vacation. Metal detectors deferred pending research on the original grant: "If we're not using them as described in the grant, we need to get rid of the equipment" (0:18:52). Academy update deferred; nonpublic session moved ahead of the rehire vote (0:19:18). | |
| 0:20:42 | April 1 minutes corrected | Lavalette asks for a commenter's name, his own surname's spelling, the school resource officer's name ("Can we put the name of the SRO in there please?", 0:21:22), who confirmed a contract term, the test score and percentage behind a high-school statement "So our minutes are robust?" (0:22:45), and the charter school's name. Rapp: "I'm pretty sure that I mentioned that those classes are set to be refilled with more of our class offerings." (0:25:31). Approved as amended by voice vote (0:26:05). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:26:33 | Public comment: Lownie | Speaking as a summer-camp operator: parents keep asking the last day of school; "the fact that this question is coming up over and over again from parents" points to "a communication gap" (0:27:02). | |
| 0:28:13 | Finance report (read by the chair) | As of April 10, "The district had a bank balance of $5,930,734." and "Our loan balance with Claremont Savings Bank is zero." Revenues through March $35,601,097.63, with $4,113,466 (10.36%) still to collect (0:28:45). Expenditures $24,665,436; then "Encumbrances were a 7,223,276, and the amount for of appropriations remaining is 3,825,000 851, or about 9.63%." (0:29:49). The expenditure report and the minutes give encumbrances of $11,223,276.10 and $3,825,851.34 remaining; only the $11.2 million figure reconciles to the $39,714,564 appropriation, so the spoken "7,223,276" is a misreading or an ASR error. Estimated year-end deficit "between 1 million and 1.6 million", down from $5 million (0:29:49, 0:30:29). The chair: "I think we're going to be okay. I mean. But don't quote me." (0:31:23). | OBSERVATION OBSERVATION |
| 0:32:25 | Deficit questions | Whitney: "it's a big jump from we're going to be zero to possibly 1 to 1.6." The chair on one surprise expense she cannot share publicly: "it was a past due bill that wasn't paid. Right? Right. That wasn't in the ledger. And they didn't know about it." (0:34:00). Whitney: "I think it was a 1.2 million surprise last year right at the end of the year." (0:34:27). On the opening balance, the chair: "the auditors have told us that they would have a, a reliable, verifiable figure for the start of 2000 for July 1st, 2025, by July 1st this year." (0:34:52). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:36:16 | Testing opt-outs; diploma of distinction | Herrington: "So out of 109 juniors, you've had four people opt out." (0:36:47); none on the 27-credit track: "there's no one on the 27 track that's not taking state taxes [tests]." (0:37:52). Juniors who score proficient may skip finals (0:39:11). | |
| 0:39:55 | SAT preparation | A semester sophomore course split between English and math, but not next year: "So for that to have happened it would have had to be in the course of studies." (0:40:53). A member asks about a VLACS option (0:41:24; the dialogue file labels the question Rapp, the minutes Petrin). Possible return of the sophomore PSAT (0:41:50); Whitney recalls a free Dartmouth SAT course (0:42:40). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:43:43 | Anticipated vacancies | The interim superintendent lists openings at CMS, Stevens, Disnard and Maple Avenue, some restoring positions cut by last year's reduction in force. The chair: "It's a list of the 19 riffs in the first round and then the 20 in the second round." and "out of the 39, there were three reinstated during the year." (0:45:49); Kennedy: "Technically four." (0:46:16). Whitney asks how many vacancies are real against "the one that outlines 25 vacancies" (0:46:26) given the deficit; "There's a hiring freeze right now." (0:47:59). A member: "Let's wait until contracts have to be back. Then we'll have hard data." (0:51:04; labeled Rapp in the dialogue file, Lavalette in the minutes). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:51:41 | Right-to-Know workload | Kennedy: "there are currently 61 completed right to know requests since November 1st"; "11 are in progress and those are very in depth." (0:52:01); "So some have all 8000 emails to be reviewed." (0:52:19); four staff handle them; "Over $10,000 of requests from legal fees and things too. So this is not insignificant." (0:53:54); "you have five days to get the information or at least respond with, you were going to need a 30 day extension" (0:54:13). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:54:59 | Publishing Right-to-Know costs | Lavalette: the state Department of Safety page "says the department may charge fees to recover actual costs"; the city's page has a posting "that shows everyone who who's requested it, the date, what they requested, staff time spent and legal fees." (0:55:17); "if there's a cost and it's substantial, the public deserves to know that." (0:55:46). No action taken. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:56:22 | By-laws review by counsel | The chair relays counsel's estimate: "his goal would be to get it done by the middle of May, and it would be ten hours or less. He guesses that it would an estimate of 3 to $5000." (0:57:01). Lavalette moves: "we are not in a position to operate without school board bylaws, so we don't really have a choice, I think." (0:57:22). Howard asks for "a limit of 15 hours before we get a report back from him" (0:58:09); the chair's restatement: "if it expands more than ten, I'm going to say more than ten hours. That he must notify us of whether to continue." (0:59:08). Carried by voice vote; the minutes record Rapp against. | |
| 0:59:52 | Realignment | Pre-K to grade 2 at [Disnard] and grades 3 to 5 at Maple Avenue; transportation and staggered start times go to the superintendent's council on the 20th. The self-contained programs: K-2 at Disnard and 3-5 at Maple; the report's "2-3" is an error (1:01:43, 1:02:24). | |
| 1:02:39 | Bluff as a backup building | Howard asks whether Bluff should be compared with the other buildings. Petrin: "My understanding is that we can't do bluff because the we voted to sell it, right." (1:03:45). Rapp: "The voters overwhelmingly approved to sell it. I have no interest in that." (1:07:37). Lavalette, Whitney and Petrin agree; Petrin: "We're not looking at any sort of three school model for next year." (1:09:13). | |
| 1:09:27 | Nonpublic session | The chair: "I would entertain a motion to go into nonpublic under RSA 91 a three part two sets a C." Roll call, all yes (1:09:58). The tape resumes at 1:10:23 with the motion to return and a second roll call, all six yes (1:10:31). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:10:38 | Staff rehire list | Whitney confirms these are contracts offered, not yet accepted (1:11:27); Kennedy: contracts will "definitely be out before next Friday" (1:11:17). A member: "And I'll be abstaining from Mrs. Robb." (1:11:45; the minutes: Rapp, as to his wife's nomination). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:11:49 | Staff appreciation | Howard and Lavalette will organize, coordinating with the PTA (1:12:46; labeled Lavalette in the dialogue file, Petrin in the minutes). The chair: "given their financial situation in the district, I cannot justify taking money out of the district funds. So we as in as members, we will make contributions." (1:13:35). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:14:04 | Unity withdrawal | "The essay [SAU] six will continue. It will just be a Claremont, of school district in the six." The chair and the Unity chair will meet counsel on Unity's withdrawal agreement: "It's it's pretty standard. There's nothing here that is unusual." (1:14:49). The minutes: "it will only be Claremont in the SAU as of July 1, 2026". | |
| 1:15:34 | Subcommittee reports | Policy: four policies next meeting, including one the district lacks and a dress code (1:17:05). Whitney: "I also spoke to Mr. Bonneville about creating a folder for our subcommittee so that all the artifacts will be readily available for the public to review." (1:16:09). Howard has contacted [NH Listens] (ASR "Nelson's") about a community event (1:17:48). | |
| 1:18:37 | Packet deadline and notice | The chair wants to "get the agenda out seven days prior, regardless of whether it's vacation week or not." (1:19:25). Whitney: the state law mandate is "24 hours. But we have practice." (1:20:02); the board's agenda "Policy actually has a seven day to allow board members to have that time" (1:20:05). | POSITIVE |
| 1:20:21 | Goal setting; future items | Policy requires a goal-setting meeting by the second meeting in May, so "we have got to schedule a goal setting meeting for the board." (1:20:21). Future items: stipends, bus contract, commercial broker RFP, board training (1:21:10). | |
| 1:21:42 | Other business | Lavalette: an NHSBA Right-to-Know session online, "So May 13th from 12 to 2." Petrin proposes "maybe creating a school board educator of the year type of award" (1:22:18); Lavalette: "I had talked about a Hall of Fame." (1:22:50). Early release Friday (1:23:06). | |
| 1:23:37 | Filming subcommittee meetings | Howard proposes members "volunteering yourself to set a camera up on a tripod and film the committee meetings." and "I bet we could get some local collaboration with CCTV just to, you know, simple training" (1:23:58). Listed in the minutes as a future agenda item. | |