Participants
Everyone heard or recorded as present. Board and staff names follow the agenda masthead; others follow the approved minutes. Where the dialogue file and the minutes disagree on who spoke, both are noted.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Candace Crawford | Board chair; Finance and Superintendent Evaluation Subcommittee chair | Presided; added the eighth-grade Boston trip to the agenda; counted the middle-school core vacancies with the interim superintendent; questioned Masonic Temple spending against the board’s authorization; answered the question about a stipend to the former superintendent; read the superintendent-designate’s memo; announced there would be no superintendent evaluation this year. |
| Heather Whitney | Board member; Ad Hoc Exploratory Reconfiguration Subcommittee chair | Asked for a staffing map, net vacancies and a floor for opening schools; asked the state representative about a Newport charter school; asked whether surprise invoices made the deficit larger; pressed on special education transportation data; moved FA and IHBH; asked that Howard’s authority be documented in the minutes; asked about eliminated special education positions. |
| Brian Rapp | Board member | Moved the transportation motion after asking for more information on any Butler contract; reported what a contractor told him about Masonic Temple funding; asked whether Fresh Picks still meets its original undertakings; voted alone against adopting JLCJA on a single read. |
| Donald Lavalette | Board member | Corrected the May 6 minutes; asked about Riverview students at the Tech Center; raised a constituent’s question about a stipend to Christopher Pratt; compared bus-driver pay to the top of the teachers’ scale; moved the trip, the RFQ, the nonpublic session and the assurances; listed future agenda items. The dialogue file gives him the $110,000 transport question that the minutes credit to Madden. |
| Loren Howard | Board member; Policy Subcommittee chair | Asked whether a transportation motion was needed at all; moved the Fresh Picks contract, then voted against it; put the vendors’ private-equity ownership on the record; presented FA, IHBH, IHCD, JLCJA and EBCH; agreed to disband the ad hoc communications subcommittee. |
| William Madden | Board member; Capital Improvement Subcommittee chair | Three rows in the dialogue file: the capital-improvement report would follow a meeting with Dr. Broadrick the next day, and a question about the student information system presentation. The minutes also credit him with asking how $110,000 to transport one student can be reasonable. |
| Michael Petrin | Board vice chair; SRVRTC Committee chair | Reported that the SRVRTC committee would revise its goals document. The minutes record him seconding three motions and asking about special education transportation costs; the dialogue file assigns that question to Lavalette. |
| Noelle Kronberg | School Board Clerk | Called the roll and the three nonpublic roll calls; explained why the reconfiguration maps were not attached to the May 6 minutes; confirmed there had been no nay votes on the earlier policies. |
| Kerry Kennedy | Interim Superintendent, SAU 6 | Introduced the music recognition; reported the attendance officer’s home visits and a truancy rate “just over 5%”; reported the special education parent advisory council; announced acting principals at CMS and Maple Avenue and two departures; explained that openings were posted internally first under the collective bargaining agreement. |
| Matt Angell | Senior Comptroller / Interim Business Administrator | Gave the finance update; presented the transportation, food service, photography and broker items; said the district’s transportation accounting mixes special and regular education and that its state reporting of special education costs is not accurate. |
| Dr. Timothy Broadrick | Superintendent-designate (from July 1, 2026) | Absent (a board meeting in his current district). His memo, dated May 21, 2026, was read by the chair: a four-year uniform replacement cycle including Unified Sports, the State Board’s 6–1 approval of the day-and-hour waiver on May 12, and the last-week schedule. The transcript and the minutes spell the name Broderick; his memo and the agenda spell it Broadrick. |
| Chelsea Weatherford; Paige Jarvis; Jason Bonneville | Interim HR Manager; Interim Student Services Director; Interim Technology Director | Named on the agenda masthead; no remarks recorded. Kennedy said Jarvis was following up the Riverview referrals. |
| Taylor Trudeau | Music teacher | Presented the music department’s year: six students at All-State, superior ratings and first place for every ensemble at a recent festival, a Best Overall Choir award and a professionalism award. A woodwind quintet played; the minutes name the five students. |
| Hope Damon | Citizens’ comments — State Representative | Reported that SB 101 was tabled, that HB 751 (open enrollment) was in a committee of conference, and that a bill she filed at Whitney’s request, sending state fiscal reports to every board member, had passed both chambers. Answered questions on charter-school funding. |
| Emo Chenoweth (name per the approved minutes) | Vice president of operations, Butler Bus Service | Came to the podium at the chair’s request: Butler wants to partner with Claremont whether or not transportation stays in house, including out-of-district and McKinney-Vento runs. Labeled Unidentified in the dialogue file. |
| Arlene Hawkins | Former policy chair, Ward 3 | Spoke from the floor during the JLCJA dispute: “Technically, Brian, you’re absolutely correct. Two reads to adoption,” and explained why priority policies had been adopted on one read. |
| Unidentified student | Ward 3; Stevens High School | Announced the Mary Poppins Jr. performances and the May 28 collage concert. Not named on the recording or in the minutes. |
Named on the record but not present: Scott Maple (attendance officer), Courtney Steele (acting CMS principal), Nicole Boynton (acting CMS assistant principal), Mark Blount (Maple Avenue principal, leaving; rendered “Mr. Blunt”), David Irwin (acting Maple Avenue principal; “Mr. Erwin” on tape), Jen Guess (departed), Christopher Pratt (former superintendent), Michelle Herrington (SRVRTC), Michelle Springer-Blake (per the minutes) and student members Miles Sheehan and Lily Clark (agenda masthead; not heard). Thirty-two rows of the dialogue file are labeled Unidentified, mostly voice votes.
Agenda
Items as posted in “5.20.26 CSB Meeting Agenda”, with the time each was taken up and its disposition from the recording and the approved minutes. The agenda prints two lettered headings as “d”; its clock times are scheduled, not actual.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:03 | Call to order; roll call | “Call to Order & Pledge of Allegiance.” Minutes: “All present.” |
| 0:00:47 | a. Consent agenda | Agenda amendment: the chair added the eighth-grade Boston trip as the first action item (“You can call it zero”), taken without a vote. The May 6 minutes were amended (maps struck; Broadrick’s uniform text inserted) and approved on a motion; the minutes name Rapp and Petrin. “Approval of Manifest:” is a heading with nothing under it in the agenda, the minutes and the recording. See flag 3. |
| 0:03:11 | d. Superintendent’s report: music recognition (moved ahead) | “Music Department Recognition.” Taken before citizens’ comments at the chair’s request. |
| 0:09:57 | b. Citizens’ comments | One speaker, State Representative Hope Damon, followed by board questions. |
| 0:16:13 | d. Superintendent’s report, resumed | Truancy, the parent advisory council, staffing changes, then a long exchange on staffing for the fall. No action. |
| 0:32:00 | d. Finance update; stipends update | “Monthly update” with a linked folder, and “Stipends update” linking “Copy of Stipends for SB meeting.xlsx”. The stipend item was not presented; it came up only through a constituent’s question at 0:45:02. See flag 2. |
| 0:47:13 | d. Follow-up: memo from the superintendent-designee | “Athletic uniforms (including Unified Sports)” and “State Board waiver and last week of school details.” Read by the chair. |
| 0:50:50 | Action: eighth-grade trip to Boston (added) | Out-of-state travel for June 5, funded by the $15,000 Byrne Foundation donation accepted February 4. Moved (Lavalette), seconded (Howard); carried by voice vote. |
| 0:51:53 | Bus contract (vote) | Staff report recommends staying self-operated. Motion (Rapp, seconded by Howard) to continue current in-house services and bring contracted services back at the next meeting; carried by voice vote at 1:14:12. See flag 5 and flag 10. |
| 1:14:25 | Food service contract (vote) | One proposal, from the incumbent, Fresh Picks. The minutes record the motion as Howard’s “to approve the contract with Fresh Picks for 2 years with 3 one year continuations”, seconded by Petrin; “The motion passes 6-1”, Howard opposed. See flag 1. |
| 1:20:41 | School photo contract (vote) | Three quotes; the principals scored Lifetouch highest. Three-year contract with Lifetouch; moved (Howard), seconded (Rapp, per the minutes); carried by voice vote at 1:25:44. See flag 8. |
| 1:25:44 | Sale of property RFQ (vote) | RFQ for commercial real-estate broker services approved for issue; moved (Lavalette), seconded (Howard); voice vote. |
| 1:26:56 | Nonpublic, RSA 91-A:3, II(d) | Agenda prints the exemption and its text. Rapp stated it on the motion at 1:27:26 (“RSA 91 a colon, three section two D”). Roll call in at 1:27:40; out at 1:28:19. Minutes: in 7:57 p.m., out 8:20 p.m.; sealed on a roll call, “Minutes sealed until November 20, 2026.” |
| 1:29:03 | General Assurances (vote) | Motion to authorize the chair to sign for the board; moved (Lavalette), seconded (Howard); carried with no discussion. |
| 1:29:31 | Subcommittee reports | “Reports this meeting should include the committee’s goals for the year.” Ad hoc communications subcommittee disbanded (moved by Lavalette, seconded by Madden per the minutes), with the board agreeing Howard may speak for it in this work. |
| 1:35:26 | Policy: FA, IHBH, IHCD, JLCJA (first read); EBCH (second read) | All five adopted. FA, IHBH, IHCD and EBCH by voice vote with no recorded opposition; JLCJA 6–1, Rapp opposed, after a dispute over skipping the second read. See flag 7. |
| 1:55:34 | Superintendent Evaluation Subcommittee | No evaluation this year; the subcommittee will begin next year with the new superintendent. |
| 1:56:36 | IV. Other business | “Assignment of School/Community Engagement Activity for Board Member(s).” Graduation, athletics and music events discussed; no assignments recorded. |
| 1:58:37 | V. Future dates / agenda items; adjournment | “May 28: SAU Board Meeting”; one July meeting, July 21. Lavalette added items. Adjournment moved at 2:04:57; minutes: 8:59. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological topics. Quotations are from the dialogue transcript as transcribed; bracketed text is an insertion or correction.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:55 | Field trip added from the chair | “I would just like to add one item to the board agenda under action items, and I’m going to have it the first item. To approve the eighth grade trip to Boston, for June.” Then: “Do I have a approval of that or any, I guess, the consent. And if no one objects, we’re all set.” | |
| 0:01:50 | May 6 minutes corrected | Lavalette: the maps “to be attached, and I didn’t see him in the minutes.” Clerk: “We discussed not attaching the.” The minutes record “Strike maps from minutes (not included for safety reasons).” | |
| 0:03:41 | Music department | “We had six students, as you might have seen, make the New Hampshire All-State Festival this year, which is more than we’ve had in a very, very, very long time.” At 0:05:10: superior ratings and first place “in every single ensemble” and “the Professionalism Award that they only give to one school the entire festival.” | |
| 0:10:22 | Open-enrollment bills | Damon: “Senate Bill 101 was tabled, and it will not come off the table at this point in the term. House Bill 751 is in a committee of conference.” At 0:11:45: “there’s a pretty strong consensus that open enrollment is not good for Claremont.” | |
| 0:12:14 | Board members to receive state fiscal reports | Damon: a bill filed “at the request of Whitney” to send Department of Education and DRA reports “to all school board members in the district”; at 0:12:50: “That bill is passed both chambers. It’s on its way to the governor.” | |
| 0:13:52 | A Newport charter school and adequacy aid | Whitney asks whether adequacy aid follows a Claremont student to a Newport charter school. Damon at 0:14:22: “I believe and I will verify this and confirm with you that the sending or the district of residence doesn’t receive adequacy aid for that student”; the money “comes from the education trust fund of the state” (0:15:24); “Claremont would still be responsible for any special education costs” (0:15:59). | POSITIVE |
| 0:16:28 | Truancy | The attendance officer “has made over 700 home visits” since March 2025; at 0:16:59: “Currently, we’re at just over 5% of our population who are considered truant.” | |
| 0:18:18 | Acting principals; departures | Courtney Steele acting CMS principal; Nicole Boynton acting assistant principal; at 0:18:52: “Mr. Blunt [Blount] is not going to be with us for the rest of the year,” with “Mr. Erwin [Irwin]” acting. | |
| 0:21:05 | A staffing map and a floor for opening schools | Whitney: “I’ve had a lot of concerns and a gut feeling that we’re going to really struggle to staff fully next year.” She asks at 0:22:41 for “a very clear staffing map on what our needs will be for next fall per school,” and at 0:23:15 for “what is our floor to open school and be 306 requirements?” | |
| 0:24:11 | Middle-school core vacancies | Kennedy at 0:25:03: “So we need three math teachers, three Ela teachers, two science.” Crawford: “out of the six that we need for English, we have three openings”; at 0:25:47: “It’s also May 20th. And so there are three months of prime season for hiring.” | |
| 0:28:07 | Are the jobs posted? | Rapp: “I am wondering why we’re not posting openings there.” Kennedy at 0:29:07: “there’s 40 spots”; Rapp at 0:30:16: “you go to CMS says eight and it lists eight.” Kennedy at 0:30:54: “They’re currently only posted internally,” because under “the CBA. We have to post them internally first.” Lavalette at 0:29:26: “I’m less concerned with the vacancies and more concerned with the quality.” | |
| 0:32:47 | Cash and the city’s payments | “Our cash balance as of the evening of May 7th at the bank was $5,905,486,” including a city assessment payment of 1,675,000; a final payment June 1. At 0:33:59: “the process that relates to this payment schedule is RSA 194, section five through seven.” | POSITIVE |
| 0:34:24 | The deficit | “I calculated a deficit of just over $5 million”; “I’m estimating what’s remaining of that $5 million to be approximately $1 million.” At 0:34:58: “The remaining appropriation is 4,265,000 or 10.74%. As you can see, that remaining. I could not cut the entire 5 million out of it.” | |
| 0:36:44 | Masonic Temple carrying cost | “I calculated that to be $438,354”: purchase 255,000, closing $3,755, improvements “just over $160,000” including “unpaid architectural fees for 18,900” (0:37:13). Crawford at 0:38:05: “the board voted to spend 50,000 for that. And how could more money be expended than we authorized?” Angell: “I wasn’t here to control that.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:38:48 | What a contractor said | Rapp: “I was told that there was money put aside in building maintenance that was used for that”; at 0:39:22: “the contractor said, I was assured that the money is already set aside. It’s in a different account.” Crawford at 0:39:53: “We will follow up, if we can.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:40:09 | Assessed value against sale price | Angell at 0:40:55: “the assessment for bluff schools, over $3 million, we’re not going to see $3 million for this property”; at 0:41:58: “I don’t think you’re going to get $438,000 for the Masonic Temple.” | |
| 0:42:15 | Was the deficit always larger? | Whitney cites “unexpected invoices of over 900,000” and “roughly $800,000 a year on health payments to our insurance company for employees that were no longer on the rolls.” Angell at 0:44:36: “the deficit could have been bigger because of some of the surprise invoices.” | |
| 0:45:02 | A stipend to the former superintendent | Lavalette, for a constituent: “the Christopher Pratt that’s listed there says SRV RTC mentor $20,000. And they wanted to know if that’s the same one as the superintendent it is and who approved it.” Crawford at 0:46:14: “That was actively not approved the second year”; at 0:46:44: “I know it was not approved the second year, but it was the first year.” The spreadsheet line reads $10,000. | MEDIUM |
| 0:47:13 | The superintendent-designate’s memo | Crawford reads it: a uniform replacement plan; “we did receive the waiver” (0:48:55); and at 0:49:35: “on June 15th, the Monday, it will be teacher work day at all schools.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:52:26 | Transportation bids | “we sent out a request for proposal … and we issued a notice in the local newspaper”; two proposals. At 0:53:19: “I found out that special education costs were buried in the regular Ed.” At 0:53:51: “The school district is $1,971,619. Butler Transportation was $2,011,500, and first student only had regular Ed transportation at 1.1 million.” | MEDIUM POSITIVE |
| 0:54:21 | Controls the process exposed | “right now there are about 20 people who order transportation”; orders will run through the transportation coordinator. At 0:54:56: “Right now we have seven different providers that we’re contracted with.” | POSITIVE |
| 0:57:49 | Butler at the podium | “I’m the vice president of operations for Butler Bus service”; at 0:58:19: “If you keep it in house, we still want to partner with Claremont and work with you for your out of district, for your McKinney Vento.” | |
| 0:59:18 | Bus-driver pay | Lavalette: the top step “Masters plus 15 for next year is 73627” while “Last year we paid a bus driver 7480375” [$74,803.75]. Crawford at 1:00:22: during Covid drivers “were made full time employees as an incentive.” | |
| 1:02:02 | Is a motion needed? | Rapp: “I’d like more information on a potential contract. I have not seen any information yet.” Howard at 1:03:16: “Do we need a motion? If we’re maintaining service as is.” Angell at 1:03:47: “it’s nice just to let the public know what we’ve done and the direction that we’re going in.” Rapp moves at 1:05:15. | |
| 1:06:30 | Special education transportation data | “we actually have to identify the activities and segregate them in the general ledger. And so that’s going to be work I’m going to have to do this summer.” Whitney at 1:07:28: “do we actually have that data anywhere”; Angell: “Like that’s the problem.” At 1:08:37: “we need to be accurately reporting our special education costs and we’re not.” | MEDIUM |
| 1:08:52 | Where the special education money sits | “your total for special ed is 241.” Angell at 1:09:04: “in that 1,730,000 is special education costs that are not broken out”; at 1:09:23: “And that accounting is wrong.” At 1:09:36: “Because the accounting is so messed up is it relates to transportation I can’t tell you.” | MEDIUM |
| 1:12:16 | $110,000 for one student | The question as transcribed: “And $10,000 for one student is. … Is in any way reasonable?” (the figure discussed at 1:07:50 is $110,000). Angell at 1:12:35: “we were paying $54,000 to transport a student. So I’m a little shocked with 110.” The minutes credit the question to Madden; the dialogue file to Lavalette. | |
| 1:14:32 | Food service: one bid, the incumbent | “In my experience, a typical food service contract is for two years with three one year extensions.” At 1:15:01: the state required an early rebid “because of the closure of bluff.” At 1:15:51: “our current provider was our only company that provided a proposal,” projecting “a $9,600 surplus.” | HIGH |
| 1:16:38 | The motion and its term | Howard: “I’ll make a motion to approve fresh picks for our food service provider for what’s the term of the contract? The minimum we can do.” Angell: “I think it’s going to be a two year contract with three when you’re, you know, all periods.” Rapp at 1:17:01: the original contract said “They were supposed to source locally”; Angell at 1:17:32: “I haven’t seen them.” | HIGH |
| 1:18:55 | Food service fund deficit | “the fund itself is in deficit for 560,000, which was included in that $5 million estimate”; the current-year operating deficit is “$130,000.” Howard at 1:20:10: “it’s really sad that this was like our one of our only options.” Angell at 1:20:25: “Frankly, I think our deficit position scared away that one vendor.” Carried “Six one” at 1:20:41. | HIGH |
| 1:21:25 | School photographs | “two of them use Shutterfly to process all their photos”; at 1:21:53: “Life touch is owned by Shutterfly.” At 1:22:31: “each school gets a commission check, and that check goes into a principals fund.” Scores at 1:22:43: 87, 77 and 69. Howard at 1:25:17: “They are all owned by Apollo Global Management. Just put that on the record.” | OBSERVATION |
| 1:23:31 | Where the commission goes | Lavalette: “how is that money accounted for it within the line items of the budget.” Angell at 1:24:06: “It doesn’t go through the operating budget. It actually goes into like the student activity fund.” | OBSERVATION |
| 1:25:58 | Broker RFQ | “I pulled together an RFQ to select the most qualified real estate commercial real estate broker.” Whitney at 1:26:35: “What’s the commission?” Angell: “That’s going to be part of the process.” | |
| 1:31:42 | Ad hoc communications subcommittee | Howard: “It’s been quasi. I don’t really know what the function of it should be.” Whitney at 1:34:25: “document in the minutes that the board agrees that Mr. Howard can speak on behalf of the board.” The minutes do so. | |
| 1:35:35 | Policy FA | Howard: Broadrick’s current districts “have a verbatim copy of F.A. that looks like this.” At 1:36:45: review time frames “that we’ve not been keeping track of” will go into an internal audit tracker. | |
| 1:42:25 | JLCJA (sports injuries) | Howard: “it seemed like somebody tried to pass it at some point in 22 or 23”; at 1:43:58: “If anyone who is concerned about sports injuries is watching and is interested in this, please check it out and give us some feedback.” Rapp at 1:44:28: “So don’t we have to send it to second reading?” | OBSERVATION |
| 1:46:09 | A former policy chair from the floor | Hawkins: “Technically, Brian, you’re absolutely correct. Two reads to adoption,” and “I believe the rule is unless it’s an emergency.” At 1:46:35: “that’s why the practice has been for many policies to get them in and get adopted.” | OBSERVATION |
| 1:47:05 | Reading policy BGA | Howard: “The policy is BG a”; at 1:47:29: “It says to follow Robert’s Rules … So it’s a it’s a little bit muddy.” At 1:48:36 he reads the exception: “unusual or unexpected urgency, they may wave [waive] second meeting limitation.” | OBSERVATION |
| 1:50:14 | The objection | Rapp: “Look, no offense, but but listen to yourselves. You’re giving an excuse to just steamroll over.” Whitney at 1:52:14: “there is a level of urgency for us to get our house in order.” Rapp at 1:53:28: “You do your first read, people see it, people talk about it.” Carried with Rapp opposed at 1:54:30. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:55:34 | No superintendent evaluation | “this is not a conventional time when we set goals and analyze the superintendent”; at 1:56:07: “The goal was to survive, and we’re not there yet, but we’re doing well.” | |
| 1:58:37 | Future dates | “May 28th is the board meeting, and we will be doing annual goal setting in July.” At 1:59:25: “July 21st will be the only meeting in July for the board.” | OBSERVATION |
| 2:00:22 | Future agenda items | Lavalette: an overview of the Academy; “cell phone issuance by the district” (2:00:44); whether Stevens has cut sports (2:01:12); “what’s the chain of custody for the money” in team fundraising (2:01:24); exit interviews for families that leave (2:02:13). | |
| 2:02:37 | Eliminated special education positions? | Whitney: “Have we eliminated any BCB [BCBA] positions? Have we eliminated any registered behavior technician positions this year.” No answer is recorded before the chair moves on. | |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer’s aid. They are not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each flag cites the rule it rests on; an Observation rests on no confirmed rule.
HIGH The food service contract was voted as two years plus three renewals; the federal rule limits the term to one year plus up to four renewals
Angell described a “typical” term as “two years with three one year extensions” (1:14:32), and when Howard asked for “The minimum we can do” the answer was “a two year contract” with three more periods (1:16:44). The approved minutes record the motion as approving “the contract with Fresh Picks for 2 years with 3 one year continuations,” carried 6–1. Under 7 CFR 210.16(d), a contract between a school food authority and a food service management company “shall be of a duration of no longer than 1 year; and options for the yearly renewal … may not exceed 4 additional years.” The five-year maximum matches; the two-year initial term does not. The award rested on a single proposal, from the incumbent (1:15:51), which the comptroller attributed to the district’s deficit (1:20:25). Mitigation: the contract needs state agency approval, as Angell said at 1:15:18, and the executed contract sits in a packet sub-folder this page could not open, so the signed term is not established. Graded HIGH because the term the board voted and minuted conflicts on its face with the governing regulation, and nothing on the record refers to it.
Sources: 7 CFR 210.16(d) (one-year term, up to four renewal years; 53 FR 29147 as amended through 88 FR 57845, Aug. 23, 2023; read 2026-09-25); approved minutes, 5/20/26; “Food Service Contract Documents” (packet sub-folder, contents not read).
MEDIUM The stipend register filed with the agenda leaves its “How it was approved” column blank on 649 of 726 lines
The spreadsheet linked under “Stipends update” has four headed columns (Name, Position, Amount, How it was approved). Its first sheet, as served on 2026-09-25, holds 726 lines for 324 named employees totaling $1,155,658.55. Seventy-seven lines ($181,946.53) carry an approval entry, all the same text: “Per CBA Agreement with specifical approval by the Building Principal.” The other 649 lines ($973,712.02) are blank. The item was never presented. The one line anyone asked about came from a constituent (0:45:02): Christopher Pratt as “SRV RTC mentor,” said on tape to be $20,000; the sheet reads PRATT, CHRISTOPHER A, SRVRTC Mentor, 10000, with the approval column blank. The chair said the stipend “was actively not approved the second year” (0:46:14); the minutes record her belief that the first-year figure was $10,000 and that the matter “is being looked into.” The sheet does not say which year it covers. The treasurer may pay district money “only upon orders of the school board” or of members it empowers, and no board may pay for a purpose with no appropriation. A blank column does not prove a payment was unauthorized, since the order may sit on a manifest; it does mean the document the board received cannot answer how 84 percent of this money was approved. Regraded from the archived page’s HIGH to MEDIUM: this is a control and documentation gap, and no violation is established on the record.
Sources: Copy of Stipends for SB meeting.xlsx (figures computed from the sheet); RSA 197:23-a (treasurer pays only on orders of the board or its empowered members); RSA 32:8 (no payment for a purpose with no appropriation; 1993, 332:1); approved minutes, 5/20/26.
MEDIUM No manifest appears in the agenda, the minutes or the recording
“Approval of Manifest:” is the third consent-agenda line. In the agenda it has nothing after it; in the approved minutes it is a heading with nothing under it; on the recording the word does not occur between 0:00:03 and 2:04:57. The treasurer pays “only upon orders of the school board” or of two or more members the board empowers, and minutes must record “final decisions.” A manifest signed by empowered members outside the meeting would satisfy RSA 197:23-a and could leave no trace in these records, so absence is not proof that nothing was authorized. A reader of the district’s record still cannot tell whether any payments were approved on May 20. Graded MEDIUM, consistent with the other 2026 pages that record the same blank line.
Sources: RSA 197:23-a; RSA 91-A:2, II (minutes record final decisions); “5.20.26 CSB Meeting Agenda”; approved minutes, 5/20/26.
MEDIUM About $160,000 of improvements to a building the board authorized $50,000 for, with no record of the source
The comptroller’s Masonic Temple figure, $438,354, is purchase $255,000, closing costs $3,755 and improvements of “just over $160,000,” within which were $18,900 of unpaid architectural fees (0:36:44–0:37:13). The chair said the board “voted to spend 50,000” and asked “how could more money be expended than we authorized?” (0:38:05). Angell was not in post then (0:38:31). The only account of the funding came from Rapp, relaying a contractor: money “set aside for building maintenance” (0:39:05). A governing body may transfer between appropriations under RSA 32:10, but it must keep records so that a citizen “may ascertain the purposes of appropriations to which, and from which, amounts have been transferred.” RSA 32:8 bars paying for a purpose with no appropriation. The page asserts no unlawful spending; a transfer may have been proper. What the record shows is that neither the chair nor the comptroller could say which appropriation paid. Mitigation: the spending predates the current administration, the officers answered openly, and the chair undertook to follow up (0:39:53).
Sources: RSA 32:10, I(b) (transfer records open to citizens; 2017, 127:4); RSA 32:8; approved minutes, 5/20/26.
MEDIUM The comptroller says special education transportation costs are misclassified and not accurately reported to the State
The staff report of May 15 states that “our accounting for student transportation is not accurate. The regular education line includes both regular education and special education.” Its table shows the district at $1,730,019.46 regular and $241,600.00 special education ($1,971,619.46), Butler at $994,500.00 and $1,017,000.00 ($2,011,500.00), and First Student at $1,187,544.60 for regular education only. The totals are close; the components are not comparable. On the recording: “in that 1,730,000 is special education costs that are not broken out” (1:09:04), “And that accounting is wrong” (1:09:23), and “we need to be accurately reporting our special education costs and we’re not” (1:08:37). The annual financial report under RSA 198:4-d, due September 1, reports expenditures by function, so a misclassification carries into it. Graded MEDIUM on the mitigated limb: the disclosure is the district’s own, made in writing before the meeting and repeated on camera, with a plan to segregate the ledger over the summer (1:06:30). The board kept the in-house model, which did not require choosing between the mismatched components.
Sources: Staff Report - Award of Student Transportation.pdf (May 15, 2026); RSA 198:4-d (annual financial report due September 1; text in force on the meeting date: 2025, 141:401, eff. July 1, 2025; the section was reenacted by 2026, 272:1, eff. July 1, 2026, keeping the September 1 date).
MEDIUM The approved minutes give no start time, name no author, and put a teacher work day on a Saturday
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.” The approved May 20 minutes print only the agenda’s scheduled 6:30 PM and end with “8:59 adjournment”, with no author line. They also record “Monday June 13th will be professional day for teachers.” Broadrick’s memo says “Monday, June 15: ‘Teacher work day’ at all schools,” and the chair read it as June 15 (0:49:35); June 13, 2026 is a Saturday. Regraded from the archived page’s OBSERVATION to MEDIUM, because two statutory elements are missing from minutes the board has approved; the date error is a clerical slip the board can correct.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2025, 112:1, eff. Aug. 22, 2025; read 2026-09-25); Claremont Board Report - May 21 2026.pdf; approved minutes, 5/20/26.
OBSERVATION JLCJA was adopted 6–1 on a single read over the objection that the public had no second look
All four first-read policies were adopted the same night. On JLCJA, Rapp asked whether it had to go to a second reading (1:44:28) and called skipping it an “excuse to just steamroll over” (1:50:14). Howard read policy BGA aloud: it points to Robert’s Rules and allows the board, for “unusual or unexpected urgency,” to waive the second meeting, with the minutes to “reflect the nature of circumstances” (1:48:36–1:49:03); he called it “a little bit muddy” (1:47:29). Hawkins confirmed two reads is the default and that single reads were used to clear priority policies (1:46:09). The approved minutes record the discussion and the 6–1 vote but no statement of the urgency relied on; they cite the policy as “BGEA” while the tape says BGA. No statute sets a reading procedure for school board policies; the rule is the board’s own, so this is an observation.
Sources: the recording at the timestamps above; approved minutes, 5/20/26 (policy BGA not in the packet; quoted as read aloud).
OBSERVATION Photo-contract commissions go to principals’ funds outside the operating budget
Angell: “each school gets a commission check, and that check goes into a principals fund” (1:22:31), and “It doesn’t go through the operating budget. It actually goes into like the student activity fund” (1:24:06). He also said the board was really choosing on “the price of the what’s being charged to the parents” (1:21:53). RSA 197:23-a gives the treasurer custody of “all moneys belonging to the district”; whether a commission under a district contract is such money is a question this page does not answer, and student activity funds are commonly accounted for separately. The agenda’s future list already carries “Closure of Bluff School Student Activity Funds.” This page verifies neither vendor-ownership statement made on the record.
Sources: RSA 197:23-a; approved minutes, 5/20/26; “Photography Contract Documents” (packet sub-folder, contents not read).
OBSERVATION Unity’s withdrawal from SAU 6, eight days away on the SAU 6 agenda, is not mentioned
The future-dates line reads “May 28: SAU Board Meeting” with no subject, and the chair said only “May 28th is the board meeting” (1:58:37). The May 28 SAU 6 agenda carries Unity’s separation in five action items; that meeting has no recording and no posted minutes (MAP.md section 124). The legal mechanism in the record is Unity’s withdrawal under RSA 194-C:2, IV; SAU 6 continues with Claremont as its one district. The Claremont board is not the body that acts on the withdrawal, and nothing required it to discuss the matter here. Recorded because the district’s own agendas give the public no account of a change to its administrative unit. Regraded from the archived page’s MEDIUM, which described the unit as ending; that premise was wrong, and no rule binding this board is engaged.
Sources: RSA 194-C:2, IV (withdrawal from an SAU; source note ends 2024, 250:1, 2); 5-28-26 SAU6 Board Agenda.
POSITIVE A noticed procurement, a written staff report that discloses the district’s own accounting error, and a correct statutory citation
Transportation went out on a publicly noticed request for proposals sent to four known providers; two responded; a staff report dated five days before the meeting carried a comparative table, considerations, fiscal impact and a recommendation. It did not present the district’s bid as sound: it said the accounting “is not accurate” and that the comptroller went back to both bidders for special education prices. The review also surfaced controls: about 20 people ordering transportation (0:54:21) and seven providers to consolidate (0:54:56). The competing bidder was invited to speak. Rapp framed a motion that kept the settled part and deferred the unsettled one, and Angell asked for a vote so the public would know “the direction that we’re going in” (1:03:47). Separately, Angell cited the city’s tax remittance to “RSA 194, section five through seven” (0:33:59); RSA 194:7 requires the selectmen to assess the district’s amounts and “pay over the same to the district treasurer,” and RSA 21:28, I extends “selectmen” to a city’s mayor and aldermen. The citation is correct.
Sources: Staff Report - Award of Student Transportation.pdf; RSA 194:7; RSA 21:28, I.
POSITIVE The state representative’s answer on charter-school funding matches the statute
Damon told the board that the resident district does not receive adequacy aid for a pupil at a chartered public school, that the money “comes from the education trust fund of the state” (0:15:24), and that “Claremont would still be responsible for any special education costs” (0:15:59). RSA 194-B:11, in force on the meeting date, has the State pay a state-authorized charter school adequacy under RSA 198:40-a “plus an additional grant of $4,900” per pupil, and provides that “The child’s resident district shall have the responsibility, including financial responsibility, to ensure the provision of the special education and related services in the child’s IEP.” She also said she would verify and report back (0:14:22). A precise question in public got an accurate answer.
Sources: RSA 194-B:11 (source note ends 2025, 141:81, 82, eff. July 1, 2025).
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.
Laws and rules cited on this page
- Right-to-Know: RSA 91-A:2, II (2025, 112:1, eff. Aug. 22, 2025)
- School money: RSA 197:23-a; RSA 32:8 (1993, 332:1); RSA 32:10 (2017, 127:4); RSA 194:7; RSA 21:28, I; RSA 198:4-d (as in force May 20, 2026: 2025, 141:401)
- Charter schools and SAUs: RSA 194-B:11 (2025, 141:81, 82); RSA 194-C:2, IV (2024, 250:1, 2)
- Federal: 7 CFR 210.16(d)