| 0:00:00 | Call to order and Pledge | The chair opens with "I would like to call the meeting to order for the record for October 7th, 2026" and leads the Pledge of Allegiance. | |
| 0:00:40 | Recognition: National Merit commended student | The chair hands the recognition to Dr. Broadrick, who reads a letter from Stevens High School principal Dr. Michael Herrington, absent for family reasons. The letter names senior Jean Gagnon (rendered "Gene Gannon" and "John Gannon" in the transcript) a commended student in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program, "in the top 50,000" of roughly 2 million test takers, and says he plans to study automotive design and mechanical engineering with a focus on hydrogen combustion engines. His parents attend. | |
| 0:03:22 | Roll call and consent agenda | The roll call is read in the recording as "Lauren Howard here, Michael patron here, Don Lavallée here, William Madden. Ryan wrap here, there. Whitney. Candace Crawford here." The chair then opens the consent agenda: the September 16 minutes, the manifests and the agenda. | |
| 0:03:54 | September 16 minutes: not posted where the public would find them | A board member says that as of 4:00 p.m. the posted minutes folder holds only an agenda, not minutes, and that the last draft minutes on the website are from September 2, not September 16, and lack the corrections requested. The chair says the minutes were attached to the meeting and notes the linking problem must be fixed "in the central office". The board puts off approving the September 16 minutes until the next meeting, and the manifests and agenda go forward without objection. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:06:19 | Citizens' comments | Sam Deering, a candidate for state representative in Claremont, speaks for public education. Wayne Hemingway, state representative and city councilor, congratulates the honoree and invites him and others with accomplishments to present at the City Council's citizens forum; the chair agrees to pass the invitation along. | |
| 0:08:17 | Treasurer's report (Luke Diamond) | Diamond says the manifests now itemize payroll and direct deposits instead of showing one lump sum. He then raises "direct electronic payments that never seem to appear on any manifest" and says "the treasurer doesn't release any money until the board has seen it, or at least two members of the board have signed off on it", yet some electronic payments "get initiated by district staff rather than going through the normal channels". He will work to get them onto a manifest. A board member asks that his checkbook presentations be posted with the minutes and manifests; he will present September figures at the next meeting. | MEDIUM |
| 0:10:37 | Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment report (Kerry Kennedy): pilots and software review | Two pilots are under way: Arts and Letters (a science-of-reading literacy program for grades 6 to 8, funded through Title I) at Claremont Middle School, and Kessler Science (funded through Title IV-A). A software survey drew 82 responders and found more than 35 websites or apps in use; a vetting committee with one member from each school will review funding source, student privacy ("The DPA doesn't have student privacy") and consistency. | |
| 0:14:51 | Board questions to Kennedy: PD, the apps coordinator, enrollment | A member asks for copies of the fifth-grade Wit and Wisdom and math texts and what support new teachers get. Kennedy explains that the apps coordinator (Tammy Morse) manages single sign-on rostering through Clever for 600 to 1,300 students, license tracking and professional-development approvals in Frontline. At 0:20:01 the district enrollment is given as high school 400, middle school 321, Disnard 290 and Maple Avenue 312, a total of 1,323, and a monthly grade-level census is requested. | |
| 0:21:08 | Summer school and credit recovery (Mimi Rhines) | Program ran July 8 to August 6, Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to noon, with five teachers, funded by a grant at no cost to the district (a $500 snack donation came from Kiwanis). 130 students were invited for 240 possible credits; 98 credits were recovered (24 English, 24 social studies, 22 science, 24 math, plus computers), 18 students recovered more than one; average attendance fell from 46 in week one to 32 in week two. Members note about 40 percent recovery against roughly 52 percent the year before and ask for a goal near 60 percent, more than one contact mode for families, and five years of data. A slide that showed 70 percent had its math reversed, as Rhines acknowledges. Staff clocked in only when they had students. | |
| 0:36:11 | Does attendance affect grant reimbursement? | Dr. Broadrick answers a member's question: "The answer to your question, Mr. Madden, is no." The district is eligible for grant funding for running an approved program, and the funds are an entitlement once the grant is approved and the program runs. | |
| 0:38:09 | Finance report: new business administrator Teresa Taylor and HR director Amy Savage | Dr. Broadrick introduces Teresa Taylor, who started this week, and Amy Savage, who joined a few months ago, and asks the board to "give Teresa time and space". | |
| 0:40:10 | Overdue federal tax filings | Dr. Broadrick reports that the district did not file its payroll tax reporting form for the first quarter of 2023 and did not upload a Form 1095-C to the IRS for each employee for 2020. Both go to an outside attorney and must be done by the end of October; he says they do not affect employees' withholding or W-2s but carry penalties and costs. | MEDIUM |
| 0:42:23 | Student Assistance Program paperwork and the first spending-to-budget report | A grant-funded program that places a drug and alcohol counselor in the middle and high school needs paperwork within "a couple of weeks" to earn back credit. The first spending-to-budget report of the year is promised by the end of the month; Dr. Broadrick says it "doesn't mean too much yet" and that coding spending to the correct object codes is a project he will take responsibility for because some budget lines did not exist. | |
| 0:45:50 | DOE-25 filing and audit corrective actions | The report heading is read as "fiscal 26 ... 25". The DOE-25 "is already late but we have permission to be late"; a call with Unity and the Department of Education will be set. On the FY22 audit, "We're at 11 out of 18 corrective actions" written; the other seven are targeted for October. Plodzik and Sanderson will then issue a final report. Anticipated completion dates run into 2027 because Dr. Broadrick sets them three to six months past the date he is confident the documents will exist. | MEDIUM |
| 0:52:03 | Madden asks for the signed audit contract | A member says he received only a proposal and asks to see the signed contract with the auditors. Dr. Broadrick offers to find the signed copy. The member says the auditors "work for the public good", recalls drawers of unprocessed invoices and checks over ten years, and says a board member later told the board that signed vouchers shown to him had been "a mistake". The discussion ends with a request for the signed contract. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:55:52 | Plow and sand RFP, transportation RFP, outstanding audits | The plow-and-sand bid is posted under the RFP tab with bids due October 23; Dr. Broadrick says the contract had been renewed annually without bid and this rebid is about compliance with procurement procedures the board adopted within the last eight weeks. A transportation RFP is not yet live. John Aubin has agreed to help move the FY24 and FY25 audits through as fast as possible. Dr. Broadrick describes the business office, now four people, as process-driven by design. | MEDIUM OBSERVATION |
| 0:59:45 | Superintendent's report: HB 1099 testimony, gym scoreboards, comfort dog, metal detectors | Dr. Broadrick summarizes his testimony to the joint legislative committee under House Bill 1099 and argues that students placed through DHHS and court-ordered systems track community economics (Claremont should expect about ten a year). Scoreboard signs crediting donors will be installed before basketball season. A service dog at the middle school is expected to be positive. The metal detectors are in the school resource officer's office; he will check whether the district took grant reimbursement for them, which decides what strings apply to disposal. | |
| 1:04:53 | Right-to-Know request report | At board members' request Dr. Broadrick reports "just about exactly 11 months" of data: 130 requests for governmental records, 125 fulfilled and 5 open. A member asks that the data show how many come from each requester, noting that one requester accounts for 88 of the 130 and that 16 others made one or two requests each, and that repeated requests may show what the district should publish. Dr. Broadrick says the spreadsheet holds that detail and can be shared. | POSITIVE |
| 1:08:06 | Arrowhead partnership and paraprofessional census | A member suggests a partnership between the Arrowhead recreation area kitchen and the tech center's culinary program. Another asks for a census of paraprofessionals, including those mandated by an IEP. | |
| 1:10:11 | Update on special education services | Dr. Broadrick reports on the district's due-diligence review from the Department of Education: 130 triennial evaluations due this year and 50 new referrals since the first day of school; 28 evaluations not completed last year that have been outsourced; 21 preschool referrals; about 40 students placed out of district, 17 of whose IEPs were inaccurate at the start of the year, plus eight placements made but never recorded in IEPs. | HIGH |
| 1:22:08 | 63 percent of IEPs out of compliance, and programs not ready for state approval | He repeats that 63 percent of IEPs were out of compliance because of a lapse between expiration and renewal, "a symptom of just a lack of oversight" that belongs in the central office. The self-contained programs are still not ready for Department of Education approval, and the district will not file until they are compliant. Some programs are oversubscribed. Positions are described as 45 or more staff short of full capacity: "We'd hire 15 properly certified staff next week". | HIGH |
| 1:33:22 | Contracted services and the letter to families | Gaps are being covered with contracted staff, sometimes a different person each day, and with remote speech services. A letter mailed the previous Friday to the parent or guardian of every student with an IEP says the district is currently unable to meet all of its obligations; case managers and principals will follow up on each child, and compensatory services will be owed in some cases that cannot yet be quantified. | HIGH POSITIVE |
| 1:42:20 | Board questions on budget and special education aid | A member asks whether the 15 additional staff are budgeted; Dr. Broadrick says the budget object codes do not match the district's needs and he will present a realistic description. Asked whether the noncompliant IEPs put state aid at risk, he says correcting out-of-district IEPs in September means the district will be submitting for special education aid next summer and the exposure grows only if corrections are delayed. | HIGH |
| 1:45:13 | Self-contained K-1 program and pre-K changes: behavior in the youngest grades | Maple Avenue (Pre-K to grade 2, opened this year with all of those students in one building) has no spare classroom; the nurse's office became a behavior intervention space, and meetings are held in the principal's office. The K-1 self-contained program is over capacity under state rules. Dr. Broadrick says disruptive behavior is more frequent than staff have seen, that about 10 percent or more of kindergartners need toileting help, and that suspensions are being used for younger students "that maybe our principals have never had to do". | OBSERVATION |
| 1:51:22 | September incident logs | Reading from injury and incident logs for Maple Avenue and Disnard in September, he says 3 of 20 entries are slips and falls and the other 17 describe students hitting, kicking or biting staff, and that staff safety committees now ask about bite guards. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:58:54 | Short-term plan: a second K-1 self-contained program and room changes | He proposes a second K-1 self-contained program for 11 students with a certified teacher already in the building, to bring both rooms into approval. Two rooms at Maple Avenue would go to pre-K support services (one preschool drop-in room is displaced) and the change is planned for "tomorrow unless you stop us". He calls it crisis management, not strategic planning, and says pre-K should be about social readiness. A member compares neighbors: Hanover has no pre-K, Kearsarge limits enrollment with a waitlist, Sunapee uses a lottery, Newport uses child-find screening. | |
| 2:04:42 | Board support for teachers and student conduct policy | Members ask what policy could help teachers and principals. Dr. Broadrick explains the suspension framework: he counts days cumulatively, a principal can suspend up to ten days, days 11 to 20 need his authorization, and expulsion needs a hearing before the board; he has never expelled an eight-year-old. A member asks for a board policy backing principals on discipline, and the board refers the idea to the Policy Committee. | OBSERVATION |
| 2:16:26 | NHSBA proposed resolutions | The board's delegate to the NHSBA assembly leads the discussion. A motion to support proposed resolutions 3, 9 and 13 as written passes 6 to 1. A motion to support 5, 6 and 10 with the NHSBA board of directors' alternative language passes 4 to 3. On resolution 1 (regulation of risk pools for health benefits) members debate whether the NHSBA should take a position; the audible voice vote is roughly three yes and four no and no result is announced. The board then discusses leaving the other resolutions without a position and the delegate agreeing to vote for the board on them. | |
| 2:38:19 | HB 1300 on the November ballot | The chair describes the ballot question: shall the municipality limit property tax growth for the district under RSA 32:5, I-a for a two-year period, with the school levy capped at the prior year's amount adjusted for new construction, central office spending capped at 6 percent of the school appropriation, and bonded capital excluded. Members disagree on whether the board may take a position under the NHSBA guidance, which allows advocacy in a personal capacity without district resources. The chair proposes a public hearing at the start of the October 21 meeting, with Dr. Broadrick presenting the budget effects, and says the attorneys will be asked. | OBSERVATION |
| 2:45:53 | School board bylaws | A member moves to table the bylaws because the copy in the packet is the old version and not the revision made by an ad hoc committee that met earlier. The chair accepts the table motion. | |
| 2:48:50 | Athletic handbooks sent back | A member who submitted edits says the revised athlete's handbook does not fix what he flagged and calls it "a middle finger" to him and to the board. Another member moves to send both handbooks back; the motion passes on a voice vote. | |
| 2:51:51 | Policies: second read and adoptions | The policy introduced as second read (agenda: JIHC, metal detector use) is adopted unanimously on a motion and second. Two revisions then move: the fraud-reporting policy (DIH) is adopted as amended, and a purchasing policy raises the bid-versus-quote threshold from $5,000 to $20,000 ("We get quotes for things under 20. We get bids for things over") and is adopted unanimously. The five new purchasing and petty-cash policies move to second read with amendments, and the administration will write the accompanying regulations. | OBSERVATION POSITIVE |
| 2:54:09 | Fraud-reporting policy: board notification | A member objects that the policy leaves it to the superintendent whether to tell the board about reported fraud or fiscal mismanagement, especially if the superintendent is involved. Language is added so the chair notifies the board in a nonpublic meeting when such an investigation begins, plus annual updating of the capital-asset list and proof on file that staff completed the annual mandatory training, including whistleblower protections. | POSITIVE |
| 3:10:31 | Personnel report | Sean Gould, a certified assistant principal, is nominated and appointed as student services coordinator and assistant principal at Claremont Middle School. Teresa Taylor's contract was approved earlier and appears with a prorated salary. One employee has given notice of retirement as of June 30; Dr. Broadrick advises that no vote is legally required and the board takes no action. | |
| 3:12:27 | Subcommittee reports | The chair asks committee chairs to schedule meetings so the report page can be filled in for the next meeting. | |
| 3:13:08 | Other business: how recognitions are chosen | A member asks how people are chosen for the recognitions that open meetings. The chair says she began them as chair and recent ones came from staff recommendations; any board member may suggest one, and another member proposes a standing agenda space for school-level nominees. | |
| 3:15:51 | Motion to enter nonpublic session | The chair asks for a motion to go into nonpublic session; the cited ground is heard as "two subsection two A, C and K" and is seconded. The agenda gives RSA 91-A:3, II (a), (c) and (k) and lists Emergency Operations Plans as a nonpublic item. | MEDIUM |
| 3:16:29 | Roll call vote; recording ends | The clerk begins the roll call with Howard and Madden, with "yes" answers heard. The recording ends at this point, before the vote is complete and before any return to public session or adjournment. | MEDIUM |