Claremont School Board — January 9, 2016 | Saturday budget work session and four contracts

Participants

Everyone the recording shows taking part. Names follow the project's dialogue file and its per-meeting attribution report; no minutes exist online to check spellings against. Where the recording gives only a first name, the page does too, and surnames that come only from the project roster are marked. Members are listed first, then staff, guests and the one member of the public who spoke.
Name	Role	Participation
Richard Seaman	Chair	Presided. Addressed only as Richard; surname from the project roster (the only Richard on the 2015-16 board; not spoken). Argued for the paraprofessional contract; pressed on technology and utilities; proposed a warrant article for criminal background checks and a structured article for a building purchase; cut off the one public commenter as off topic.
Chris Irish	Board member	Named in the roll call. Seconded most contract motions; opposed using the technical center building for anything but career and technical education; asked whether the retained fund could buy a building; objected to Bob's call for cuts without specifics.
Bob	Board member	First name only; surname unverified (the mayor may say `Mr. Picard` at 1:12:36). Voted no on three contracts and moved the fourth; said he was resigning from the board "on the 19th"; asked about special education identification, the facility rental for a campaign event, and staffing levels.
John	Board member	First name only; surname not on record. Moved the secretaries' and administrators' contracts; asked about recovering costs for homeless students, the security-upgrade plan and pre-employment drug testing.
Nancy (surname unknown)	Board member	Called by the clerk in each roll call; voted yes on three contracts and abstained on the paraprofessionals'. Never identified as speaking.
Middleton McGoodwin	Superintendent, SAU 6	Framed the budget as about $1 million smaller than the January 6 draft; reported the early childhood program feasibility study; defended the contracts as needed for retention.
Michael O'Neill	Business Administrator, SAU 6	Summarized each contract and its cost; walked the board through the budget by function, revenues, tax-rate impacts and the retained fund; reported on transportation, food service and maintenance RFPs.
Cory LeClair	SAU 6 administrator	Title not stated on this recording. Explained cost-sharing for homeless students and reported on candidate buildings (the Goodwin Community Center and the junior sports league building) for the early childhood program.
Chris	SAU 6 special education administrator	Surname and exact title not on record. Presented the special education budget, out-of-district placements and transportation, and an identification rate of "somewhere between 23 and 25%" against a state average of "Somewhere between 13 and 14%".
Nate	SAU 6 technology director	Addressed as Nate and Nathan; surname and title not on record. Explained the technology budget and the four-year security-upgrade plan.
Mary Woodman	Clerk / recording secretary	Called the roll votes; surname from the project roster.
Charlene Lovett	Mayor of Claremont (guest)	Invited to speak by the chair; said she served on the school board from 2009 to 2013; asked about building maintenance funding and revenue; described the history of the criminal background-check bills (SB 152).
Ray (surname not on record)	Guest; likely a Claremont state representative (unverified)	Arrived late; spoke of a bill with "representative O'Hearn" as prime sponsor and "our colleagues in the Senate", and urged the district to enlist the NEA.
Cheryl Jones	Citizens' comments, Ward 2	Spoke at the end about a Maine welfare-to-work policy and suggested welfare recipients do district work; the chair stopped her as off topic.

Order of business (reconstructed)

No agenda for this meeting is posted in any district share, so this list is reconstructed from the chair's transitions on the recording. The chair refers to "item B for today" and "item five on here", so a written agenda existed. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.

Taken up	Item	Agenda text / disposition
0:00:09	Call to order; pledge	No roll call of attendance is heard.
0:00:44	Ratification of collective bargaining agreements	Secretaries (one year, separate warrant article): moved John, second Chris Irish, roll call, passed with Bob voting no. Maintenance (separate article): moved Chris Irish, second John, roll call, passed, Bob no. Claremont Administrators Association ("within the main warrant article"): moved John, second Chris Irish, roll call, passed, Bob no. Paraprofessionals (separate article): moved Bob, second Chris Irish, roll call, passed, Nancy abstaining.
0:31:52	Claremont School District fiscal 17 budget	Discussion: special education, buildings, technology, utilities, revenues, tax impact, default budget, RFPs. Direction given to administration; no vote.
2:37:18	Update: early childhood program feasibility study	Informational; recommendation promised by January 19.
2:42:39	Vote to approve fiscal year 17 budget	Not taken; the superintendent said it was a placeholder "in case we came to closure".
2:48:47	Warrant articles	Direction to draft wording for the budget, the four contracts, roofs, capital reserve, criminal background checks and security upgrades; drug testing to be handled by policy within the budget.
3:02:33	Scheduling; public comment; adjournment	No further work session; next meeting the January 19 public hearing. One public comment. Adjourned (motion Bob, second Chris).

Discussion timeline

Chronological, from the dialogue CSV. Times are the start of the cited exchange, taken from the CSV's own second count. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped cell for the full entry.

Time	Topic	What was said	Flags
0:00:09	Opening	The chair opens the "Claremont School Board meeting for January 9th, 2016" with the pledge. The superintendent says the paraprofessional agreement "has been ratified by the paraprofessionals" and all four are before the board.	OBSERVATION
0:03:01	Secretaries' contract	O'Neill: snow days now paid, salary schedule up 3.5%, health plan concessions, longevity schedule starting at five years with a new 35-year step; total cost "$9,803.07". Bob: "we would call that an annual bonus." Roll call: Bob No.; passed as a separate warrant article.	POSITIVE
0:07:48	Maintenance contract	Each step raised 5%, with "80% of the population is at the top step"; health insurance concession. The chair: "the voters have the opportunity to vote up or down on each one of these items separately." Passed on a roll call, Bob no.	POSITIVE
0:10:16	Administrators' contract	"a 4% increase in the salary base" after a year with no agreement; professional development funds reorganized; cost corrected to "38,000, eight, 90". Superintendent: "Last year, that entire collective bargaining unit was flatlined." John's motion placed it "within the main warrant article". Passed on a roll call, Bob no.	POSITIVE
0:17:20	Paraprofessionals' contract	"the total cost of that agreement is 143,449." The chair: "Compensation for a paraprofessional $16,372 a year. I think that's embarrassing". Irish: "No retroactive salary." Bob supported it and asked for a "65, 35% health insurance split" district wide. Passed; the clerk records "Nancy, abstain."	POSITIVE
0:29:15	Bob's resignation; contracts in public	Bob: "I know I'm resigning off the board here on the 19th" and asked for a public meeting to "go through these contracts". The chair: "72% of our budget is way our wages and benefits", nearly all in "five negotiated agreements".
0:32:00	FY2017 budget framing	Superintendent: the January 6 budget "was approximately $1 million larger than the current budget"; "On January 19th we're going to have a public budget hearing." He had sent members the minutes of the early childhood feasibility committee.
0:40:05	Special education	An earlier draft showed "a potential for a $1.1 million increase in special ed"; restructuring brought it "down overall to a -4%". Out-of-district placements for students who move in make Claremont "the district of liability"; transport can run "two $300 per run". The chair: "we're spending $7 million out of a $30 million budget on just this one" line.
0:50:06	Homeless students; identification rate	LeClair: for homeless students "we can share 50% of the transportation"; for special education "there's no recoup of money once they move to our community." Chris put the identification rate at "somewhere between 23 and 25%" against a state average "Somewhere between 13 and 14%". The mayor joined, saying the numbers were "continually double the state average" when she served.
1:11:02	Retained fund balance	O'Neill: "we have a 2.5% carryover fund", "$376,000", usable to balance the tax rate and cover needs "we don't have to put in the budget every year". The chair: "Write about it, a 5% number."	OBSERVATION
1:16:27	A building for the early childhood program	LeClair: state requirements pushed programs out of "the building we're currently sitting in", but a new state CTE director may take "a new lens". Irish: "I will fight with every fiber in my being. To make sure we never use this building is anything but a tech center." Options: the Goodwin Community Center (the city "is required to get I believe it's $121,000") and the junior sports league building. Bob: "Why are we hostage to what they're telling us?"
1:31:53	Could the retained fund buy a building?	Irish: "Could we use that 2% if we if we if we ran into that had to, could we tap that if we needed." O'Neill: "It's on the edge. That's a that's an interpretation question." The chair proposed instead a warrant article for a building purchase: "if we don't find a building, we don't spend it."	OBSERVATION
1:37:55	Budget by function	O'Neill: regular education up `521245`, special education "reduced by 308,000"; a $20,000 cut to media services; building administration and utilities up. The chair asked for function detail on technology, which he read as up about $80,000.
1:47:48	Technology	Nate: contract services cut to 61 [thousand], "a 50% decrease", as an offset for a new SAU position; internet up 50%, software up 94%. O'Neill: "the internet increase is 37,100". The chair asked for the 2225 function detail next time.
1:57:55	Unused sick-day payout	Superintendent: the payout's intent "is to discourage absences" but the data show "a different twist"; he has invited union leaders to talk. The chair: "we seem to be an outlier."
2:00:08	Capital reserve and carryover	O'Neill: a capital reserve funded at $100,000 last year, and "a carryover, under RSA one 1920" [RSA 198:4-b] of "up to 2.5% of our net appropriation", now 395,321.	OBSERVATION
2:03:10	Tax-rate impacts	Operating budget $0.43; administrators' contract $0.06; paraprofessionals' about $0.21; security upgrades at 121 [thousand]. Overall "618, 621, including all warrant articles if they passed".
2:05:08	Security upgrades	John asked whether security upgrades would again be a separate article. The superintendent said last year's article "they didn't approve by a very small margin" and cited a Homeland Security review. Nate described a four-year plan. Bob preferred a separate warrant article.
2:12:11	Where the budget stands	The chair: 618,000 "equates to 1.8% increase"; without the warrant articles "less than a 1% increase"; "I still don't know that we aren't just kicking the can down the road a little bit".
2:13:41	Default budget	John asked what happens if the $296,000 increase is defeated. The chair: "we're running it with a default budget to be determined" and "There are many years where the default budget was lower than the budget that we were recommending." O'Neill said the default figure was "high on the list" for the next meeting.
2:17:22	Direction on cuts	Bob: "we got 20% more employees than any school district their size." Irish demanded specifics; Bob: "We don't have that authority, Christian. You know that." The superintendent offered to report on class sizes.
2:24:53	RFPs: transportation, food, maintenance	O'Neill: last year's transportation RFP drew no responses because "we didn't properly follow up"; he wants responses by the end of March. Food service and custodial outsourcing to stay on the agenda.
2:37:18	Early childhood feasibility study	Superintendent: the program "wasn't designed to be an early childhood education program. It was designed to provide high school students with career and technology opportunities"; the state education department "would support us on a multi-year phasing".
2:47:47	Campaign event facility rental	Bob asked whether the district had been paid for its facility after a campaign event he named as `the Trump debate`. A voice the dialogue file assigns to the chair: "A contract was signed, per the school." ... "they are being invoiced", then "Do I have the money? I do not." (The attribution report notes these rows read like an administrator.)
2:48:47	Warrant articles list	Roofs ($100,000; "I think I can do $160,000 worth of roofs for 100,000"), a second $100,000 for the capital reserve, and the chair's proposal of "$20,000 for criminal background checks" at "$100 per background check, 200 of them". Bob: "we don't know if we even got the legal authority to do that." The chair: "The RSA is pretty clear that regardless of what we do, we still have to involve them".	OBSERVATION
2:52:21	State legislation on background checks	Ray: a bill sponsored by Rep. O'Hearn is "dying or in limbo in the Senate"; he urged talks with the NEA. The mayor described how the committee chose "SB 152 because of some few minor language pieces" and said current law means "You're not doing complete criminal investigation background checks".	OBSERVATION
2:59:44	Pre-employment drug testing	John proposed it; the chair said he had talked to legal counsel and "By statute we are allowed to do it. We're not required to." Irish: "I think we could find that within the budget". Left to policy and the budget.	OBSERVATION
3:03:14	Is one more meeting needed?	LeClair asked whether the January 19 hearing leaves time to answer the day's questions and "finalize a budget". Members decided no further work session was needed; Bob: "historically you only get about 2 or 3 members from the public".
3:05:10	Public comment	The chair invited the audience ("By all means. You can come up."). Cheryl Jones, Ward 2, described Maine welfare cuts and proposed "Start picking up some of these welfare people". The chair: "I'm going to cut you off on this one because it actually doesn't really have anything to do necessarily with our budget specifically."	OBSERVATION
3:08:21	Adjournment	"Motion by Bob, second by Chris." Voice vote.

Items flagged for review

Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on January 9, 2016. Several provisions cited below were later amended, and each flag cites the text as it then read. They are not findings of violation, and nothing here is legal advice. Where no verified rule applies, the flag says so and is recorded as an observation. 5 flags follow, ordered by severity.

OBSERVATION The retained fund balance was described loosely, and a member asked whether it could buy a building

The business administrator called the retained fund "a 2.5% carryover fund" of "$376,000" (1:11:02), later "up to 2.5% of our net appropriation" and 395,321 (2:00:08); the chair summarized it as "a 5% number". At 1:31:53 Irish asked whether that 2% could be tapped to acquire a building, and the answer was "an interpretation question". The statute then in force, RSA 198:4-b, II (source note ends 2014), let the legislative body authorize a district to retain year-end unassigned general funds "not to exceed ... 2.5 percent of the current fiscal year's net assessment", to be used for emergency expenditures and overexpenditures under RSA 32:11 or to reduce the tax rate. On that text the cap was 2.5 percent of net assessment (not appropriation, and not 5 percent, which came only in 2020), and a building purchase is neither listed purpose. The chair's own suggestion, a warrant article so that voters decide on any purchase (1:32:03), is the route the statute leaves open.

Sources: RSA 198:4-b, II (2017 codification; source note ends 2014, 190:6, so the same text governed January 2016).

OBSERVATION Background-check and drug-testing proposals rested on legal characterizations not checked on the record

The chair proposed a $20,000 warrant article for criminal background checks and said "The RSA is pretty clear that regardless of what we do, we still have to involve them" (the state police) (2:51:20); a member doubted "the legal authority" (2:51:06). On drug testing, the chair reported counsel's advice that "By statute we are allowed to do it" (3:00:05). The mayor and a guest described the state bills: the committee preferred SB 152, then stalled in the Senate (2:54:30 to 2:56:27). For context: SB 152 was later enacted as 2016 N.H. Laws ch. 117, approved May 20, 2016, effective July 19, 2016, amending RSA 189:13-a; so on January 9, 2016 the older check law still applied. This page did not verify the text of RSA 189:13-a as it read in January 2016, or any drug-testing statute, so every legal statement in this discussion is the speaker's characterization. The board did not vote; it directed administration and counsel to draft wording (3:02:02).

Sources: bill status for SB 152 (2016): chapter 117, approved May 20, 2016; RSA 189:13-a (2016 codification, which includes the July 19, 2016 amendment; shown for context, not as the January 2016 text).

OBSERVATION The one member of the public who spoke was stopped as off topic

At the end of a three-hour session the chair invited the audience forward (3:05:10). Cheryl Jones of Ward 2 spoke for about two and a half minutes about a Maine welfare policy and suggested welfare recipients do district work; the chair stopped her because "it actually doesn't really have anything to do necessarily with our budget specifically" (3:08:09). In January 2016 no statute required a school board to hold a public comment period or set its length: RSA 189:74, with its thirty-minute minimum, took effect only on September 6, 2022. Confining comment to the business at hand was within the chair's discretion, and during the session the chair repeatedly drew audience members, the mayor and a legislator into the discussion. The observation is recorded so readers can judge the exchange for themselves.

Sources: RSA 189:74 (source "2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022"; not in force in 2016).

OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes are posted online, and attendance is only partly audible

MAP.md records that neither district Drive share holds anything before July 2022 (checked 9/26/26), so this page rests on the recording alone. That is a limit of what the district posts online, not by itself evidence that records were never made; the superintendent mentions sending members the minutes of the feasibility committee (0:34:21). No attendance roll call is heard, and the vote roll calls name only Chris Irish, John and Nancy, so two seats are unaccounted for. In 2016, RSA 91-A:2, II required minutes to include "names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions" and to be "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting". The limb of the project's missing-records rule applied is the online-availability observation.

Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2015 codification, in force until January 1, 2017); Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 3.

POSITIVE Each contract was explained with its cost and ratified on a roll call, and three were sent to voters as separate articles

For each of the four agreements the business administrator described the changes and gave a dollar cost ($9,803.07 for secretaries; "38,000, eight, 90" for administrators; 143,449 for paraprofessionals), members questioned them, and the board voted by roll call, so each member's position is on the record (Bob voted no on three; Nancy abstained on one). The chair explained that separate articles let "the voters have the opportunity to vote up or down on each one of these items separately" (0:08:57). RSA 273-A:3, II(b) provides that "Only cost items shall be submitted to the legislative body of the public employer for approval". One caveat: the administrators' contract went "within the main warrant article" (0:14:35), so voters could approve or reject its cost only as part of the whole budget. The definition of a special warrant article then in force, RSA 32:3, VI, does not list collective bargaining cost items, and this page found no verified rule that required a separate article; the choice is the board's, and the record shows it made it openly.

Sources: RSA 273-A:3, II(b) (source note ends 2013, 244:1); RSA 32:3, VI (2015 codification; source note ends 2013, 109:1).

Appendix: source files

Official and public sources

Cablecast show 8114, "SCHOOL BOARD BUDGET STUDY MEETING 1-9-16": Claremont Community TV. Every timestamp on this page links into this recording.
No Drive material: neither the Claremont nor the SAU 6 share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023 (MAP.md, checked 9/26/26). No agenda, packet, contracts, budget documents or minutes were located.
Related pages: March 4, 2015 (the previous recording in the archive). The February 3, 2016 deliberative session and board meeting are MAP.md sections 4 and 5.

Project files

Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.

Dialogue/8114 SchoolBoard010916.mp4.CSV (1,160 attributed rows; the basis of this page)
Input/Videos/8114 SchoolBoard010916.mp4
Input/Transcripts/8114 SchoolBoard010916.mp4.json
Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/8114 SchoolBoard010916.mp4.md
Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 3

Laws and rules cited on this page

New Hampshire statutes, as in force on January 9, 2016. RSA 198:4-b, II (retained fund balance; text unchanged 2014 to 2020). RSA 273-A:3, II(b) (cost items to the legislative body). RSA 32:3, VI (special warrant article; 2015 codification). RSA 91-A:2, II (notice and minutes; 2015 codification).
Later law, cited for context only. 2016 N.H. Laws ch. 117 (SB 152), approved May 20, 2016, eff. July 19, 2016, per the bill-status record, and the resulting RSA 189:13-a. RSA 189:74 (public comment; eff. Sept. 6, 2022).