Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Surnames that rest on the project roster or the attribution report rather than on this recording are marked as such; there are no minutes to check spellings against. Students are not named.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Brian Rapp | Chair | Calls the meeting to order (0:00:11); the superintendent refers to "Mr. Wrap" [Rapp] (3:41:37). Runs comment and votes, describes volunteering with the robotics project at Maple Avenue, and says "it's pretty apparent that the 4x4 was not working." (3:12:04). |
| Chris Irish | Vice chair | Says the schedule decision "was made on a little bit of data and a lot of assumptions and a lot of hope" and that state test results should not be used to judge teachers (3:17:44). Medium-high confidence attribution. |
| Frank Sprague | Member | Former Stevens principal. Questions the A/B comparison schools, the four-year math rule and study halls, recalls a former teacher's view of the A/B day, and moves the calendar (3:30:33). |
| Patrick Adrian | Member | Recognized as Patrick (3:30:46). Asks about the survey's limits and community outreach, writing across the curriculum and graduation credits; moves the strategic plan proposal (3:41:07). |
| Michelle Pierce | Member | Asks why homeschooled and private-school students are not surveyed, presses for outreach to residents without internet, and praises the schedule transition; volunteers for the administrators' bargaining team with an experienced member. |
| Brent Ferland | Member | Addressed as Brant by the superintendent (3:29:28; the project roster spells it Brent; attribution medium confidence). Moves the April 6 minutes (0:01:48), questions the survey's consistency, argues grade-level failure rates should match proficiency, and proposes turning the second conference into an instructional day. |
| Rebecca "Becky" Ferland | Member | Addressed as Becky (3:19:50). Notes a meeting date on the materials that "was not held", asks about snow days in the calendar, and seconds the calendar motion (3:30:44). |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Reports on water testing and staff news, introduces the survey group, presents the history of the schedule change and the arbitration, and recommends calendar option 1 and the strategic-planning consultant. |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant superintendent, SAU 6 | Explains the curriculum approval process, homeschool numbers, hour-based calendar counting and the teachers' agreement on conferences. Medium confidence attribution. |
| Patricia Barry | Principal, Stevens High School | Introduced as "Pat Berry, principal of Stevens High School" (2:17:18). Presents online-course numbers, comparison-school data and the reasons for the A/B schedule, and answers members' questions. |
| Student representative (not named) | Student member | Delivers the student report (0:02:19) and later addresses the board on the schedule (2:59:23). |
| Student, Stevens junior (not named) | Citizens' comment | Speaks against the A/B schedule (0:15:46). |
| Sarah Deline | Citizens' comment, parent | Self-identifies as the junior's parent (0:18:37; spelling unverified). Asks that the schedule be reviewed. |
| Student, Stevens senior (not named) | Citizens' comment | Weighs the schedule's costs and benefits (0:22:01). The dialogue file labels this speaker with a first name that other speakers do not use; see the footer. |
| Lisa Draper | TLC Family Resource Center; Youth Risk Behavior Study Group | "So I'm Lisa Draper, I work for TLC Family Resource Center, and I'm also a Claremont parent and a voter in Ward three." (0:31:39). Presents the study group's report. |
| Dennis McNichol | Public Health Network; study group member | Introduced by Draper (0:32:23; spelling unverified). Explains how the survey screens inconsistent answers. |
| Pam (surname not stated) | Leader, Rogue Robots 4-H | Introduces the SeaPerch team (2:00:07). |
| Rogue Robots students (not named) | Presenters | Four high school students present their underwater vehicle, headed to a national competition (2:03:01 to 2:11:41). |
| Richard Seaman | Citizen, Ward 3; former board chair | "Richard seaman, Ward three." (3:12:46). Asks how the flex period and teacher training are working. |
| Unidentified | Various | 141 of 971 dialogue rows (14.5%) are unidentified: roll-call answers, votes and seconds, crosstalk and fragments. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives. The chair says "So everyone has the agenda." and the superintendent refers to its "Roman numeral seven"; the list below is reconstructed from the chair's transitions.
| Taken up | Item | What was said and done |
|---|
| 0:00:11 | Call to order, Pledge of Allegiance, roll call | Roll answers audible but not named (0:00:44 to 0:01:02). |
| 0:01:06 | Agenda | Motion and second inside the chair's row (0:01:10); voice vote (0:01:37). |
| 0:01:41 | Minutes of April 6 | "Motion to approve the minutes." (Brent Ferland, 0:01:48); no edits; voice vote (0:02:01). |
| 0:02:14 | Student representatives' report | School news from the elementary schools and Stevens. |
| 0:08:43 | Superintendent's report | Water testing, a student's SkillsUSA honor, staff news, the CLiF book grant, a visit to kindergarten. |
| 0:15:29 | Citizens' comments | Three speakers on the high school schedule; closed at 0:30:53. |
| 0:30:53 | Discussion: Youth Risk Behavior Study Group presentation | Report and questions. No vote. |
| 1:20:59 | Rogue Robots | Team not yet arrived; taken up at 2:00:07 during a break in the schedule item. |
| 1:21:28 | Stevens High School schedule presentations | Superintendent (1:22:12), then the principal (2:17:45), then board discussion and one citizen. No vote. |
| 3:19:00 | Professional development calendar; policies | Calendar an FYI; policies on advanced coursework, promotion and retention, and high school credit sent back to faculty for input (3:19:15). "So we're going to skip policies." (3:22:02). |
| 3:22:02 | Action item: 2016-17 school calendar | Motion, Sprague: "I'd like to make a motion that the school board, support the administration's recommendation for school calendar marked number one." Second, Becky Ferland. Voice vote: "All in favor? Aye, aye." (3:37:52); no opposition audible. |
| 3:37:57 | Action item: district strategic plan proposal | Consultant recommended by the New Hampshire School Board Association; fee $8,000 (3:21:01) from line "310 contracted services." (3:40:49). Motion, Adrian: I'll move it. (3:41:07); second, Brent Ferland; voice vote (3:41:11). |
| 3:41:37 | Board member for administrators' bargaining | Omitted from the list under item VII; Pierce volunteers to serve with an experienced member (3:42:26). |
| 3:42:39 | Adjournment | Voice vote; motion and second not clearly audible. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/8380 SchoolBoard050416.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording. Quotations are as transcribed; bracketed words are corrections, with the transcript's wording kept where the correction changes sense.
Chronological topics with the most concrete material first.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:41 | April 6 minutes approved | "We have our minutes from April 6th." Approved without edits. | MED |
| 0:02:19 | Student report | Elementary reading totals ("33,219 minutes during vacation"), Read 180 at Stevens, a community service day, a SkillsUSA scholarship for a senior, and $200 raised by student athletes for Turning Points Network (0:07:16). | |
| 0:08:45 | Water testing | After a resident's concern about Flint, Michigan, the public-works testing contractor "did individual tests of all our schools"; lead was below the action level and "one bubbler that had a copper level that seemed a little high" will be rechecked (0:09:26). | |
| 0:11:34 | CLiF books and kindergarten | Books from "a $25,000 Cliff Grant for literacy" go home with Maple Avenue students. The superintendent describes visiting kindergarten classes that afternoon. | |
| 0:15:46 | Citizens' comment: a junior | "The stress of having six classes at once was just incredible." Because of the schedule, "I wasn't able to take any arts classes this year", and next year's choices are "calculus or AP chemistry, it's French three or AP lit." (0:16:35). | POS |
| 0:18:37 | Citizens' comment: a parent | Her son asked for his classes in the fall and was told "they're full" (0:20:43): "we're putting a block schedule. This a be schedule in place to pick up all of the stragglers. But at the same time, we're hurting these stellar students. I would like the schedule to be looked at." The chair: "We're going to be having a conversation later." | POS |
| 0:22:01 | Citizens' comment: a senior | "It is a lot to process eight classes at one time." Electives are being dropped because "students can't fit them into their schedule", and math every other day means re-teaching; but the schedule "teaches students time management", and of a fall AP course, only two of a class of about 25 felt ready for the May exam (0:27:36). | POS |
| 0:31:39 | Youth Risk Behavior Survey: method | Draper: the survey is biennial and "it is voluntary. Students do not need to participate. They are asked to get parental consent in order to participate." "It is completely anonymous. There are no names on students, surveys." (0:36:04); "it is an opt in." (1:00:04). In 2015, "we got 73% of Stevens students to respond" (1:00:36). | POS |
| 0:38:34 | Survey findings and curriculum | The group's first focus was sexual behavior, citing HIV, Sullivan County's teen birth rate (over 30 against a national 26.5 in 2013), sexually transmitted infections and dating violence. Stevens figures are reported only in aggregate. The group recommends a K-5 health curriculum, "the Great Body Shop", to the Curriculum Council (0:52:11); LeClair explains that the board approves curriculum under district policy (0:55:27). | POS |
| 0:59:00 | Who is not surveyed | Pierce asks about homeschooled students; LeClair estimates "around 120 right now" homeschoolers, after "a surge of homeschoolers this year" (1:01:37). Brent Ferland questions inconsistencies between grade cohorts; Draper and McNichol explain that each administration surveys a different student body (1:05:15, 1:07:04). | |
| 1:10:58 | State recognition and outreach | The superintendent: in January "I received a call from the state complimenting the Claremont School District for developing and having this committee"; "I sent out around 1900 invitations electronically to our parents" (1:15:24). Pierce: "I don't have internet at home." The superintendent: "Clearly CCTV is an asset." (1:20:09). | |
| 1:22:16 | The schedule: the superintendent's history | From his 2011 entry plan, a 2013 vote of no confidence by the teachers' association, a 2014 faculty scheduling committee, and course-failure data. Committee findings included "The academic gap in core disciplines exists" of up to a year and a half between core courses (1:37:43). | |
| 1:43:01 | The arbitration | "And so there was an arbitration hearing in April 2015 between the union and the school board. And the arbitrator clearly said the school board violated the collective bargaining agreement. But the school board did not accept this ruling." He reads the statute as "Elected school board shall be responsible for establishing the structure, accountability, efficacy, and delivery of instruction" (1:44:07) and calls the award "actually unenforceable." (1:45:04). Impact bargaining failed over "$325,000 for 33 teachers" (1:46:42). A second arbitration, in February 2016, ruled in April that the schedule violated the agreement and its sidebar letters: "Arbitrator said pay the teachers 8%. The union wanted 30%." and "go back to the 4x4 for 1617." (1:47:52, 1:48:20). "The board is not returning to the form of 4x4 block schedule for the reasons that I have presented tonight." (1:53:08); "We may end up in the Public Employee Labor Relations Board." (1:53:21). | OBS |
| 1:52:40 | The cost of the award | "the 8% increase represents $153,000, or about $4,600 per 33 teachers", while 30% "would have been over half $1 million." | OBS |
| 2:00:07 | Rogue Robots SeaPerch team | A 4-H team whose high school vehicle placed "second overall" regionally and is going to a national competition at Louisiana State University on May 21. The students explain buoyancy, waterproofing, and meeting "on Skype, during the evenings" (2:09:33). The chair describes helping fifth graders with the same project at Maple Avenue (2:14:04). | |
| 2:17:45 | The schedule: the principal's data | Online courses earned 33 credits last year. Against eight comparison schools on 2013-14 state data, grade 11 reading "we are at the bottom at 61%" (2:21:18); math 18%; graduation rate 69.3; "nine dropouts, which is the highest number compared to the other eight." (2:23:08). "it's very premature to say what is working, what isn't working." (2:26:51); "88% of the students got what they asked for in their course selection forms" at first scheduling (2:48:18). | |
| 2:36:34 | Four years of math | Barry: "we also have the state law, which requires that students take math every year of high school." Sprague reads the standard as "it's four credits" (2:40:01); Barry: "the word credit is nowhere used in the RSA." (2:40:27). The provision is not identified on the recording and is not resolved here. | |
| 2:40:39 | Members question the schedule | Sprague says a former English teacher thought the A/B day "an absolutely losing proposition", that successful A/B schools keep study halls, and that the dropout rate in the last year of the seven-period day was "19.9%, 37 dropouts" (2:44:17). The student representative cites a forgetting-curve figure and asks the board to consult the language departments (3:00:03). | |
| 3:11:08 | Data before deciding | Irish: the first decision "was made on a little bit of data and a lot of assumptions and a lot of hope. The next decision needs to be made on data". The chair disagrees: "it's pretty apparent that the 4x4 was not working." Seaman asks how the flex period and teacher training are working (3:12:46). Brent Ferland: "I don't think it's going to change." (3:17:23). | OBS |
| 3:19:43 | A meeting that was not held | Becky Ferland notes that the materials list "last meeting that was not held as the first read the April 20th"; the superintendent agrees the dates were not changed. | MED |
| 3:22:22 | The 2016-17 calendar | The teachers' association responded that "if we're going to have two parent teacher conferences, they want to be compensated $54,000." The superintendent says he added footnotes to the association's email, which "were not there" in the original (3:23:01). Option 1: "Basically 175 instructional days, three professional development days, two teacher workdays and a fall in spring conference. The total number of hours 1209 matches what the contract says, which is 186 days." (3:26:50). "We are in compliance with the New Hampshire State Board of Education." (3:29:28). LeClair: the district switched "from counting days to counting. Hours for the current school year." (3:29:42), and the agreement "does specifically outline that there would be one parent teacher conference." (3:31:30). The superintendent: "the school board has the authority under state statute to make." (3:33:57). Adopted by voice vote (3:37:52). | OBS |
| 3:38:05 | Strategic plan consultant | The superintendent met the consultant recommended by the NHSBA, who "worked with the school board, I think 12 years ago or so"; "The fee is $8,000. I thought that was a little high until I heard a neighboring community is spending 30 grand." (3:21:01). Board members will be invited to the committee. Approved. | |
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 May 4, 2016, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting survive in any district share
MAP.md records no Drive material: the district's shares hold no year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023. The recording is now the only public account of the calendar vote, the strategic-plan contract and the superintendent's report on the arbitration. RSA 91-A:2, II, in the text in force in 2016, required minutes including "names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions", "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting". This page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule because the record mitigates the gap: the chair refers to the agenda (0:01:06), members work from a packet, and the board approves the April 6 minutes at 0:01:41, so minutes were being kept. A related point: a member notes that a meeting listed for April 20 "was not held" (3:19:43); the corpus has no recording for April 20, 2016 and the board approves only the April 6 minutes here, which is consistent with that meeting not taking place. A meeting not held needs no minutes, but its cancellation leaves no surviving record either.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2015 codification; source note ends 2008, 303:4, so in force through 2016)
OBSERVATION The superintendent announced that the board would not follow the arbitrator's schedule ruling, resting on a statute he misquoted, and no board vote on that decision is on the record
The superintendent reported two arbitration awards finding that the A/B schedule violated the teachers' agreement, the second (April 2016) ordering 8% pay and a return to the 4x4 schedule for 2016-17, and said "The board is not returning to the form of 4x4 block schedule" (1:47:52 to 1:53:08). His legal basis was RSA 189:1-a, II, which he read as making the board responsible for "the structure, accountability, efficacy, and delivery of instruction" (1:44:07). The statute, in the 2015 codification, reads: "Elected school boards shall be responsible for establishing the structure, accountability, advocacy, and delivery of instruction in each school operated and governed in its district." The word is advocacy, not efficacy. The question whether an award intrudes on management's authority turns on RSA 273-A:1, XI, which excludes from bargainable "terms and conditions of employment" any "managerial policy within the exclusive prerogative of the public employer", including "the functions, programs and methods of the public employer"; that question belongs to the Public Employee Labor Relations Board, which the superintendent said the dispute might reach (1:53:21). Whether the award is "actually unenforceable" (1:45:04) is his characterization. No motion or vote on refusing the award is heard at this meeting, and the April 6 recording ends as the board enters a nonpublic session whose subject is unstated (see the April 6 page). With no minutes, where the board decided this cannot be established from the record.
Sources: RSA 189:1-a, II (2015 codification; source note ends 2013, 243:1, eff. Sept. 22, 2013); RSA 273-A:1, XI (2015 codification; source note ends 2014, 13:1, 2)
OBSERVATION The board adopted a calendar with a second parent conference over the union's objection that its agreement provides for one
Option 1 keeps the contract's total hours (1,209, equal to 186 days under the agreement, by the superintendent's account) but redistributes them into 175 instructional days, workdays and two parent conferences (3:26:50). The assistant superintendent confirmed the teachers' agreement "does specifically outline that there would be one parent teacher conference" (3:31:30), and the association asked $54,000 to hold two (3:22:45). The superintendent said the board "has the authority under state statute" to set the calendar (3:33:57). Under RSA 273-A:1, XI, "wages, hours and other conditions of employment" are bargainable terms, while "the functions, programs and methods of the public employer" are managerial policy; a calendar that keeps total hours but changes how they are used sits between the two, and the record does not show counsel's view. A member proposed converting the second conference to an instructional day to avoid a new dispute (3:33:06); the board adopted Option 1 by voice vote with no audible opposition (3:37:52). Separately, the 175-day calendar rests on the statute's hours alternative: RSA 189:1 requires "at least 180 days in each year, or the equivalent number of hours as required in the rules of the department of education". This page did not verify the department's hour minimums as they stood in 2016, so the superintendent's statement of compliance (3:29:28) is reported as his.
Sources: RSA 273-A:1, XI (2015 codification); RSA 189:1 (2015 codification; source note ends 2011, 42:1, eff. July 8, 2011)
POSITIVE The risk-behavior survey ran on parental consent and was reported in aggregate, beyond the state's opt-out rule
The study group's presenter said the survey "requires parental consent" and "it is an opt in", that "It is completely anonymous. There are no names on students, surveys.", and that results are seen only in aggregate (0:33:47, 0:36:04, 1:00:04). RSA 186:11, IX-d, in the 2015 codification in force on this date, required districts to "notify a parent or legal guardian of a non-academic survey or questionnaire and its purpose" and to "allow a parent or legal guardian to opt out", with the survey available for review "at least 10 days prior to distribution to students". Active consent is more protective than the opt-out the statute required. The group presented its methods and findings at a televised meeting, recruited members with an open invitation to about 1,900 parents (1:15:24), and the superintendent reported a call from the state commending the effort (1:10:58). Whether the consent procedure was the district's own choice or the survey's standard protocol is not stated.
Sources: RSA 186:11, IX-d (2015 codification; source note ends 2015, 161:6, eff. Aug. 25, 2015)
POSITIVE Students and a parent were heard on the schedule, and the principal answered their points on the record
Two students and a parent spoke during citizens' comments (0:15:46 to 0:30:45); members asked the students follow-up questions, and the chair told the parent the board would take the subject up later that evening (0:21:42). In her presentation the principal responded to the students' specific complaints, including course conflicts and math sequencing, and said she would review one student's schedule herself (2:48:18), and the student representative was heard on the same subject (2:59:23). No statute required a public comment period at board meetings in 2016 (RSA 189:74 dates from 2022, 333:1).
Sources: RSA 189:74 (2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022; not law in 2016)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 5-4-16 (show 8380; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, the API returned 403 on 2026-10-02)
- Google Drive: no packet folder, agenda or minutes. MAP.md: "neither share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023 (checked 9/26/26)." Not searched again for this page, per the run instructions for meetings with no Drive material.
- Related pages: April 6, 2016 meeting (bargaining priorities; nonpublic session); March 16, 2016 meeting
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/8380 SchoolBoard050416.mp4.CSV (971 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/8380 SchoolBoard050416.mp4Input/Transcripts/8380 SchoolBoard050416.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 8Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/8380 SchoolBoard050416.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, II, 2015 codification (source note ends 2008, 303:4; in force until Jan. 1, 2017): minutes content and five-business-day inspection
- RSA 189:1-a, II, 2015 codification: board responsible for "structure, accountability, advocacy, and delivery of instruction"
- RSA 273-A:1, XI, 2015 codification: terms and conditions of employment; managerial policy exclusion
- RSA 189:1, 2015 codification: 180 days or the equivalent hours under department rules
- RSA 186:11, IX-d, 2015 codification: notice and opt-out for non-academic surveys
- RSA 189:74 (2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022): public comment period, cited only to show it was not law in 2016