Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Names follow the speaker attribution in the dialogue file and the project's 2015-2023 roster; where a name rests on weak evidence, the participation cell says so. There are no minutes to check spellings against.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Chris Irish | Vice Chair, presiding | Presides ("So you guys are stuck with me tonight.", 0:00:52); reads the board's proclamation and Senator Ayotte's letter and presents the banner, brick and plaque; argues for an IT program at the technical center (0:58:00); objects again to "equal access" wording but votes with the board (1:27:57). |
| Brian Rapp | Chair | Absent (EMT training). |
| Frank Sprague | Member | Moves the November 16 minutes (0:01:49), the resignations, the policies to third reading (1:20:54) and the nonpublic session (1:32:32); raises the default budget (1:10:20). |
| Patrick Adrian | Member | Asks how students learn about the business side of IT careers (0:41:27); supports dropping equal from the access policy (1:24:01); says the board should take a roll call into nonpublic (1:32:55). Attribution rated medium confidence. |
| Dr. Alex Herzog | Member; vice president for student and community affairs, River Valley Community College | Answers the roll call (0:01:05); responds when the college's speaker mentions working with him (0:31:44); describes a college event where middle school students built computers (0:39:53); seconds the nonpublic motion (1:32:47). |
| Brent Ferland | Member | Answers the nonpublic roll call (transcribed Fred. Ferland. Yep., 1:33:24); Adrian mentions looking over "Brett's shoulder" at the agenda (1:30:14). No other speech is attributed to him. |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Superintendent's report on counselors and the Senate Youth Program (0:05:17); introduces Pathway to Success; presents the grants, the budget timeline, the resignations and the policies; reads legal counsel's note on the access policy (1:18:35). |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant superintendent | Explains the dual-credit crosswalk with the college (0:46:41) and embedded credits (1:04:10); asks for future agenda items on i-Ready data and a Project Lead the Way grant (1:31:12). |
| Dr. Patricia Barry | Principal, Stevens High School | Recognizes the Senate Youth Program selection (0:11:02). |
| Paul Silva | Head football coach, Stevens High School | Thanks his assistant coaches and the community (0:23:50). |
| Dr. Ali Rafieymehr | Vice president of academic affairs, River Valley Community College | Presents Pathway to Success (0:31:28 to 1:02:21). Introduced as "doctor Ali r. Ali Raff. Amir" (0:27:32); surname spelling from the dialogue file, unverified. |
| Charlene Lovett | Citizens' comment; parent of the student representative (also Mayor of Claremont) | Called on as "Charlene." (0:25:41); thanks Principal Barry for nominating her daughter. The superintendent later refers to "Mayor Charlene Leavitt" (1:15:36). |
| Marion Lovett | Honoree; student selected for the United States Senate Youth Program | Named by the superintendent ("this speaks about none other than Marion Lovett", 0:09:42) and recognized with a cake from the principal (1:03:03). |
| Unidentified | Student representative | Reads the school reports (0:02:07 to 0:04:51); the name is not stated on this recording. |
| Unidentified | Various | 125 of 494 dialogue rows (25.3%), including most motions, seconds, votes and roll-call answers, and three unplaced board members. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives. Speakers refer to its second and third pages and to a footnote (0:01:18, 0:29:08, 1:13:56); the list below is reconstructed from the presiding officer's transitions.
| Taken up | Item | What was said and done |
|---|
| 0:00:16 | Call to order, Pledge, roll call | "Okay, we've got a quorum, so we'll go ahead and get started." Chair absent. |
| 0:01:13 | Agenda | The superintendent drops the non-meeting on page two; a nonpublic session remains. Motion, second and voice vote in one row (0:01:31). |
| 0:01:31 | Minutes of November 16 | "I move that we approve the meeting minutes from November 16th, 2016. I'll second." (0:01:49; the dialogue file puts both in one Sprague row). Voice vote (0:01:57). |
| 0:02:03 | Student representative's report | Stevens, Red River internships, ExxonMobil donation, Key Club, Maple Avenue literacy night. |
| 0:05:11 | Superintendent's report and recognitions | Counselors' role in college access; the Senate Youth Program; the football championship proclamation, Senator Ayotte's letter, a donated banner, a brick and a plaque. |
| 0:25:35 | Citizens' comments | Charlene Lovett. Closed at 0:27:21. |
| 0:29:04 | Action: ExxonMobil Educational Alliance grants | Two $500 grants (Disnard Elementary, Stevens science). "Make a motion to accept the grants." "I'll second that." Voice vote (0:30:10). |
| 0:30:14 | Pathway to Success (River Valley Community College) | Presentation and discussion; described as "under development". No action. |
| 1:05:20 | School attendance and academic eligibility policies | The superintendent previews revisions. No action. |
| 1:07:11 | Budget: stabilization grant and board expectations | The superintendent asks for the board's budget expectations; deferred to December 21 (1:13:34). |
| 1:16:02 | Resignations | A 32-year employee (transcribed "Rick, Claude" and "Mr. Plourde"): "So moved." "With regret." (1:16:37). Deborah Lynn Freeman, retiring effective January 2, 2017: moved, seconded, voice vote (1:17:10). |
| 1:17:17 | Policies, second reading | KH, KHB, GBEBC, KDC and the access and procedural safeguards policies; Sprague moves them to third reading as written (1:20:54); voice vote, Irish noting his objection on one policy (1:27:51). |
| 1:28:25 | Calendar and future items | Student growth presentations from February; budget hearing and deliberative dates; i-Ready and Project Lead the Way items for next time. |
| 1:32:32 | Nonpublic session | Motion Sprague, second Herzog, on the reputation ground; roll call (1:33:13). The recording ends. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/8794 SchoolBoard120716.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 |
|---|
| 0:02:07 | Student representative's report | Ninth-grade girls at a high-tech women ambassador day in Lebanon; students honored for summer internships with Red River; "For third year in a row, Stevens has received a $500 donation from ExxonMobil"; Key Club bell-ringing; a Maple Avenue literacy night with "about 150 in attendance". | |
| 0:05:17 | Superintendent's report | He thanks Michelle Pierce's group for the Broad Street Park holiday decorations, then cites a study that meeting a counselor about college or aid "makes a big difference in students futures, tripling the chance they'll attend college" and repeats the district goal of 75% of students applying to college. | |
| 0:09:42 | United States Senate Youth Program | The student representative is "one of two students in the state of New Hampshire" selected. Principal Barry: "one of only 140 in the entire nation", with an expenses-paid week and a scholarship first given as $5,000; a voice corrects: "$10,000 scholarship, not five." (0:12:51). | |
| 0:14:27 | Football championship | Irish reads a board proclamation "in recognition of Stevens High School football Cardinals Division three state championship" and a letter from Senator Kelly Ayotte: "It has been 48 years since the Cardinals have won this title". Doolittle Printing donated the banner (0:18:41); the team will have a brick in the weight room and a plaque with every name (0:21:01). | |
| 0:25:45 | Citizens' comment: Charlene Lovett | She credits the principal's nomination: "this program is something that the principal has to nominate a student for", and other finalists heard of it "through a friend who had been in the program, but not from the principal." | |
| 0:29:08 | ExxonMobil grants | The superintendent: "if you notice the footnote, we are asking the board to approve the acceptance of two grants." Disnard received $500 for math and science materials and Stevens $500 for science equipment. Accepted by voice vote. | OBS |
| 0:31:28 | Pathway to Success: the model | Rafieymehr: "I started at the River Valley Community College as a vice president of academic affairs, having the pleasure of working with Doctor Herzog." Herzog: "It's my pleasure." A cohort of 20 starts in the second semester of ninth grade and takes one or two college courses a term, finishing "more than one year of college credits" by graduation, in computer networking first. | OBS |
| 0:33:37 | Pathway to Success: cost and funding | A three-credit course is $600, Catch the Wave $250; the cohort costs "somewhere around 68, $65,000" and later "about over $60,000" for four years; he has "committed myself to cover $10,000 of it over four years, $2,500 per year, assuming that we can raise the rest of the money." He, Herzog and the college's CFO discussed using college scholarship money (0:38:06). Per student, "about $3,000" over four years. | OBS |
| 0:39:53 | Herzog on the college's outreach | "Can I add that, doctor?" About 60 middle school students from Newport and Claremont built computers with college students: "It was a really great experience and the kids just loved them." Rafieymehr also has $4,500 from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation for a free C++ course for 15 Stevens students (0:41:07). | OBS |
| 0:46:41 | Dual credit | LeClair: the college courses must meet "the minimum school approval standards for graduation requirements"; the high school's curriculum specialist will build the crosswalk; worst case, the credit counts as an elective. | |
| 0:51:46 | What college costs | Sprague: many people think college means "about $150,000 in debt in four years", while a phlebotomy certificate at River Valley is two classes, and some certificates cost "about 4 or $5000 at full price". Irish: his daughter's Catch the Wave credits "was huge for her" (0:56:46). | |
| 0:58:00 | An IT program at the technical center | Irish: "bringing an IT program back into this tech center" would be "the perfect bridge" to the college and Red River. Adrian agrees; the superintendent calls the center "one of those stars that is aligning" (1:00:25). | |
| 1:07:16 | The tax rate and state aid | The superintendent: this year's budget "added $0.11 per thousand dollars to the tax rate", warrant articles "about $0.42", but "over $0.80 per thousand being added as a result of a reduction in state aid." He asks the board to set expectations, "a cap on the budget or a reduction of the budget", by December 21. Sprague: "the regular budget needs to be more attractive to the voters, I think, than the default budget" (1:10:20). | |
| 1:11:10 | Origin of the stabilization cut | The superintendent places a ruling on "September 1st, I think 2016, the Supreme Court" and says "four years from now, it would be over $1 million." The reduction this year was "over $400,000". (This page did not verify the court history; see the November 15 page for the statute.) | |
| 1:13:56 | Hearing and deliberative dates | The superintendent: "We will have a public hearing on the fourth, but the deliberative session is the eighth." and later "We have to have that the deliberative session on the eighth." (1:30:08); public hearing "January 4th" (1:30:48). | OBS |
| 1:15:00 | Budget record | "in the past five years, the budget has increased on average, less than 2%. And that includes a $12.5 million renovation of Stevens High School." | |
| 1:18:35 | "Equal access" and legal counsel's note | The superintendent reads the memo: the policy responds to "House Bill 555, which amended the RSA to now include charter school students in the Equal Access to School District program statute", and says the paragraph "was written by legal counsel" (1:19:46): "So this is not optional." Irish: "There's nothing in the RSA that says equal in any way, shape or form" (1:23:20); Adrian agrees. A member asks for counsel to attend; Irish: "I hate to waste the money on legal for it". Sprague's motion stands and passes; Irish: "Only on that one. But go with my vote as a gay." [yea] (1:27:57). | OBS |
| 1:21:05 | Procedural safeguards policy | Sprague asks why this one part of special education gets a policy; the superintendent reads that the procedures "are established by a federal and state law and are not matters of local school board policy". | |
| 1:32:32 | Into nonpublic | "We go into nonpublic under RSA 90." Then 91. and 91 a. Irish: "Dash two matters which, if discussed in public, would likely affect adversely the reputation of any person other than a member of the public body itself." Herzog seconds. Irish: "Do we need a roll call to one nonpublic?" The superintendent: "We don't do that, I" "Don't believe." Adrian: "I thought we." Irish: "Probably do a roll call then". The roll follows; the recording ends. | OBS |
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 December 7, 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, and the recording stops at the nonpublic session
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 board accepted grants and resignations, advanced policies and entered a nonpublic session whose outcome the recording does not capture. 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 board approved the November 16 minutes (0:01:49) and members refer to a paged agenda with footnotes (0:29:08, 1:13:56), so minutes and agendas were being kept. Nothing on the recording shows how the nonpublic session ended or whether any decision was reached; RSA 91-A:3, III would have required disclosure of its minutes and decisions within 72 hours unless sealed by a two-thirds recorded vote.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2015 codification; source note ends 2008, 303:4, so in force through 2016); RSA 91-A:3, III (2016 codification)
OBSERVATION A board member's employer presented a partnership seeking district participation, and the member spoke in its support
Dr. Herzog, appointed to the board on November 2, is vice president for student and community affairs at River Valley Community College. The college's vice president of academic affairs opened his Pathway to Success presentation by noting "having the pleasure of working with Doctor Herzog" (0:31:37), described a funding conversation among himself, Herzog and the college's CFO (0:38:06), and was supported by Herzog's own account of a college event (0:39:53). The program needs about $60,000 to $65,000 for a cohort of Claremont students and is "assuming that we can raise the rest of the money" (0:34:10). No action was taken and no district money was committed at this meeting. No state statute on school board members' conflicts of interest was verified for this page, and the district's own conflict-of-interest policy is not in the record. When the program returns for a decision, a reviewer would want the minutes to show whether Herzog disclosed the relationship and whether he took part in any vote.
Sources: Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 12-7-16; November 2, 2016 meeting page (Herzog's appointment and stated position)
OBSERVATION The nonpublic motion stated its ground, but the superintendent advised that no roll call was needed
The motion to enter nonpublic session recited the words of the reputation exemption, "matters which, if discussed in public, would likely affect adversely the reputation of any person other than a member of the public body itself" (1:32:37), though the paragraph was spoken as "Dash two". Asked whether a roll call was required, the superintendent answered that the board does not do that; a member disagreed, and the presiding officer took a roll call (1:32:49 to 1:33:29). RSA 91-A:3, I(b) required that a motion to enter nonpublic session state the specific exemption "on its face" and be decided by roll call vote. The board ended up compliant on both counts, through a member's correction rather than the advice it was given. The roll as transcribed is incomplete, so the tally cannot be stated.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(c) (2016 codification; the project anchors record these passages as identical to the 2015 text in force from Jan. 1, 2016)
OBSERVATION The deliberative session was set for February 7 on November 16, but was stated as February 8 on December 7
On November 16 the board moved the 2017 deliberative session from February 8 to Tuesday, February 7, at 6:00 p.m., to avoid a City Council meeting (see the November 16 page). On December 7 the superintendent twice stated that the deliberative session is "the eighth" (1:13:56, 1:30:08), and no member corrected him. Both dates fall within the statutory window, so no rule turns on it, but the public notice depends on which date the warrant and postings carried. The corpus holds no recording of the 2017 deliberative session; the warrant or the January minutes would settle it.
Sources: November 16, 2016 meeting page, flag 5 (date set; RSA 40:13, III window)
OBSERVATION Two $500 grants accepted in public at a regular meeting; the minutes half of the notice rule cannot be checked
The board accepted two ExxonMobil Educational Alliance grants of $500 each by voice vote (0:29:08, 0:30:10), and the superintendent's reference to "the footnote" indicates that the agenda listed them. RSA 198:20-b, III(b), as it read in 2016, provided that for unanticipated funds under $5,000 the board "shall post notice of the funds in the agenda and shall include notice in the minutes", and that acceptance be made "in public session of any regular school board meeting". The acceptance meets the public-session requirement on the recording; the agenda and minutes requirements cannot be confirmed because neither document survives. The statute also presupposes that the district had adopted the enabling article under paragraph I, which the record does not show.
Sources: RSA 198:20-b, I and III(b) (2016 codification; source note ends 2005, 188:1)
OBSERVATION The board kept "equal access" on the strength of counsel's summary, while the statute's text does not use the word
Legal counsel's note, as read by the superintendent, says the statute requires districts "to grant equal access" (1:18:58). RSA 193:1-c, I, as amended effective March 26, 2016, says such pupils "shall have access to curricular courses and cocurricular programs" and that district policy "shall not be more restrictive" for them than for its own pupils; the word equal does not appear. The vice chair and Adrian preferred the statutory wording; the board advanced the policy as written, the vice chair voting yes while noting his objection (1:27:57). Counsel's summary and the statute point the same way in practice, so this is a drafting choice, not a defect; the superintendent offered to get clarification by phone (1:27:07).
Sources: RSA 193:1-c, I-II (2016 codification; source note ends 2016, 4:1, eff. March 26, 2016); November 16, 2016 meeting page, flag 4
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 12-7-16 (show 8794; 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.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/8794 SchoolBoard120716.mp4.CSV (494 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/8794 SchoolBoard120716.mp4Input/Transcripts/8794 SchoolBoard120716.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 20Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/8794 SchoolBoard120716.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, II, 2015 codification (in force until Jan. 1, 2017): minutes content and five-business-day inspection
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(c), III, 2016 codification: nonpublic motion states the exemption and is taken by roll call; reputation exemption; 72-hour disclosure unless sealed
- RSA 198:20-b, I and III(b), 2016 codification: unanticipated funds under $5,000, agenda and minutes notice, acceptance in public session
- RSA 193:1-c, I-II, 2016 codification: access for nonpublic, chartered and home-educated pupils