Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part. Names follow the project's dialogue file; no minutes exist online to check spellings against, so spellings of non-members are as the transcription heard them and are marked where unverified. Members are listed first.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Chris Irish | Vice Chair, presiding | Presided in the chair's absence. Framed the board's goal as zero tax increase "even after warrants and to not touch people or programs if possible."; questioned data-line costs; pressed for a date on the resignation so the seat would go to the voters; thanked the public commenters at length. |
| Frank Sprague | Board member | Moved the agenda and the January 4 minutes; explained the board's line-item patterns; asked about principals' dues, food service, postage and printing, and the alternative program; asked for a department saturation study next year; moved to accept Brent Ferland's resignation effective March 13; moved to adjourn. |
| Patrick Adrian | Board member | Asked for a future technology presentation; questioned supply lines against actual spending and the two restored positions; seconded the resignation motion. The dialogue file splits his speech across three diarizer clusters. |
| Alex Herzog | Board member | Answered the roll ("Alex is here."); questioned the athletic director on gate revenue, sponsorships and multi-sport participation; said he could not attend a Saturday session. |
| Brian Rapp | Chair | Absent (home sick, per the vice chair). |
| Michelle Pierce | Board member | Absent (home with a sick child, per the vice chair). |
| Brent Ferland | Board member | Absent. His resignation email, read by the superintendent, offered to finish the budget process and keep the seat until the election; accepted effective March 13, 2017. Rendered Brant, Brett and rents. |
| Marion | Student representative | Student report: college applications, Stevens attendance at 91.06%, Bluff math-fact growth. First name only. |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Asked to add the resignation to the agenda; introduced the new Director of Instructional Technology; reported the January 13 Wi-Fi threat and a planned business continuity team; warned about the default budget; read the resignation email and counsel's advice. Rendered Milton and Doctor Goodwin. |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Walked the board through written justifications for the 299 budget lines the board had flagged. Rendered Corkery. |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator, SAU 6 | Explained the field-trip wage line, copier contract, data costs, lights and field worker costs; reported the budget at $92,553 over the current year after the add-backs. |
| Josh Malloy | Director of Instructional Technology, SAU 6 | Introduced as newly hired; answered on data circuits and enhanced 911 in the phone upgrade. Rendered Joshua malloy. |
| Patricia Barry | Principal, Stevens High School | Explained the business position, the alternative program stipends and enrollment, and why classrooms need phones. Rendered Pat Berry and Mrs. Berry. |
| Doug Beaupre | Athletic Director, Stevens High School | Answered on participation, gate receipts, sponsorships, lights and uniforms (spelling unverified). |
| Michael Lansing | Bluff Elementary School staff (title unverified) | Called up by the assistant superintendent; explained guidance and media-center equipment lines. Spelling and title unverified; the dialogue file suggests he may be the principal. |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk and recording secretary (identification low-medium) | Explained the filing period and one-year seat. The dialogue file names her from the vice chair's references to Mary; she is not addressed by full name. |
| Unidentified | Technical center administrator | Spoke from the back about a request for a technical center administrative assistant (2:11:57). The principal refers to Mr. Schneider running the tech program; that he is this speaker is a hypothesis only. |
| Judy Couture | Public commenter, Ward 2; retired Stevens physical education teacher | Distributed a packet on physical education enrollment and spoke against the cut. Surname spelling from the transcript (unverified). |
| Carolyn Hamilton | Public commenter, Ward 1; Stevens physical education teacher | Spoke about the repeated proposals to cut her position and about teacher retention. |
| Brian | Public commenter; student | Spoke for Hamilton's work with adaptive students. First name only. |
| Barbara Richards | Public commenter, Ward 3; technical center accounting instructor | Spoke against cutting the business position. |
| Kiara Knight | Public commenter; student | Spoke for Hamilton and the unified sports teams. Spelling unverified. |
| Kyle Grant | Public commenter; student | Spoke for Hamilton and unified basketball. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted in any district share, so this list is reconstructed from the vice chair's transitions on the recording. A written agenda existed: the superintendent asks at the outset that the resignation be added to it. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:13 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | Four members present; the vice chair presides. |
| 0:01:16 | Agenda amendments and approval | Resignation added as an action item at the superintendent's request. Sprague: "So moved. Second."; approved by voice vote. |
| 0:04:36 | Minutes of January 4, 2017 | Sprague moved; approved by voice vote. |
| 0:04:56 | Student representative's report | Informational. |
| 0:06:31 | Superintendent's report | New Director of Instructional Technology; the January 13 threat and communication plan. Five collective bargaining agreements to be signed by the chair or vice chair. |
| 0:22:06 | Citizens' comments | Six speakers, 0:22:22 to 1:06:38. |
| 1:08:10 | Discussion: FY18 budget (board spreadsheet and administration responses) | Line review with principals, the athletic director and the business administrator. No vote on the budget. |
| 2:36:26 | Discussion: phone and security warrant article | Informational. |
| 2:44:25 | Scheduling a further work session | A Saturday session to be scheduled and posted; no date fixed on the recording. |
| 2:55:04 | Action: school board member resignation | Sprague moved to accept Brent Ferland's resignation effective March 13, 2017; Adrian seconded (3:01:27); voice vote. |
| 3:05:54 | Adjournment | Sprague moved; voice vote. |
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 |
|---|
| 0:00:13 | Call to order and attendance | "The school board meeting to order for January 18th, 2017." Four answer the roll; the chair and Pierce are out sick. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:01:16 | Agenda changes; bargaining agreements | Superintendent: "We need to add, school board member resignation to the agenda." Two positions are "taken off the table with restructuring" (Stevens physical education and alternative education), and "five collective bargaining agreements that need to be signed by the chair or vice chair tonight." The agreements had been approved for the ballot on January 4 (show 8845). January 4 minutes approved at 0:04:48. | |
| 0:04:56 | Student report | "Overall, 42% of our senior class has applied to college thus far." "this high school attendance rate has increased in 91.06%" against a 93% goal. | |
| 0:07:32 | New technology director | "Mr. Joshua malloy has been hired as the director of instructional technology." Nathan Levine is now assistant director of business, finance and human resources. | |
| 0:10:19 | The January 13 threat | A student had named a Wi-Fi network "school shooting. 11317."; by mid-morning on the 13th "The student had been identified." Social media kept it alive; the district will form "a business continuity team" to communicate "brief without identifying the student." | |
| 0:14:49 | Technology presentation requested | Adrian asked for a future agenda item on technology needs. Superintendent: "We're not shutting it down. We're slowing it down. We're postponing it a year." Preschool and the technical center were also promised as future topics. | |
| 0:22:22 | Citizens' comments: Judy Couture | "Judy. Judy Ward two." Physical education classes run in the "ideal range of 80 to 85%" of capacity; she asked that the position "not be cut". | POSITIVE |
| 0:30:02 | Carolyn Hamilton | "I am one of the two physical education teachers at Stevens." "You stop cutting teachers." "That's the main reason people are leaving, especially young teachers like myself." | POSITIVE |
| 0:46:01 | Brian, student | "I came tonight to discuss how important Mrs. Hamilton's position really is." | POSITIVE |
| 0:51:49 | Barbara Richards | "Barbara Richards, Ward three", in her 42nd year: "my concern is if the program is let go, that we may not ever get it back." | POSITIVE |
| 1:01:05 | Kiara Knight and Kyle Grant, students | Knight on the unified teams: Hamilton "has worked with the Adaptive program for five consecutive years". Grant at 1:04:15 on unified basketball. | POSITIVE |
| 1:06:48 | Vice chair responds | "When you guys are here, you put a face to the change. You put a face to the money." and "I can't make any promises". | |
| 1:08:25 | The board's January 7 spreadsheet | Superintendent: the board's "work on Saturday, January 7th of your budget recommendations". LeClair: the board "identified around 299 lines" and she met principals to write justifications for each. The superintendent suggested focusing on "the big ticket items". | OBSERVATION POSITIVE |
| 1:16:12 | Why the board cut lines | Sprague: "these increases of 20%, 20% or 10%. And yet the actual actuals were going up far less than that." Irish: "If it's mission critical, it will get fixed." | |
| 1:21:14 | Superintendent's default budget warning | "We now have a budget that about $1 million above this year's budget." "our collective bargaining agreements are going south." if the default is smaller than the regular budget. Irish: the goal is roughly $970,000 to reach no increase, but "we could potentially situation where we we cut ourselves that our budget is so good we lose with the default." | OBSERVATION |
| 1:25:20 | Principals' dues; field-trip wages | LeClair on administrators' professional development funds; O'Neill on moving field-trip driving time to a rate sheet after the new clocking system. | |
| 1:35:42 | Copier contract, equipment lines | LeClair: "we can reduce a thousand from each of those lines, but we can't really reduce more than that because of the contract currently in place." Superintendent: the January 7 reductions are in "the budget that still has an increase of over $900,000." | |
| 1:38:43 | Bluff guidance and media center | Lansing: "without this line the answer is yes. Is it as effective? Who knows." | |
| 1:45:42 | Athletics | Superintendent: "We've got a $900,000 issue here." Beaupre on bowling, gate receipts and sponsorships; O'Neill: of the dues line, "$10,500 of that goes towards the lights"; a city employee costs "About $15,000" for field work. | |
| 1:46:32 | The two restored positions | "Those two positions bumped the tax rate by $0.17." At 1:48:02: "positions are approximately $117,000." | |
| 2:07:46 | Stevens business position | Barry: the part-time accounting teaching stays; the full-time business position "is what you're being asked to take out of the budget." Adrian: "Is that's $91,000." | |
| 2:17:47 | Alternative program stipends and ratios | Barry: the stipends "Acknowledge the real role of the people in, in those positions"; nine students, "Capped at 12." O'Neill described state guidelines as "To eight students. And then after you go over eight students it's one teacher and one para." (his characterization; not verified here). | |
| 2:21:37 | Data circuit costs | Irish: "Over a thousand bucks a month for data for one building." Malloy: the circuit "would go out to an RFP" soon; O'Neill: "we're getting 75% back from rate". | |
| 2:35:05 | Where the budget stands | O'Neill: "now we're at an increase of 92,000 553." Sprague at 2:46:58: "the real number in my mind is this 92563. Right. That's the 553." | |
| 2:36:26 | Phones and enhanced 911 | Malloy: "It's mainly the enhanced 911 I believe is the security element in the phone system." Barry: "there isn't a phone in the classroom." | |
| 2:44:25 | Another work session | Irish: "You probably get together just like we did on a Saturday. Just us." O'Neill: "we will have to adopt the budget next week of some magnitude so we can get it signed." Sprague: "We have to make sure it gets warned. Correct?" Irish at 3:02:42: "hopefully tonight we'll reach out to get it posted properly." | OBSERVATION |
| 2:47:44 | What was restored | Irish: "the owls is is put back, PE is put back more or less." Sprague noticed the middle school athletic director still at minus $25,000; superintendent: the position "will be taken over by the teacher." | |
| 2:49:59 | Why teachers leave | Irish: "I firmly believe what I heard tonight is part of that answer we've been looking for of the why can't we keep people?" Sprague asked for a saturation study of all departments next year. | |
| 2:55:04 | Brent Ferland's resignation | The email read by the superintendent: "I intend to finish out the budget process and retain my seat until the next school board election." Superintendent: counsel "Brant did not intend for the board to fill his position". Irish: "The voters should absolutely fill this position." | POSITIVE |
| 2:58:16 | Choosing the effective date | Woodman: whoever wins the seat "it has to be listed as a one year position"; "the election is always the second Tuesday of March." Sprague: "I'll make a motion that we accept the resignation of school board member Brant Ferland, effective March 13th". Irish: "Frank made the motion. Patrick seconded." Vote at 3:01:37: "I'd say all in favor? Opposed?"; no response is audible. | OBSERVATION POSITIVE |
| 3:02:04 | Next date | Superintendent: "we have the 21st of January, which is day after tomorrow" or the 28th before February 1. Goal restated: "I think it's safe to say collectively our goal is zero." | OBSERVATION |
| 3:05:54 | Adjournment | "Motion to adjourn." Voice vote. | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on January 18, 2017. 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. This page has no HIGH or MEDIUM flag; five flags follow, ordered by severity.
OBSERVATION The board did its line-item budget work at Saturday sessions that are not in the recorded corpus, and no notice or minutes for them are online
The spreadsheet at the center of this meeting came from a board session on Saturday, January 7, 2017: the superintendent refers to "your work on Saturday, January 7th of your budget recommendations" and the assistant superintendent says "the board met on the seventh" and flagged 299 lines. The vice chair proposed another such session, "just like we did on a Saturday. Just us.", and the superintendent offered January 21 or 28 (3:03:06). The January 24 recording shows the board did meet on Saturday, January 21 and set the directive the administration then implemented (see the January 24 page). Neither Saturday session is among the recordings the project holds.
In 2017 RSA 91-A:2 made "the convening of a quorum of the membership of a public body" a meeting, requiring 24-hour notice of its time and place and minutes open to inspection within five business days. Two things on this recording point to the board treating the Saturday sessions as meetings: Sprague asked "We have to make sure it gets warned. Correct?" (Irish: Absolutely.), and the vice chair said he would "reach out to get it posted properly." So this is recorded as an observation about what can be checked online, not as a finding that notice or minutes were missing. A reviewer should ask the district for the notices and minutes of the January 7 and January 21, 2017 sessions; the substantive budget choices were made there.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, I and II (2016 codification; source note ends 2016, 29:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017, so the text for all of 2017): a quorum's convening is a meeting; notice and minutes.
OBSERVATION The default budget is discussed as a risk a week after the budget hearing, but no figure is stated
The superintendent warned at 1:21:43 that if the default budget comes in below the proposed budget, "our collective bargaining agreements are going south.", and the vice chair worried the board could cut so far that "we lose with the default." No default budget figure is stated on this recording. In 2017 RSA 40:13, XI(a) read: "The default budget shall be disclosed at the first budget hearing held pursuant to RSA 32:5 or RSA 197:6." The hearing was held a week earlier, on January 11, 2017 (show 8873). The figure first appears on the record at the January 24 budget session, where it is also misstated; the January 24 page carries the finding as MEDIUM. It is noted here as an observation to avoid counting the same gap twice.
Sources: RSA 40:13, XI(a) (2017 codification; source note ends 2014, 190, eff. Sept. 9, 2014): default budget disclosed at the first budget hearing.
OBSERVATION Four members made a bare quorum, and the votes, including the resignation vote, were voice votes with no count audible
Four of seven members attended (0:01:04). Every action was a voice vote: the agenda (0:04:26), the January 4 minutes (0:04:48) and the resignation, where the vice chair's "I'd say all in favor? Opposed?" draws no audible response and he had just asked "Do you need a roll call?" The motion and second are clear on the tape (3:01:27). In 2017 RSA 91-A:2, II required minutes that "shall include the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions"; it did not yet require naming movers and seconders (added by 2018, 244:1, eff. January 1, 2019). Neither Drive share reaches back before July 2022 (MAP.md, checked 9/26/26), so the minutes that would record the outcome cannot be checked online. The recording shows the board approving earlier minutes (0:04:37), so this is the online-availability limb of the project's missing-records rule.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2016 codification, the text for calendar 2017): minutes contents and five-business-day availability; Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 24.
POSITIVE The board timed a member's resignation so that the voters, not the board, would fill the seat
Brent Ferland's email offered to stay through the budget and keep the seat until the election (2:55:04). Counsel's advice, read on the record, was that "Brant did not intend for the board to fill his position". The board accepted the resignation effective March 13, 2017, the day before the March 14 election, so that the seat could be posted as a one-year seat in the filing period opening the next week. The vice chair's reason: "If we wait and don't do this and keep it, keep it as it is and don't meet by the 25th, the voters won't have the say." and "The voters should absolutely fill this position."
The statute then in force, RSA 671:33, II(a), provided that "The school board shall fill vacancies occurring on the school board", with the appointee serving "until the next district election". Accepting a resignation that took effect mid-term would have handed the board an appointment; choosing an effective date that left no gap before the election put the choice with the electorate, in public and on advice of counsel. Alternative effective dates (the February 8 deliberative session, or the day after it) were discussed openly before the vote.
Sources: RSA 671:33, II(a) (2016 codification; source note ends 2013, 114:1, so the text in force until 2017, 3:2, eff. May 30, 2017): the board fills vacancies until the next district election.
POSITIVE Six members of the public, three of them students, were heard at length, and the administration answered the board's flagged lines in writing and on the record
Citizens' comments ran from 0:22:22 to 1:06:38, about 45 minutes, with no one cut off; the vice chair asked "Anybody else from the citizens want to comment?" before closing, and then responded to the speakers. No statute required a public comment period in 2017: RSA 189:74 was enacted by 2022, 333:1, effective September 6, 2022. Separately, the assistant superintendent said she had written justifications for all 299 lines the board flagged, "meeting with principals, meeting with the director of facilities and maintenance", and principals, the athletic director and the new technology director answered line questions in open session, so the public could hear what each cut meant.
Sources: RSA 189:74 (source: 2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022): school board public comment period, not in force in 2017.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 8875, "SCHOOL BOARD BUDGET MEETING 1-18-17": Claremont Community TV, CLAREMONT SCHOOLS gallery. Every timestamp on this page links into this recording.
- Cablecast show 8845 (January 4, 2017; bargaining agreements approved for the ballot) and show 8873 (January 11, 2017 budget hearing), cited in the timeline and flag 2; not deep-linked from this page.
- 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, memo, spreadsheet, resignation email or minutes for this meeting were located.
- Related pages: joint City Council and School Board meeting, January 24, 2017 (the mayor reports attending this meeting) and School Board budget session, January 24, 2017.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/8875 SchoolBoard011817.mp4.CSV (985 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/8875 SchoolBoard011817.mp4Input/Transcripts/8875 SchoolBoard011817.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/8875 SchoolBoard011817.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 24
Laws and rules cited on this page
- New Hampshire statutes, as in force on January 18, 2017. RSA 91-A:2, I and II (meetings, notice, minutes; 2016 codification, the text for calendar 2017). RSA 40:13, XI(a) (default budget disclosure; 2017 codification). RSA 671:33, II(a) (school board vacancies; 2016 codification, in force until May 30, 2017). RSA 189:74 (public comment period), cited only to show it post-dates this meeting.