Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. There are no minutes to check spellings against; vote counts are as the clerk read them and as transcribed. Students named on the recording are not named here.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Brian Rapp | Chair (re-elected this meeting) | Elected chair by voice vote (0:04:38); runs the meeting; defers the food-service employees' questions to the April RFP review; asks that the lead policy include preschool; calls the nonpublic session. |
| Chris Irish | Vice Chair (re-elected this meeting) | Nominated by Pierce and elected (0:05:13 to 0:05:34); prompts the reading of the election results; says the board "voted to privatize" food-service management. |
| Michelle Pierce | Member | Seconds the chair's nomination per the superintendent (0:04:24) and nominates Irish; moves the nonpublic session and the lead policy to second reading, and seconds adjournment; asks how new members will be brought up to speed. |
| Frank Sprague | Member (re-elected three-year seat, per the clerk's results) | Repeats the oath with the other members-elect (0:01:47); asks for granular staffing data for the FY2019 budget; moves the three policies to third reading; describes lead poisoning being mistaken for other disabilities and his lunch-duty experience. The dialogue file's Sprague cluster is mixed; some short rows may be others. |
| Patrick Adrian | Member | Says families are billed for unpaid meals with at least one vendor; asks for a press article when the lead policy takes effect; supports a longer budget process. |
| Michael Petrin | Member (newly elected three-year seat) | Takes the oath (the clerk reads his name as Patron, 0:00:28) and answers the roll (0:06:28). No speaking rows are attributed to him. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Member (newly elected one-year seat) | Addressed as Becky and Rebecca; asks who sets the menus, whether staffing data includes all staff, and why the board is replacing in-house food service ("I'm coming so late", 1:17:54). |
| Mary Woodman | School District Clerk | Administers the oath and reads the March 14 results, including her own re-election by 555 to 552 (0:14:41). First name on the recording; surname per the project roster. |
| Dr. Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Presides over the chair election; reports student achievements, the accelerated Bluff principal search, the strategic plan and the instructional-hours calendar; presents the lead-screening policy. |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator, SAU 6 | Asks the board to sign the report of appropriations actually voted, $35,183,247, before the 20-day filing deadline. Surname per the project roster. |
| Cheryl Danza (as transcribed) | Citizens' comment; Ward 2; Disnard kitchen worker | "I am Cheryl Danza, I work in the designer kitchen and I am a Claremont taxpayer." (0:19:26); questions on equipment, staffing and unpaid meal charges under the food-service RFP. |
| Unidentified food-service worker | Citizens' comment | Asks what the board wants that the current program does not provide and who bears costs above the $650,000 budget line; not a Claremont taxpayer by her own account. |
| Unidentified members-elect and others | Oath and chorus | 70 of 532 rows are unidentified, mostly the group oath, photographs and voice votes. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives. The chair refers to an agenda and to Roman-numeral items; the list below follows the order taken up on the recording.
| Taken up | Item | What was said and done |
|---|
| 0:00:09 | Oath of office | Administered by the clerk to the members-elect as a group; the clerk will have the oath "printed out" for signature (0:01:52). |
| 0:03:09 | Election of chair | Superintendent presides. Nomination of Brian Rapp by an unidentified member (0:04:18), "seconded by Michelle Pierce" (0:04:24); no other nominations; voice vote Aye. (0:04:53). |
| 0:05:08 | Election of vice chair | Pierce nominates Chris Irish; a second; no other nominations; voice vote (0:05:25). |
| 0:05:41 | Call to order; Pledge; roll call | Roll call at 0:06:04. |
| 0:06:33 | Agenda and minutes | Agenda approved, second by Pierce (0:07:05). Minutes: motion Pierce, second Sprague (0:07:16, 0:07:19); members not at the last meeting may abstain; two abstentions heard (0:07:41); "Motion passes." |
| 0:07:54 | Student representative report | The student representative is absent; the superintendent reports in her place. |
| 0:08:08 | Superintendent's report; election results | Student achievements; the clerk reads the March 14 results (0:14:41). |
| 0:19:11 | Citizens' comments | Two food-service workers on the RFP. |
| 0:30:25 | Updates: Bluff principal search; strategic plan; FY2019 budget schedule | Search accelerated by about two weeks; strategic plan nearing presentation; superintendent to draft a budget calendar. |
| 0:46:06 | Report of appropriations actually voted (added) | O'Neill asks the board to sign; total $35,183,247; signed without a vote (0:48:24). |
| 0:48:32 | Nonpublic session | Chair: "we will be looking for a vote to enter nonpublic RSA 91, a two. See?" Motion Pierce (0:48:44), second Sprague (0:48:49), roll call (0:48:50 to 0:49:29). Return: "So moved. Second. Second on favor. Aye." (0:51:47); no decision announced. |
| 0:51:56 | Calendar; board training materials | NHSBA and counsel documents on board roles; instructional hours. |
| 0:57:11 | Policies, second reading (ACE, EBBC, IHBAA as read) | Motion Sprague to move to a third reading to give new members time; second Pierce (0:59:06, 0:59:14); voice vote (1:00:55). |
| 1:01:00 | Lead screening policy, first reading | Chair asks to add preschool (1:03:34); motion Pierce to a second reading, second Sprague (1:10:44, 1:10:49); voice vote (1:10:55). |
| 1:11:13 | Future items | Joint meeting March 30 at 6:00; tech center strategic plan; food-service RFP on April 5. |
| 1:22:23 | Adjournment | The chair calls "Motion to adjourn."; Pierce: "I second."; voice vote. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/8976 SchoolBoard031517.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 |
|---|
| 0:00:09 | Oath of office | Clerk: "all you gotta have to do is repeat after me"; the group repeats "So help me God." Pierce: "Thank you. I can stop by." to sign. | |
| 0:03:12 | Chair election | Superintendent: "we do need officers of the school board." Nomination: "I would like to nominate Brian wrap this chair. He's been very, very competent." Rapp: "Thank you, everyone, for the vote of confidence." | POS |
| 0:07:26 | Abstentions on minutes | Rapp: "members that that were not are here for the last meeting can abstain. It's one of the times that it's. It's okay to abstain." | |
| 0:08:11 | Student achievements | The superintendent reports the senior play, three seniors' scholar-athlete awards, the Division III basketball final, and two Disnard third graders who won a statewide fire-safety calendar contest; students' names are omitted here. | |
| 0:14:08 | Election results requested | Irish: "Do we want to go over the voting results real quick?" Rapp: "Do we don't have that on our agenda to read in the results?" | |
| 0:14:41 | March 14, 2017 results | Clerk: "Tracy Pope did confirm her acceptance of being a writing [write-in] candidate for moderator"; "I received 555 votes. Shane Hunter received 552 votes." Board: Herzog [Her God] 225, "Michael Patron 231 votes", and "leaving Frank Sprague and Mike patron the winners of the two three year positions"; for the one-year seat "Rebecca Zullo two 302". All articles passed; "637 out of 6980 voters", about 9%. Individual figures are fused by the transcription and should be checked against the official return. | |
| 0:17:51 | Thanks for the ballot | Superintendent: "The numbers indicate that there is support for the hard work the school board is doing". | |
| 0:19:26 | Food service: equipment and staffing | Danza: "I know the RFP are going to be voted on next month"; a steam table at Disnard runs on natural gas "and we don't have natural gas, so it's not actually hooked up"; Disnard and Bluff each have two workers against a proposal of "three stations and a point of sale". | OBS |
| 0:20:41 | Food service: unpaid meals and menus | Danza: unpaid charges now come "out of our food service budget. But I believe with the new companies it doesn't. I think that the taxpayers are required to pay that". A second worker: the line budget "says $650,000" and asks who pays above it. Rapp: "That'll be in the RFP." Adrian: with one area vendor "students who will have a bill and that goes to the parents". | OBS |
| 0:27:36 | Superintendent on the RFP | "This has been a three year discussion and the perception is we can do better." He says that is not a judgment on current employees. | |
| 0:30:29 | Bluff principal search | The committee met March 13; screening started today; the candidate should reach the board April 5 instead of April 19. Rapp asks that the committee's members be posted; the superintendent: "I would be very glad, Brian, to post the members of the screening committee". | |
| 0:35:22 | Strategic plan | "This process started in July"; a 3 to 5 year plan with a "School board representative, parent representative, administrative representative, teacher representatives" (see the March 1 page on its unposted meetings). | |
| 0:37:33 | FY2019 budget schedule | Superintendent: start this spring, given "the voucher system that may be approved". Sprague: "I want to take a real more granular look at that, school to school". Zullo asks whether that covers all staff "from administration down to bus drivers". | |
| 0:46:10 | Appropriations report | O'Neill: "it's due 20 days after the vote on next meeting is not until actually 22 days after the vote." "Total appropriations is 35,183,247." Rapp: "Do we need a motion? And do we need a vote or just sign it? Just sign it." | POS |
| 0:48:32 | Nonpublic session | Chair: "RSA 91, a two. See?" Pierce: "A motion to go to nonpublic." Sprague: "I'll second." Rapp: "And we need to have that roll call." Answers of Yes. from Irish, Adrian and others; the clerk calls "Michelle Pierce?". The board returns at 0:51:47; nothing is announced. | MED |
| 0:52:02 | Board roles; instructional hours | Superintendent distributes counsel's and NHSBA's documents on board and superintendent roles. On the calendar: "there is an RSA ed 306 18" [an education department rule, not an RSA]; with five snow days lost, "we still are 11 hours providing more than the law requires". Last day June 13. The page did not verify the 2017 text of that rule. | |
| 0:57:16 | Policies to third reading | Procedural safeguards and nondiscrimination on the basis of disability, emergency care and first aid, and evaluation for specific learning disabilities: "These policies are drafts. They're revisions based on recommendations of New Hampshire School Board Association". Sprague moves a third read "That'll give the new board members a chance to take a look at them." | |
| 1:01:04 | Lead screening policy | Superintendent: "has been vetted by the Valley Regional Hospital. It's been vetted by the state. I've shared it with the city council"; it will be "dovetailed to the immunization protocols for children to enter public schools"; "This is the first school district I know of in New Hampshire that has this policy". Rapp: "Can we add preschool?" and it will be "on sort of the checklist of things that need to be accomplished when you enroll your child." Sprague: lead symptoms are mistaken for other conditions. | POS |
| 1:11:17 | Joint meeting | Superintendent: "Thursday, the 30th of March is our next joint meeting between the city council and the Claremont school boards." | |
| 1:13:43 | Food-service RFP discussion | "I believe there were two main companies interested." Rapp: existing staff would be hired "If they're welcome to it". Zullo: "So there's no job security in that aspect." Irish: "what we did do officially we voted to privatize". Rapp: "We think that we can do a lot better." Sprague compares Newport's Fresh Picks program: "there is absolutely no comparison." | OBS |
| 1:21:28 | Finding the earlier discussion | Pierce suggests new members watch the rebroadcasts of the earlier food-service meetings; Adrian: "I don't think it'll go that far back." | |
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 March 15, 2017, 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 board elected its officers, entered a nonpublic session, signed its appropriations report and moved four policies at this meeting, and the recording is the only public account. RSA 91-A:2, II, in the text in force for 2017, 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 inspection "not more than 5 business days after the meeting". The page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule because the record mitigates the gap: the clerk is present, the board approves the previous minutes on tape (0:07:16), and members work from an agenda (0:06:33). The election results the clerk read are also a matter of official record outside the board's minutes.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2016 codification; source note ends 2016, 29:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017, so the text in force for 2017)
MEDIUM Nonpublic session entered without an exemption from RSA 91-A:3, II stated in the motion as heard, and no nonpublic minutes survive
The chair announced "a vote to enter nonpublic RSA 91, a two. See?" (0:48:32); the motion itself was "A motion to go to nonpublic." (0:48:44). RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires that "Any motion to enter nonpublic session shall state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II", followed by a roll call. RSA 91-A:2 contains no nonpublic exemptions, so if the chair said what the transcript shows, the stated ground was the wrong section; the transcription may also have dropped a word from RSA 91-A:3, II(c), which the attribution report assumes but the recording does not show. The roll call that the statute requires was taken (0:48:50). The board came back without announcing any decision (0:51:47), no vote to seal the minutes is heard, and under RSA 91-A:3, III nonpublic minutes are to be "publicly disclosed within 72 hours" unless withheld by a recorded two-thirds vote; none was located. MEDIUM rather than HIGH because the motion's wording rests on an uncertain transcription and the roll call was held.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II and III (2016 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; 280:1)
OBSERVATION Food-service employees' questions on the privatization RFP go to rules the district keeps under any vendor
Two food-service workers asked who would pay for unpaid meals and for costs above the $650,000 line under a contractor (0:20:41, 0:25:22); the chair said the answers would be "in the RFP" and Adrian said that with one vendor "that goes to the parents" (0:29:39). Two federal rules bear on the answer whoever runs the kitchens. Under 7 CFR 210.16(a) a district that contracts with a food service management company must "Retain control of the quality, extent, and general nature of its food service, and the prices to be charged", and the contract runs no more than one year with up to four renewals, so the board's expectations (1:16:20) have to be written into the contract. And USDA's Q&A of March 23, 2017, eight days after this meeting, restated its 2016 memo SP 46-2016 requiring a written meal-charge policy and stated that unpaid-meal bad debt cannot be paid from the school food account: "these losses must be restored using non-Federal funds". So collection from families and absorption by the district are both possible, but unpaid debt cannot simply disappear into a vendor's budget. The page does not assess the RFP itself, which was not before the board.
Sources: 7 CFR 210.16(a), (d) (2017 annual edition); USDA FNS, SP 23-2017, Unpaid Meal Charges: Guidance and Q&A (Mar. 23, 2017)
POSITIVE Appropriations report brought forward to meet the 20-day filing deadline
The business administrator asked to add the report of appropriations actually voted to the agenda because "it's due 20 days after the vote" and the next meeting would fall 22 days after the March 14 vote (0:46:10). RSA 21-J:34, II requires the governing body's report certifying the appropriations voted to "be filed within 20 days of the close of the meeting", which put the deadline at April 3, 2017, before the April 5 meeting. The board signed the report showing $35,183,247 that night (0:47:27, 0:48:24). This is the statute followed with attention to the calendar.
Sources: RSA 21-J:34, II (2016 codification; source note ends 2007, 182:2, eff. April 1, 2007)
POSITIVE The lead-screening policy promised at the January 24 joint meeting reached the board, vetted by the hospital and the state
On January 24 the board and council agreed the board would have a lead-screening policy in place by the next school year (see the joint meeting page). Seven weeks later the superintendent presented a policy "vetted by the Valley Regional Hospital" and "by the state" and shared with the City Council (1:01:49); the chair widened it to preschool (1:03:34) and the board moved it to a second reading (1:10:55). The officer elections were also held openly, with the superintendent explaining the nomination procedure on camera before any vote (0:03:12). The joint-meeting page's open question still applies: the chair describes screening as a checklist item "when you enroll your child" (1:04:04), and whether the adopted policy makes it a condition of enrollment, rather than a step alongside it, should be read in the final text.
Sources: Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 3-15-17; January 24, 2017 joint meeting page, flag 3
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 3-15-17 (show 8976; title as given by Cablecast)
- 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.
- Official March 14, 2017 election return: not consulted; the figures on this page are the clerk's reading as transcribed.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/8976 SchoolBoard031517.mp4.CSV (532 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/8976 SchoolBoard031517.mp4Input/Transcripts/8976 SchoolBoard031517.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 28Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/8976 SchoolBoard031517.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, II, 2016 codification (source note ends 2016, 29:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017): minutes content and five-business-day inspection
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II and III, 2016 codification: motion states the exemption, roll call, 72-hour disclosure of nonpublic minutes
- RSA 21-J:34, II, 2016 codification: appropriations report filed within 20 days
- 7 CFR 210.16(a), (d), 2017 annual edition: district retains control of a contracted food service; one-year contracts, four renewals
- USDA FNS SP 23-2017 (Mar. 23, 2017), guidance: written meal-charge policy; bad debt restored from non-federal funds