Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part, as named in the project's dialogue file. Where the dialogue file leaves a voice Unidentified, this page does too.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Brian Rapp | Chair | Presided; asked for staffing encumbrance reports (0:52:54); pressed why the board was not ready to discuss expectations when the item was on the agenda (1:01:20); noted that a Saturday session would itself be a board meeting (1:05:57); read the old policy's definition of an official school function back into the draft (2:00:14). |
| Chris Irish | Vice chair | Asked about funding for the Pathways to Success program (0:17:00) and an in-school suspension posting (0:50:50); argued for a board-only goals meeting (0:56:29) and undertook to find a room at the community center (1:15:52); questioned the drug-free workplace wording on official school functions (1:55:40). |
| Patrick Adrian | Member | Raised a state robotics grant (0:10:11); moved the early release change (1:38:04) and seconded the nominations (1:39:39); asked whether the health education exemption is limited to religious objections (2:02:58). |
| Frank Sprague | Member | Moved to accept the agenda (0:01:16); asked for saturation studies before any staffing reductions (0:46:05); moved the calendar change (1:24:10) and seconded it (1:25:35); moved the survey policy (1:42:21) and the first-read policy group (2:12:41); proposed or designee in the child abuse reporting policy (2:08:24). |
| Rebecca Zullo | Member (first year) | Asked how community members can join strategic plan work (0:35:02); called for a planning meeting to "get organized" (1:05:49); questioned the drug-free workplace policy's counseling payment clause (1:45:09). Addressed as Rebecca, Becca and Becky in the transcript. |
| Michael Petrin | Member | Supported a goals meeting (1:08:23); raised child care costs of the early release change (1:31:19); asked why head lice was on the future agenda again (2:15:03). The dialogue file names this voice by elimination (low to medium confidence); the roll call transcribes Michael. Patron. Here. |
| Michelle Pierce | Member | No response is transcribed after her name in the roll call (0:00:45) and no speech is attributed to her. Apparently absent; not confirmed by minutes. |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Superintendent's report (0:02:20 to 0:09:07); food service (0:18:44); strategic action plan (0:30:23); asked for budget meeting dates (0:36:01); presented the calendar correction (1:16:48), six nominations (1:38:24) and the policy batch (1:39:59). |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Robotics grant amounts (0:13:29); hiring status (0:47:55); took responsibility for the calendar error (1:17:47) and presented the early release model (1:26:10). |
| Michael O'Neill | Business administrator, SAU 6 | Explained the online meal payment fee (0:24:41) and offered an encumbrance report (0:53:28). Surname from the project roster; it is not spoken on this recording. |
| Mary Woodman | School district clerk | Called the roll (0:00:45). |
| Citizens' comments | None | The chair opened and closed comment with no one present: "Nobody's here. That's why we're that quick." (0:18:27). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted online, though the board works from one ("We have an agenda in front of us", 0:00:59). This outline is reconstructed from the chair's transitions. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:05 | Call to order; pledge; roll call | Chair Rapp; roll by the clerk (0:00:45). |
| 0:00:59 | Agenda | No edits; motion Sprague (0:01:16), seconded, voice vote (0:01:18). |
| 0:01:18 | Minutes of August 16, 2017 | Approved by voice vote (0:02:00); mover and seconder not identifiable on the recording. |
| 0:02:20 | Superintendent's report | Opening of school, professional development, Gear Up New Hampshire, Pathway to Success; member questions to 0:18:16. |
| 0:18:21 | Citizens' comments | No speakers (0:18:27). |
| 0:18:27 | Discussion: 2017-18 school year update | Food service under the Abbey Group (0:18:44 to 0:30:14). No vote. |
| 0:30:20 | Discussion: strategic action plan | Presentation and questions. No vote. |
| 0:35:57 | Discussion: fiscal year 2019 budget meeting dates (and budget expectations) | Board agreed by consensus, without a vote, to meet as a board on Saturday, September 30 at 1:00 to discuss goals and expectations (1:14:04 to 1:16:13). |
| 1:16:45 | Action: school calendar | Voting day corrected from November 14 to November 7 with parent-teacher conferences moved; motion Sprague (1:24:10), second (1:25:35), voice vote (1:26:05). |
| 1:26:10 | Action: early release days | Late-arrival model for high school on the five early release days; motion Adrian (1:38:04), second, voice vote (1:38:12). |
| 1:38:21 | Action: nominations | Six new staff members nominated by the superintendent (1:38:24 to 1:39:12); second Adrian (1:39:39); voice vote (1:39:44). |
| 1:39:53 | Policy ILDA, nonacademic surveys and questionnaires (second read) | Moved to third read; motion Sprague (1:42:21), voice vote (1:42:28). |
| 1:42:37 | Policies, first read | Drug-free workplace (GBC), school guidance and counseling (JLD), health education exemption (IHAM), reporting child abuse or neglect (JLF) and others listed by the superintendent (1:40:27); edits discussed; group moved to second read, motion Sprague (2:12:41), voice vote (2:12:55). |
| 2:13:07 | Future agenda items | September 20 presentations trimmed (2:14:56); head lice kept as a placeholder (2:15:13). |
| 2:15:55 | Adjournment | Motion, second and voice vote (2:15:58 to 2:16:04). |
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 |
|---|
| 0:00:45 | Roll call | "Patrick. Adrian. Here. Michelle. Michael. Patron. Here. Michelle. Pierce. Frank. Sprague here. Becca and Brian rap here." No answer is transcribed after Pierce; Irish is not heard called but speaks throughout. | |
| 0:02:20 | Superintendent's report | "Day two of the 2017 2018 school year." Summer professional development, Gear Up New Hampshire, and the Pathway to Success program starting in the middle school (0:06:05). | |
| 0:10:11 | State robotics grant | Adrian asked about a new state robotics education fund with a deadline at the end of September; McGoodwin: "we are learning more about it as as the deadline approaches the end of this month." (0:13:20); LeClair: maximum awards of "$1,000" elementary, "1500" middle and "5000" high school (0:13:29). | |
| 0:17:00 | Pathways to Success funding | Irish: "this year it's all funded by donations"; McGoodwin: "It is donations. You're right and is not being funded by our school district." (0:17:56); Irish: "if they're talking for years, they have $50,000. I don't think that's going to pay for four years worth of education for 14 kids." (0:18:00). | |
| 0:18:21 | Citizens' comments | "seeing none, we'll close citizens comments for people at home. Nobody's here." | |
| 0:18:44 | Food service | "it's going to take time for the Abbey Group to settle in" (0:20:31). Online meal payments carry a fee; O'Neill: "It's a credit card processing fee. And there's no way there's really no way around that." (0:24:41). | |
| 0:30:23 | Strategic action plan | Kindergarten placement raised as a budget option: "If one school has 25 and another school has 15." (0:33:15); "we would be transporting children from one school to another school, or we would be adding another teacher." (0:33:28). | |
| 0:36:01 | Fiscal year 2019 budget dates | "We are five weeks into fiscal year 18, but it's important that we start talking about fiscal year 19." Sprague asked for saturation studies so that any staffing reduction talk has "real data behind it" (0:46:05) and called himself "a fiscal conservative" (0:47:06). | |
| 0:47:39 | Hiring and open positions | LeClair: "We're still hiring some paras." (0:47:55). Irish on a posting: "Their sole purpose, full time job is to be in school suspension monitoring." (0:50:50); McGoodwin: "I've been in the budget been in the budget for some time." (0:51:38). Rapp asked for staffing encumbrances (0:52:54). | |
| 0:56:29 | Board-only goals meeting | Irish: "are we all on the same page to have one meeting with just the board". Rapp: "Well it was on the agenda. Why why why aren't we prepared to do it." (1:01:20); Irish: "This is our business meeting. This is not our board meeting." (1:02:09); Rapp: "Whatever we have on Saturday, a Saturday meeting is a board meeting, right?" (1:05:57); Rapp: "if we come in with an expectation like cut $1 million and you do all that work" (1:09:47). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:14:04 | Date, time and place set | Saturday the 30th at 1:00 (1:14:54). Irish: "We could always just go to the community center." (1:15:33); Adrian: "It just has to be politically nounced, right?" (1:15:41); Irish: "Yeah. It doesn't have to be recorded." (1:15:43) and "I could set up a tripod and we could record the meeting" (1:15:52); purpose "for the board to meet as a board to discuss goals and expectations." (1:16:13). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:16:48 | Calendar: voting day | "We incorrectly listed November 14th as voting day. It is November 7th"; no school on voting day because of congestion "and also security". LeClair: "it was my error, not Middleton's" (1:17:47); conferences moved to November 6 (1:18:11). Sprague: "the requirement is 990 hours, right?" (1:23:41). | |
| 1:26:10 | Early release model | Elementary pupils arrive at the normal time and high school students come in later, for smaller training groups than "about 300 people" (1:27:12); first early release day "October 27th" (1:31:10). Petrin: "there is an added cost to a family." (1:31:19); Sprague: late entry is always derailed by "custodial concerns as opposed to educational concerns" (1:33:33). | |
| 1:38:24 | Six nominations | A grade two teacher, a guidance counselor, an alternative program teacher, grade seven and grade eight English teachers and a Title I teacher: "with your approval, I would recommend and request your nomination of our six new staff members." (1:39:12). Approved (1:39:44). | POSITIVE |
| 1:39:59 | Policy batch and new legislation | "we have a ton of new policy due to legislative changes." Survey policy: "The law. In fact, Patrick even specifies that youth risk behavior surveys will not be affected by this." (1:42:03). | POSITIVE |
| 1:44:39 | Drug-free workplace (GBC) | Zullo objected to "If the employee can't pay for this, the school district will." (1:45:09); McGoodwin: she was reading the current policy, "approved October 6th, 2004." (1:47:41). Irish on "official school functions not on school property" (1:55:40); Rapp proposed restoring the old definition, "An official school function is defined as one which is authorized and conducted by the school" (2:00:14). | |
| 1:48:50 | Guidance and counseling (JLD) | Sprague on the draft's last bullet: "a summary report of students performance and achievement. Attendance and behavior shall be provided to the board at least once a year. Addressing the effectiveness of the school counseling program." Rapp favored dropping the effectiveness clause (1:54:31). | |
| 2:01:11 | Health education exemption (IHAM) | Rapp read: "who do not want their child to participate in a particular unit of health or sex ed instruction for religious reasons or religious objections are allowed to have their child opt out" (2:02:42). McGoodwin: "the theme behind it is notification two weeks in advance." (2:03:06); Rapp: "can they opt out of health ed for any reason?" (2:06:32); McGoodwin: "Absolutely. They can. Yes they can." (2:06:45). | OBSERVATION |
| 2:08:24 | Reporting child abuse or neglect (JLF) | Sprague: the draft "says shall immediately report his her suspicions to the building principal and I would add or designee". Sprague: "it does go to the principal because a lot of staff members are very nervous about calling DC" (2:11:51) and "it puts it on the administration." (2:12:06). | OBSERVATION |
| 2:13:07 | September 20 agenda | McGoodwin planned three presentations; Adrian: "I think 3 in 1 meeting." (2:14:24); one postponed (2:14:56). Petrin: "the review of the head lice. I feel like we were just there." (2:15:03). | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on September 6, 2017. They are not findings of violation, and nothing here is legal advice. Each flag names the rule it rests on; where no verified rule applies, it is recorded as an observation. Ordered by severity.
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting are available online
Members work from an agenda and a packet throughout ("We have an agenda in front of us", 0:00:59; "In your packet", 1:38:24), but neither is posted online, and neither are the minutes. The district's Drive shares begin in 2022 and 2023 (MAP.md section 39), so this is a finding about what the district publishes online, not evidence that records were never kept; the September 20, 2017 recording shows the board approving these minutes that night. The law then in force required minutes to be open to public inspection within five business days. Severity: OBSERVATION, because nothing on the recording itself shows a lapse.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2016 codification; source note ends 2016, 29:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017, so the text in force throughout 2017): minutes "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting".
OBSERVATION The board set a Saturday September 30 session away from its usual venue, with members saying it need not be recorded; no record of that session is online
After a long exchange over whether a board-only planning session was a board meeting at all (Irish: "This is our business meeting. This is not our board meeting.", 1:02:09; Rapp: "a Saturday meeting is a board meeting, right?", 1:05:57), members settled on Saturday, September 30 at 1:00 (1:14:54), possibly at the community center (1:15:33). Adrian asked whether it "just has to be politically nounced" (probably publicly announced), and Irish replied "Yeah. It doesn't have to be recorded." (1:15:41, 1:15:43), offering to set up a tripod himself (1:15:52). The members' understanding is right on both points: a quorum convened to discuss board business is a meeting, and the law then in force required notice and minutes but not a video recording. The session did go ahead: the October 18, 2017 recording shows the board disputing a motion made there. That session has no recording in the corpus, no MAP.md section and no minutes online (see the October 18, 2017 page). Recorded as an observation because the district's online archive begins in 2022, not because the recording shows a lapse.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, I-II (2016 codification; text in force for calendar 2017): a meeting is "the convening of a quorum"; notice of time and place posted at least 24 hours ahead; minutes open for inspection within 5 business days.
OBSERVATION A member praised the draft child abuse reporting policy for routing reports to the principal; the statute puts the duty to report to the State on each individual
On first read, Sprague summarized the draft as saying an employee "shall immediately report his her suspicions to the building principal" and proposed adding or designee (2:08:24). He then said what he liked about it: "it does go to the principal because a lot of staff members are very nervous about calling DC" (2:11:51) and "it puts it on the administration." (2:12:06). The law then in force named teachers, school officials, school nurses and counselors among the persons who, having reason to suspect abuse or neglect, "shall report the same", and required that the oral report "be made immediately by telephone or otherwise" to the department. Telling a principal does not by itself discharge that individual duty. The draft policy text is not available, so whether it also directed staff to report to the department cannot be checked here; the concern is with the reading offered at the table. The policy moved to second read without a vote on its substance (2:12:55).
Sources: RSA 169-C:29 (2016 codification; source note 1979, 361:2): teachers, school officials, nurses and counselors "having reason to suspect that a child has been abused or neglected shall report the same"; RSA 169-C:30 (2016 codification; source note ends 1995, 310:175): "An oral report shall be made immediately by telephone or otherwise, and followed within 48 hours by a report in writing, if so requested, to the department."
OBSERVATION The health education opt-out was explained as available for any reason; the statute gives two different routes with different conditions
The chair read the health education exemption policy's religious-objection clause (2:02:42), which the discussion placed in the older part of the policy rather than the new language ("your issue is. With the old part of the policy.", 2:04:58). Asked whether parents can opt out of health education for any reason, the superintendent answered "Absolutely. They can. Yes they can." (2:06:45), and described the new law's theme as "notification two weeks in advance." (2:03:06). The statute in force on September 6 had two separate requirements: an exception to a unit of health or sex education "based on religious objections", with alternative learning sufficient to meet state requirements (IX-b), and a broader exception to specific course material a parent finds objectionable, which required written notice to the principal and "an alternative agreed upon by the school district and the parent, at the parent's expense" (IX-c). So the answer was right that the religious ground is not the only route, but it left out the conditions attached to the broader one. The two-week notice he described was enacted but not yet in force: it appears only in the 2017 codification, whose source note runs to 2017, 251:1, eff. Sept. 16, 2017, ten days after this meeting.
Sources: RSA 186:11, IX-b and IX-c (2016 codification; source note ends 2016, 14:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017, and 84:2): the text in force on the meeting date; RSA 186:11 (2017 codification; source note ends 2017, 251:1, eff. Sept. 16, 2017): adds "not less than 2 weeks advance notice" of human sexuality course material.
POSITIVE The nonacademic survey policy was being updated in step with a statutory change that took effect ten days later
The superintendent brought the survey policy (ILDA) to second read as part of "a ton of new policy due to legislative changes" (1:39:59), and said the law "specifies that youth risk behavior surveys will not be affected by this." (1:42:03). That matches the amended statute: the 2017 codification requires written parental consent before a student takes a non-academic survey, with an exception from consent for the CDC youth risk behavior survey and a parental opt-out from it. The text in force on September 6 (2016 codification) required notice, a 10-day review period and an opt-out, but no consent. The board moved the policy to third read (1:42:28) and adopted it on September 20, days after the amendment took effect. Which of the 2017 chapters in the source note made the change is not verified here.
Sources: RSA 186:11, IX-d (2017 codification; source note ends 2017, 9:1; 22:2; 251:1, eff. Sept. 16, 2017): "no student shall be required to volunteer for or submit to a non-academic survey or questionnaire ... without written consent of a parent or legal guardian"; exception for "the youth risk behavior survey developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention"; RSA 186:11, IX-d (2016 codification): notice, review "at least 10 days prior to distribution", opt-out.
POSITIVE Six hires were nominated by the superintendent and elected by the board in public session
The superintendent described each position and asked the board to act on "our six new staff members" (1:38:24 to 1:39:12); the board approved on a seconded motion by voice vote (1:39:39, 1:39:44). That is the statutory division of labor: the superintendent nominates, the board elects.
Sources: RSA 189:39 (source note ends 1971, 371:2; unamended across the corpus): "Superintendents shall nominate and school boards elect all teachers".
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 9315, "SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 9-6-17": 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 section 39, checked 9/26/26). The agenda, packet, policy drafts and minutes were not located.
- Related pages: September 20, 2017 (these minutes approved; survey policy adopted); October 18, 2017 (dispute over the motion made at the September 30 session).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/9315 SchoolBoard090617.mp4.CSV (960 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9315 SchoolBoard090617.mp4Input/Transcripts/9315 SchoolBoard090617.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9315 SchoolBoard090617.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 39
Laws and rules cited on this page