Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part. Names follow the project's dialogue file and the 2015 to 2023 roster; no minutes exist online to check spellings against. Where the dialogue file says Unidentified, this page does too.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Brian Rapp | Chair | Presided. Was absent from the September 30 session and pressed members to share their reduction ideas in public: "This is an open board meeting" (1:07:05). Volunteered for the diversity subcommittee; said the demonstration planners had been given the chance to speak at citizens' comments (2:20:04). |
| Chris Irish | Vice Chair | Explained the September 30 directive and its "deliberate" no-cuts-without-data wording; proposed routing budget questions through the superintendent; blamed state representatives for the funding crisis (1:31:03); clashed with Adrian over the planned demonstration. |
| Patrick Adrian | Board member | Asked that the community be brought into the response to the late-August events; questioned the preschool expansion as revenue shrinks; said he had told the demonstration organizers they could come to the meeting (2:20:21). |
| Michael Petrin | Board member | Noted the student report had been left off the agenda (0:10:17); reported the September 30 session and the $1.2 million target (0:42:25); asked for staffing ratios and in-district special education placements. |
| Michelle Pierce | Board member | Moved the German exchange trip; asked about the high-school schedule timeline, special education costs and grants; supported the lead-screening policy; said demonstrations belong at Broad Street Park rather than in front of a school (2:11:34); volunteered for the diversity subcommittee. Absent from the September 30 session. |
| Frank Sprague | Board member | Called the district's finances a crisis and said members were "unanimous on Saturday" (0:50:40); requested actuals and an employee list; cautioned on class rank; moved the policy approvals and adjournment. Also SAU 6 vice chair (2:37:36). |
| Rebecca Zullo | Board member | Seconded the exchange trip; asked for per-pupil cost; favored a lead-screening waiver (1:54:14); volunteered for the diversity subcommittee; rebuked the chair and vice chair for how they responded to a colleague (2:22:20). |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Gave the superintendent's report on the late-August events; said recent tax increases came from falling state aid, not the budget (0:52:39); advised on the open meeting law; presented class rank, the lead-screening policy, the diversity plan and the conduct-policy review; asked demonstrators to join a working group instead (2:07:05). |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Spoke on the high-school schedule plan, fundraising policy, grants and supplement-not-supplant, and the search for in-district special education space. |
| Michael O'Neill | Director of Business and Finance, SAU 6 | Handed out FY2016-17 actuals and FY2017-18 year-to-date spending (0:44:37) and an employee list (1:27:26). |
| Chris (surname not on the record) | Special Education Director, SAU 6 | Described talks with the Brattleboro Retreat about a satellite day program to cut out-of-district tuition and transportation (1:25:28). Medium-confidence identification. |
| Patricia (Pat) Barry | Principal, Stevens High School | Publicly asked adults planning to gather outside the middle and high schools on October 5 to reconsider (2:02:17); explained the school's handling of an ongoing investigation. |
| Lexi Grenier (spelling unverified) | Student representative, Stevens High School | Gave the student report (0:25:46); spoke on class rank and on how students felt about the planned demonstration (2:07:34). |
| Unidentified | Stevens High School teacher, German exchange program | Presented the exchange with the partner school in Germany and asked permission to run it (0:33:28). Name not stated. |
| Unidentified | Procedural voice at the table | Advised during the policy votes that the items "are separate, items on the agenda" (2:31:06). Possibly the recording secretary; not named. |
| Citizens' comments | None recorded | The chair invited comment at 0:32:55 and closed the period; no one spoke. Members later said community members connected with the planned demonstration had been in the room and left. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted in the district's online shares, so this order of business is reconstructed from the chair's transitions on the recording, which begins during the superintendent's report. The superintendent refers to agenda item "Roman numeral seven B fiscal year 19 budget" (2:32:52).
Items in the order the recording takes them up.
| Taken up | Item | What was done |
|---|
| 0:00:02 | Superintendent's report (in progress) | On the "events of late August", community dialogue and the district's response. Questions from members follow (0:10:38). |
| 0:25:46 | Student representative's report | Added from the floor after Petrin noted "we forgot to add the student rep report to our agenda" (0:10:17). |
| 0:32:49 | Citizens' comments | None. |
| 0:32:59 | Action item: German exchange program | Pierce: "I'd like to make a motion to accept the trip for Germany and the fundraising for it." (0:40:02); Zullo seconded (0:40:08); voice vote, no audible opposition (0:41:31). |
| 0:41:51 | Review of the September 30 budget study session | Discussion of the $1.2 million directive and of how members' questions will be handled. No vote. |
| 1:31:03 | Class rank | Consensus to have the administration study it and report back (1:46:40). |
| 1:47:08 | Revisiting the lead screening policy | Superintendent to return with a revised draft that "a waiver would be an option" (1:55:33). No vote. |
| 1:59:23 | Diversity plan | Superintendent to form a subcommittee; Zullo, Rapp and Pierce named (2:01:28, 2:01:31). Followed by the principal's statement on the planned demonstration (2:02:07). |
| 2:24:41 | Policies involving conduct and behavior | Sixteen policies presented for review; superintendent to return with recommendations. No vote. |
| 2:29:09 | Action items: policy second and third reads | Sprague moved to waive the third read of two policies and give final approval to a list of others (2:30:30); after advice that the items were separate, the chair took a vote (2:31:46) and then a second motion by Pierce for the third-read group (2:32:22), seconded (2:32:33), voice vote (2:32:39). Policy codes as spoken are garbled in the transcript; see flag 4. |
| 2:32:45 | Future agenda items | Budget information requests for the October 18 agenda (2:32:52); process for moving items off the future list (2:37:48); a junior-high bullying discussion (2:38:58). |
| 2:40:59 | Adjournment | Sprague: "I'd like to make a motion to adjourn." Voice vote. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological topics from the dialogue file. Timestamps link to the same moment in the Cablecast recording. Quotations are the transcript as recorded, ASR errors included. This page does not repeat details about any student beyond what speakers said in general terms.
Topics by start time.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:02 | Superintendent's report on the late-August events | "Racism, bullying, however you wish to describe it. They're all connected, interconnected." He notes "a great deal of community dialog and online dialog regarding the events of late August" and media "from New York and other parts of our country" (0:00:02). "Because if people don't watch or attend the school board meeting, there's an information gap." (0:14:05). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:11:01 | Recycled Percussion concert | McGoodwin: "It was approximately a $30,000 concert. If we had contracted" (0:11:01). Petrin: "We didn't pay that." ... "it was provided for free." (0:11:23). | |
| 0:11:41 | Community involvement | Adrian asks that parents and community members be brought in (0:11:41). Irish: "please don't work to provoke or engage the larger audience until you have worked with those closest to the issue first." (0:15:40). | |
| 0:16:24 | High-school schedule timeline | Pierce asks whether the board will see the Stevens schedule plan before it takes effect (0:16:24). McGoodwin: "The Memorandum of Understanding or Agreement was signed in January 2007 [2017]. Ten months later. We're in a very different place" (0:20:20). | |
| 0:25:46 | Student report | Community service day planned for April 19, 2018 (0:27:20); a new Communication Club that will "partner with Claremont Community Television CCTV" (0:29:46). | |
| 0:33:28 | German exchange approved | The teacher asks "Just your permission to conduct the exchange." (0:39:52). LeClair: approval is needed because it is "a overnight out of country trip" with unusually large fundraising (0:40:28). Approved (0:41:31). | |
| 0:41:57 | September 30 study session and the $1.2 million target | McGoodwin thanks members "for putting these minutes together" (0:41:57). Petrin: "Brian and Michelle were not able to make it, as noted" (0:42:25); "The 1.2 million, which would affect the tax rate about $1.70." (0:42:57). Rapp: "one of the directives is no reductions in instructional staff" (0:47:39); Irish: "That language was very deliberate." (0:48:07). Sprague: "we were unanimous on Saturday" (0:50:40). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:52:39 | State aid and the tax rate | McGoodwin: the tax-rate increases have "not been due to the budget. It's been due to the reduction in state aid." (0:52:39). "a $1.2 million reduction will be much more than that, because there are some uncontrollable fixed cost increases" (0:53:28). | |
| 0:54:54 | Preschool and staffing questions | Adrian questions reinvesting kindergarten aid in a preschool expansion as revenue shrinks (0:55:22). Petrin asks for a staffing snapshot by school (0:58:19); Zullo for a per-pupil cost breakdown (0:59:49). | |
| 1:00:02 | How members' questions will be handled | Irish: "don't send them to all of us" (1:00:19). McGoodwin: "Problematic with the open meeting law? Yeah. What we communicate to you outside of the board packet needs to be done publicly, right?" (1:01:05). Rapp: answers "can also be tabulated and put in the packet for our next board meeting." (1:02:12). McGoodwin: "what we receive in your packet, the community receives online as well." (1:03:23). | POSITIVE |
| 1:05:06 | Should the ideas be discussed in public now? | Rapp: "But you already gave a $1.2 million figure. So if you have some ideas ... it would be good for the public to know" (1:05:06). Irish: the figure came from "a lot of conversations that led to the 1.2" (1:05:52). Rapp: "This is an open board meeting. I think a lot of this stuff, if we can do it in public meetings, should be done in public meeting." (1:07:05). Irish: "It all be done in public. We're just not there yet." (1:07:14). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:21:22 | Special education placements | Petrin asks what in-district placements would cost (1:21:22). LeClair: talks with the Brattleboro Retreat about a satellite program and a look at space at the One for All center (1:22:26). Chris: transportation "is almost equal to the tuition" (1:25:28). | |
| 1:31:03 | The funding crisis | Irish: "Make no mistake, this crisis lays at the feet of our state reps past, present and future." (1:31:03). | |
| 1:31:16 | Class rank and valedictorian | McGoodwin describes a strong student who was not valedictorian because of course choices (1:31:16). Grenier asks whether she must choose between music "or the AP and honors classes that are weighted at five" (1:42:16). Irish: "It's about the scholarships." (1:44:57). Consensus to study it (1:46:40). | |
| 1:47:08 | Lead screening policy | McGoodwin cites "RSA 141 C semicolon 20-A" [RSA 141-C:20-a] on immunizations and says "the law does not require lead screening, however, and so it cannot be. It's not enforceable." (1:48:16, his characterization; not verified for this page). Zullo: "there should be a waiver" (1:54:14). He will return with a draft (1:55:33). | |
| 1:59:23 | Diversity plan and subcommittee | McGoodwin: "I very much like to develop a subcommittee, of of the school board and, and administration" (1:59:25); refers to "the event of August 28th" (2:01:05). Rapp: "Sign me up." (2:01:28). "I'm going to establish a subcommittee" (2:01:31). | OBSERVATION |
| 2:02:07 | Principal's statement on the planned demonstration | Barry: "My concern is that that the schools have never been contacted about this." (2:02:42); "For many students, that will not be a positive experience." (2:03:22). McGoodwin asks those planning to demonstrate to join a working group instead (2:07:05). Grenier: "no one has come and talk to us" (2:08:28). | |
| 2:11:20 | Board members disagree | Pierce: "Public assembly shouldn't be held in front of the school." (2:11:34). Rapp: the plan is "to demonstrate off school property on public property" (2:15:26). Adrian says an organizer had been in the room (2:15:47). Irish: "I'm not going to let you do her presentation here tonight. Not going to happen." (2:17:03); "You are creating the anxiety by continuing to give them a forum." (2:18:58). Rapp: "they had an opportunity to speak at citizens." (2:20:04). Zullo: disappointed to see "Our chair and vice chair immediately jump on somebody" (2:22:20); Rapp: "I don't recall jumping on anybody." (2:23:58). | |
| 2:24:55 | Conduct and behavior policies | McGoodwin: "Student conduct is eight years old. Bullying and cyber bullying is eight years old" and "there's been new RSA that need to be blended into those." (2:26:15). | |
| 2:29:09 | Policy approvals | Second reads for wellness and administering medication, adding insulin (2:29:34). Sprague's motion "that we take JLC FJLCD wave third read and take gb ECI ge IHAMJLCKJLDJLIF and JLF2. Final implementation approval." (2:30:30). "Do you want me to rephrase it or would you like to just fix it in the minutes?" (2:31:27). Two voice votes follow (2:31:46, 2:32:39). | OBSERVATION |
| 2:36:34 | Closing remarks and future items | Pierce asks the community to hear students first (2:36:34). Irish raises how items move off the future-agenda list (2:37:48). Sprague reminds members of the SAU 6 meeting "next" Thursday (2:37:28). | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on October 4, 2017, cited 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. 5 flags follow, ordered by severity.
OBSERVATION The recording starts mid-meeting, and no agenda, packet or minutes is online
The recording opens partway through the superintendent's report (0:00:02), so the call to order, roll call, agenda approval and minutes approval (if taken) are not on the public recording. MAP.md section 42 records that neither district Drive share holds anything older than 2022 (checked 9/26/26). That is a limit of what the district posts online, not evidence that records were never made: members refer to a packet (0:33:15) and a numbered agenda (2:32:52), and the superintendent says the packet goes online (1:03:23). RSA 91-A:2, II as it read in 2017 required minutes naming members and "persons appearing before the public bodies", with a brief description of the subject matter and final decisions, open to inspection "not more than 5 business days after the meeting"; the mover-and-seconder requirement did not exist until January 1, 2019. The project's missing-records rule is applied on its online-availability limb.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2016 codification; source note ends 2016, 29:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017, so in force for all of 2017).
OBSERVATION A $1.2 million reduction directive was set at a Saturday study session whose notice and minutes are not online
Members report that on Saturday, September 30, the board met without Rapp and Pierce (0:42:25), "decided as a board" to seek a cut of about $1.2 million, roughly $1.70 on the tax rate (0:42:57), with a directive of no reductions in instructional staff without supporting data (0:47:39, 0:48:07), and were "unanimous" (0:50:40). Five of seven members is a quorum, and RSA 91-A:2, I (2016 codification) defines a meeting as "the convening of a quorum of the membership of a public body" to discuss or act on matters within its jurisdiction, so the session carried notice and minutes duties. The record mitigates the concern: the superintendent thanked members "for putting these minutes together" (0:41:57), and the directive was reviewed in this public meeting. Neither the September 30 notice nor its minutes is in the district's online shares, and the corpus holds no recording of that session. At this meeting the chair, who was absent on September 30, asked that the reasoning behind the figure be aired publicly (1:05:06, 1:07:05); the members who attended said no specific cuts had yet been discussed (1:05:37, 1:07:14).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, I and II (2016 codification, in force for all of 2017).
OBSERVATION The new diversity-plan subcommittee includes three board members and carries Right-to-Know duties
The superintendent proposed a subcommittee "of the school board and, and administration" (1:59:25), and Zullo, Rapp and Pierce joined it (2:01:28, 2:01:31). RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), unchanged since 2008, makes a public body of "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto", so the subcommittee's meetings would require notice and minutes like the board's. Whether it met, and whether its meetings were noticed and minuted, cannot be checked from the district's online shares for 2017. Recorded as a pointer for later pages, not a finding.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (source note ends 2008, 354:1, so the same text in 2017).
OBSERVATION Which policies received final approval cannot be recovered from the recording
Sprague moved to waive a third read and give "Final implementation approval" to a run of policy codes that the transcript renders as "JLC FJLCD" and "gb ECI ge IHAMJLCKJLDJLIF and JLF2" (2:30:30). A voice at the table advised that "they are separate, items on the agenda, so you should be doing them separately" (2:31:06); Sprague asked "would you like to just fix it in the minutes?" (2:31:27). The chair then took one vote (2:31:46) and a second on Pierce's motion for the third-read group (2:32:22 to 2:32:39). RSA 91-A:2, II (2016 codification) requires minutes to record "final decisions"; with no agenda or minutes online, the public cannot tell which policies were adopted that night or in what form. The ambiguity is in the recording and the online record, not necessarily in the minutes the district kept.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2016 codification, in force for all of 2017).
POSITIVE The board chose a question process designed to keep budget deliberation out of email
Asked how members should pose budget questions, the superintendent flagged the "open meeting law" and said communications "outside of the board packet needs to be done publicly" (1:01:05); the board settled on sending questions to him alone, with answers "tabulated and put in the packet for our next board meeting" (1:02:12), a packet he said the community also receives online (1:03:23). RSA 91-A:2-a, unchanged since 2008, provides that public bodies "shall deliberate on matters only in meetings" and that communications outside a meeting "shall not be used to circumvent the spirit and purpose" of the chapter. Routing questions through staff and publishing the answers is a practice that keeps a quorum's exchanges out of private channels.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2-a, I and II (source 2008, 303:4, unamended, so the same text in 2017).
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 9354, "SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 10-4": Claremont Community Television. 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 42, checked 9/26/26). No notice, agenda, packet, handout or minutes for this meeting or for the September 30, 2017 study session were located.
- Related meeting pages: Claremont School Board and City Council joint meeting, September 28, 2017; SAU 6 Board, October 12, 2017; Claremont School Board, October 18, 2017.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/9354 SchoolBoard100417.mp4.CSV (895 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9354 SchoolBoard100417.mp4Input/Transcripts/9354 SchoolBoard100417.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9354 SchoolBoard100417.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 42
Laws and rules cited on this page