| 0:01:45 | Student report | School-by-school report: Bluff story night, open houses, spirit week, the Stevens physics bridge project, honors choir and all-state auditions, a December 16 craft fair, and fall sports results. | |
| 0:12:27 | Voucher signatures | Superintendent: “We do need two school board members to volunteer, perhaps once a week to come to the Dow building and sign about these vouchers. Need school board signature, and it's a requirement of our auditors.” Then: “But this has not been done for some time, and so we have some catching up to do.” and “your signature indicates that you are approved our expenditures.” Petrin adds that it “doesn't have to be the same two all the time”. | MEDIUM |
| 0:14:09 | Professional learning university | The first of five professional growth days was October 27, with “a combined total of 300 of our teachers and paraprofessionals participating side by side”, tied to the board-approved strategic action plan. | |
| 0:17:12 | Interview format | The superintendent explains the format: the board picks one question per member from a packet list, each candidate answers the same questions while the others wait outside, and then “the board will go into a non public meeting or nonpublic session where you can deliberate and pick the man or woman”. The term runs “from November of this year until March of 2008”, corrected to 2018 at 0:18:45. | POSITIVE |
| 0:20:34 | Candidate: Jason Benware | Eighteen-year resident with two children in the schools. On the five-year vision he speaks of unfunded federal mandates and the “continual increase in the cost to our town and the decrease in in what we're getting from outside of our town”. Three job qualities: value on education, care for kids, “Fiscal responsibility.” | |
| 0:31:50 | Candidate: George | “Former school board member for, like, I don't know, forever. 7 or 8 years. I was chair for at least six of those.” Twelve years as a business administrator on a budget of “about a $21 million budget”, with “my last eight years straight with, qualified audits. Meaning, I mean, unqualified”. Says parents have abdicated responsibility and the board should support the administration and keep disputes inside the board. | |
| 0:45:07 | Candidate: Dr. Alex Herzog | Former board member, over 20 years in higher education, now commuting to a community college job in Concord; his wife teaches at Maple Avenue, which he discloses as “Completely transparent.” Names truancy and bullying as problems and describes the board as “generally a policymaking board”. | |
| 0:54:23 | Candidate: Caitlin Kerr | New resident from Massachusetts, former private music teacher. Names “bullying and exclusion” as the pressing problem; wants a well-rounded program that does not “pigeon pull the students”. | |
| 1:00:14 | Nonpublic session | The motion as heard names no exemption: “Please make a motion run in on public.” The chair calls a roll call; two Yes. rows are heard (1:00:38, 1:00:48). The chair: “Everybody will be. Back in a bit.” The recording resumes at 1:01:12 and a voice vote takes the board out at 1:01:20. | HIGH |
| 1:01:28 | Appointment of Alex Herzog | The chair: “Very, very good people that applied. I'd like to encourage everybody to stay involved and please come to meetings.” Pierce moves “to make a motion to accept her”, then names “Oh, Alex.” Seconded; the vote is a voice vote with no opposition heard, and the chair turns to “Mr. Herzog.” | OBSERVATION |
| 1:03:19 | Oath of office | Herzog repeats the oath after an unidentified officiant; it closes at 1:04:15. | |
| 1:04:35 | Bullying presentation introduced | The superintendent: the middle school team is “here tonight at the request of the school board”, and theirs is “the first of three presentations”, with elementary and high school to follow. | |
| 1:08:13 | Adolescent development | Gerald and Buckland describe adolescent brain development and impulsivity as the frame for handling reports. | |
| 1:12:38 | Bullying statistics | National surveys put self-reported bullying at about one in four to one in five students; in state data “3% of students report bullying and 2% of the students are actual bullying”. At the middle school: “20 were reported. And of that 2013 were found to be bullying” [20 reported, 13 founded]. Herzog asks for the counts behind the percentages (1:17:01). | |
| 1:22:57 | What counts as bullying | The superintendent offers a pattern-based definition that “doesn't comply with the law” and explains why the New Hampshire definition treats a single incident as enough. Sprague emphasizes intent. Buckland: pattern, intent and power are what “almost every state across the country incorporates those into their definition except New Hampshire”. | |
| 1:31:41 | Discipline and reporting protocol | Restorative approach; the handbook's bullying section is signed off by parents. Zullo: “How many parents do you think actually read the student handbook?” Buckland walks through her intake flowchart and form. | |
| 1:41:05 | Investigation timeline | Herzog asks whether starting within five days is standard. Buckland: “So in New Hampshire, the law and this district's policy is 21 days to do an investigation.” Pierce repeats “the law states 21 days”. Parents of both students are called the same day and sent a letter (1:43:29). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:46:12 | Consistency across schools | Pierce asks whether the schools handle bullying the same way. The superintendent: “I read every bullying report that is written and I sign it and we keep a log.” He adds “The board are currently reviewing that policy.” | |
| 1:50:49 | Prevention and next steps | Advisory groups and the Overcoming Obstacles curriculum; a parent forum planned for early December; a case study left with members; a request that the board review the bullying policy after all three presentations (1:57:40). Zullo asks the presenters to report what is “not working” in the policy. | |
| 2:07:25 | Broadcast outage | The chair tells viewers that “Comcast cut out again. We are recording.” | |
| 2:08:34 | Budget background: the November 1 memo | The superintendent calls the board's goal “reducing it, 1.2 million below the current budget” and says the administrative team worked on it until 6:00 that evening: “and we are struggling.” He cites the voucher bill: “the voucher Senate bill 193 I sent it to you yesterday.” and “The voucher system passes in the next week.” (SB 193 was not enacted; see the appendix note.) | OBSERVATION |
| 2:12:53 | Budget history | Increases of less than 1%, 1% and then 5.8% when the Stevens renovation bond took effect; “If it had not been a bond, the budget over that same period would have been 1.43% increase.” Last year: “one quarter of 1% increase, a $31 million budget, and the increase was 78,000.” He argues taxes “aren't being driven by the school budget”. | |
| 2:18:27 | Special education costs | Special education spending has gone down since a 2016 hire, “Not because the number of children have been decreasing, but because of different strategies.” Out-of-district placement costs were “2.5 million in 2013.” | |
| 2:21:20 | The September 30 directive | “Each school board member in attendance September 30th believe there may be potential savings. We want to understand where you're coming from.” See flag 6 on the September 30 session. | OBSERVATION |
| 2:21:42 | Staffing and administrators | Teacher numbers down over ten years; enrollment about 14 students different from last year. Nathan: the “1.8 FTE” increase is an adult education coordinator and a preschool coordinator, offset by a reduced middle school assistant principal position. | |
| 2:24:12 | Why the restructuring was done | The superintendent recounts a 2011 finding that teachers “weren't being observed, teachers weren't being evaluated”, a February 2013 no-confidence vote against him, and transition problems between schools, as the reasons for today's curriculum and supervision positions: “These positions in place today aren't by coincidence.” | |
| 2:29:43 | Superintendent's appeal | “we're not out of control. We're pretty lean.” and “This isn't a challenge to you, but we're struggling by going toward this directive. We're going to undo what's in place.” | |
| 2:32:43 | Zullo's questions | Zullo asks that staff not hear that “with the school board requesting $1.2 million cuts, you guys should be all afraid of your losing your jobs”. Asked for a target, the superintendent says “a minimal increase of less than less than 1% increase.” She cites proposed lines: software and technology use $60,000, professional development $13,000, business office contracted services 55,000 and business office software 45,000 (2:37:33, 2:38:14). | |
| 2:39:24 | "Out of control" | Zullo objects to the phrase about special education; the superintendent: “That's what the board has said, not me.” Pierce explains her questions about out-of-district costs and a possible partnership with Brattleboro (2:43:03). | |
| 2:41:26 | Administrator count error | Sprague: earlier information showed “five administrators there” at the high school. Nathan: “Yeah, that was incorrect. It was it was a report error.” | |
| 2:44:25 | Requests for data | Herzog and Sprague ask for comparative and outcome data; Chris: out-of-district placements run “about 1.6 1.7%” against a national 3 to 4%. Sprague asks for course failure rates after 2012. | |
| 2:51:32 | How the administration should answer | LeClair asks the board's preferred format. The chair: “answering the list would help. You could have it by section like it is. And if it gets put up on the website, that's great.” LeClair agrees to “just put it out there publicly”. | |
| 2:56:59 | Petrin on efficiencies | “making sure we're not duplicating services”, naming technology staff against outside contracts and the early-childhood model of “three teachers, teaching five half days”. The superintendent replies the program is required for identified children and saves money against outside placement (2:58:20). | |
| 3:06:17 | Results of the restructuring | Sprague: “We have not seen any progressive data showing us that this all these programing, prevention, staffing as yielded a result.” The superintendent points to the curriculum website; Sprague asks what the ninth-grade English failure rate is now. | |
| 3:08:11 | Adjournment; sensory room | Motion to adjourn; Chris thanks Sherwin-Williams for donated painting supplies and a local pizzeria for donated food for the sensory room. Pierce asks whether there is a “Protocol when we get these gifts”. | |