Participants
Everyone heard or addressed in this recording. There are no minutes to check spellings against; names follow the speakers' own introductions and the project roster, and the participation cell says where a name rests on the roster or another recording.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Brian Rapp | Chair | Presides. Asks the special education staff whether they could live with a reduction (0:23:08) and closes the presentation (0:51:39). |
| Chris Irish | Vice chair | Questions the security grant and the psychologist cost; proposes another meeting and notes the pending nonpublic session (0:53:51). |
| Michelle Pierce | Member | Questions special education staffing, the scheduling committee and online courses. In this file her voice is mostly left unlabeled (Speaker 16); see the footer. |
| Frank Sprague | Member | Speaks to world language enrollments and moves to accept the resignations (0:56:34). |
| Rebecca Zullo | Member | Asks about caseloads and English electives and makes the closing remark (0:56:58). In this file her voice is labeled Michelle Pierce in most rows; see the footer. |
| Michael Petrin | Member | Recognized by the chair (Mike, 0:21:17); asks about the psychologist shift and the English cut. |
| Dr. Alex Herzog | Member | No row in this file is labeled for him; the 9495 transcription gives him only a few single words in this hour. |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Introduces the remaining budget items and the resignations. |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6; district homeless liaison | Speaks to the Disnard position, the System of Care grant, reading interventions, the SAT writing portion and the pending bargaining agreements. |
| Michael O'Neill | Business administrator | Presents the maintenance position, the SRO add-back and the athletic lines. |
| Josh Malloy | Director of instructional technology (title from the project roster) | Gives the security grant amounts. |
| Patricia Barry | Principal, Stevens High School | Speaks to the Stevens teaching positions, AP courses and accreditation. |
| Chris (surname not stated) | SAU 6 special education administrator (title inferred) | Called on for the school psychologist (0:08:00); speaks to staffing, inclusion and paraprofessionals. |
| Ben (surname not stated) | Assistant principal and special education coordinator, Stevens | Describes his own role when asked (0:27:27); speaks to the special education teachers. |
| Melissa Lewis | Principal, Disnard Elementary | Named by the superintendent (0:03:05); speaks to the Disnard position. |
| Charlie Gessner | Stevens world language teacher (surname spelling unverified) | Invited by the superintendent (0:32:22); explains the effect of the A/B schedule on language enrollments. |
| Lexi Grenier | Student representative, Stevens High School | Speaks to language requirements and online courses. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives. This part begins inside the budget item; the remaining business is reconstructed from the chair's transitions.
| Taken up | Item | What was said and done |
|---|
| 0:00:00 | Fiscal year 2019 budget draft (continued) | This part opens mid-item on the school-security grant. The review continues through the remaining lines; asked whether the board should deliberate, the chair answers No. and "Just a presentation." (0:51:39). |
| 0:51:43 | Scheduling a further budget session | Irish proposes meeting the next week; no date is set, and the superintendent offers to call the chair with dates (0:55:32). |
| 0:55:49 | Resignations | The athletic trainer provided under the Valley Regional Hospital contract (first name Ashley; surname transcribed kale) and a speech and language pathologist (transcribed "Karen Corona's"). Sprague: "We accept the two resignations with regret." A second follows. The recording ends during closing remarks and the vote result is not captured. |
| 0:53:51 | Nonpublic session (announced here; held after the recording ends) | Irish says "we still have a nonpublic to go in". The motion, its stated exemption and the session itself are not on the recording. See flag 2. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/9497 SchoolBoard120617.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 |
|---|
| 0:00:43 | Security grant amounts | "683,000 from the state, 819,000 from feds and 195 local". Irish: "technology will not make them safer". | |
| 0:01:49 | Unfilled maintenance position | O'Neill recommends restoring the position, vacant "since July 1st"; without it overtime rises, and the accreditation review "it's all based on the staffing of the custodial and maintenance staff". | |
| 0:03:05 | Disnard elementary teacher | Melissa Lewis: one grade could go from three sections to two, covered "through attrition"; the first grade has 36 children in two rooms (0:06:00). LeClair: the position is added back for a likely need at Bluff (0:04:12). | |
| 0:06:42 | System of Care grant limits | LeClair: the grant funds a coordinator, a part-time assistant, a social worker "to focus on a caseload of 8 to 10 kids" and contracted services; it cannot pay a teacher. | |
| 0:08:00 | School psychologist | Chris (special education): losing one of three psychologists would mean pulling them off student assistance teams to protect "compliance, timelines, testing, writing reports". Part of the saving shifts to contracted services (0:09:43). The superintendent: "I have never experienced the intensity and frequency of little boys and girls behavioral issues". Irish puts one psychologist's package at $106,000 (0:14:41). | |
| 0:15:45 | Two special education teachers at Stevens | Ben (Stevens assistant principal and special education coordinator): "our obligation is to provide a free and appropriate public education by law to kids with disabilities". Stevens has seven case managers (0:17:44). Chris: state data show inclusion at the high school "significantly below where the rest of the state is". | OBS |
| 0:23:08 | Can the cut be absorbed? | Ben: "I think we can get by and continue to provide a free and appropriate public education. If we reduced by one." Chris: "It is absolutely going to have an impact on kids." and "We could live with one." He would move a position to the early elementary grades (0:24:22). | OBS |
| 0:27:49 | Three Stevens teaching positions | The superintendent sent a saturation study; the list shows three positions and the administration recommends two. Barry names English, foreign language, and a vacant social studies special education position (0:31:32). Superintendent: "we're taking away one of our three foreign language programs". | |
| 0:32:02 | World language enrollments | Sprague: the A/B schedule left "some artificially low enrollment". Charlie Gessner (world language; spelling unverified): under A/B "they couldn't take two levels of language in the same year". The student representative notes the three-year language expectation for New Hampshire Scholars (0:35:21). | |
| 0:36:09 | English position, reading intervention, AP | Barry: English has the lowest class sizes and the least impact (0:36:19). LeClair (labeled Christine in this file; Cory LeClair in the 9495 transcription): special educators deliver the Read 180 and System 44 interventions, so cutting both hits the same students. Barry: English electives are nearly gone (0:39:11), and two AP English courses may not survive (0:40:48). Enrollment is transcribed "We were at 575 when I came on were at 346 now.", which conflicts with her statement that it "only swayed about 35 students" and with her figure of 546 earlier in the evening. | |
| 0:44:05 | School profile and accreditation | Barry: cutting AP offerings changes the school profile that colleges and rankings read, and the substantive change policy "requires us to report, to ask when we reduce certain kinds of programing, student services, staffing", which may lead the accrediting body to revisit Stevens' accreditation (0:45:17). | |
| 0:45:49 | Paraprofessionals not tied to IEPs | Chris: a review of every paraprofessional found "we have four that I've identified that aren't specifically tied to" an IEP. | OBS |
| 0:46:55 | SRO line added back | O'Neill explains the $42,800 school resource officer add-back: "I just didn't I didn't put the budget in that line"; "it was never in the budget". LeClair: "Mike forgot to put it in this version." | OBS |
| 0:48:20 | Field preparation, police, referees, athletic transport | O'Neill would cut $10,000 from each of the field preparation and police and referee lines without affecting spending, and consolidates athletic transport wages into one line, a $47,000 increase (0:49:34). | |
| 0:49:48 | SAT writing portion; ESL curriculum | LeClair: the state pays for SAT math and reading; the optional writing portion costs "about $1,200"; the ESL curriculum line would drop to $300 from $800 (0:50:27). | |
| 0:51:32 | Presentation only | Pierce asks whether the board should deliberate; the chair: "Just a presentation." | |
| 0:51:43 | Next session; pending contracts; nonpublic | Irish wants another meeting the next week. LeClair reminds the board that "there's two, collective bargaining agreements still yet to be finalized and resolved". Irish: "we still have a nonpublic to go in". | OBS |
| 0:55:49 | Resignations; closing remark | Irish asks why a hospital employee's resignation comes to the board; the superintendent cites the partnership with Valley Regional Hospital (0:56:14). Sprague moves acceptance with regret. Zullo (labeled Michelle Pierce in this file; Rebecca Zullo in the 9495 transcription): "$200 a year could make a big difference for people". The recording ends here. | |
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 December 6, 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 for this date: neither district share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023. RSA 91-A:2, II, in the text in force throughout 2017, required minutes including the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions
, open to public inspection within five business days. The recording shows the routine was in place: the superintendent refers to a resignation letter "One of them is in your packet" (0:55:52). At the next meeting the chair took up the December 6 minutes, with an addendum for business after the nonpublic session, and they were approved, so minutes were produced. This page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule: the gap is mitigated, and the statute required inspection, not online posting. What is missing is any public copy now. This recording is part 2 of 2; the first four hours are in part 1, and the whole meeting is in show 9495.
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); December 20, 2017 meeting page
OBSERVATION A nonpublic session followed the recorded meeting; its motion and exemption are not on the recording
Irish says "we still have a nonpublic to go in" (0:53:51), and LeClair then reminds the board that two collective bargaining agreements are unresolved (0:54:18). The recording ends during the resignations item, so the motion to enter nonpublic session, the exemption it cited and the roll call are not recorded. RSA 91-A:3, I(b), as it read in 2017, required that any such motion state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II
and be decided by roll call, and RSA 91-A:3, III required nonpublic minutes and decisions to be disclosed within 72 hours unless sealed by a recorded two-thirds vote. Neither can be checked here. The December 20 recording shows the minutes of this meeting carried an addendum for after the board came back from nonpublic, so something was minuted after the session.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and III (2016 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017); December 20, 2017 meeting page
OBSERVATION Draft budget figures were corrected on the floor
The school resource officer's $42,800 had never been entered in its budget line: "I just didn't I didn't put the budget in that line" (0:47:07). Irish was confused that it seemed to be added back twice (0:47:37); LeClair: "Mike forgot to put it in this version." (0:47:54). Earlier corrections to the reconciliation and the textbook line are in part 1. Corrections at this stage are what the process is for: RSA 32:5, I has the board hold its hearing and, after the conclusion of public testimony
, finalize the budget. No rule is engaged. The point for a reviewer is that the drafts the board had studied did not include every line, so a reduction measured against one document can differ from the same reduction measured against another.
Sources: RSA 32:5, I (2017 codification; source note ends 2014, 190:7)
OBSERVATION Special education reductions were weighed against the free appropriate public education requirement
Ben stated the legal floor: "our obligation is to provide a free and appropriate public education by law to kids with disabilities" (0:16:31). Asked whether one special education teacher could go, he said "I think we can get by" (0:23:20); the special education administrator said "We could live with one." (0:26:44) and warned that a psychologist cut would push the team toward compliance work (0:08:06). Federal law makes a free appropriate public education available to all children with disabilities, and 34 CFR 300.323(c)(2) requires that services be made available in accordance with the child's IEP
. Staff did not say the cuts would breach those duties; they said the margin would be thin. A reviewer weighing the final budget should look at whether the special education reduction was made and how caseloads changed.
Sources: 20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(1)(A) (free appropriate public education); 34 CFR 300.323(c)(2) (2017 annual edition)
POSITIVE Reduction list explained item by item in public
In this part of the review the administrator responsible for each remaining item explained its effect in public: the maintenance position (0:01:57), the Disnard position (0:03:20), the school psychologist (0:08:06), special education teachers (0:16:31), the Stevens teaching positions (0:31:32) and accreditation reporting (0:44:30). RSA 32:5, I requires a public hearing on the budget; it does not require this kind of itemized public explanation before the hearing. The practice exceeded the legal minimum and gave residents the administration's own account of each proposed cut.
Sources: RSA 32:5, I (2017 codification)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: PART 2 OF 2 -- SCHOOL BOARD MEETING OF 12-6 (show 9497; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, the API returned 403 on 2026-10-02)
- Other recordings of the same meeting: show 9495 (full length), show 9496 (part 1 of 2), show 9497 (part 2 of 2)
- 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.
- Related meeting pages: November 29, 2017 (the board's earlier budget questions), December 20, 2017 (the budget vote and approval of these minutes), January 3, 2018 budget hearing
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/9497 SchoolBoard120617.mp4.CSV (457 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9497 SchoolBoard120617.mp4Input/Transcripts/9497 SchoolBoard120617.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 51Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9497 SchoolBoard120617.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; in force for calendar 2017): minutes content and five-business-day inspection
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and III, 2016 codification (source note ends 2016, 30:1): nonpublic motion stating the exemption, roll call, 72-hour disclosure
- RSA 32:5, I, 2017 codification (source note ends 2014, 190:7, eff. Sept. 9, 2014): budget hearing, and finalizing the budget after public testimony
- 20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(1)(A): free appropriate public education for children with disabilities
- 34 CFR 300.323(c)(2), 2017 annual edition (revised as of July 1, 2017): services made available in accordance with the IEP