Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Spellings follow the project's 2015-2023 roster where the transcript garbles a name; there are no minutes to check spellings against. Speaker labels come from the dialogue file and its attribution report.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Runs the meeting; adds climate and culture as a future agenda item; asks whether a contrary head-lice policy has civil-rights implications; sets the retreat for Sunday, April 22; collects members' questions for the NHSBA attorney. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Vice chair | Asks to be told when the administration seeks legal advice on a policy the board adopted; asks about diploma tracks; compiles questions for the attorney; adds board-superintendent relations and policy DA to the list. |
| Steven Horsky | Member | Corrects the March 21 minutes by citing recording times; presses the bus-recording policy wording, a hard date for board goals (policy BA) and review of the head-lice policy JLCC. Transcribed "Mr. horsey". |
| Michelle Pierce | Member | Asks about internal hiring, staff turnover, bus vans, board members on search committees and whether families pay when they opt out; moves the seven policies to final read. Transcribed "Michelle Goodman" once. |
| Michael Petrin | Member | Moves the March 21 minutes and the program of studies; asks why minutes are needed when meetings are recorded; asks for a time limit on the attorney's session; moves adjournment. |
| Jason Benware | Member | Seconds the agenda; asks about outsourcing transportation, exit interviews, bus cameras and head-lice data; moves the opt-out policies to final approval; raises cell phones as a future topic. |
| Carolyn Towle | Member | Moves the agenda; asks that action items not arrive the night of the meeting; asks about business and spreadsheet courses; urges focused questions for the attorney. |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Superintendent's report (athletic trainer, transportation audit, searches, joint meeting, seating); explains the ten-day bus-recording issue and the opt-out revisions; cautions members on Right-to-Know and email. |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant superintendent | Explains transportation options, staffing changes and exit surveys; takes the minutes after the clerk leaves; urges use of the strategic action plan at the retreat. |
| Michael (Mike) O'Neill | Business administrator | Answers on bus contractors and cameras; presents the MS-22 report for signature (1:44:52). |
| Patricia (Pat) Barry | Principal, Stevens High School | Explains the 20, 23 and 27-credit diplomas and their link to New Hampshire State Scholars (1:27:03). |
| Hilary Walsh | Teacher, information and communications technology | Introduced by Barry (1:36:08); describes spreadsheet and digital-marketing instruction. Identification rests on Barry's lead-in (medium confidence). |
| Mary Woodman | School district clerk | Calls the roll (0:00:56); leaves early, unwell (0:31:44). |
| Lexi (surname not stated on this recording) | Student representative, Stevens High School | Gives the student report (0:11:02) and comments on the life-skills program and the program of studies. |
| Kelly Fontaine | Citizens' comments, Ward 1 | "Kelly Fontaine, Ward one." (0:45:23); a Stevens life-skills teacher for 29 years; welcomes the new members. |
| Unidentified | Stevens High School health staff member | Called up by the chair as "a practitioner" on opt-out alternatives (2:05:34). |
| Unidentified | Various | 200 of 1,039 dialogue rows (19.2%) are short interjections, votes and crosstalk. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda survives. The list below is reconstructed from the chair's transitions and the floor amendments.
| Taken up | Item | What was said and done |
|---|
| 0:00:10 | Call to order, Pledge, roll call | Roll call by the clerk at 0:00:56. |
| 0:01:06 | Agenda, as amended | Climate and culture added as a future topic; Horsky's items (policy ECAF, policy BA, policy JLCC) added as discussion items. Motion Towle, second Benware; approved by voice vote (0:05:04). |
| 0:05:04 | Minutes of March 21, 2018 | Motion Petrin ("The privilege minutes of March 13th" as transcribed). Horsky identifies missing discussion; new motion Horsky "To accept them, as amended."; approved (0:10:39). |
| 0:10:59 | Student representative's report | Lexi. |
| 0:16:03 | Superintendent's report and questions | Report only. |
| 0:45:10 | Citizens' comments | Kelly Fontaine, Ward 1. Closed at 0:48:01. |
| 0:48:09 | Discussion items | Extended learning opportunities; school board member ethics policy; agenda timing; policy ECAF; policy BA (to the April 18 agenda); head-lice policy JLCC (to the first May meeting); questions for the NHSBA attorney on April 18. No votes. |
| 1:25:47 | 2018-19 program of studies | Motion Petrin, "that we accept the program of studies as. Presented", second unidentified; approved by voice vote (1:38:18). |
| 1:39:02 | Board retreat | Sunday, April 22, 10:00, planned for the Claremont Savings Bank Fitness Center. No vote. |
| 1:44:47 | MS-22 report | Presented by O'Neill and signed at the table (1:48:34). |
| 1:49:49 | Health-education opt-out policies (transcribed "I am", IHAM and a companion policy) | Motion Benware "to move this forward to final approval", second Horsky (2:04:50); approved by voice vote (2:06:28). |
| 2:06:41 | Seven policies, second read | Motion Pierce to move "all seven to third and final read", second Horsky; approved (2:07:29). |
| 2:07:42 | Future agenda items | Cell phones and school climate; board-superintendent relations; policy DA; marketing and school relations. |
| 2:18:35 | Adjournment | Motion Petrin; voice vote. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/9711 SchoolBoard040418.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 |
|---|
| 0:01:06 | Agenda additions | The chair: climate and culture "keeps on never making it to the agenda." Horsky wants policy ECAF added "due to the fact that it is not written as approved by the board on the 21st of March of 2018", a hard date for setting board goals, and the head-lice policy, "one overdue". | |
| 0:05:30 | Correcting the March 21 minutes | Horsky: "That whole part of the discussion is missing". The printed bus policy "doesn't have the 28 day. It has the ten day still there." He gives the recording times: "the discussion started at two hours and 58 minutes and 33 seconds". The minutes are approved as amended. | POS |
| 0:08:17 | The ten-day limit | The superintendent: the RSA speaks of "No more than ten days, so I have an email to legal counsel about that." and "I don't know if the school board. As the authority to supersede the RSA." He "moved forward with the policies as they had been approved." Zullo asks to be told when he seeks such advice. | OBS |
| 0:11:40 | Student report | The senior play sold out three of four shows; the musical, jazz and choral festivals, college decisions, German exchange students, and an elementary assembly. | |
| 0:16:29 | Superintendent's report | An athletic trainer through Valley Regional Hospital "at least three days a week", starting May 1 if all goes as planned; Student Transportation Consulting of New England hired for a transportation review, including a possible consortium; a director of special education search and a middle-school principal search after the principal accepted a Concord position; a joint meeting with the City Council on a communications plan; mixing board and staff seating. | |
| 0:24:04 | Transportation and turnover | O'Neill: the last transportation RFP drew no responses "because there was no companies left in the area". Benware asks for exit-interview data. The superintendent: "approximately 70 personnel changes coming up for next year." LeClair: "Last year we had 100 total staff changes" and turnover is "closer to 25%" against Horsky's estimate of over 40%. | |
| 0:35:33 | Board members on search committees | The superintendent: board members historically have not served. Petrin: "You got to be careful not to represent the school board there." The superintendent cites the NHSBA attorney: "You're only a school board member when you sit here." | |
| 0:45:23 | Citizens' comments | Fontaine: "I've been at Stevens and Life Skills program for 29 years". The superintendent announces the life-skills dog-cookie fundraiser. | |
| 0:48:15 | Extended learning opportunities | "Thus far this year, 64 students have either completed or currently in progress with an extended learning opportunity", 11 more in planning, for "a total of 75 students". | |
| 0:50:05 | Ethics policy and agenda timing | Members accept the 2006 ethics policy as read. Towle: action papers should not arrive the night of the meeting. Horsky: "my understanding is, is that the agenda should be to us seven days prior, and we've been getting it on an average 4 to 5 days prior." The superintendent will send materials the Wednesday before if asked. Petrin: "why, since we're all recorded, why do we? Why do we necessarily need to keep minutes?" Zullo: "I think it's the statute." | MEDIUM |
| 1:01:23 | Policy ECAF, again | The superintendent: "we do not have audio recordings or do we do not have cameras on the busses." O'Neill: a contractor quoted three cameras per bus; Benware hears "5000 per bus". Horsky wants "staff" and "expulsion" added. The superintendent will bring the policy back once he has "clarity regarding the ten days versus 28 days". | OBS |
| 1:07:33 | Board goals and head lice | Horsky proposes a policy deadline "by the end of May the school board has its goals set up"; on the April 18 agenda. The head-lice policy JLCC, "reviewed and implemented in 2000. 13, I believe", goes to the first May meeting with the school nurses. The superintendent: "It's also about the civil rights of students." and "I am not an attorney". | |
| 1:18:26 | Questions for the attorney, by email | The chair asks members to send changes to the question list to him for forwarding. The superintendent warns that a message passed "from one to the other" can be a problem. Zullo: "board members send information for informational purposes only to the chair and I don't respond." and "Then that's not a quorum. That's not a discussion, and we're not making any board decisions." Horsky reports his own counsel's advice. | OBS |
| 1:27:03 | Program of studies | Barry: "Every student in the state of New Hampshire has the minimum 20 credit diploma." The 27-credit diploma is aligned with New Hampshire State Scholars; "42% of last year's graduating class, did graduate with a 27 credit diploma." Approved. | |
| 1:39:02 | Retreat | The chair: "We have to warn it. We have to find a location for it." Set for Sunday, April 22 at 10:00, "at the Claremont Savings Bank Fitness Center across the street", avoiding custodial overtime at a school building. | |
| 1:44:52 | MS-22 | O'Neill: the FY2019 budget "31 for 55 for ten" [as transcribed] "passed 726 to 202"; security upgrades $141,000, "720 to 224"; "school bus replacement 39,000 that passed 620 to 307"; "Roofing improvements D 200,000 that passed 762 to 170". Out-of-district tuition comes to "$2 million". The board signs. | MEDIUM OBS |
| 1:49:49 | Opt-out policies revised | The superintendent's April 4 memo: the elementary abuse-prevention lessons (Care for Kids, We Care) are new this year, "This is not required by law." Elementary and middle-school students who opt out get "an alternative activity"; a high-school student "will complete an extended learning opportunity sufficient to meet state requirements." LeClair cites a health-education requirement at the elementary level as "8306.40" [as transcribed]. Asked about cost: "No payment at all. Michelle." Moved to final approval and approved. | POS |
| 2:08:25 | Future topics | Cell phones and school climate; Zullo adds board-superintendent relations and fiscal management policy DA; Towle, marketing of the schools. The superintendent: "I'm wrapping up my 48th year in public education." | |
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 April 4, 2018, 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 meeting: neither district share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023. The board approved the program of studies and adopted policies on final read at this meeting, and the recording is now the only public account. RSA 91-A:2, II, as in force throughout 2018, 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 not more than 5 business days after the meeting". This page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule because the record mitigates the gap: the board corrects and approves its March 21 minutes on tape (0:05:30, 0:10:39), and when the clerk leaves the assistant superintendent takes over the minutes (0:32:59). The exchange in which a member asked why minutes are needed when meetings are recorded (1:00:53) is answered by the statute itself: the duty to keep minutes does not depend on whether a meeting is televised.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification; the text for all of 2018)
MEDIUM The MS-22 appropriations report was signed 22 days after the March 13 vote
The business administrator presented the MS-22, the report certifying the appropriations the voters approved on March 13, and members signed it at the table (1:44:52, 1:48:34). RSA 21-J:34, II provides that the report certifying "the appropriations voted by the meeting of the appropriate legislative body" for a school district "shall be filed within 20 days of the close of the meeting." For an official-ballot district the meeting closes with the March 13 ballot, so the twentieth day was Monday, April 2, 2018. A report still awaiting board signatures on April 4 cannot have been filed in signed form by then. This is graded MEDIUM rather than HIGH because the filing date itself is not in the record and the Department of Revenue Administration's file would settle it; a two-day lateness on a routine certification also had no evident consequence.
Sources: RSA 21-J:34, II (2017 codification; source note ends 2007, 182:2, eff. April 1, 2007)
OBSERVATION The 28-day bus-recording amendment was held back pending legal advice, and the buses have no cameras
On March 21 the board amended policy ECAF to require "a minimum of a 28 day recording cycle" (show 9682 transcript; see the March 21, 2018 meeting page). Here the superintendent explained that the statute speaks of "No more than ten days", that he had asked legal counsel whether the board could exceed it, and that he had "moved forward with the policies as they had been approved" with the ten-day text in place (0:08:29, 0:08:36, 0:09:22). He also said "we do not have cameras on the busses" (1:01:49). RSA 570-A:2, II(k) allows school-bus audio recording with video only with school board authorization and provides that "In no event, however, shall the recording be retained for longer than 10 school days unless" the recording is relevant to a disciplinary proceeding or a court orders longer retention. The superintendent's caution matches the statute; the member's view that a longer period would be "stricter" (0:08:54) does not, because the statute's limit protects the people recorded. No rule was broken: nothing was recorded, and the printed policy kept the statutory limit. Zullo's request that the board be told when advice is being sought on a policy it has just adopted (0:09:02) is a fair one.
Sources: RSA 570-A:2, II(k) (2017 codification; source note ends 2016, 322:2, eff. Jan. 1, 2017)
OBSERVATION Two readings of the school bus article's vote do not match
At the March 21 meeting the clerk read the bus article as passing "with 620 yes votes and 370 no votes" (show 9682 transcript; see the March 21, 2018 meeting page). Here the business administrator, reading from the MS-22 the board then signed, gives "school bus replacement 39,000 that passed 620 to 307" (1:46:21). One of the two is a misreading or a transcription error; the town clerk's official return would settle which. The roofing article, "762 to 170", appears only in this reading; the March 21 reading said only that the articles "all passed". The difference does not change any outcome.
Sources: Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 4-4
OBSERVATION Gathering members' edits by email through the chair
To finish the list of questions for the NHSBA attorney, the chair asked members to send changes to him so he could forward a final list to the superintendent by Monday (1:23:40, 1:23:51). The superintendent cautioned that a message passed "from one to the other" could be a problem and promised an NHSBA presentation on email (1:22:55, 1:24:04); Zullo's view was that one-way informational messages to the chair, with no reply, are "not a quorum" and "not a discussion" (1:23:26). RSA 91-A:2-a requires the board to deliberate "only in meetings" and provides that communications outside a meeting, "including, but not limited to, sequential communications", "shall not be used to circumvent the spirit and purpose of this chapter". The test is not quorum but deliberation: collecting edits to a list the board had already discussed in public is low-risk, while an exchange of views by email would not be. Nothing on the record shows what the emails contained.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2-a, I and II (2016 codification; source note 2008, 303:4, never amended)
POSITIVE A member checked the minutes against the recording and the board corrected them
Before approving the March 21 minutes, Horsky pointed to the missing policy discussion and gave the board the recording times at which each part of it could be found (0:05:30, 0:07:16); the board then approved the minutes as amended (0:10:37, 0:10:39). RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to give "a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions"; checking the draft against the public recording, and amending it where a decision was not captured, is a practice above the statutory minimum and the reason the March 21 amendment and its later handling can be traced at all.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification)
POSITIVE Opt-out alternatives provided at no cost to families, beyond what the statute requires
On March 21 the administration had proposed that an alternative for an opted-out student be at the parent's expense. The revision adopted here gives elementary and middle-school students an alternative activity and high-school students an extended learning opportunity "sufficient to meet state requirements", and the superintendent confirmed "No payment at all" (1:57:57, 2:01:28, 2:04:24). RSA 186:11, IX-c, in force since September 16, 2017, requires a policy allowing an exception to objectionable course material with "an alternative agreed upon by the school district and the parent, at the parent's expense". The adopted policy meets that requirement and goes beyond it by removing the cost to families, which was the concern members raised on March 21. Statements on the record about what state rules require of elementary health education (1:56:03) are the speakers' characterizations and are not verified here.
Sources: RSA 186:11, IX-c (2017 codification; source note ends 2017, 251:1, eff. Sept. 16, 2017)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/9711 SchoolBoard040418.mp4.CSV (1,039 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9711 SchoolBoard040418.mp4Input/Transcripts/9711 SchoolBoard040418.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 63Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9711 SchoolBoard040418.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, II, 2017 codification (in force Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2018): minutes content and five-business-day inspection
- RSA 91-A:2-a, I and II (2008, 303:4): deliberation only in meetings; no circumvention through outside or sequential communications
- RSA 21-J:34, II, 2017 codification: report certifying appropriations voted, filed within 20 days of the close of the meeting
- RSA 570-A:2, II(k), 2017 codification: school-bus audio recording; ten-school-day retention limit
- RSA 186:11, IX-c, 2017 codification: exception to objectionable course material, alternative at the parent's expense