Claremont School Board, May 2, 2018

Regular meeting of the Claremont School Board, reconstructed from the attributed dialogue transcript of the CCTV recording, which begins partway through the superintendent's report; no agenda or minutes were available. Timestamps link to the same moment in the Cablecast recording.

Body
Claremont School Board (seven members); Vice Chair Rebecca Zullo presiding
Date
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Start time
Not stated in available records. The recording opens mid-sentence in the superintendent's report, so the call to order, roll call and opening business are not on it. The vice chair closes the business at 1:30:54; no adjournment motion is recorded.
Location
Not stated in available records.
Recording
Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD 5-2 (dialogue runs to 1:33:50 by the last CSV row; the Cablecast API refused requests from the build environment). Begins after the meeting started; ends with the vice chair's closing remarks.
Minutes
None located. The district's public Drive shares hold nothing older than July 2022 (MAP.md, checked 9/26/26).
Attendance
No roll call survives. Six members speak: Zullo, Benware, Horsky, Towle, Pierce and Petrin. Chair Frank Sprague has no speaking turn; the superintendent refers to reporting to “the chair Frank Sprague” (1:31:58), consistent with his absence.

Participants

Participants as heard on the recording. Names follow the dialogue file's attribution and the project roster; no minutes were available to confirm spellings or attendance.
Name Role Participation
Rebecca Zullo Vice Chair; presiding Explained new citizens'-comment rules from the board retreat (0:10:48), ran the head lice discussion and invited the audience to weigh in (0:52:35), closed the business (1:30:54).
Frank Sprague Chair No speaking turn; apparently absent (see Attendance).
Steven Horsky Member (read as “Stephen Horsey”) Proposed a no-nit head lice procedure (0:13:50) and argued for it (0:48:24).
Jason Benware Member (“Jason, Ben. Where”) Read the proposed procedure aloud (0:15:13); asked how long a student could be kept out (0:25:51) and for case data (0:40:19); moved to accept the $1,000 grant (1:30:37).
Carolyn Towle Member (“Carolyn tol”) Proposed recognizing Valley Regional Hospital (0:08:05); seconded the head lice motion per Benware (1:14:42); asked to bring students before the board (1:31:12).
Michelle Pierce Member Kept time with the new yellow and red cards (0:11:12); spoke to the cost of treatment for families (0:27:52). Medium-confidence attribution.
Michael Petrin Member (“Michael patron”) Raised family costs (0:26:53); moved to open the head lice policy for revision (1:14:09).
Middleton McGoodwin Superintendent, SAU 6 Superintendent's report; explained the 2013 head lice protocol and opposed a no-nit policy (0:37:07); reported the climate survey (1:15:14).
Michael O'Neill Business Administrator, SAU 6 Presented the FY18 expenditure and revenue report (1:18:55).
Unidentified administrator SAU 6 administrator (identity not on the record) Said an inquiry was out to the state on whether homeless students could be excluded under a no-nit policy (1:10:06).
Unidentified student Spoke “as a student” during board discussion Recalled school lice checks in elementary school (0:41:15).
Emily Citizens' comment, Ward 2 (first name only, as given) Described class-wide screening from her own school years and asked about sources and nurses' role (0:52:58).
Don Churchill Citizens' comment, Ward 2 Supported changing the policy and notifying parents of outbreaks (0:56:23, 1:00:00).
Mimi Ryan Citizens' comment (ward rendered “For two”) Opposed keeping children out of school (1:00:39).
Unidentified commenter Citizens' comment, Ward 2 (name garbled in the transcript) Urged a policy focused on stopping transmission (1:02:13).

Order of business (reconstructed)

No agenda was available. The superintendent refers to one (“Tonight in the agenda, school board policy, subcommittee meeting dates”, 1:13:07) and to the packet (0:39:37), and the opening of the meeting is not on the recording, so this list is reconstructed from the presiding officer's transitions.

Order of business reconstructed from the vice chair's transitions
Taken up Item What happened
0:00:09 Superintendent's report (already under way) Stevens attendance, an athletic trainer through Valley Regional Hospital, SB 193, a May 9 talk on the Claremont school-funding litigation, School Nurse Appreciation Day.
0:09:59 Citizens' comments New rules announced (0:10:48); no one came forward (0:12:24).
0:13:35 Discussion: head lice policy and protocol Motion by Petrin to open the policy for revision (1:14:09); second by Towle as restated by Benware (1:14:42). Vote: All in favor. I opposed. Okay. The result is not announced; no opposition is audible.
1:15:11 Climate and culture survey information Update only.
1:18:47 Review of FY18 expenditures and revenue Report by the business administrator; no action.
1:29:23 Policy subcommittee; $1,000 grant for field trips Subcommittee process described. Benware: “I move that we request where we accept the grant.” No second or tally is audible; the vice chair calls Opposed.
1:30:54 Close of business; board member items Towle raises student input; no adjournment motion is recorded.

Discussion timeline

Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/9764 SchoolBoard050218.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording. Quotations are the transcript's words; bracketed text is an editorial insertion.

Discussion timeline
Time Topic What was said Flags
0:00:09 Attendance at Stevens Recording begins mid-report: “In approximately 94%.” “A remarkable change from six years ago”. MEDIUM
0:00:38 Athletic trainer A Valley Regional Hospital athletic trainer joins the staff; “compensation for the performance of this services by the Valley Regional Hospital athletic trainer will be $27,000”.
0:03:36 SB 193 Education savings accounts bill “was sent to interim study in the House by a vote of 170 259”. A 170-259 tally could not have carried the referral, so the figure is probably fused digits; the House journal was not checked. He warns it could return (0:04:43).
0:05:08 Claremont litigation talk Former Justice John Lewis to speak in Durham on May 9 on school funding and “the Claremont Litigation”; Towle may carpool board members.
0:06:43 School nurses May 9 is School Nurse Appreciation Day; thanks to the district's nurses.
0:08:05 Recognizing Valley Regional Towle: “I think there should be a plaque or a letter from the school board.”
0:10:48 Citizens' comment rules From the retreat: “You will have three minutes to speak.” Yellow and red cards; “we will not respond to the questions or comments. Our job is to listen.” No speakers. POSITIVE
0:13:35 Head lice: the proposal Horsky's no-nit procedure, read by Benware: “three temporary dismissal from school until all lice and eggs are removed”.
0:19:19 First reactions Benware: lice are “a infestation”, not a disease; Towle concerned about reinfection (0:21:01).
0:22:57 Aims and costs Horsky: “My goal is not to be having children kicked out of school.” Benware: treatment runs “Well into the hundreds of dollars”; how long can a child be kept out (0:25:51)? Petrin on family costs (0:26:53).
0:33:44 Current protocol Superintendent: the policy “has been in place since 2013”; the district does not send children home and follows the American Academy of Pediatrics (0:34:49). He opposes a no-nit policy but tells members “you have the right to change this policy”.
0:38:51 History Horsky asks about past practice; superintendent: there was “an inconsistent protocol”, not a no-nit policy.
0:40:19 Data Benware asks for case counts by year (0:40:19); the superintendent has none and repeats the research finding (0:40:44).
0:43:39 Notifying parents Benware suggests periodic robocalls; Zullo says nurses' newsletters carry lice information (0:44:57).
0:48:24 School's role Horsky: “the role of a school is to educate”; Petrin argues the flip side (0:49:32).
0:52:35 Audience invited in Zullo: “I would really like, the audience people to, way in on this at this point.” POSITIVE
0:52:58 Public: Emily, Ward 2 Recalls whole-class screening; asks whether the research is public. Superintendent: the material went to all parents and the media (0:53:34); nurses will not treat a child without the parent being aware (0:54:16).
0:56:23 Public: Don Churchill, Ward 2 “I like probably 95% of the policy.” Wants outbreak notices to parents.
1:00:32 Public: Mimi Ryan “I think keeping the kids out of school is not the correct solution.”
1:01:51 Public: Ward 2 commenter “So therefore the focus has to be on stopping the transmission.”
1:06:04 How to proceed Horsky offers to bring an amendment to first read (1:06:44); Benware wants baseline data (1:08:04); Towle wants numbers by school (1:09:19).
1:10:06 Homeless students An administrator has asked the state whether a no-nit exclusion could lawfully apply to homeless students: “is federal Trumps local?”
1:11:31 Middle ground Petrin supports changes but “I would not support a no new policy” [no-nit policy]; Benware favors a provision for documented chronic cases (1:12:13).
1:13:07 Privacy and the subcommittee Superintendent cites “the hippo laws, which which prevent public bodies from having access to information about students”; names the policy subcommittee volunteers (1:13:07). MEDIUM OBSERVATION
1:14:09 Motion Petrin moves to open the policy; Benware restates it: “the motion to potentially look at amending this policy”; Zullo: Not potentially. Second Towle; voice vote (1:14:50).
1:15:11 Climate survey All staff received a survey; “The results are going to be summarized by an external evaluator at Antioch University”. Parents to follow, by school.
1:16:55 Retreat follow-up Superintendent refers to “the minutes of your April 22nd meeting”; Zullo: surveys of the board and of administrators were also discussed (1:17:48).
1:18:47 FY18 expenditures “review of the 518 expenditures in revenue” [FY18]. O'Neill's new report by object code; health insurance budget “about $4 million”.
1:25:20 Projected balance Superintendent: “Looking at this $954,000 as of today.” O'Neill expects about $500,000 at year end (1:25:54), much of it in health insurance: “we see $305,000 on health insurance after the budget was finalized”.
1:29:23 Subcommittee process; grant Superintendent: “we as a subcommittee would sit down at a predetermined time, date and time and go through those together”. He then asks approval of “the $1,000 grant to be used for the field trips”; Benware moves to accept (1:30:37). MEDIUM OBSERVATION
1:31:12 Student voices Towle asks that students be invited to tell the board what should change; superintendent will work it into an agenda with the chair (1:31:58) and notes the senior luncheon, tentatively May 16 (1:32:47).
1:33:24 Close Zullo thanks members for “shuffling me through this meeting”. No adjournment motion on the recording. MEDIUM

Items flagged for review

These flags are a reviewer's aid, not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each rests on the rule it cites, read as it stood on the meeting date; where no rule is confirmed the item is an Observation.

MEDIUM No agenda or minutes are available, and the recording omits the opening and close of the meeting

The recording starts mid-sentence in the superintendent's report (0:00:09) and ends with the vice chair's closing remarks (1:33:48), so the call to order, the roll call, any approval of the agenda and prior minutes, and the adjournment are not on it. No agenda or minutes survive in the district's public shares, which do not reach back before July 2022. Without them a reader cannot learn who attended, whether the head lice motion carried (the vice chair's call at 1:14:50 announces no result), or whether the grant vote at 1:30:37 had a second.

RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification, the text for all of 2018) requires minutes with the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the business, open to inspection within 5 business days.

Severity limb: MEDIUM. The record mitigates the gap: an agenda existed (1:13:07) and the board's minutes of its own April 22 meeting are cited on tape (1:16:55), so the board was producing minutes; what is missing is a public copy of these.

Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification; minutes within 5 business days)

MEDIUM Policy subcommittee organized on the premise that three members need no public notice

Tonight's agenda carried “school board policy, subcommittee meeting dates”, with Benware, Zullo and Horsky as volunteers (1:13:07), and the superintendent described the working method: “we as a subcommittee would sit down at a predetermined time, date and time and go through those together” (1:29:23). When the subcommittee was proposed on April 18, the superintendent said on that recording (show 9740, about two hours and 46 minutes in) that it Can't be more than three unless we warn the meeting, treating notice as needed only for a quorum of the board (see the April 18, 2018 page).

RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) makes any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof of a school board a public body in its own right, so its meetings carry RSA 91-A:2, II's notice and minutes duties whatever its size. Nothing on this recording shows notice being planned. MEDIUM, not HIGH: the subcommittee had not yet met, and whether its later meetings were noticed and minuted is not established here.

Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (subcommittees are public bodies; text unchanged since 2008, 354:1); RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification; notice and minutes)

OBSERVATION A $1,000 grant accepted with no agenda or minutes to show the required notice

The superintendent asked approval of “the $1,000 grant to be used for the field trips” and Benware moved to accept it (1:30:37). Under RSA 198:20-b (2017 codification), a board may accept unanticipated money only where the district has adopted the enabling article (¶I); for amounts under $5,000 it shall post notice of the funds in the agenda and shall include notice in the minutes (¶III(b)). The agenda and minutes are not available, the grant's source is not named on the recording, and the enabling article is not in this record, so compliance cannot be tested. The acceptance itself took place in public session.

Sources: RSA 198:20-b, I and III(b) (2017 codification; source ends 2005, 188:1)

POSITIVE Public comment structured and the audience invited into the board's own discussion

The vice chair announced time limits and a no-debate rule adopted at the retreat (0:10:48, 0:12:01) and, when no one spoke at the comment period, invited the audience to speak during the head lice discussion itself (0:52:35); four members of the public did (0:52:58 to 1:05:48). The superintendent confirmed this is the chair's prerogative (0:33:18). The statute that now requires a comment period at school board meetings, RSA 189:74, dates from 2022 (2022, 333:1, effective September 6, 2022).

Sources: RSA 189:74 (public comment; 2022, 333:1; not in force in 2018)

OBSERVATION HIPAA cited as the barrier to student lice data; HIPAA's privacy rule excludes education records

Members asked for counts of cases by school and year (0:40:19, 1:09:19). The superintendent answered that “the hippo laws, which which prevent public bodies from having access to information about students” make that a challenge. The federal privacy rule's definition of protected health information excludes individually identifiable health information In education records covered by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, so student health information held by the district is governed by FERPA, not HIPAA. Whether aggregate counts could be shared under FERPA is not decided on this page; the point is that the statute named on the record is the wrong one.

Sources: 45 CFR 160.103, “protected health information” (2)(i) (2017 CFR edition)

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.

Laws and rules cited on this page