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 |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Presided. Reported on the interim superintendent search; spoke at length on state education funding and an August 14 funding forum; questioned entrance and exit criteria for the Bridges program; explained the summer permission to hire; undertook to write the cell phone directive. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Vice chair | Arrived late. Asked about staff training and school psychologists for Bridges; corrected a school name in the staff nominations; praised the new SAU 6 website. |
| Jason Benware | Board member | Asked whether Bridges could expand beyond 12 students and where it would be housed; moved to accept the program; seconded the summer hiring permission and adjournment; read a middle-school cell phone procedure aloud. |
| Steven Horsky | Board member | Raised concerns that Bridges served 12 of 19 identified students and might duplicate district psychologists ("double dipping"); moved the Maple Avenue principal, the staff nominations and adjournment; proposed a budget subcommittee and an NHSBA training package; pressed for enforcement of the cell phone policy. |
| Carolyn Towle | Board member | Recommended NHSBA budgeting seminars; asked to revisit the cell phone policy; recounted seniors who did not know the policy. Some of her remarks are assigned on cluster continuity only (see method note). |
| Michael [Petrin] | Board member (identification from roster) | Named at roll as Michael. Patron; no speech attributed. The chair's "Mike and I" on the interim search is taken by the attribution report to mean Petrin; the recording does not settle it. |
| Michelle Pierce | Board member | Named at roll; recognized by the chair at 0:48:53 ("So. Michelle."), but no speech is attributed to her. |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator, SAU 6 (surname from roster) | Introduced Bridges and presented its cost model; read the nomination of the Maple Avenue principal; suggested replaying his earlier CCTV talk on how the tax rate is set. |
| Ben | SAU 6 special education administrator (new role from July 2) | Presented the Bridges program ("when I step into my new role on July 2nd"); said the district's school psychologists are "at capacity". Surname not spoken. The project's backlog report records a Ben Nester approved as SAU 6 special education director on 5/10/18, so this is probably Ben Nester, unconfirmed. |
| Mike Kell | Brattleboro Retreat, Bridges program (spelling uncertain) | Introduced himself as "Mike Cal", a retired administrator; described level two and level three classrooms, screening by a clinical manager, and staffing supplied under contract. |
| Kathleen Bunnell | Nominee, Maple Avenue principal (spelling per dialogue file) | Answered the chair's question: "I already feel like it's our school already." Elected principal. The transcript renders her name "Kathleen Bonnell" and "Miss Pinnell". |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk | Called the roll. |
| Unidentified | Board members and others | Seconds, short acknowledgements and the nomination of the CCTV appointee. 55 of 371 rows (14.8%) are Unidentified. |
| Citizens' comments | None | The chair opened the period at 0:02:07 and closed it at 0:02:19: "Seeing no one." |
| Named, not speaking | Others | Cory LeClair, acting superintendent (transcript Courtney, Corey); Alex Herzog, CTE director, appointed to the CCTV board; Joel Schneider (as transcribed), the former CCTV representative; John Tobin and Tom Connor, presenters on school funding; Steve Marchand, gubernatorial candidate; Gary Merchant, in the audience; Dr. Lisa Kelly, Brattleboro Retreat clinical manager; Dave Cochrane; Middleton [McGoodwin], the departing superintendent. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted in any district share, so this list is reconstructed from the chair's transitions on the recording. A written agenda existed ("We have an agenda in front of us tonight."), with numbered items. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:10 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | See Board composition. |
| 0:01:09 | Agenda | No changes requested; the motion is not captured; an unidentified member seconded (0:01:27); voice vote. |
| 0:01:28 | Approval of minutes of June 20, 2018 | Benware appears to move ("From June 20th."); seconded by an unidentified member; voice vote at 0:01:48. |
| 0:01:48 | Student representatives' report; superintendent's report | Both skipped: "We can skip item three." The acting superintendent had said there would be no report. |
| 0:02:07 | Citizens' comments | No speakers. |
| 0:02:28 | Discussion: interim superintendent search | Brief update; details deferred to the SAU board. |
| 0:03:02 | Discussion: funding presentation | Taken by the chair as an update on school funding and an August 14 forum. Informational. |
| 0:07:28 | Action: Bridges program (Brattleboro Retreat) | Benware moved "that we accept the bridges program as presented to us" at 0:35:06; no second is audible; voice vote at 0:42:19, no count stated and no audible opposition. |
| 0:42:37 | Appointment to CCTV board of directors | Alex Herzog. Nomination by an unidentified member; voice vote at 0:43:39. |
| 0:43:44 | Summer permission to employ | Permission for the acting superintendent to hire over the summer without prior board approval. The motion is not captured; Benware seconded (0:44:57); voice vote. |
| 0:45:08 | Nominations and resignations | Kathleen Bunnell elected Maple Avenue principal: Horsky moved (0:47:34), unidentified second, voice vote. Staff slate: Horsky moved (0:48:14), unidentified second, one school corrected by Zullo, voice vote at 0:49:00. |
| 0:49:10 | Other business | Head lice policy to return as an action item at the second August meeting; board goals and a possible retreat; NHSBA budgeting seminars; a budget subcommittee; cell phone policy directive; SAU 6 website. |
| 1:02:36 | Adjournment | Horsky moved (1:02:38); Benware seconded (1:02:40); voice vote. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological, from the dialogue CSV. Times are the start of the cited exchange, taken from the CSV's own second count. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped cell for the full entry.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:28 | Minutes of June 20 | "Approval of minutes from June 20th, 2018." Seconded; "All those in favor? Aye." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:02:07 | Citizens' comments | "I'll open up citizens comments anyone would like to approach." At 0:02:19: "Seeing no one. I'll close citizens comments." | POSITIVE |
| 0:02:28 | Interim superintendent search | Chair: "Mike and I have been meeting with folks from the Unity board and have interviewed several people and are making progress. More to come at the Saw board meeting." | |
| 0:03:39 | State education funding | Chair on the state's "technically contempt of court, shirking their responsibility to provide adequacy aid for towns such as Claremont". At 0:04:14: another presentation "August 14th, probably in Newport". At 0:04:50 he describes meeting gubernatorial candidate Steve Marchand with Benware, adding "I'm not going to endorse or endorse or make any comment about his political platform." At 0:06:02: "talked about going to Concord with pitchforks and torches, and we're pretty much there as a board." | |
| 0:09:30 | Bridges program introduced | O'Neill: worked on "for the better part of 8 or 9 months"; "not only afford it, but it's a money saver"; setup costs helped by "extra grant money that we had from the system grant". | OBSERVATION |
| 0:10:19 | Program goals | Ben: "Allowing us to get this on the agenda on such short notice". At 0:11:04: "we are looking at an out of district placement that is just geographically happens to be located in Claremont". At 0:11:53: "We're looking at no additional cost to the taxpayer." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:12:24 | Brattleboro Retreat presentation | Kell: a level three room for students "who have a higher acuity level" (0:14:28), and a level two "step up, step down program" with assessment over "45 to 90 days" (0:16:42). | |
| 0:17:53 | Can it expand? | Benware: "So 12 kids? Yes. Is this just a pilot numbers?" O'Neill at 0:18:53: "I think 12 is aggressive to start out in the beginning." Housed in "existing rooms that are in the schools" (0:19:16). | |
| 0:19:30 | Entrance and exit criteria | Sprague asks "who are these kids and and how do they and what are the expectations for them?" Kell at 0:20:38: a clinical manager, "doctor Lisa Kelly, who does the evaluations". | |
| 0:22:09 | Who staffs it | Zullo: "Are these, your guys that you're bringing?" Kell: "the concept of the operation is basically you're contracting with us. We step in with our our staff". At 0:22:43: "But we provide the staffing." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:24:53 | Cost model | O'Neill: level three at "$415 a day"; "six students 177 days, 415 per day is a total of $440,730" in tuition alone (0:25:29); the room "was going to be around $234,000 with operating expenses, we're going to be $240,000" (0:25:51). Level two room 117,635 against 302 670 (0:27:10): "a program that could possibly avoid costs of $385,000." He calls it cost avoidance "because I'm really not saving money unless I budgeted it" (0:26:14). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:28:25 | How many students need it? | Horsky: "we're cherry picking six students to come back into this program realistically?" Ben at 0:29:52: the principals and Corey "identified 19 students". Horsky at 0:30:11: "we're kind of double dipping a little bit because as a district we are paying for psychologist". | |
| 0:35:06 | Motion | Benware: "I'm going to move that we accept the bridges program as presented to us." Horsky at 0:35:18: "I have several concerns with it still". Ben at 0:40:29: the district's school psychologists are "at capacity". Horsky at 0:41:48: "We can't just cherry pick." then "So I'm ready to go forward okay." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:42:19 | Vote | "Any other any other comments? All those in favor are opposed. Nice job guys." No count stated. Chair: "Let's get it done." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:42:37 | CCTV board appointment | "Typically the director of the technical center has been the rep on the CCTV board of directors." The chair received an email asking to "approve Alex Herzog to be on the board". Voice vote at 0:43:39. | |
| 0:43:44 | Summer permission to hire | Chair: "typically in the summer months, we've have, allowed the superintendent or in this case, the acting superintendent to hire without prior approval of the board." At 0:44:21: "It's customary"; "I'm looking for a motion to grant our, acting superintendent the permission to hire". Benware seconded; "Aye." | MEDIUM |
| 0:45:14 | Maple Avenue principal | O'Neill reads the acting superintendent's email: Bunnell "was unanimous selection of the search committee, which was comprised of both staff and parents"; "She is my nomination". Chair at 0:46:48: "So what are you going to do first when you get to Maple Avenue?" Motion by Horsky, "All those in favor? Aye. Congratulations." | POSITIVE |
| 0:48:14 | Staff nominations | Horsky moves "the nomination of Bethany Almond, Laura LaBrie, Karen McGehee, Patricia Murray, Abigail Coles, Richard that, Elaine Rickard and Caitlin Wallace" (names as transcribed). Zullo at 0:48:45: "I think it's Dessner, not Maple." Voice vote at 0:49:00. | POSITIVE |
| 0:49:10 | Head lice policy | Horsky: "I would like to meet with the nurses." Chair at 0:50:07: "make that an action item for the second meeting in August." | |
| 0:50:14 | Board goals and budget | Chair wants "a consensus from the board on what we're going to be looking to do with the budget this year" (0:51:05). Towle at 0:51:36: "a basics for school district budgeting, seminar on September 11th". | |
| 0:52:25 | Training and tax rate | Horsky on NHSBA "group packages". O'Neill at 0:53:22: "I did a CCTV 40 minute discussion in this room that was taped" on how the tax rate is set. Horsky at 0:54:04: create a budget subcommittee "comprised of three people". | |
| 0:54:38 | Cell phone policy | Towle: "revisit the cell phone policy also." Horsky at 0:55:55: "Our job is to make the policies". Chair at 0:58:06: "I'm going to write up something and I'll send it along to Corey to forward to the to the principal's." Towle at 1:01:10: at the senior luncheon "each one of them didn't know what the policy really was." | |
| 1:02:13 | SAU 6 website | Zullo: "I was checking out the C six website." (SAU 6.) | |
| 1:02:38 | Adjournment | Horsky: "To make a motion to adjourn this meeting." Benware: "I want to second." | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on July 18, 2018, 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.
MEDIUM The board let the acting superintendent hire over the summer "without prior approval of the board"
The chair described the practice as customary: "typically in the summer months, we've have, allowed the superintendent or in this case, the acting superintendent to hire without prior approval of the board", and asked for "a motion to grant our, acting superintendent the permission to hire" (0:43:44, 0:44:21). Benware seconded and the board agreed by voice (0:44:57). RSA 189:39, unamended since 1971, divides the work: "Superintendents shall nominate and school boards elect all teachers". A standing delegation of hiring to the superintendent, if it extends to teachers, sits uneasily with the board's duty to elect. The chair's reason is practical (candidates lost to other districts while waiting), and the same meeting shows the board electing a principal and a staff slate itself; the recording does not show whether summer hires were brought back for election afterward. Graded MEDIUM as a probable process gap, not a finding.
Sources: RSA 189:39 (superintendents nominate, school boards elect all teachers; source note ends 1971, 371:2).
OBSERVATION A contracted program costing roughly $357,000 a year on the administration's figures was accepted "as presented", with no amount in the motion and no second audible
The administration's handout priced the level three room at about $240,000 with operating expenses and the level two room at $117,635 (0:25:51, 0:27:10), staffed by the contractor ("we provide the staffing", 0:22:43), against avoided tuition of about $385,000. The program came to the board on "such short notice" (0:10:19). The motion was "that we accept the bridges program as presented to us" (0:35:06); it names no contract, no amount and no budget line, no second is audible, and the vote was by voice with no count (0:42:19). One member said he still had "several concerns" before voting (0:35:18). No contract document is in any public share. No statute verified for this page requires a school board contract of this kind to be bid or its amount stated in the motion, so this is an observation about the record: a reader cannot tell from it what was bought, from whom, for how much, or out of which appropriation.
Sources: the recording at the times cited; Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 75 (no Drive material).
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes are online; attendance is only partly established
MAP.md section 75 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 by itself evidence that records were never made: this meeting approved the June 20 minutes (0:01:28), so minutes were being kept. RSA 91-A:2, II as it read in 2018 required minutes naming members and "persons appearing before the public bodies", open to inspection "not more than 5 business days after the meeting". The roll survives only as a string of names (0:00:56), so which members answered cannot be told, and Zullo arrived late. The requirement to name each motion's mover and seconder did not yet apply: it was added by 2018, 244:1, effective January 1, 2019. The project's missing-records rule is applied on its online-availability limb.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification, in force throughout 2018): minutes content and availability.
POSITIVE The board elected the new principal and the staff slate itself, in public, with the nominee present to take questions
The acting superintendent's nomination of Kathleen Bunnell was read into the record with the search committee's makeup ("comprised of both staff and parents"), the nominee answered the chair's question, and the board voted (0:45:14, 0:46:48, 0:47:34). The staff slate was moved by name and a member caught an error in one assignment before the vote (0:48:14, 0:48:45). That is the nominate-and-elect sequence RSA 189:39 prescribes, carried out on camera.
Sources: RSA 189:39 (superintendents nominate, school boards elect).
POSITIVE A citizens' comment period was offered although no statute then required one
The chair opened citizens' comments early in the meeting and closed them only after "Seeing no one" (0:02:07, 0:02:19). The statutory duty for school boards to allow public comment, RSA 189:74, dates only from 2022 (2022, 333:1, effective September 6, 2022), so in 2018 the period was a practice beyond the legal minimum.
Sources: RSA 189:74 (public comment at school board meetings), in force only from September 6, 2022, per the project's verified anchor catalog; current text.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 9907, "SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 7-18": 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, checked 9/26/26). No agenda, packet, Bridges handout or minutes for this meeting were located.
- Related meetings in the corpus (pages named by recording): Claremont School Board, June 20, 2018 (show 9850; the minutes approved here); SAU 6 Board, July 12 and July 26, 2018 (shows 9906 and 9928; the interim superintendent search).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/9907 SchoolBoard071818.mp4.CSV (371 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9907 SchoolBoard071818.mp4Input/Transcripts/9907 SchoolBoard071818.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9907 SchoolBoard071818.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 75
Laws and rules cited on this page
- New Hampshire statutes, as in force on July 18, 2018. RSA 189:39 (election of teachers; unamended since 1971). RSA 91-A:2, II (notice and minutes; 2017 codification, in force for all of 2018). RSA 189:74 (public comment; not in force until September 6, 2022, cited only to show it did not apply).