Participants
Everyone heard or addressed on the recording. Names follow the speakers' own introductions, how members address each other, and the project's 2015-2023 roster and attribution report; there are no minutes to check spellings against.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Calls the meeting to order (0:00:06); asks permission to write an op-ed "in my capacity as the board chair" (0:32:15); reminds members not to comment as a quorum on social media (1:03:48); questions the alternative-program contract wording (1:59:58); abstains on the alternative-program amendment (2:07:40); calls for the nonpublic motion (2:32:44). |
| Rebecca Zullo | Vice chair | Asks for an e-mail to parents on lunch forms (0:16:30); asks whether in-district mental health staff have been priced (0:42:36); on the CTE deferral, hopes "decisions won't be made unilaterally by one person" (0:52:11); asks about resignations (1:07:03); opposes the syringe program beside a school (1:23:12); asks about music as a motivator in the alternative program (1:49:50). |
| Jason Benware | Member | Seconds the agenda (0:03:00); questions the lunch program's funding (0:12:22); reports on the Newport funding forum and Deerfield's income figures (0:25:31, 0:26:35); "It's the lesser of two evils as far as I'm concerned." on the syringe program (1:16:52) and suggests after-school hours (1:27:45); moves the nominations and the elementary handbook (1:09:38, 2:13:00); seconds the alternative-program amendment (2:05:04). |
| Steven Horsky | Member | Moves to pull policy item G1 to September 5 (0:01:16), to approve the agenda and minutes (0:02:57, 0:03:24); reads the nominations motion (1:10:15); "I strongly oppose it in general." on the syringe program (1:17:16); moves the phone amendments to both handbooks (2:04:37, 2:09:54) and the NHSBA subscription (2:27:00); seconds the nonpublic motion (2:32:59). |
| Carolyn Towle | Member | Reports on the Newport forum's questions for candidates (0:23:30); asks how families learn of the lunch program (0:13:40); backs strict phone rules (1:47:52); takes the Professional Growth Committee (2:21:08, 2:23:15); seconds the NHSBA motion (2:27:10). |
| Michael Petrin | Member | Announces the board's Facebook page, which he will post to (1:05:02); asks whether the syringe program could be approved short term (1:30:33) and moves to table it (1:31:31); moves and withdraws the alternative-program handbook motion (1:41:27, 2:03:03); spots an outdated name in the Stevens handbook (2:11:04); takes the MTSS leadership team (2:22:59); asks whether NHSBA dues are separate (2:27:15). |
| Michelle Pierce | Member | The roll call as transcribed includes "Michelle." followed by Here. (0:00:53, 0:00:56); no row is attributed to her and she is not addressed. Attendance unconfirmed. |
| Keith Pfeifer | Interim Superintendent, SAU 6 | Introduced by LeClair; "He started with us on Monday." (0:03:51). Reports 41 open positions (0:04:44) and the Newport forum (0:05:25); corrects the nominations procedure (1:09:43); urges quick action on handbooks (2:02:16) and NHSBA membership (2:29:58). |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Adds the nonpublic item (0:02:00); reports on phones and the Bluff lunch program (0:08:45, 0:09:48); on the Bridges contract (0:38:24); presents nominations (1:05:51), the syringe-program request (1:12:03) and committee assignments (2:14:04); "I cannot find a policy that deals with cell phones." (2:05:09). |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator, SAU 6 | Explains the lunch program's federal reimbursement (0:12:28, 0:13:14) and the Brattleboro Retreat pricing (0:37:39); estimates NHSBA dues at "About $3,420, I think." (2:27:35). Surname from the project roster (spelling unverified). |
| Unidentified | Administrator presenting the Bridges program update | Reports that Brattleboro Retreat's contract costs "had gone up significantly" (0:36:23) and recommends other out-of-district contracts (0:36:59). Not named on the recording. |
| Alex Herzog | Director, Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center | "I'm Doctor Alex Herzog. I am the director of the technical center" (0:46:29). Explains the two-year deferral of the CTE renovation and its costs (0:48:34 to 0:50:49) and the Perkins grant cut (0:52:53). |
| Stevens High School principal (named Patricia Barry by role) | Principal, Stevens High School | Presents the alternative-program and Stevens handbooks (1:32:54, 2:07:57); offers to replace handbook phone rules with a reference to board policy (2:03:07). Not named on the recording; the attribution report names her by role from the project roster, at low-to-medium confidence. |
| Melissa Lewis | Principal, Disnard Elementary School | Addressed by Horsky as "Miss Lewis, who is the principal" (1:17:16). On the syringe program: "you're the policy setters, and I'm going to enforce whatever policy you all set" (1:29:48). Presents the elementary handbook (2:12:06). |
| Ashley Greenfield | Greater Sullivan County Public Health Network | "My name is Ashley Greenfield." (1:13:25). Describes the syringe service program proposed for the Valley Regional urgent care center (1:15:10). |
| Laura Byrne (spelling unverified) | HIV Resource Center, Lebanon | "I am Laura Byrne from the HIV Resource Center in Lebanon" (1:18:09); describes the White River and Springfield exchanges and the proposed schedule, "2 or 3 hours once a week" (1:27:27). |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk (recording secretary) | Asks members to vote aloud (2:07:29, 2:07:36); calls the nonpublic roll (2:34:01). |
| John Cloutier | State Representative, Ward 1 | Recognized as "Representative Claudia" (0:29:21); comments on the Newport forum (0:29:29) and on state CTE renovation funding through the capital budget (0:59:17). |
| Susan Mason | Citizens' comments (Winter Street) | "My name is Susan Mason. I live at Winter Street in Claremont." (0:17:10). Asks that the head lice policy draft be made available to the public, and warns that e-mail notices miss families without internet (0:17:28, 0:21:21). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
The board had a lettered agenda and packet ("We have an agenda in front of us tonight", 0:01:03; "in your packets", 0:46:07), but neither survives in the district's shares. Items and their letters are reconstructed from the chair's transitions.
| Taken up | Item | What was said and done |
|---|
| 0:00:06 | Call to order, Pledge, roll call | "Like to call tonight's school board meeting. Claremont school board to order." The roll call (0:00:41) is garbled in the transcript. |
| 0:01:03 | Agenda amendments | Horsky moves policy item G1 to September 5 because the policy subcommittee has not met (0:01:16); LeClair adds a nonpublic session "per RSA 1A32J" [91-A:3, II(j)] and a superintendent's report (0:02:00, 0:02:40). Approved as amended on Horsky's motion, Benware second, voice vote (0:02:57, 0:03:00). |
| 0:03:18 | Minutes of July 18, 2018 | Horsky moves approval (0:03:24); a second is heard in a row labeled for the chair (0:03:27); voice vote (0:03:36). |
| 0:03:51 | Superintendent's report | Pfeifer's short-term goals and staffing (0:04:14, 0:04:44); LeClair on phones and the Bluff lunch program (0:08:45, 0:09:48). |
| 0:16:52 | Citizens' comments | Susan Mason (0:17:10). Closed at 0:22:22. |
| 0:22:22 | Discussion A: follow-up on the school funding presentation | Reports from Towle, Benware, Horsky and Representative Cloutier; the chair is given consent, without a vote, to write an op-ed as chair (0:32:15, 0:32:56). |
| 0:36:14 | Discussion B: Bridges program (out-of-district model housed in district) | Not pursued for 2018-19 because of cost (0:36:23, 0:37:56). No vote. |
| 0:46:03 | Discussion: schedule for renovation of the CTE center | Herzog explains the two-year deferral (0:49:20). No vote. |
| 1:03:48 | Discussion: social media (chair's item) | Chair's reminder on quorum commenting; Petrin announces the board's Facebook page (1:05:02). |
| 1:05:44 | Action: nominations and resignations | No resignations presented (1:07:51). Benware's first motion to accept is withdrawn after Pfeifer's correction (1:09:43, 1:10:10); Horsky reads the nominees and moves (1:10:15); Benware seconds (1:11:50); voice vote (1:11:52, 1:11:55). |
| 1:12:00 | Action D: needle exchange program, safe school zones | Petrin: "I'll make a motion to table this until, we can have Mr. Wright come and speak to us" (1:31:31); "Abstentions, one abstention." (1:31:41). Tabled. |
| 1:32:32 | Action: Stevens High School alternative program handbook | Petrin's motion to accept "as presented" (1:41:27) is withdrawn (2:03:03). Horsky's motion to delete the teacher-permission phone sentence (2:04:37), Benware second (2:05:04), passes: "Frank abstained. Everyone else is in favor." (2:07:40). No vote adopting the amended handbook is heard. |
| 2:07:52 | Action: Stevens High School student-parent handbook | Horsky moves acceptance with the page 54 superintendent correction and page 40 phone change (2:09:54), adding the outdated name on page 54 (2:11:35); Benware second (2:11:00); voice vote (2:11:41). |
| 2:12:02 | Action: elementary student-parent handbook | Benware moves "Accept the student handbook for the elementary school as it is in front of us." (2:13:00); seconded (2:13:05, 2:13:06); voice vote (2:13:28). |
| 2:13:49 | Committee assignments | Curriculum Council Sprague; MTSS leadership team Petrin; Professional Growth Committee Towle; Community Engagement Leadership Team Horsky (2:23:04 to 2:23:20). By consensus; Benware asks "I don't know if it's a voted thing" (2:23:33). |
| 2:24:24 | Item H: New Hampshire School Boards Association dues | "we're skipping item G going to H". Horsky moves the $350 subscription for a seven-member board (2:27:00); Towle seconds (2:27:10); voice vote (2:31:28). Whether separate dues are owed is left for LeClair to check (2:27:39). |
| 2:32:44 | Nonpublic session | "I need a motion to go into nonpublic under." LeClair: "RSA 91-8 colon three. Two J." (2:32:48). Moved by an unidentified member (2:32:54), Horsky seconds (2:32:59); roll call (2:33:01 to 2:34:02). The recording ends. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/9950 SchoolBoard081518.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 |
|---|
| 0:01:16 | Agenda: policy pulled, nonpublic added | Horsky moves item G1 to "September 5th, due to the fact that there will be a meeting, being held with the policy subcommittee prior to adoption of that policy." LeClair: "I'd like to add a nonpublic per RSA 1A32J." (0:02:00) and reads "the consideration of confidential financial information that is exempt from public disclosure under RSA 9185" [91-A:5] (0:02:14), then "It's, personal school records of pupils." (0:02:30). | MEDIUM |
| 0:04:44 | Staffing three weeks before school | Pfeifer: "we had 41 positions open. 12 of them were teaching positions, many of them in special education." He started that Monday (0:03:51). | |
| 0:05:47 | State aid losses | Pfeifer: "they're taking some of the supplemental aid that we've had away at 4% a year." and "It's about five, three, 225,000 that we're losing." (0:06:23); the figure is garbled in the transcript. The 4% annual reduction matches the stabilization-grant phase-down in RSA 198:41, IV(d) (2016 codification). On the forum: "There were probably 200 plus people there" (0:06:50). | |
| 0:09:48 | Universal lunch at Bluff (Community Eligibility Provision) | LeClair: projections assume "62% participation", with "around $4,600 of revenue" including $2,600 of unpaid balances avoided (0:10:20, 0:10:44); universal breakfast at Bluff ran at 92 percent participation (0:11:53). O'Neill: "the revenue can't be transferred to the general fund, but it can be utilized for other food service expenditures" (0:13:14), consistent with 7 CFR 210.14(a). Free and reduced forms also drive Title I and E-rate funding (0:14:38). | |
| 0:17:10 | Citizens' comment: head lice policy and e-mail notices | Susan Mason on the head lice policy being postponed "again for, like, the third time" (0:17:19): "I was hoping to have this have a draft of that available to people like me that we can read it" (0:17:28). On e-mail: "sending out emails doesn't always hit all the targets." (0:21:09); "Other people can't afford to have internet." (0:21:21). | OBS |
| 0:23:30 | Newport school funding forum | Towle on the candidates' question sheet: "I don't want it to be political." (0:24:27). Benware: Deerfield median income "about 34,000 $38,000 a year, whereas Claremont is 24,000." (0:26:35). Horsky: "the average people in the state is 15,000, but the state's only paying 3600." (0:28:07). Pfeifer: "the state of New Hampshire pays 8% of your educational tax bill." and "That is 50th." (0:35:32, 0:36:04); speakers' figures, not checked here. | |
| 0:32:15 | Chair's op-ed | Sprague asks "the board's permission for me to write an op ed in my capacity as the board chair to the Valley News, to the ticker and Eagle Times". Towle: "No objection. I just think you should write it as chairman of the of the school board." (0:32:56). No vote is taken. | |
| 0:36:23 | Bridges program with Brattleboro Retreat dropped | The official contract's costs "had gone up significantly, far greater than the financials that we were led to believe". O'Neill: "they essentially jacked up the cost of the program to equal the tuition we're paying now. So there's no savings" (0:37:56). Placements are contracted "on a kid by kid basis for one year" (0:39:41). Horsky wants "to pull everything away from Brattleboro retreat" (0:40:09). LeClair warns that a proper in-house program's numbers "are going to be large and scary" (0:44:49). | OBS |
| 0:48:34 | CTE center renovation deferred two years | Herzog: "they projected 6 million"; the community share is "25 to 50%" (0:48:34, 0:48:59); "I think Middleton made the decision to let's defer that out. So that means we're deferring it by two years." (0:49:20). Up-front local costs: a feasibility study at "About $40,000" and architectural plans at "about $100,000" (0:50:33, 0:50:49). Perkins funding "went from 88 to 43,000" after the cut from eight to five programs (0:52:53). Zullo: "decisions won't be made unilaterally by one person without at least sharing information" (0:52:11). | OBS |
| 0:59:17 | State capital budget for CTE centers | Representative Cloutier: the capital budget has "always been House Bill 25" (0:59:36); "you've got to get the local school district to support it if you do not. My committee, Public Works and Highways is not going to approve putting it in the capital budget." (0:59:57). | |
| 1:03:48 | Social media reminder | Sprague: "if four of you comment on a posting on social media that constitutes a board position, so please don't do that." Pfeifer adds that social media "is eventually reachable by attorneys" (1:04:44). Petrin: "the Claremont School Board Facebook page that we just spoke about is up." (1:05:02). | POSITIVE |
| 1:05:51 | Nominations elected | LeClair: "You didn't get these before now because we literally are processing them almost around the clock". All replace existing staff (1:06:46). Pfeifer corrects the motion: "I have to place their names in nomination, and technically, you elect." (1:09:43). Horsky reads more than a dozen nominees, including an assistant principal, and the board elects them by voice vote (1:10:15 to 1:11:55). | |
| 1:12:03 | Syringe service program at Valley Regional Hospital | LeClair: the hospital "happens to be right next door to Disney Art [Disnard] Elementary School", so a program there "requires, the board's permission"; "the law was just recently passed." (1:12:27). Greenfield: an earlier exchange at the soup kitchen "had to close down due to proximity to a school zone" (1:13:53). Byrne: her agency pays for treatment for "about 17 people who live in Claremont right now" (1:18:36); hours would be "2 or 3 hours once a week" (1:27:27). Members split: Benware "It's the lesser of two evils" (1:16:52); Horsky "I strongly oppose it in general." (1:17:16); Zullo "I don't feel comfortable with a needle exchange program next to the school." (1:23:12). Tabled until hospital CEO Peter Wright can attend (1:31:31). | OBS |
| 1:32:54 | Alternative program handbook | The principal: three teaching positions and two para positions (1:34:00); a crisis counselor's first hour each day (1:34:39); the district is asking the Department of Education to approve it as "a non special ed program" (1:39:36). Horsky objects to the sentence letting teachers permit phones (1:41:46); Towle and Benware agree (1:47:52, 1:47:23). | OBS |
| 2:05:09 | The phone policy cannot be found | LeClair: "I cannot find a policy that deals with cell phones." and "It's not posted on our website." (2:05:24); the only posted policy "actually refers to the handbooks" (2:06:15). Horsky: "I didn't make it onto the website." (2:05:19). The amendment passes with the chair abstaining (2:07:40). | OBS |
| 2:07:57 | Stevens and elementary handbooks | Stevens accepted with the page 40 change "from a can to a can't" for teacher permission (2:10:37) and page 54 corrections to the superintendent and an outdated name (2:09:16, 2:11:04). The elementary handbook replaces the head lice section with "please see current policy" (2:12:06). | |
| 2:14:04 | Committee assignments | The MTSS team is funded by a System of Care grant of "a couple million dollars over a four plus year period" (2:14:47). Assignments settled by consensus (2:23:20). | |
| 2:24:39 | NHSBA subscription and training | "A seven member board is 350 $350 a year." Workshops on budgeting on September 11 and on SB 2 and default budgets on September 13 (2:28:41, 2:29:05), and one on the Right-to-Know law in March (2:30:33). Approved by voice vote (2:31:28). | |
| 2:32:44 | Into nonpublic session | "RSA 91-8 colon three. Two J." [91-A:3, II(j)] (2:32:48). "Well we need a roll call for that right." (2:32:56). The roll is not legible in the transcript; the clerk's "The absent and Frank Sprague." and the chair's Yes. are the last votes heard (2:34:01, 2:34:02). | MEDIUM |
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 August 15, 2018, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM No agenda, packet, public minutes or nonpublic minutes survive in the district's shares
MAP.md records no Drive material: the district's shares hold no year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023. The recording shows a lettered agenda and a packet (0:01:03, 0:46:07, 2:24:24), approves the July 18 minutes (0:03:18), and has the clerk present asking for "a copy for the minute taker" (1:06:33). The meeting ends in a nonpublic session whose minutes RSA 91-A:3, III required to be disclosed within 72 hours unless sealed by a recorded two-thirds vote in public session; no such vote is on the recording, which ends before any return to public session.
RSA 91-A:2, II, in the text in force for 2018, required minutes with "the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions", open to inspection "not more than 5 business days after the meeting". RSA 91-A:2, II-b, in force from January 1, 2018, also required a body that maintains a website either to post its approved minutes there or to post a notice of where they may be reviewed; the district had a website, which LeClair mentions at 2:05:24. Whether minutes were posted in 2018 cannot be checked from here. This page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule: the record shows minutes were taken, and the gap is that no copy survives where the public can now find it.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II and II-b (2017 codification; the text in force for 2018); RSA 91-A:3, III (2017 codification)
MEDIUM The nonpublic session was entered under RSA 91-A:3, II(j), an exemption limited to adjudicative proceedings, to discuss pupil records
LeClair added the item "per RSA 1A32J" (0:02:00), read its terms as "consideration of confidential financial information that is exempt from public disclosure under RSA 9185" (0:02:14) and described the subject as "personal school records of pupils." (0:02:30). The motion was made on the same ground, "RSA 91-8 colon three. Two J." (2:32:48), and a roll call followed (2:33:01 to 2:34:02).
In the 2018 text, RSA 91-A:3, II(j) covers "Consideration of confidential, commercial, or financial information that is exempt from public disclosure under RSA 91-A:5, IV in an adjudicative proceeding pursuant to RSA 541 or RSA 541-A." Nothing on the recording suggests an adjudicative proceeding under those chapters, and pupil records are not commercial or financial information. RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires the motion to state "on its face the specific exemption", and I(c) confines the session to the matters set out in the motion. Pupil records are confidential under other law, and another paragraph of II may have fit the discussion; the point is that the ground stated does not appear to. MEDIUM, a probable process gap: the record shows the board stated an exemption and took a roll call, and does not show what was discussed.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), I(c) and II(j) (2017 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1 and 280:1)
OBSERVATION The syringe service program request came under a school-board exception that had taken effect four days earlier
LeClair presented the request for a syringe service program at Valley Regional Hospital, next to Disnard Elementary, as requiring "the board's permission in order to have that program in the safe school zone", adding "the law was just recently passed." (1:12:27). Ashley Greenfield of the Public Health Network and Laura Byrne of the HIV Resource Center described the program (1:13:25 to 1:27:27); the board tabled it until the hospital's CEO could attend in September, with one abstention (1:31:31, 1:31:41).
RSA 318-B:45 bars a syringe service program "within a drug-free school zone as defined in RSA 193-B:1, II", which reaches school property and land within 1,000 feet. Its exception, "Exceptions to this prohibition may be granted by the applicable district school board when a request is initiated by a syringe service program administrator", was added by 2018, 254:2, effective August 11, 2018. So the board did hold the authority LeClair described. For a reviewer: the statute ties the exception to a request "initiated by a syringe service program administrator", and the recording does not show who made the formal request. Tabling to hear the hospital's CEO, and inviting written questions seven days ahead (1:31:51, 1:32:08), left the decision for September. At that meeting the hospital's CEO described Valley Regional as host of a program run with the HIV Resource Center and the Public Health Network (September 5, 2018 page).
Sources: RSA 318-B:45 (2018 codification; 2018, 254:2, eff. Aug. 11, 2018); RSA 193-B:1, II (drug-free school zone; 1996, 290:1)
OBSERVATION Handbooks were amended to follow a board phone policy that no one in the room could locate, and the amended alternative-program handbook was never put to a vote
The board changed both the alternative-program and Stevens handbooks to bar teacher-permitted phone use because, Horsky said, teacher permission "contradicts" board policy (1:41:46, 1:42:59). LeClair then said "I cannot find a policy that deals with cell phones." and that the board's phone policy is "not posted on our website" (2:05:09, 2:05:24); the only posted policy she found "actually refers to the handbooks" (2:06:15). A citizen had earlier asked that the head lice policy draft, postponed again that night, be made available for the public to read (0:17:28).
On the alternative-program handbook, Petrin's motion to accept it "as presented" was withdrawn (2:03:03) and the only vote taken was on Horsky's amendment deleting one sentence (2:04:37, 2:07:40); the board then moved to the next item (2:07:25). The principal had said Department of Education review would follow board approval (1:40:50, 1:41:21). No rule this page verified required board policies to be posted in 2018: RSA 91-A:2, II-b, in force from January 1, 2018, reaches approved minutes and meeting notices on a body's website, not its policies. A reviewer would want the minutes to show whether the amended alternative-program handbook was treated as approved.
Sources: Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 8-15
OBSERVATION The CTE center renovation was deferred two years by the former superintendent, and the board learned of it from the press
Herzog told the board "I think Middleton made the decision to let's defer that out. So that means we're deferring it by two years." (0:49:20), after "a great article in the paper that got me about 15 emails" (0:46:49). Zullo said that for her "the only issue was, or for me personally, was not having any idea. And then the story came out." and that she hoped such "decisions won't be made unilaterally by one person" (0:51:45, 0:52:11). Horsky noted the public was "trying to figure out why Claremont dropped the ball on 6 million" (0:54:38).
No rule this page verified required a board vote to defer a renovation application. The deferral changes when the district must budget roughly $140,000 in up-front study and design costs and when voters must approve a local share of "25 to 50%" (0:48:59, 0:50:33, 0:50:49), and Representative Cloutier stressed that the state's capital budget committee will not fund a center without local voter approval (0:59:57). The record shows no board action on the decision before or at this meeting.
Sources: Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 8-15
OBSERVATION A member proposed pulling students from Brattleboro Retreat placements over the contract dispute
After hearing that the Retreat had priced an in-district program up to its tuition (0:37:56), Horsky said he would "like to definitely explore options as a district to pull everything away from Brattleboro retreat, because if they want to play business like that, that's not the way Claremont conducts business." (0:40:09). Staff noted placements are contracted "on a kid by kid basis for one year" (0:39:41), and LeClair framed the next step as finding providers that meet "the needs of our individual students" (0:38:40).
Under the IDEA regulations in force in 2018, each child's placement "Is made by a group of persons, including the parents, and other persons knowledgeable about the child", "Is determined at least annually" and "Is based on the child's IEP" (34 CFR 300.116). A district can seek other providers, but moving a placed student is an IEP-team decision, not a board decision about a vendor. No action was taken.
Sources: 34 CFR 300.116(a)(1), (b)(1)-(2) (CFR annual edition revised July 1, 2018)
POSITIVE The chair reminded members, on the record, not to deliberate as a quorum on social media
Sprague, recalling the board attorney's earlier warning, told members that "if four of you comment on a posting on social media that constitutes a board position, so please don't do that." and said he would speak to members individually if it continued (1:03:48, 1:04:32). Pfeifer added that such posts are "eventually reachable by attorneys and others if there's a problem" (1:04:44).
The legal risk is broader than a "board position": RSA 91-A:2-a requires public bodies to deliberate "only in meetings" and bars communications outside a meeting, "including, but not limited to, sequential communications among members", from being "used to circumvent the spirit and purpose of this chapter". A four-member exchange on a public post is that kind of communication. Raising it in public session, with the reason, is good practice beyond what the law required of the chair.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2-a, I and II (2016 codification; source note 2008, 303:4, unamended)
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 8-15 (show 9950; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, the API returned 403 on 2026-10-02)
- 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.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/9950 SchoolBoard081518.mp4.CSV (876 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9950 SchoolBoard081518.mp4Input/Transcripts/9950 SchoolBoard081518.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 78Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9950 SchoolBoard081518.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, II, 2017 codification (source note ends 2017, 165:1 and 234:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2018; next amended 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019): minutes content and five-business-day inspection; II-b website posting of approved minutes
- RSA 91-A:2-a, I and II (2008, 303:4, unamended): deliberation only in meetings
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), I(c), II(j) and III, 2017 codification (source note ends 2016, 30:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; 280:1): nonpublic motion, scope, the adjudicative-proceeding exemption, 72-hour disclosure
- RSA 318-B:45, 2018 codification (2017, 117:7; 2018, 254:2, eff. Aug. 11, 2018): syringe service programs barred in drug-free school zones; school board exception
- RSA 193-B:1, II (1996, 290:1): drug-free school zone
- RSA 198:41, IV(d), 2016 codification (source note ends 2016, 85:9, eff. July 18, 2016): stabilization grant reduced 4 percent a year from FY2017
- 34 CFR 300.116, CFR annual edition revised July 1, 2018: IDEA placement decisions
- 7 CFR 210.14(a), CFR annual edition revised Jan. 1, 2017: school food service revenue used only for the food service