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; sought and received the board's consent to write an op-ed on school funding as chair; reminded members not to comment as a group on social media; abstained on the alternative program handbook amendment; took the Curriculum Council seat. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Vice chair | Asked for an email campaign on free and reduced lunch forms; asked about the cost of in-district mental health staff; asked the administration to address staff resignations; asked about head lice in the elementary handbook. |
| Steven Horsky | Board member | Moved the agenda, the July 18 minutes, the nominations, the handbook amendments and the NHSBA subscription; opposed the syringe program next to a school; pressed a single cell-phone rule across handbooks; took the Community Engagement Leadership Team seat. |
| Jason Benware | Board member | Reported on the Newport funding forum; supported the syringe program as "the lesser of two evils" and suggested limiting its hours to when school is out; seconded several motions. |
| Carolyn Towle | Board member | Reported on the funding forum's candidate questions; asked how universal lunch would be communicated; seconded the NHSBA subscription; took the Professional Growth Committee seat. |
| Michael Petrin | Board member | Moved to table the syringe program until the hospital's CEO could attend; announced the board's Facebook page; asked whether NHSBA dues are separate from the subscription; took the MTSS leadership team seat. |
| Michelle Pierce | Board member | Possibly named in the garbled opening roll; no speech is attributed to her. |
| Dr. Keith Pfeifer | Interim Superintendent (started Monday, August 13) | First report: 41 open positions, 12 of them teaching; school funding. Placed the nominations formally before the board. Urged NHSBA membership. |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent | Introduced Dr. Pfeifer; added the nonpublic item; reported on universal lunch at Bluff; presented nominations, the syringe program request and committee assignments; said she could not find the cell phone policy on the website. |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator | Explained Community Eligibility Provision revenue and the Brattleboro Retreat cost increase. Named only as "Mike"; surname from the roster. |
| Unidentified | Administrator | Presented the Bridges program update: "I have bad news here." Not named on the recording. |
| Dr. Alex Herzog | Director, Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center | First appearance in the role; explained the renovation process, the 25 to 50 percent local share and the two-year deferral. |
| Patricia Barry | Stevens High School principal (name from the roster only) | Presented the alternative program and high school handbooks. Not named on the recording; the identification rests on the roster (low-medium). |
| Melissa Lewis | Disnard Elementary principal | Spoke on the syringe program next to her school; presented the elementary handbook. |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk | Asked members to vote individually on the handbook amendment; called the nonpublic roll. |
| Susan Mason | Citizens' comments (Winter Street) | On the repeatedly postponed head lice policy, asked for a draft the public could read; said email-only notices exclude families without internet. |
| John Cloutier | State Representative, Ward 1 | Spoke on the funding forum and on state capital budgeting for technical center renovations. Transcribed Representative Claudia. |
| Ashley Greenfield | Greater Sullivan County Public Health Network | Described the proposed syringe service program at Valley Regional's urgent care center. |
| Laura Byrne (spelling unverified) | HIV Resource Center, Lebanon | Described her syringe exchanges and their operation near schools. Her remarks were diarized with Cory LeClair's voice and restored by override. |
| Named, not speaking | Others | Peter Wright, Valley Regional Hospital CEO; the staff nominees read into Horsky's motion; the former superintendent (Doctor Goodwin) still named in the handbook; a committee chair transcribed Sammy Morris (unverified). |
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; the chair's lettering (item B, D, G, H) shows a written agenda existed. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:06 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | See Board composition above. |
| 0:01:03 | Agenda | Policy item G1 moved to September 5 pending the policy subcommittee; a nonpublic session under "RSA 1A32J" [91-A:3, II(j)] added at 0:02:00. Moved as amended by Horsky at 0:02:57, seconded by Benware; voice vote. |
| 0:03:18 | Minutes of July 18, 2018 | Moved by Horsky, seconded by the chair; voice vote at 0:03:36. |
| 0:03:51 | Superintendent's report | Dr. Pfeifer's first report; cell phone practices; universal lunch at Bluff. Informational. |
| 0:17:00 | Citizens' comments | Susan Mason. Closed at 0:22:22. |
| 0:22:22 | A. Follow-up to the school funding presentation | Reports from members who attended; board consent for the chair's op-ed at 0:32:15. No vote. |
| 0:36:14 | B. Bridges program, out-of-district placement model housed in district | Not pursued for 2018-19 after the provider's contract costs rose. Informational. |
| 0:46:03 | Schedule for renovation of the CTE center | Deferral of two years explained by Dr. Herzog. Informational. |
| 1:03:48 | Social media reminder (chair's item) | See flag 3. |
| 1:05:44 | Action: nominations and resignations | No resignations presented. After the superintendent placed the names in nomination, Horsky moved the slate at 1:10:15, Benware seconded; voice vote at 1:11:52. |
| 1:12:00 | D. Needle exchange program, safe school zones | Petrin moved at 1:31:31 to table until Peter Wright can attend; seconded; voice vote at 1:31:41 with one abstention. |
| 1:32:32 | Stevens High School alternative program handbook | Petrin's motion to approve withdrawn; Horsky's amendment deleting the teacher-permission sentence on phones moved at 2:04:37, seconded by Benware; voice vote at 2:07:09, Sprague abstaining ("Frank abstained. Everyone else is in favor."). |
| 2:07:52 | Stevens High School student and parent handbook | Horsky moved at 2:09:54 to accept with amendments on pages 40 and 54; seconded by Benware; voice vote at 2:11:41. |
| 2:12:02 | Elementary student and parent handbook | Benware moved at 2:13:00; seconded; voice vote at 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). No vote. |
| 2:24:24 | H. New Hampshire School Boards Association dues | $350 subscription for a seven-member board; Horsky moved at 2:27:00, Towle seconded; voice vote at 2:31:28. |
| 2:32:44 | Nonpublic session | Moved under "RSA 91-8 colon three. Two J." [91-A:3, II(j)] by an unidentified member, seconded by Horsky; roll call from 2:33:01, largely inaudible. See flag 1. |
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 |
|---|
| 0:01:16 | Agenda changes | Horsky: "Item G number one. That of 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 at 0:02:00: "I'd like to add a nonpublic per RSA 1A32J." At 0:02:14: "I can read the consideration of confidential financial information that is exempt from public disclosure under RSA 9185." At 0:02:30: "It's, personal school records of pupils." | MEDIUM |
| 0:03:51 | Dr. Pfeifer's first report | LeClair: "He started with us on Monday." Pfeifer at 0:04:44: "we had 41 positions open. 12 of them were teaching positions, many of them in special education." At 0:05:47: "they're taking some of the supplemental aid that we've had away at 4% a year." | |
| 0:09:58 | Universal lunch at Bluff | "Essentially it is an opportunity to provide universal lunch for every child." At 0:10:20: "we should see about $2,000 in revenue from that program." At 0:10:44: "this year we paid $2,600 of, unpaid balances." O'Neill at 0:15:27: "We also get $1,610 in extra adequacy for everybody who's eligible for free and reduced". Zullo at 0:16:30 asks for an email to parents on the forms. | |
| 0:17:10 | Citizen: head lice policy | "My name is Susan Mason. I live at Winter Street in Claremont." At 0:17:19: "regarding the head lice policy and postponing it again for, like, the third time." At 0:17:28: "I was hoping to have this have a draft of that available to people like me that we can read it". At 0:18:22: "I myself lost 14 days of work trying to deal with the situation." At 0:21:46, on email notices: "the people that need it, I'm going to be able to afford having the internet." [the transcript reads "going to be able"; the sense is that they cannot]. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:22:56 | Funding forum follow-up | LeClair: "some folks who might be watching from home this evening may not have been there last night". Benware at 0:26:35 compares Deerfield's per capita income, "about 34,000 $38,000 a year, whereas Claremont is 24,000." Horsky at 0:28:07: "the average people in the state is 15,000, but the state's only paying 3600." Cloutier at 0:29:50: "We're too reliant on property taxes now." | |
| 0:32:15 | Chair's op-ed | "I'd like to, get the board's permission for me to write an op ed in my capacity as the board chair". Towle at 0:32:56: "No objection. I just think you should write it as chairman of the of the school board." Horsky at 0:34:51: "we are very careful not to make a party issue". | |
| 0:36:23 | Bridges program | "the costs of running the program in district, like we discussed, had gone up significantly, far greater than the financials that we were led to believe". At 0:36:59: the recommendation is to "look at other out of district placements in private schools". Horsky at 0:40:09: "that's not the way Claremont conducts business." Petrin at 0:45:29 on students who travel "45 minutes each way". | |
| 0:46:29 | Technical center renovation | Herzog: "I've been on board for since June 4th". At 0:48:34: "they projected 6 million" and "the community has to support 25 to 50%." At 0:50:33: "The feasibility study comes out of pocket. About $40,000 is what it's estimated." At 0:50:49: architectural plans, "That's about $100,000." Zullo at 0:52:11: "decisions won't be made unilaterally by one person". | |
| 1:03:48 | Social media | Chair: "It's been happening again where we've had numerous people weighing in on issues. So a reminder from the board chair that, if four of you comment on a posting on social media that constitutes a board position, so please don't do that." Petrin at 1:05:02: "the Claremont School Board Facebook page that we just spoke about is up." | OBSERVATION |
| 1:05:51 | Nominations | LeClair: "You didn't get these before now because we literally are processing them almost around the clock at this point in time." At 1:06:46: "There are no new positions." Pfeifer at 1:09:43: "I have to place their names in nomination, and technically, you elect." Horsky reads the slate from 1:10:15; approved at 1:11:52. | POSITIVE |
| 1:12:03 | Syringe program in the safe school zone | LeClair: "We also have state law provisions that say that certain things can't happen in school zones because of safe school zones." At 1:12:27: it "requires, the board's permission in order to have that program in the safe school zone." Greenfield at 1:13:53: an earlier program at the soup kitchen "had to close down due to proximity to a school zone." At 1:15:10: "In Claremont, most everything sits within a drug free school zone." | POSITIVE |
| 1:17:16 | Members and principal respond | Horsky: "I strongly oppose it in general. Not right next door to a school." Byrne at 1:18:09 describes exchanges running "since 2006". Lewis at 1:29:26: "I have an incredibly vigilant staff." At 1:29:48: "you're the policy setters, and I'm going to enforce whatever policy you all set". LeClair at 1:30:56: "let's do some more research and think about it more before making a final decision". | POSITIVE |
| 1:31:31 | Tabled | Petrin: "I'll make a motion to table this until, we can have Mr. Wright come and speak to us". Chair at 1:31:41: "Abstentions, one abstention." LeClair at 1:31:51 asks for questions by email ahead of the September meeting. | |
| 1:41:46 | Alternative program handbook: phones | Horsky: "If the teacher requests that students use their phone and personal devices for academic purposes, they may be retrieved and used for those purposes." At 1:42:07: "That's also a contradiction to the school board policy about use during class time." Sprague at 2:00:13 on the contract clause "which could result in your removal from the school and out of district placement." | |
| 2:05:09 | The cell phone policy cannot be found | LeClair: "I have an embarrassing thing to say, and that is, I cannot find a policy that deals with cell phones." At 2:05:24: "we continue to reference the school board policy. It's not posted on our website." At 2:06:15: "the only one that I find on there right now actually refers to the handbooks". | OBSERVATION |
| 2:07:09 | Amendment vote | Chair: "Opposed abstentions. I'm going to abstain." The clerk at 2:07:36: "To speak up individually because I can't tell". Chair at 2:07:40: "Frank abstained. Everyone else is in favor." | |
| 2:09:54 | High school handbook | Horsky moves to accept "with the amendment on page 54. Correcting the superintendent. And I also I'd like to amend on page 40, where teacher teacher permission on cell phones is switched from can to can't." | |
| 2:12:06 | Elementary handbook | Lewis: on head lice "we removed everything that was there and referred with an and replace that with a statement of please see current policy". | OBSERVATION |
| 2:14:04 | Committee assignments | "making sure there's no surprises in communication and transparency." At 2:23:15: "Professional growth committee is Carolyn." At 2:23:20: "Curriculum Council is frank, and community engagement leadership team is Steven." | |
| 2:24:39 | NHSBA subscription | "A seven member board is 350 $350 a year." Horsky at 2:26:10: "this is kind of a no brainer for $350 a year." O'Neill at 2:27:35 on the separate dues: "About $3,420, I think." Passed at 2:31:28. | |
| 2:32:44 | Nonpublic session | Chair: "I need a motion to go into nonpublic under." LeClair at 2:32:48: "RSA 91-8 colon three. Two J." Chair at 2:32:56: "Well we need a roll call for that right." The clerk at 2:34:01: "The absent and Frank Sprague." The recording ends. | MEDIUM |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on August 15, 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. Six flags follow, ordered by severity.
MEDIUM The nonpublic session was taken under RSA 91-A:3, II(j), an exemption limited to adjudicative proceedings, for "personal school records of pupils"
The assistant superintendent added the session at 0:02:00 under "RSA 1A32J", read its ground as "the 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 at 2:32:44 cited the same paragraph. In 2018, RSA 91-A:3, II(j) read: "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. The pupil-records language she read comes from RSA 91-A:5, IV, the records exemption; but II(j) borrows that exemption only for an adjudicative proceeding, and an exempt record is not by itself a ground to meet in private; a matter likely to affect a student's reputation would ordinarily fall under II(c). RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires the motion to state "the specific exemption", and the one stated does not appear to fit. Mitigating: the motion named a paragraph, a roll call was taken, and a proper ground very likely existed for student matters. The session itself and the roll call answers are not on the recording.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(c) and II(j) (2017 codification, in force 2017 to 2021; source note ends 2016, 30:1).
OBSERVATION Policies the handbooks rely on were not available to the public: no cell phone policy on the website, and no public draft of the head lice policy
The assistant superintendent could not find the board's cell phone policy and said "It's not posted on our website." (2:05:09 to 2:06:15), while the board was amending three handbooks to point to that policy and the elementary handbook replaced its head lice section with "please see current policy" (2:12:06). Earlier, a parent told the board the head lice policy had been postponed "for, like, the third time" and asked for a draft "available to people like me" (0:17:19 to 0:17:28); the item was moved again that night to September 5 (0:01:16). No rule requiring a school board to post policies or drafts online in 2018 was verified for this page, so this is an observation: a parent could not read the rule the schools were enforcing.
Sources: the recording at 0:17:19, 2:05:09 and 2:12:06.
OBSERVATION The chair said members were again commenting on district issues in numbers on social media, after counsel's warning
The chair reminded the board that its attorney had warned against "a majority or a quorum, commenting through social media", that "It's been happening again where we've had numerous people weighing in on issues", and that four members commenting "constitutes a board position" (1:03:48 to 1:04:32); he would speak to members individually if it continued. RSA 91-A:2-a, unamended since 2008, provides that "public bodies shall deliberate on matters only in meetings" and that communications outside a meeting "shall not be used to circumvent the spirit and purpose of this chapter". The recording shows the warning, not the posts, so whether any exchange amounted to deliberation cannot be judged here. The reminder itself is sound practice.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2-a, I and II (2008, 303:4; never amended).
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting are posted online
MAP.md section 78 records that neither district Drive share holds anything older than 2022 (checked 9/26/26), so this page rests on the recording alone. That is a limit of what the district posts online, not evidence that records were never made: the chair works from a lettered agenda, members refer to materials "in your packets" (0:46:03), and the board approved its July 18 minutes (0:03:24). RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification) 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" within five business days. The project's missing-records rule is applied on its online-availability limb.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification, in force through 2018); Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 78.
POSITIVE The interim superintendent insisted on the statutory form for hiring: he nominated, the board elected
When the board was about to accept the slate as a group, Dr. Pfeifer interrupted: "I have to place their names in nomination, and technically, you elect." (1:09:43). The motion was withdrawn and restated, and Horsky read every nominee and the position each replaces into the record (1:10:15) before the vote. RSA 189:39 provides that "Superintendents shall nominate and school boards elect all teachers employed in the schools in their school administrative unit". Reading the names aloud also put the hires on the public record even though the list reached members only at the table (1:05:51).
Sources: RSA 189:39 (1971, 371:2; never amended).
POSITIVE A request under a four-day-old law was heard in public, with the affected school's principal, and deferred for the hospital's own answers
RSA 318-B:45, as in force from August 11, 2018, provided that "No syringe service program shall be located within a drug-free school zone" and that "Exceptions to this prohibition may be granted by the applicable district school board when a request is initiated by a syringe service program administrator." The statute sets no procedure. The board heard the public health network and the program operator, asked the principal of the neighbouring Disnard Elementary for her view (1:28:43 to 1:29:48), aired opposing views among members, and tabled the request until the hospital's CEO could attend in September (1:31:31), with questions to be gathered in advance. That is more process than the law required for a decision the statute leaves to the board alone.
Sources: RSA 318-B:45 (2018 codification; source 2017, 117:7; 2018, 254:2, eff. Aug. 11, 2018).
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 9950, "SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 8-15": 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 or minutes for this meeting were located.
- Related pages: SAU 6 Board, July 26, 2018 (Dr. Pfeifer chosen); Joint City Council and School Board, August 9, 2018 (Representative Cloutier's request to join this discussion); SAU 6 Board, August 23, 2018.
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.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9950 SchoolBoard081518.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 78
Laws and rules cited on this page