Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part, as named in the project's dialogue file. No minutes exist online to check spellings against; identifications resting on inference are marked. Members are listed first.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Presided; reported the SAU board's choice of a small search committee; asked about community donations for Bluff lunches; seconded the hockey co-op; proposed a two-choice paper vote for search committee members; took on timed agendas with the assistant superintendent. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Vice chair | Asked that staff be included in search forums; backed the administrators after the lunch disclosure; questioned why a vote should be secret; volunteered for the search committee and as timekeeper; seconded the cell phone policy motion. Identification medium (inferred, not named at her turns). |
| Jason Benware | Board member | Asked the cost of the lunch error and questioned funding Bluff alone; moved the hockey co-op, the gift acceptance and the cell phone policy to third reading; challenged the handbook change; asked that citizens' comments not wait on nonpublic sessions. |
| Steven Horsky | Board member | Moved to accept the audit questionnaire, then to hold it for the next meeting; asked who missed the lunch filing; criticized "fear mongering" over the cell phone policy; volunteered for the search committee. |
| Carolyn Towle | Board member | Asked for fallout from the lunch error to be addressed; defended the cell phone policy's intent; asked for a budget outline and noted the district lacks a capital improvement plan. |
| Michael Petrin | Board member | One line: declined to volunteer for the search committee, having served on the interim search. |
| Michelle Pierce | Board member | Neither heard nor named on the recording; attendance not established. |
| Keith Pfeifer | Interim Superintendent, SAU 6 | End of the superintendent's report (transportation, legal updates); gave the Provision 2 cost estimate; suggested covering Bluff lunches for another week. |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Answered on head lice screening; presented the audit questionnaire; disclosed the missed universal lunch filing and apologized; reported on the opioid lawsuit; identified the public hearing requirement for the gift. |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator, SAU 6 | Explained the missed filing ("It was on me."); gave the cost to date; explained the unanticipated-revenue statute. |
| John Magoon | Assistant principal and special education coordinator, Stevens High School | Presented on assistive technology for students with IEPs and 504 plans in relation to the cell phone policy. Self-identified. |
| Doug Beaupre | Athletic director, Stevens High School | Requested the girls ice hockey co-op with Lebanon and Kearsarge. First name from another recording in the corpus. |
| Unidentified | Stevens High School administrator | Explained the handbook's "teacher discretion" wording and denied that the administration told teachers they could be fired. The chair calls her "miss McGraw"; not verified. |
| Unidentified | Student representative | Suggested a student forum for the superintendent search; explained why the Student Voice presentation was postponed. |
| Unidentified | Citizens' comments (a grandparent; ward not heard) | Asked who would screen for head lice and about privacy, treatment costs, and whether a late Disnard bus lets children eat breakfast. |
| Unidentified | Other voices | 160 of 664 rows (24.1%), mostly short interjections. |
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, which refer to lettered discussion and action items. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:00 | Superintendent's report (end) | Recording joins mid-report. |
| 0:00:51 | Citizens' comments | One speaker, on head lice screening and bus timing; administrators and members answered. |
| 0:12:59 | Discussion A: board questionnaire, fiscal year 2015 audit | Horsky's motion to accept was set aside because the item was listed for discussion; moved to the October 3 meeting for approval. |
| 0:14:44 | Discussion B: SHS administration report | Not given; a substitute presentation was delayed by equipment and taken later. |
| 0:16:07 | Update on superintendent search process | Small committee on NHSBA advice; community forums planned. |
| 0:19:44 | Universal lunch at Bluff | Discussion only. Filing missed; sentiment to cover Bluff lunches to the end of September and resume charging October 1; Provision 2 to return as an action item on October 3. |
| 0:42:46 | Action: girls ice hockey co-op | Co-op with Lebanon and Kearsarge; Benware moved, Sprague seconded; approved by voice. |
| 0:47:00 | SHS presentation: technology and the cell phone policy | John Magoon's presentation; handbook dispute. |
| 1:03:32 | Action: donation to the SRVRTC from the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation | $15,000; moved (the dialogue file splits the motion between Benware and an unidentified voice) and seconded; approved by voice. A public hearing requirement was identified later in the meeting. See flag 1. |
| 1:06:35 | Action D: policy JICJ, electronic communication devices, second reading | Horsky's motion to adopt as second and final reading withdrawn; Benware moved to third reading with IEP and 504 exceptions, Zullo seconded; approved. |
| 1:11:27 | Opioid class action update | City's law firms not taking school districts; treated as moot. |
| 1:13:38 | Item F: time limits on board agendas | Chair and assistant superintendent to trial timed agendas. |
| 1:20:25 | Item G: search committee members | Two volunteers, Horsky and Zullo; no vote needed. |
| 1:22:55 | Good of the order | Budget subcommittee and a Sunday retreat to be scheduled. |
| 1:30:41 | Adjournment | Benware moved; approved. |
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 |
|---|
| 0:00:08 | Superintendent's report (end) | Pfeifer: administration and cabinet will be briefed on "changes in statutes from Drummond and Woodson and from NHS a" [Drummond Woodsum; NHSBA], to be sent to members. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:01:11 | Citizens' comments: head lice and buses | A grandparent asked "who's going to be doing the checks for head lice?" and whether another parent or a volunteer would know which child has lice. On the bus: "my granddaughter gets picked up at 8:25 every day" for an 8:30 start, so Disnard children cannot eat breakfast. | |
| 0:04:33 | Answers given | Benware: at Bluff breakfast is served in the classroom "So nobody misses it that way." LeClair (0:06:44): school nurses screen first, other staff only if trained, "Not, not others because of confidentiality reasons specifically". Horsky (0:10:39): a full no-nit policy was rejected; "it was better than having no policy." | POSITIVE |
| 0:12:59 | Fiscal 2015 audit questionnaire | LeClair: a draft "recognizing the concern and of the board that no existing board members were on the board during the 1415 school year for fiscal year 15." Horsky moved to accept it and have the chair sign; because it was a discussion item, it moved to the next meeting (0:14:12). | MEDIUM |
| 0:16:07 | Superintendent search | Sprague: on advice from the New Hampshire School Boards Association the committee would be "two board members from each of the of the two Unity and Claremont, as well as two folks from administration". Benware (0:17:37): "at least one, if not two forums". Zullo (0:18:21): include staff. A student forum was suggested (0:18:52). | |
| 0:19:51 | Universal lunch: the filing was missed | LeClair: "this is where I feel, not so great and a little bit embarrassed." On August 8 the contractor reported Bluff qualified for the community eligibility provision; she told the board on August 15. But (0:20:37) "Mike and Middleton both received an email on May 1st from the Department of Ed A, about the need to file an application with the department by June 30th." The application "had not been filed" (0:21:11). | MEDIUM |
| 0:23:52 | Business administrator's account | O'Neill: when food service was contracted out, "I added Food Service Director" to his job description. He gets about three emails a day from the state contact, "So it's just one of those people where you don't look at it anymore". "It was on me. I should have known what it was, but I didn't." (0:25:59). | MEDIUM |
| 0:26:14 | Cost of the error | Benware: the cost for 14 days? O'Neill: "$878.50." LeClair (0:26:41): "About a $13,000 swing." Pfeifer (0:27:07): Provision 2 for the year would cost the district "about $10,000, 10,005". Benware (0:28:34): how to justify funding Bluff "and not do it at other elementary schools as well?" | MEDIUM |
| 0:31:20 | An appeal, and a request | LeClair: "we do not have a green light from the state of New Hampshire to do provision two." The district appealed "to the federal government" (0:31:49). She asked (0:33:13) "to have the district at least cover the cost to those families". Zullo (0:39:28): "The transparency is wonderful." | POSITIVE |
| 0:33:55 | Discussion item, so sentiment only | Horsky: "this is a discussion item, so we can't approve one way or the other". LeClair (0:37:14): "You can you can express your sentiment." Plan (0:37:45): charging resumes October 1; Provision 2 on the October 3 agenda; donations to the business administrator. | POSITIVE |
| 0:44:00 | Girls ice hockey co-op | Beaupre: "Lebanon has approved it. Kearsarge has approved it." Costs are shared by player count (0:45:50). Benware moved (0:46:34), Sprague seconded; approved. | |
| 0:47:00 | Technology for students with plans | Magoon: of about 553 students at Stevens, "over 100 of them either receive a 504 plan or an IEP." Devices allow "independence for our students". | |
| 0:54:43 | Cell phone policy and the handbook | Horsky: "That fear mongering is utterly disappointing" and "it's coming from the top and it's not coming from the board." Benware (0:56:43): last year's procedures never gave teacher discretion. The administrator (0:58:09) said she added "with teacher discretion" to reflect four years of practice. Benware (0:59:33): "I felt like you were trying to slip something in past us." Her reply (1:00:48): the message about firing "never came from administration". | OBSERVATION |
| 1:01:56 | Phones not to be confiscated | Zullo: "Teachers don't need to feel responsible for taking phones. Just enforce the policy." Magoon: teachers were told not to take phones. | |
| 1:03:45 | Byrne Foundation gift accepted | LeClair: "we received $15,000 for the sugar River Valley Regional Tech Center", seed money for community service projects "so that the taxpayers aren't funding the materials". Moved and seconded; approved at 1:06:02. LeClair (1:06:06): "I'm just going to double check our policy to make to see if we actually do have to have a pub" [public hearing]. | MEDIUM |
| 1:06:35 | Cell phone policy to third reading | Horsky moved "a second and final read" (1:08:33), then withdrew so Student Voice could present first. Benware (1:10:28) moved third reading with the exception "in cases where a medical need, individual education plan, IEP or 504 plan requires a student to have a modern electronic communication device". Zullo seconded; approved. | |
| 1:11:31 | Opioid lawsuit | LeClair met city manager Ryan McNutt; the city's firms are not "interested in taking on school districts at this time." Sprague (1:13:13): "it sounds like a moot point." | |
| 1:13:38 | Timed agendas; citizens' comments | Sprague cited the city council's model. Horsky (1:16:49) warned timing could cut off rebuttal. Benware (1:18:38): "Being somebody who sat there in that audience waiting to speak at citizens comments when you guys went nonpublic and it took forever. I didn't like that." Sprague (1:18:54): "I like the idea of having citizens comments at a specific time". | POSITIVE |
| 1:19:28 | Gift needs a hearing after all | LeClair: "We do need a public hearing for policy. Casey D on the donation because it's in excess of $5,000." [policy KCD]. Reading the statute: "20-B3 gifts in the amount of $5,000 or more shall require the board to hold a public hearing." O'Neill (1:20:02): it is the "anticipated revenue statute that we elected here in Claremont so that we can add it to the appropriation." | MEDIUM |
| 1:20:25 | Search committee members | Sprague proposed that if more than two volunteered, "give everyone two pieces of paper and you write down your two choices". Zullo (1:21:07): "Why would we do why does it need to be secret." Sprague (1:21:18): "It's not about secrecy. It's about efficiency." Only Horsky and Zullo volunteered; "Steve and Rebecca. Beautiful." (1:22:51). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:23:11 | Budget process and a retreat | Towle asked how budget meetings would run. Benware (1:24:35) proposed a retreat. Sprague (1:28:08): "Middleton came forward with the with in a budget after we after we gave a directive". Towle (1:29:14): "we don't have a CIP for district wide." Horsky (1:30:19): "So it's a blank check." | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on September 19, 2018, cited from the 2018 codification or from texts whose source notes show no later change relevant here. 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. Seven flags follow, ordered by severity.
MEDIUM The board voted to accept a $15,000 gift before holding the public hearing the statute requires; staff caught it the same night
The board accepted the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation's $15,000 gift to the regional technical center by voice vote (1:03:45 to 1:06:04). Only afterward did the assistant superintendent report that a hearing was needed "because it's in excess of $5,000" (1:19:28), reading the statute aloud (1:19:49). In 2018 RSA 198:20-b allowed a school board to accept unanticipated money during the year only if the district had adopted the enabling article (¶I), which the business administrator said Claremont had (1:20:02), and for $5,000 or more required a prior public hearing with newspaper notice of its time, place and subject at least 7 days before (¶III(a)). A vote taken before the hearing inverts that order. Mitigation: the problem was found and stated on the record within the hour, and on October 3 the board held the hearing and voted to accept again (see the October 3 page). The limb applied is a process gap that was cured, which is why this is MEDIUM rather than HIGH.
Sources: RSA 198:20-b, I and III(a) (2019 codification; source note ends 2005, 188:1, so the same text governed in 2018).
MEDIUM The audit of fiscal year 2015 was still open in September 2018, more than three years after that year ended
The assistant superintendent presented a draft of the auditors' board questionnaire "for fiscal year 15", noting that no current member served during "the 1415 school year" (0:13:11). A governance questionnaire is part of an audit in progress, so the audit of the year ended June 30, 2015 was not complete; the board approved the questionnaire on October 3. For a fiscal year that began July 1, 2014, the federal single-audit rule was OMB Circular A-133 (the Uniform Guidance's audit subpart applies only to fiscal years beginning on or after December 26, 2014). A-133 required an audit of any entity expending $500,000 or more in federal awards in a year, with the reporting package due within the earlier of 30 days after the auditor's report or nine months after the period's end, which for fiscal 2015 was March 31, 2016. The recording does not state the district's federal expenditures, so the threshold is not confirmed here and this is MEDIUM rather than HIGH. The status of the fiscal 2016 through 2018 audits is not discussed.
Sources: OMB Circular A-133 (2007 revision), sections .200(a) and .320(a); 2 CFR 200.110(b) (2016 annual edition).
MEDIUM A state notice with a June 30 filing deadline went unread, and families were promised universal lunch the district could not provide
By the administrators' own account, the SAU business administrator and the former superintendent received the Department of Education's May 1 notice to file for the community eligibility provision by June 30 (0:20:37); the business administrator, who had added food service director to his own duties when the program was contracted out, said he did not read it (0:23:52 to 0:25:59). The board was told on August 15 that Bluff would have universal lunch, families were told the same, and the error surfaced only in September. Cost so far was $878.50 for 14 days (0:26:24), a swing of about $13,000 against the projected benefit (0:26:41), and roughly $10,000 a year if the district carried the program itself (0:27:07). The deadline dates are the speakers' statements and were not verified against the federal rule for this page, so the flag rests on a control weakness in the record rather than on a cited provision: one person held a regulated federal program's compliance duties without the time or training to meet them, as he said himself. The administration responded by proposing a part-time compliance position, approved by the SAU 6 board on October 18 (see the October 18 page).
Sources: Recording only; the administrators' statements.
OBSERVATION The chair proposed an unsigned paper vote for committee seats; a member asked why it needed to be secret
For the search committee, the chair proposed that if more than two members volunteered, each would "write down your two choices" on paper (1:20:25). Zullo asked "Why would we do why does it need to be secret." (1:21:07), and the chair answered that it was for efficiency, not secrecy (1:21:18). No vote was needed because only two members volunteered. In 2018 RSA 91-A:2, II provided that, except at town meetings, school district meetings and elections, "no vote while in open session may be taken by secret ballot". A paper vote is lawful if each member's choice is recorded; the concern is an unattributed count. Two weeks later the board did fill a committee seat this way (see the October 3 page, where it is the HIGH flag). Zullo's question deserves credit.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2018 codification; secret-ballot sentence).
OBSERVATION The high school handbook was changed to say something the board's policy did not, and the exchange turned to accusations
A Stevens administrator said she had added "with teacher discretion" to the handbook's cell phone grid to match four years of classroom practice (0:58:09, 0:58:50); Benware said last year's procedures contained no such discretion and that he felt she was "trying to slip something in past us" (0:59:33). Horsky said teachers' warnings to students that they could be fired were "fear mongering" coming "from the top" (0:55:52, 0:56:19); the administrator said that message "never came from administration" (1:00:48). The underlying point is one of governance: a handbook implements board policy and should not diverge from it, and the policy under revision was being moved toward adoption the same night. No statute governs the relationship between a school handbook and board policy, so this is an observation about alignment. Allegations made against unnamed staff are the speakers' characterizations and are not findings.
Sources: Recording only; the speakers' characterizations.
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting are posted online, and the recording starts mid-meeting
MAP.md section 82 records that neither district Drive share holds anything before July 2022 (checked 9/26/26). That is a limit of what the district posts online, not by itself evidence that records were never made: these minutes were corrected and approved on October 3. The tape begins near the end of the superintendent's report (0:00:00), so the call to order, roll call and any earlier business are known only from minutes that are not online, and Pierce's attendance cannot be established. In 2018 RSA 91-A:2, II required minutes to include "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 within five business days. The limb applied is the online-availability observation.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2018 codification); Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 82.
POSITIVE Candid disclosure of an error, answers to a citizen, and care about what a discussion item permits
Administrators volunteered the missed lunch filing at a public meeting, named who received the notice, and accepted responsibility (0:19:51, 0:25:59); a member called the transparency "wonderful" (0:39:28). The citizen's questions on head lice screening and breakfast timing were answered on the spot (0:04:33 to 0:11:31). Members repeatedly declined to act on items listed only for discussion, expressing sentiment and moving decisions to the next agenda instead (0:14:12, 0:33:55). And members agreed that citizens' comments should come at a fixed time, not after a nonpublic session of unknown length (1:18:38, 1:18:54). No 2018 statute required any of this; New Hampshire had no statutory public comment period for school boards until RSA 189:74 in 2022.
Sources: Recording only; practice beyond statutory minimums. RSA 189:74 enacted by 2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022 (project anchors file).
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 10012, "SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 9-19": Claremont Community TV. 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, audit questionnaire, state notice or minutes were located.
- Related pages: Claremont School Board, October 3, 2018 (gift hearing and re-acceptance; questionnaire approved; paper ballot); SAU 6 Board, October 18, 2018 (food service compliance position); Claremont School Board, October 30, 2018 (lunch debt).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/10012 SchoolBoard091918.mp4.CSV (664 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/10012 SchoolBoard091918.mp4Input/Transcripts/10012 SchoolBoard091918.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10012 SchoolBoard091918.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 82
Laws and rules cited on this page