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. Identifications the dialogue file marks as uncertain are marked here too.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Presided; seconded the April 3 minutes, the field trip and the Goshen agreement; announced "We've identified the person" for superintendent; asked whether clearing lunch debt could be a condition of graduation; reported the retreat; proposed doing the audit questionnaire after the meeting, off camera. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Vice chair | Reported on the superintendent contract process she was leading; suggested the policy committee study another district's lunch-debt policy; pressed for the lunch revenue-loss timeline ASAP. |
| Jason Benware | Board member | Moved the agenda, the minutes, the nonpublic session (reading the exemptions in full), the motion to come out, the seal, the field trip, the hearing schedule, the Goshen agreement and the June 5 cancellation; put the lunch debt in perspective; presented goal one (fiscal responsibility). |
| Michael Petrin | Board member | Presented goal two (communication) and said he monitors the board's social media; asked where the promised timeline of the school lunch revenue loss was. |
| Carolyn Towle | Board member | Asked about legal collection letters for lunch debt and the bequest's purpose; presented goal three, a capital improvement plan committee; seconded the June 5 cancellation. |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Board member | Asked how one student's lunch debt could exceed $500; moved to adjourn. The dialogue file rates this attribution medium. |
| Heather Whitney | Board member | Answered the roll and voted yes on the nonpublic motion. No separate speech cluster; any remarks would be among the unidentified rows. |
| Cory LeClair | Acting Superintendent, SAU 6 | Amended the agenda to add the audit questionnaire; gave a brief report; asked the board to schedule the May 1 hearings; reported on lunch debt; presented the general assurances and the Goshen agreement; said the lunch revenue-loss timeline had not been provided to her. |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk and recording secretary | Called the roll and the roll-call votes. |
| Alicia Seminole | Fourth grade teacher, Bluff School (spelling uncertain) | Presented the annual White Mountains field trip. Name as heard by the transcript. |
| Zina Jones | Fourth grade teacher, Bluff School (spelling uncertain) | Named as the trip's founder of 20 years; present with Seminole. No speech attributed to her. |
| Unidentified | Board members and others | Several seconds (including of the agenda, the nonpublic motion and the seal), ayes and fragments. 82 of 352 rows (23.3%) are Unidentified. No member of the public spoke; citizens' comments were not called as a separate item on the recording. |
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 ("We have an agenda in front of us tonight"). Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:12 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | All seven members present. |
| 0:01:02 | Agenda | Expenditure and revenue discussion replaced by the board questionnaire for the FY2016 to FY2018 audits. Benware moved; seconded; voice vote at 0:01:57. |
| 0:01:57 | Minutes of April 3, 2019 | Amended from the floor; Benware moved "as amended"; Sprague seconded; voice vote at 0:02:49. |
| 0:02:57 | Nonpublic session, RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and (c) | Benware moved, reading both exemptions; seconded; roll call at 0:03:44, all yes. Out of session at 0:04:17 (roll call to 0:04:59). Benware moved to seal the minutes "for 76 years" at 0:05:05; seconded; no vote on the recording. |
| 0:05:28 | Superintendent's report | Spring activities, vacation week, fire drills, Maple math night. |
| 0:07:30 | Bluff fourth grade field trip | Presentation; Benware moved; Sprague seconded; voice vote at 0:13:30. |
| 0:13:36 | Acceptance of donations; unanticipated revenue | Benware moved to schedule a May 1 public hearing on the $25,000 alumni gift and the E-Rate money; voice vote at 0:15:43. |
| 0:16:00 | Update on superintendent search process | Zullo's update; chair: the person has been identified. Information only. |
| 0:16:40 | School lunch debt update | Report and discussion. No vote. |
| 0:25:36 | General assurances | Chair to sign the NHDOE federal-programs assurances. No vote on the recording. |
| 0:27:29 | Goshen tuition agreement | Benware moved to accept "as it's written"; Sprague seconded; voice vote at 0:30:30. |
| 0:30:36 | Board goals from the April 14 retreat | Goal one (Benware), goal two (Petrin), goal three (Towle). Information only. |
| 0:40:41 | Board questionnaire for the audits | Deferred to after the meeting, off camera. |
| 0:41:58 | Future agenda items; meeting dates | Future items deferred to the fall; June 5 meeting cancelled for class night (Benware moved, Towle seconded, voice vote at 0:45:17). |
| 0:45:26 | Good of the order | Members ask for the school lunch revenue-loss timeline. |
| 0:47:53 | Adjournment | Lovett moved; seconded; voice vote at 0:48:00. The chair then asks members to stay for the questionnaire. |
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 |
|---|
| 0:01:18 | Agenda amended | LeClair adds the "board questionnaire for audit for the fiscal year 16, 17 and 18". Sprague: "That's the second Sanderson form that we have." [the auditors' form; the firm is not named on the recording]. | MEDIUM |
| 0:02:57 | Nonpublic motion | Benware: "I'd like to make a motion to go on to nonpublic session for RSA 91, a colon three, paragraph two a" [RSA 91-A:3, II(a)], reading the text of II(a) and II(c) in full. Roll call at 0:03:44: all seven yes. Chair at 0:03:58: "We're going to go across the hall here." | POSITIVE |
| 0:04:17 | Out of session; seal | Motion to come out, seconded, partial roll call audible. At 0:05:05 Benware: "I'd like to make a motion to seal the minutes for 76 years." The second is merged into his speaker cluster; the next row is the superintendent's report. | MEDIUM |
| 0:07:47 | Field trip | Two-day White Mountains trip in June, led for 20 years by Zina Jones, with 12 staff. Benware at 0:12:33: his daughter went last year, "it's a no brainer." Approved. | |
| 0:13:54 | Hearings scheduled | LeClair: a $25,000 donation for Stevens High School from an alumnus whose name she keeps private for now, and the E-Rate money; a hearing is needed. Benware at 0:14:59 moves to schedule both for May 1. Towle at 0:15:18 asks about the gift's purpose; the principal is checking with the family. | |
| 0:16:03 | Superintendent search | Zullo: things are "going smoothly". Sprague at 0:16:21: "It's not a search anymore." and "We've identified the person". | |
| 0:16:47 | Lunch debt | LeClair: total debt near the "$22,000 mark", of which $15,555 "has been accrued by just 67 accounts". Benware at 0:19:37: "67 out of 1875 kids". Towle asks about a legal collection letter; LeClair at 0:18:54: one has not yet been drafted by counsel. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:22:16 | Graduation as leverage | Sprague recalls that seniors cleared debts before graduation practice and asks counsel about "making sure that students have no debt before they can participate or in graduation or get a diploma". Zullo at 0:23:17 recalls "panic in the community" last time and suggests the policy committee review another district's policy. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:24:55 | A $500 account | Lovett: a student over $500 could not reach that on one lunch a day ("should only total to $480"); a la carte purchases are suggested. LeClair will check. | |
| 0:25:46 | General assurances | A 16-page NHDOE and federal document the chair and superintendent initial and sign; members had it by email and on paper. Chair: "I'll sign it tomorrow." | |
| 0:27:31 | Goshen tuition | One middle school and one high school student from Goshen; families pay the small difference between the two rates; Benware at 0:29:17: extraordinary special education costs stay with the sending district. Approved. | |
| 0:30:36 | Retreat and goals | Retreat on Sunday at the community center, 10:00 to about 1:30; "Mike Tempesta came and sat with us for the entire thing and participated." Goal one (0:31:54): fiscally responsible policy and budgets, a funding-crisis effort, "a budget advisory committee comprised of school board members and administration". Goal two (0:34:04): "open, honest, transparent and timely communication to the community". Goal three (0:37:05): a capital improvement plan committee of Whitney, Lovett, Malloy and Towle. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:39:11 | Why plan capital needs | Sprague: the Bluff fire panel "just appeared on as a as a emergency item on this year's as a warrant article"; planning is better than "things just popping up on warrants". LeClair at 0:40:00: the board's negotiators were designated at the retreat. | |
| 0:40:47 | Audit questionnaire | LeClair: "we're working to clean up" the district's "Audits and get them up to date"; "You as a board need to answer to the best of your ability." Sprague at 0:41:43: "I don't think it's a matter of public necessarily. The viewers want to watch us fill out paperwork." A voice: "On no camera." Deferred to after the meeting. | MEDIUM MEDIUM |
| 0:42:52 | Meeting dates | SAU 6 board on May 16 at 6:30 "in this room"; the joint council meeting Monday May 6 (Benware at 0:43:45: "I'm not available."); June 5 cancelled for class night after LeClair notes a policy requires a vote (0:44:50). | |
| 0:45:32 | Lunch revenue-loss timeline | Petrin: the board asked for "a timeline for what happened with the school lunch revenue" loss, which "Mike said he had". LeClair at 0:46:15: "He's not provided that to me at this point." Zullo: it was due April 17. Sprague at 0:47:01: "And I'm assuming unredacted to the public." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:47:53 | Adjournment, then the questionnaire | Lovett moves to adjourn; carried at 0:48:00. Chair at 0:48:04: "Hang in for a second, though. We're going to do these questionnaire." | MEDIUM |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on April 17, 2019, 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 minutes were moved to be sealed "for 76 years", with no stated ground and no recorded vote
After the board came out of nonpublic session, Benware moved "to seal the minutes for 76 years." (0:05:05). A second follows in the same speaker cluster, and the next row on the recording is the superintendent's report (0:05:28), so no vote on the seal is recorded. RSA 91-A:3, III, as it read in 2019, required nonpublic minutes to be public within 72 hours unless the body, "by recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present taken in public session", determined that divulging them would likely affect a person's reputation adversely, render the action ineffective, or relate to terrorism; the minutes are then withheld "until, in the opinion of a majority of members, the aforesaid circumstances no longer apply". The motion states a fixed term the statute does not provide for and none of the three determinations. Whether the seal was voted, by what margin and on what finding can only be settled by the April 17 minutes, which are not online. Graded MEDIUM: a documentation gap on the recording, not a proven unlawful seal. The session's grounds, II(a) and II(c), were properly stated (flag 6).
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, III (2019 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1 and 280:1): 72-hour disclosure; seal only by recorded 2/3 vote in public session with a statutory determination.
MEDIUM The board answered the auditors' governance questionnaire as a body after adjourning, off camera
The acting superintendent put the auditors' board questionnaire for fiscal years 2016, 2017 and 2018 on the agenda and told members "You as a board need to answer to the best of your ability." (0:40:54). The chair proposed doing it after the meeting: "I don't think it's a matter of public necessarily. The viewers want to watch us fill out paperwork." and a voice added "On no camera." (0:41:43, 0:41:48). After the adjournment vote he said "Hang in for a second, though. We're going to do these questionnaire." (0:48:04), and the recording ends. A quorum answering, as the board, an auditor's questions about three years of the district's finances is a quorum acting on a matter within its supervision, which RSA 91-A:2, I defines as a meeting; RSA 91-A:2-a, I provided that "public bodies shall deliberate on matters only in meetings". Doing it after adjournment kept the answers out of the recording and, presumably, the minutes. In mitigation, members stayed in the noticed room where anyone present could listen, and the questionnaire itself went to the auditors. Graded MEDIUM as a probable process gap, given that these were the delayed audits of flag 3.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, I (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1): a meeting is the convening of a quorum to discuss or act on a matter within the body's supervision; RSA 91-A:2-a, I (source note 2008, 303:4, unamended, so the same text governed in 2019): deliberate only in meetings.
MEDIUM In April 2019 the district was still working on its audits for fiscal years 2016, 2017 and 2018 at once
The agenda was amended to add the "board questionnaire for audit for the fiscal year 16, 17 and 18" (0:01:18), and the acting superintendent said "we're working to clean up" the district's "Audits and get them up to date" (0:40:47, 0:40:54). Four months later the board received only the FY2016 report (see the August 21, 2019 page). Under the Uniform Guidance as it read in 2019, an entity expending $750,000 or more in federal awards must have a single audit, due "within the earlier of 30 calendar days after receipt of the auditor's report(s), or nine months after the end of the audit period"; for FY2016 that was March 31, 2017. If Claremont met the threshold, which this page did not verify, the FY2016 audit was more than two years late at this meeting. Graded MEDIUM, as on the August 21 page, because the threshold is not established here. In the administration's favor, the backlog was reported in public session.
Sources: 2 CFR 200.501(a) (2019 edition): single audit at $750,000 in federal expenditures; 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1) (2019 edition): due within 30 days of the auditor's report or nine months after period end.
OBSERVATION A promised timeline of the school lunch revenue loss had not reached the board, while lunch debt stood near $22,000
Petrin said the board had asked for "a timeline for what happened with the school lunch revenue" loss, described as part of a corrective action and due that night; the acting superintendent answered "He's not provided that to me at this point." (0:45:32, 0:46:15), referring to the business administrator the members call Mike (Michael O'Neill in the roster). The chair asked that it go to the public unredacted (0:47:01). Separately the acting superintendent reported debt near $22,000, most of it in 67 accounts (0:16:47), and the chair asked counsel whether debt could bar a student from graduation (0:22:59). No statute is cited: the timeline is a board request, and the graduation question was referred to counsel rather than decided. Recorded for the chronology of the district's food-service finances, which the FY2016 audit later addressed.
Sources: the recording as cited. No statutory rule applies.
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes are online; the board's retreat and new committees are public bodies whose records are also absent
MAP.md section 99 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: these minutes and the April 14 retreat minutes were approved on May 1. The retreat, a meeting of all members held on a Sunday at the community center (0:30:36), set goals, formed subcommittees and designated the board's negotiators (0:40:00). Goal one keeps "a budget advisory committee comprised of school board members and administration" and goal three creates a capital improvement plan committee (0:31:54, 0:37:05). RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) makes "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto" a public body with its own notice and minutes duties. Several movers and seconders here, including the seconders of the nonpublic motion and the seal, cannot be identified from the recording, though RSA 91-A:2, II required minutes naming "the members who made or seconded each motion". The project's missing-records rule is applied on its online-availability limb.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (2019 codification; source note ends 2008, 354:1); RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification): minutes content and availability; Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 99.
POSITIVE The nonpublic motion stated its exemptions in full with a roll call, and the board set written communication goals
RSA 91-A:3, I(b) required a nonpublic motion to state "on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II" and to be decided by roll call. Benware's motion named RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and (c) and read their text into the record, and the clerk took a roll call in which all seven members voted yes (0:02:57, 0:03:44). The board also adopted, as goal two, "open, honest, transparent and timely communication to the community", with posted agendas, a monitored social-media page and time limits on agenda items (0:34:04), and began a capital improvement plan so that needs like the Bluff fire panel stop "just popping up on warrants" (0:39:11).
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) (2019 codification): the motion states the specific exemption; roll-call vote.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 10330, "SCHOOL BOARD meeting of 4-17-19": 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, questionnaire, lunch account summary or minutes for this meeting were located.
- Related pages: SAU 6 Board, April 11, 2019; Claremont School Board, May 1, 2019 (these minutes approved; the scheduled hearings held); Claremont School Board, August 21, 2019 (FY2016 audit report).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/10330 SchoolBoard041719.mp4.CSV (352 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/10330 SchoolBoard041719.mp4Input/Transcripts/10330 SchoolBoard041719.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10330 SchoolBoard041719.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 99
Laws and rules cited on this page