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. Caught the missing citizens' comments item and opened it late; nominated Alex Herzog to the CCTV board; pressed on the audit ("restoring some trust with the community"); moved the provisional approval of the handbooks himself; raised the NHSBA resolutions process; said Claremont members had been carrying the quorum at SAU 6 meetings. |
| Jason Benware | Board member | Asked that the July 30 minutes say the money was allocated to the two teachers, not merely accepted; moved the discipline policy to second reading, the 33 teacher nominations and the donations; questioned ID-card door access and facility plans before LED spending; spoke on warning committee meetings. |
| Carolyn Towle | Board member | Asked about dual enrollment and the competency-based grading change; asked whether the audit was forensic; asked to meet new teachers; said she received the handbooks that day; proposed a capital improvement member on the budget committee; accepted nomination as NHSBA delegate. |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Board member | Presented the capital improvement program list and the case for LED lighting. The dialogue file identifies him by elimination (the male member presenting who is not Sprague, Benware or Petrin); no name is said over his remarks. |
| Michael Petrin | Board member; SAU 6 Board chair | Suggested a press release once the IRS matter was resolved, "to be very transparent with the public"; seconded the donations; asked for SAU 6 agenda items. The dialogue file rates these attributions medium. |
| Heather Whitney | Board member | Answered the roll; named by Lovett as a member of the capital improvement committee. No speech attributed to her; she may be among the unidentified movers and seconders. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Board member, Absent | Not called in the roll; Benware: "And Rebecca's not here, so I'm not sure." |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Reported on the strategic-plan committees, the grading system review, the audit and the expected IRS penalty abatement; announced Richard Seaman as business administrator from October 2; presented the teacher nominations and the handbooks. |
| Donna Magoon | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Presented discipline policy JICD and the calendar change. Named only as Donna on this recording; surname from the roster. |
| Steven Moss | Curriculum specialist, grades 6-12, SAU 6 | Presented the Dartmouth Science Education Partnership Award program for the middle school. |
| Brynn Kane | Induction and mentoring coordinator, SAU 6 | Presented the new-teacher week and mentoring program. First name from the transcript (Bryn); surname from an earlier SAU meeting, per the dialogue file. |
| Jeff Small | Director of Technology, SAU 6 | Presented barcoded student ID cards for lunch counts and building sign-in. |
| Patricia Barry | Principal, Stevens High School (uncertain) | Answered on the high school handbook draft and the drivers' education provider. The dialogue file marks the identification uncertain: it rests on the chair addressing "Pat". |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk and recording secretary | Called the roll; explained how the July 30 motion was recorded in the minutes. |
| Unidentified | Board members | The member who added the capital improvement update to the agenda and handed out papers; the movers or seconders of the agenda, minutes, calendar and CCTV appointment; the member who abstained on the minutes ("I abstain. I was not here."). 96 of 580 rows (16.6%) are Unidentified. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted in any district share, so this list is reconstructed from the chair's transitions on the recording. A written agenda and packet existed ("We have an agenda in front of us tonight"; the calendar "is in your packet"). Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:47 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | Six members present; see Board composition. |
| 0:01:41 | Agenda | Amended to add a Claremont capital improvement program update under the strategic plan item. Moved by an unidentified member, Benware adding "As amended."; seconded; voice vote at 0:02:26. |
| 0:02:26 | Approval of minutes | Stated as "June 30th, 2019" (the July 30 minutes, from the discussion). Wording corrected at Benware's request; moved as amended; seconded; voice vote at 0:05:28 with one abstention at 0:05:37. |
| 0:05:43 | Action: 2019-20 school calendar | Approved as presented; mover unidentified; voice vote at 0:07:09. |
| 0:07:18 | First read, discipline policy JICD; review of policy JIC | Interrupted at 0:07:28 for citizens' comments, which had been left off the agenda. Benware moved JICD to second read at 0:12:10; Towle seconded; voice vote at 0:12:30. |
| 0:07:28 | Citizens' comments (not on the printed agenda) | Opened by the chair; no speakers. |
| 0:13:03 | CCTV board of directors appointment | Alex Herzog appointed as a district representative; mover unidentified, seconded; voice vote at 0:13:48. |
| 0:13:56 | Strategic plan update (with capital improvement update later) | Committees formed at the administrative retreat. Informational. |
| 0:29:52 | 2016 fiscal audit report, Claremont School District | Report in the packet; FY17 and FY18 audits in progress; IRS penalty abatement expected. Informational. |
| 0:36:05 | Dartmouth STEM grant information | Presentation. Informational. |
| 0:46:55 | New teacher nominations and vacancies | 33 nominations. Benware moved at 0:50:29; seconded; voice vote at 0:50:44. |
| 0:51:03 | New teacher orientation and mentoring program | Presentation; the handout "didn't make it in" the packet. Informational. |
| 1:01:12 | New student IDs; point-of-sale swipe cards | Presentation. Informational. |
| 1:05:14 | Handbook approvals | Provisional approval moved by the chair at 1:09:16 and restated at 1:12:00; Benware seconded; voice vote at 1:12:24. Final approval set for the next meeting. |
| 1:12:24 | Acceptance of donations, Back to School festival | $250 Claremont Savings Bank; $100 Claremont Police Association. Benware moved at 1:12:59; Petrin seconded; voice vote at 1:13:16. |
| 1:14:23 | Committee report: capital improvement program | Lovett's report. Informational. |
| 1:21:30 | Future agenda items; for the good of the order | Handbooks; the August 29 legislative funding hearing; NHSBA resolutions (deadline November 2); Towle as NHSBA delegate; SAU 6 meeting date. |
| 1:28:53 | Adjournment | Benware moved; seconded; voice vote at 1:28:59. |
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 |
|---|
| 0:01:51 | Agenda amended | A member: "We did want to add to the Claremont Capital Improvement Program." The papers were on members' desks. | |
| 0:02:26 | July 30 minutes corrected | Chair: "We have minutes in front of us from June 30th, 2019." Benware at 0:03:12: the draft "said I made a motion to accept the amount of 205,000 for 16 for the fiscal year 2020 saw district for two additional teachers. Is that what I did or did I did I make a motion to allocate that money to two teachers?" At 0:05:05: "If we can change that second one to allocate." A member at 0:05:37: "I abstain. I was not here." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:06:00 | Calendar | The change concerned a voting day; Magoon at 0:06:39: "It would be February 11th." Approved as presented. | |
| 0:07:28 | Citizens' comments missing | Chair: "Oh, they're not on here. Let's let's stop right there. Citizens. Comments. Sorry. It's not on the agenda. That's my bad." "Note to self we need to put citizens comments in there." No speakers. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:08:41 | Discipline policy JICD | Magoon: "So a short term suspension would be that the up to the principal. So a principal can suspend a student up to ten days." Tempesta at 0:09:53: "The, the policy adopted by the board was actually less than the state." Magoon: "Whereas the current policy does not speak on due process." Moved to second read at 0:12:10. | |
| 0:13:03 | CCTV board seat | Chair: "At this point in time, there's no one from the district on the board." "I would I would like a nomination to appoint Alex to the CCTV board of directors." At 0:13:53: "Okay. Alex is official now." | |
| 0:14:07 | Strategic plan committees | Curriculum, health and wellness, scheduling, technology, safety and college and career readiness committees described. Towle at 0:20:39 on dual enrollment. | |
| 0:22:42 | Competency grading review | Towle asked about satisfaction with the grading change. Superintendent at 0:24:29: "we're going to have a subcommittee on that." At 0:26:26: "I'm not sure the time that that takes is, is worth the energy for so many other apparent gaps that we could concentrate on." | |
| 0:28:55 | Lead-free committee | Sprague: "That's one that Mike and I are already on." At 0:29:23: "I don't think there's any really safe level of lead other than zero." | |
| 0:29:52 | FY2016 audit; IRS | Chair: "2016 fiscal audit report for Claremont School District." Superintendent: "They're still looking 17 and 18." At 0:30:23: "we can anticipate positively in abatement of the fees, maybe a waiving of all the fees." | MEDIUM |
| 0:31:17 | New business administrator | Richard Seaman, "who was a member of the school board and is a Claremont resident", starts October 2; interim help from "John" three days a week until then (0:32:24). | |
| 0:33:18 | Press release on the IRS matter | Petrin: "I'm wondering if we put out a press release to kind of get ahead of this to make to be very transparent with the public". Superintendent at 0:33:50: "They're years behind in a lot of audits, all over the place." | MEDIUM |
| 0:34:38 | Forensic audit? | Towle: "And is that somewhat of a forensic audit?" Superintendent: "So it is not so forensic audits." At 0:35:09: "if they see anything that's leading that way, they would let let me know right away because it costs much more money." Sprague at 0:35:50: "I think restoring some trust with the community based on some of the." | MEDIUM |
| 0:37:33 | Dartmouth science partnership | Moss: "Dartmouth College and Mont Shire Museum have combined to win an award" of "$1.3 million". At 0:40:17: "So at no cost to Claremont, you know, Dartmouth is picking up the tab." Sprague at 0:43:06 asked to see student products at the board: "So, I would love to see some products of this here." | |
| 0:47:04 | 33 teacher nominations | Superintendent: "33 new teachers when we printed this"; at 0:48:28: "we still have, I believe only 2 or 3 teaching positions we're waiting for us to shore up" and "over ten paraprofessional positions". Benware at 0:49:49 asked how to read the salary-step codes. Benware at 0:50:34: "33 people for higher in the Claremont School District." Chair at 0:50:44: "a lot of issues and background checks". | POSITIVE |
| 0:51:33 | New-teacher mentoring | Kane: "Supposed to be something in your packets, but it looks like it didn't make it in." At 0:56:07: "it was 45 new staff members that we have with us this week" and "I have 27 mentors." Towle at 0:58:37 asked to meet new teachers: "but I think it's I think it has to be done." | OBSERVATION |
| 1:01:16 | Student ID cards | Superintendent: the cards are "an outgrowth from the audit report and the findings in basically some of the gaps that we've had with controls over the, you know, the lunch program". Small at 1:02:02: "we were told at elementary schools, hey, somebody just put in a four my four digit pin, and it's not even my kids pin. And nobody would know." Benware at 1:03:42: "I'm not so sure how I feel about those floating around in the community." | MEDIUM |
| 1:06:03 | Handbooks arrived the same day | Towle: "I received the handbooks today. Yeah. Via email." At 1:06:23: "because usually we have a policy of getting it a week ahead." Chair at 1:06:29: in the past the board "tentatively, tentatively approved these as a draft". The high school draft still had notes such as "insert info on 21 kHz." (1:07:46). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:08:16 | Drivers' education contract | Benware on the new provider's price: "It's less. It's less money than I was charging seven years ago." | |
| 1:09:30 | Handbooks provisionally approved | Chair: "We tentatively approve what we've received for handbooks, pending approval at our next board meeting." Benware at 1:11:54: "I think further here on out, we'd like to get it a little earlier." Voice vote at 1:12:24. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:12:59 | Festival donations | Benware: "I move that we accept these two donations. One of $250 from the Claremont Savings Bank and the other of $100 from the Claremont Police Association for the Back to school festival." Petrin: "I'll second that." | |
| 1:14:27 | Capital improvement program | Lovett: "This is the most recent iteration of the capital improvement program." On LED lighting at 1:15:40: "It will return its investment within 2 to 5 years." Benware at 1:18:06: "we don't want to invest money into a one building that may not get used." Lovett at 1:19:43: "What we're trying to avoid is these large amendments that we have to keep making." | |
| 1:19:26 | Capital improvement seat on the budget committee | Towle: "I think that somebody from this committee from the capital Improvement should sit on the budget committee." Benware at 1:20:36: "if you have one extra person from our board sitting there, we have to warn everything that we do, and we can't just meet on a on a Wednesday morning." Chair at 1:21:01: "one of the other three would recuse on that particular meeting". | OBSERVATION |
| 1:22:29 | NHSBA resolutions and delegate | Chair: "So that is never happened at all when I've been in my years on the board." "So we have a November 2nd deadline". Towle at 1:24:09: "I was very pleased when Frank told me that he had nominated me." | |
| 1:26:02 | SAU 6 meeting date | Petrin and the superintendent to set the SAU 6 agenda; the fifth of September chosen tentatively. Sprague at 1:28:15: "we've really relied heavily on Claremont to meet the to meet the the, the quorum for those meetings." | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on August 21, 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. Five flags follow, ordered by severity.
MEDIUM The district's FY2016 audit reached the board in August 2019, with FY2017 and FY2018 still open
The chair introduced the "2016 fiscal audit report for Claremont School District." (0:29:52) and the superintendent said the auditors were "still looking 17 and 18." Two weeks later, at the SAU 6 meeting of September 5, he reported the Claremont FY17 audit closing and FY18 not yet begun. The student ID cards presented at 1:01:16 were described as a response to the audit's findings on lunch-program controls, and the superintendent expected the IRS to abate penalties (0:30:23).
Under the Uniform Guidance, as it read in 2019, a non-federal entity that expends $750,000 or more in federal awards in a year must have a single audit, and the audit and reporting package are 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" (2 CFR 200.501(a), 200.512(a)(1)). For a June 30 fiscal year that is the following March 31. If Claremont's federal expenditures met the threshold, which this page did not verify, the FY2017 audit still open in September 2019 was about seventeen months past that date. Graded MEDIUM rather than HIGH because the threshold is not established here and the board's receipt of a report is not the same as its submission date. In the administration's favor: the delay was disclosed and discussed in open session, controls were being added, and a member asked for a press release "to be very transparent with the public" (0:33:18).
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 member described board committees as needing notice only when a quorum of the full board attends
Opposing a capital improvement member on the budget committee, Benware said: "if you have one extra person from our board sitting there, we have to warn everything that we do, and we can't just meet on a on a Wednesday morning." (1:20:36), and the chair proposed that one member "would recuse on that particular meeting" to keep the number down (1:21:01). The concern about a board quorum is real: RSA 91-A:2, I defines a meeting as "the convening of a quorum" of a public body. But RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), in force throughout this period, makes "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto" a public body in its own right, so a board committee's meetings need notice and minutes whatever the head count. The remark suggests, without proving, that committee meetings were held without notice; no committee minutes from 2019 are online to check.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (2019 codification; source note ends 2008, 354:1): committees and subcommittees are public bodies; RSA 91-A:2, I and II (2019 codification): meeting defined by a quorum; notice and minutes.
OBSERVATION Agenda and packet arrived incomplete: citizens' comments left off, handbooks sent the same day, a presentation missing
The printed agenda omitted citizens' comments; the chair noticed and opened the item late (0:07:28), with no speakers. Towle received the five handbooks by email that day, against what she described as a practice of receiving materials a week ahead (1:06:03, 1:06:23), and the mentoring handout "didn't make it in" the packet (0:51:33). The board handled the handbooks by provisional approval with final approval set for the next meeting (1:09:30). No statute in force in 2019 required a public comment period at school board meetings (RSA 189:74 was enacted in 2022), and the one-week practice is the board's own. Recorded as an observation about how the board received its materials; the chair's correction and the provisional approval both limited the harm. The same omission recurs on September 4.
Sources: the recording as cited. No statutory rule applies for this date.
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes are online; the minutes approved here were misdated and corrected on the floor
MAP.md section 107 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: the board had an agenda and packet, and approved these minutes on September 4. The minutes approved here were introduced as "June 30th, 2019" (0:02:26) though the discussion shows they were the July 30 minutes, and their account of the teacher-funding motion was corrected at the mover's request (0:03:12 to 0:05:05); see the July 30 page. RSA 91-A:2, II required minutes naming "the members who made or seconded each motion"; several movers and seconders here, and the member who abstained, cannot be identified from the recording. The project's missing-records rule is applied on its online-availability limb.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification): minutes content and availability; Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 107.
POSITIVE The board elected the year's 33 new teachers by recorded motion from a printed slate
RSA 189:39 provides that superintendents nominate and school boards elect all teachers. The superintendent presented a printed list of 33 nominees with degree and salary-step codes (0:47:04), a member's question on reading those codes was answered in public (0:49:49), and the board elected the slate by motion and vote (0:50:29, 0:50:44), before school opened. The superintendent also said openly how many posts remained unfilled. That is the statute's procedure followed in public with the working documents in members' hands.
Sources: RSA 189:39 (superintendents nominate and school boards elect teachers; unamended since 1971).
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 10506, "SCHOOL BOARD meeting 8-21-19": 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, audit report or minutes for this meeting were located.
- Related pages: Claremont School Board, July 30, 2019; Claremont School Board, September 4, 2019 (handbooks finally approved; discipline policy adopted); SAU 6 Board, September 5, 2019 (audit status).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/10506 SchoolBoard082119.mp4.CSV (580 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/10506 SchoolBoard082119.mp4Input/Transcripts/10506 SchoolBoard082119.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10506 SchoolBoard082119.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 107
Laws and rules cited on this page