Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part. Names follow the project's dialogue file; no minutes exist online to check spellings against. Where the dialogue file marks an identification as uncertain, so does this table. Members are listed first.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Presided; moved the auditor up the agenda; explained on the record how the $1.3 million in restored aid would be split and why this year's half needed a special meeting; reported on a Medicaid-billing workshop and the draft state rules; reminded voters to bring ID to the November 21 meeting. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Vice Chair | Seconded the agenda and the November 6 minutes. After the audit update: "I feel like I can sleep tonight finally after three years on this board." Presented the four policies for first reading for the policy subcommittee; said "we're actually with a budget that is honest. Finally." |
| Jason Benware | Board member | Moved the agenda, the corrected November 6 minutes, entry into and exit from nonpublic session, sealing of the nonpublic minutes, the RSA 40:16 special meeting and the policies. Asked for budget lines showing the shift from out-of-district costs to in-district programs. Rendered Jason Pendleton in the nonpublic roll call. |
| Heather Whitney | Board member | Identified by the dialogue file by elimination (medium confidence). Asked that the public be told the new programs replace tuition already being paid, that Claremont students take precedence over tuition students, and whether the district could hire an advanced practice nurse to protect Medicaid billing. |
| Carolyn Towle | Board member | Asked the student representative to introduce himself each time for CCTV viewers; asked for the food service debt broken down by school; asked that instructions for watching meetings online be posted on the website and that members avoid unexplained acronyms. Rendered Tall in the roll call. |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Board member | Answered the roll. The dialogue file assigns him, with low confidence, the remark at 1:10:46 urging voters to "think long term" rather than take a one-time tax cut, and the motion to adjourn. |
| Michael Petrin | Board member | Answered the roll (Michael, patron); no other words are attributed to him. |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Presented costs for another PRIDE classroom, an autism program and a Stevens High School program for at-risk students, and the tuition revenue he expected them to attract; described court-ordered placements costing "about 180,000 last year and $280,000 a year before". |
| Michael Campbell | Auditor, Plodzik & Sanderson | Gave the audit status update. He introduces himself as Michael Campbell Plaza and Sanderson; the chair introduces him as Mr. Michael Campo from Plods and Sanderson. The dialogue file marks both spellings uncertain; see the method note. |
| Matt Upton | District attorney, Drummond Woodsum | Advised on the website-posting question for the special district meeting and recommended a curative meeting under RSA 40:16. Thanked by name by the chair. |
| Richard Seaman | Business administrator, SAU 6 (uncertain) | Gave the food service report. The dialogue file marks this attribution uncertain: he is not named on the recording, and the voice was diarized with the chair's. |
| Donna Magoon | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Showed changes to the website's registration page made after a parent complaint, with staff members Jeff and Tammy. |
| Ben Nester | Director of Special Education, SAU 6 | Said the district is "obligated to meet these students needs under Ida" and is trying to do so "in a fiscally sustainable manner"; reported an advanced practice nurse position posted for months "With zero applicants". |
| Mary Woodman | School district clerk and recording secretary | Called the attendance roll and the nonpublic roll call. |
| Tyler Sullivan | Student representative, Stevens High School | Reported the school news, led by the "I apply" day: 57 students submitted 188 applications. First name from the December 4 recording; spelling 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 on the recording. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:07 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | All seven members answer or speak. |
| 0:01:02 | Agenda amendment and approval | Auditor's presentation moved to directly after citizens' comments, before the nonpublic session. Benware moved, Zullo seconded; approved by voice vote. |
| 0:02:00 | Minutes of November 6 | Approved with Benware's correction: "It should be 650,000, not 650 million." Benware moved, Zullo seconded. |
| 0:03:04 | Student representative report | School news by the student representative. |
| 0:08:00 | Presentation: Stevens extended learning opportunities | Moved to a later meeting. |
| 0:08:10 | Citizens' comments | No speaker. |
| 0:08:29 | Audit update, Plodzik & Sanderson | Status report; no vote. |
| 0:15:43 | Nonpublic session | Benware moved to enter nonpublic session under "RSA 91 a colon three sub paragraph two" for "consideration of legal advice provided by legal counsel"; roll call. Out at 0:30:59 by roll call. Benware moved to seal the minutes; seconded; voice vote (0:31:37). |
| 0:31:40 | Superintendent's report | Special education program costs; website registration changes. |
| 1:01:12 | Special district meeting: posting question | Counsel's advice. Benware moved "that the Claremont School District hold a special district meeting pursuant to RSA 4016 [RSA 40:16], for the purposes of curing any alleged defects in the posting of the November 21st, 2019 Special District Meeting" on December 12, 2019; seconded by an unidentified member; approved by voice vote. |
| 1:14:44 | Report on food service unpaid debt | Report by the business administrator; breakdown by school requested for January. |
| 1:22:12 | Policies, first reading | Indoor air quality, staff ethics, teacher performance and evaluation system, reporting child abuse or neglect. Benware moved them to second reading; approved by voice vote. |
| 1:26:19 | Future agenda items | Food service in January; head lice update; budgeting and negotiations ahead. |
| 1:27:30 | Other business | Medicaid workshop report; January 8 meeting date; online viewing instructions; seating and ID for the special meeting; childcare at meetings. |
| 1:40:18 | Adjournment | Motion attributed to Lovett (low confidence), seconded by Benware; 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 |
|---|
| 0:01:02 | Agenda and minutes | Auditor moved up because "he has to drive quite a ways". November 6 minutes corrected from "650 million" to "650,000". | |
| 0:03:07 | Student representative | "57 students send out applications on 188 applications were submitted", up from "45 student centered applications with 101 applications" last year. Towle asked him to introduce himself each time for viewers. | |
| 0:08:42 | Audit status: fiscal 2017 and 2018 | "To start with December 17th. We plan on issuing a final report on that the first week of December." [From context, the fiscal 2017 audit.] "We actually have issued a draft." For fiscal 2018: "We plan on having the field work done this year." The records audited "were not maintained by the same people currently in place". Management letters will look "very similar" to past ones. | MEDIUM |
| 0:10:32 | Audit status: fiscal 2019 and the cause | "Fiscal year 19. Our goal is to have that in time for the federal clearinghouse, which is March 31st of 2020." Under the previous administration "There were times where we actually arrived in Claremont to find out that management would not be available". Cory LeClair (Corey Leclerc) "did help facilitate a lot of what we've accomplished". | MEDIUM |
| 0:12:21 | "Most delinquent" | "my firm does roughly 170 municipal audits a year, of which over 100 of them are school districts. I don't say it with pride. This has been one of our most delinquent clients in the history of a 40, 45 year firm." He said the finance staff's "general tone" had improved. Zullo: "I feel like I can sleep tonight finally after three years on this board." | MEDIUM |
| 0:15:43 | Into nonpublic session | Motion for "nonpublic session for RSA 91 a colon three sub paragraph two", reading the exemption for "consideration of legal advice provided by legal counsel, either in writing or to one or more members of the public body, even where legal counsel is not present." Roll call from 0:16:05. Recording gap until 0:30:54. | |
| 0:30:59 | Out of nonpublic; minutes sealed | Roll call to come out. Then: "I'd like to make a motion to seal the minutes for 93 years." Seconded; "All those in favor?" with no roll call and no audible count or stated reason. | MEDIUM |
| 0:32:14 | Special education programs: PRIDE | Another PRIDE classroom: teacher about $43,000, half a board-certified behavior analyst, two paraprofessionals; "It would be about 182,000 for the whole program." Tuition students at 65,000: "we would have the potential to make about $500 in that one classroom" [amount as transcribed]. | |
| 0:36:01 | Autism program | Three students who may go to placements averaging about 90,000: "that's 270,000 that we think might go out before July 1st this year." Three placed students who might return: "the actual number of their 287 561". A 12-seat program, with "room for six other tuitions at $90,000". | |
| 0:39:43 | Board questions | Whitney: "expanding these programs does not mean that we're actually expanding our overall budget because we're already paying for these students." The chair: out-of-district services beyond the IEP are not recoverable from Medicaid. Whitney asked that Claremont students "always take precedence". | |
| 0:48:50 | Revenue and accountability | Zullo: "this is going to save money in the long run." Benware asked to see "money invested in the program and less out of district placement cost" in the line items. Nester: "we're obligated to meet these students needs under Ida". | |
| 0:53:45 | At-risk students; court placements | "about 30 students at Stevens High right now who are identified as at risk"; court-ordered placements cost "about 180,000 last year and $280,000 a year before". The programs can be done "for about 175,000", which is "exactly why we're targeting the the amount for the 650". Whitney cited rising numbers of drug-affected births; a member noted pre-1978 housing and lead paint. | |
| 0:59:23 | Website registration page | Magoon showed the revised registration page listing each school's contact; Benware asked for bus sign-up information. | |
| 1:01:24 | Counsel on the posting question | "There's a strong argument that there was no requirement to post, notice of the special district meeting on the SA six website." The statute says "if such a website exists" and "there actually is no Claremont School District website". The DRA "encouraged us to go forward with the meeting tomorrow night". He recommended "scheduling a special district meeting pursuant to RSA 4016 [RSA 40:16] for the purposes of curing any alleged defects". Motion carried by voice vote at 1:05:31. | POSITIVE |
| 1:06:01 | What the money is | The chair: $1.3 million this year, half to programs and "The other 650,000 that we're getting this year, will go back to the taxpayers"; next year "an additional 1.6 million" and "2.12 million in infrastructure aid". Benware: a restoration of aid "cut by us since 2016, about 4% a year". Zullo: "we're actually with a budget that is honest. Finally." | |
| 1:14:55 | Food service debt | The state accepted the food service application and September and October claims were filed. "we had a balance, a negative balance of $25,900 at the end of fiscal 19", up "by another $6,000". "We are not letting students do what is called a la carte or specialty items", "but a meal is provided to every student". Outside groups have offered to pay down the debt; community eligibility, as at Bluff, to be examined. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:22:12 | Policies, first reading | Zullo: the staff ethics policy "doesn't even come up on the website"; the committee adopted the state's model language for several policies and will look further at sexual harassment policies. Moved to second reading. | |
| 1:27:30 | Medicaid billing | The chair reported a workshop on new rules requiring physician sign-off, with mental health services "the real stickler". "Initially, the potential loss was three quarters of a million." Nester: an advanced practice nurse post has drawn "zero applicants", but "I feel much more positive". | |
| 1:36:44 | Viewing instructions; special meeting logistics | Towle asked that instructions for watching meetings online be put on the website. Chair: at the special meeting "they check your ID when you come in"; registered voters sit in one section. Benware suggested childcare at future meetings. | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on November 20, 2019, and each flag cites the text 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. Ordered by severity.
MEDIUM By the auditor's own account, the fiscal 2017 and 2018 audits were far past the federal nine-month single-audit deadline
Federal rules in force in 2019 required a single audit to be completed and filed with the federal clearinghouse "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 a fiscal year ending June 30, nine months is March 31. On that measure the fiscal 2017 audit was due by March 31, 2018 and the fiscal 2018 audit by March 31, 2019. At 0:09:21 the auditor said the fiscal 2017 final report would issue "the first week of December" 2019, about twenty months after that date, and that fiscal 2018 fieldwork would be done "this year". He called the district "one of our most delinquent clients in the history of a 40, 45 year firm" (0:12:21). His target of March 31, 2020 for fiscal 2019 (0:10:32) matches the nine-month deadline.
Mitigation stated on the record: the delays arose under the previous administration, whose management was sometimes unavailable to the auditors, and the current staff and interim help had made "serious progress". The tape does not state the district's annual federal expenditures for fiscal 2017 or 2018; the auditor's reference to the "federal clearinghouse" concerns fiscal 2019. The single-audit duty and its nine-month deadline apply only in a year the district spent $750,000 or more in federal awards (2 CFR 200.501(a)), which the recording does not establish for those two years. For that reason this is graded MEDIUM rather than HIGH, although a district running federal school meal and education grant programs of Claremont's size would ordinarily pass the threshold. The audit delay itself is on the auditor's own statements.
Sources: 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1) (2019 annual CFR edition): audit submitted within the earlier of 30 days after the auditor's report or nine months after period end; 2 CFR 200.501(a) (2018 annual CFR edition): single audit required at $750,000 in federal expenditures.
MEDIUM The nonpublic minutes were sealed on a voice vote, with no stated statutory reason and no audible count
Under RSA 91-A:3, III as it read in 2019, nonpublic minutes "shall be publicly disclosed within 72 hours of the meeting, unless, by recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present taken in public session, it is determined that" disclosure would likely harm the reputation of a non-member, "render the proposed action ineffective", or pertain to terrorism. At 0:31:30 Benware moved "to seal the minutes for 93 years" (the period as transcribed; the statute sets no fixed term), it was seconded, and the chair called "All those in favor?" No roll call was taken, no count is audible, and no one stated which of the statutory determinations applied.
Mitigation: entry into and exit from the session were by roll call, the entry motion stated the exemption on its face by reading the text of paragraph II(l), and minutes of this meeting were kept and approved on December 4; they may record a tally and a reason that the tape does not. Consultation with counsel is a common reason to seal, but the statute's determination still has to be made. This is a documentation gap on the recording, not a finding that the seal was invalid.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(l) and III (2019 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1 and 280:1): motion states the exemption; legal-advice exemption; 72-hour disclosure unless sealed by recorded 2/3 vote with a determination.
OBSERVATION Students were barred from a la carte items while a meal was guaranteed; the state meal-policy law then in force requires no different treatment
The business administrator said at 1:16:57 that "We are not letting students do what is called a la carte or specialty items. You can't get coffee or you can't get other items in there, but a meal is provided to every student". In context this appears to describe students with unpaid balances, though he does not say so in terms. RSA 189:11-a, VIII, added by 2019, 301:1 effective July 1, 2019, requires a meal payment policy to ensure "that no student will be subject to different treatment from the standard school lunch meal or school cafeteria procedures." Whether a restriction on items outside the standard meal is "different treatment" under that paragraph is a question the statute's text does not settle, which is why this is an observation. The district's stated practice of feeding every child regardless of balance fits the paragraph's core requirement that all students "have access to a healthy school lunch".
Sources: RSA 189:11-a, VIII (2019 codification; 2019, 301:1, eff. July 1, 2019): meal payment policy, access to a healthy lunch, no different treatment.
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting are posted online
MAP.md 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 evidence that records were never made: the board approved the November 6 minutes with a correction at 0:02:00, and the December 4 recording shows these minutes approved. In 2019, RSA 91-A:2, II required minutes to be open to inspection "not more than 5 business days after the meeting". The limb of the project's missing-records rule applied is the online-availability observation. Zullo also said at 1:23:00 that the staff ethics policy "doesn't even come up on the website", a gap in the district's online policy manual at the time.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1); Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 115.
POSITIVE Facing a disputed posting defect, the board chose the statutory cure rather than rely on its lawyer's argument that no defect existed
RSA 197:3-a, V required notice of the special meeting on "the school district's website, if such exists". Counsel told the board at 1:01:24 that there was "a strong argument" the SAU 6 site is not the district's website, but recommended a curative meeting anyway, and the board voted at 1:05:10 to hold one on December 12. RSA 40:16 allows an official-ballot district to "call a special meeting for the exclusive purpose of curing such defect according to RSA 31:5-b", and RSA 31:5-b, II requires that meeting to fall at least 21 days after the original vote and to be preceded by a public hearing at least 7 days before. December 12 is exactly 21 days after November 21. The chair also explained publicly what the money was and how it would be split before the next night's vote.
Sources: RSA 197:3-a, V (2019 codification): meeting notice on the district website "if such exists" 7 days before; RSA 40:16 (2019 codification; source 1999, 86:4); RSA 31:5-b, II(b)-(c) (2019 codification; source 1989, 287:1): at least 21 days after the original vote; hearing at least 7 days before.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 10623, "SCHOOL BOARD MEETING of 11-20-19": 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, audit report, management letter, slides, policy drafts or minutes for this meeting were located.
- Related pages: November 6, 2019 (public hearing on the warrant); November 21, 2019 special district meeting; December 4, 2019 (curative hearing).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/10623 SchoolBoard112019.mp4.CSV (501 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/10623 SchoolBoard112019.mp4Input/Transcripts/10623 SchoolBoard112019.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10623 SchoolBoard112019.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 115
Laws and rules cited on this page