Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part, as named in the project's dialogue file. Public speakers are listed in speaking order with the ward they gave. Where the dialogue file leaves a voice Unidentified, this page does too.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Unidentified | School district moderator (presiding) | Called the meeting to order, read the rules of procedure, recognized speakers, ruled on a written-ballot request and ran the voice and standing votes. Addressed as madam and "Madam moderator" but never named on the recording. |
| Matt Upton | School board attorney (Drummond Woodsum) | Explained the posting defects and the reason for the meeting (0:05:07). Heard as at Upton and Attorney Appleton; identified by the dialogue file from the roster. |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Introduced the administrative staff and presented the three special-education programs the money would fund; answered questions. |
| Frank Sprague | Chair, Claremont School Board | Introduced the board and district officers; spoke for the article with the time Benware yielded (0:16:10); answered a voter on tax effects. |
| Jason Benware | Member, Claremont School Board; Ward 1 | Read the article (0:14:43); later spoke in favor as a voter (0:22:27). |
| Carolyn Towle | Member, Claremont School Board | Seconded the article (0:15:45); heard as Carolyn Cole. |
| Rebecca Zullo, Michael Petrin, Rob Lovett Jr., Heather Whitney | Members, Claremont School Board | Introduced by the chair (0:02:34): Zullo as vice chair, Petrin as SAU board chair. Zullo led the pledge. No other speech is attributed to them. |
| Mary Woodman | School district clerk | Introduced by the chair as Mary (0:02:53). |
| Donna Magoon, Richard Seaman, Ben Nester, Jeff Small | Assistant superintendent; business administrator; director of special education; director of technology | Introduced by the superintendent (0:02:03); not heard speaking. |
| Samantha Bailey | Public, Ward 3 | Asked about transition plans from elementary to middle school; the moderator then ruled that questions wait until the article is on the floor. Spelling unverified. |
| Unidentified | Public, Ward 3 | Spoke against: the tax relief should go to taxpayers and the board had not provided a business plan (0:19:21). The name is garbled in the transcript. |
| Cynthia Howard | Public, Ward 2 | Spoke against: the plan adds staff and money was earlier put into the operating budget without a separate article (0:25:47). Identification rests on the moderator's recognition and a November 21 self-identification. |
| Daryl | Public, Ward 1; district employee since 1978 | Spoke in favor from long experience in special education (0:28:32). Surname not stated. |
| Cassie Burke | Public, Ward 3; parent | Spoke in favor as the parent of an autistic son facing out-of-district placement (0:31:32). Transcribed as Kathy Burke; the dialogue file uses the spelling from December 4. |
| Unidentified | Attendee, not a registered voter | Came to the podium; the moderator confirmed the person was not a registered voter (0:33:52). |
| Unidentified | Public; retired businessman | Asked about future cost growth (0:34:17). |
| Unidentified (two speakers) | Public | One spoke in favor on out-of-district costs (0:38:18); one asked why vocational programming for high school life-skills students was not included (0:40:51). |
| Tom | Public | Asked where the savings would go (0:43:22). Recognized by first name only. |
| Unidentified | Board member or administrator | Answered Tom on budget pressures (0:44:42); the dialogue file could not identify the voice. |
| Paul Cass and Scott Pope | Vote counters | Named by the moderator as counters for the standing vote (0:46:51). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
The warrant was not located online. This outline is reconstructed from the moderator's transitions on the recording. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:27 | Call to order; seating; pledge | Registered voters seated separately; childcare offered by Stevens students. |
| 0:01:56 | Introductions | Administrative staff and attorney; school board and district officers. |
| 0:03:00 | Rules of procedure | Proponents five minutes, others two; written, signed motions and amendments; speakers sign in with name and ward. |
| 0:04:44 | Purpose of the meeting | District attorney on the posting defects at the November 21 meeting. |
| 0:07:22 | Superintendent's presentation | Autism program, a second PRIDE classroom, an alternative high school program. |
| 0:14:10 | Article 1: special education funding | Read by Benware, seconded by Towle. Debate from 0:18:04. Question moved at 0:45:54. Voice vote doubted; counted standing vote: "The final vote was 70. Yes. 12. No." (0:52:44). Article carried. |
| 0:52:55 | Close | "That concludes tonight's meeting." |
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 |
|---|
| 0:02:34 | Board introduced | "My immediate right is assistant board chair Rebecca Zullo, saw board chair Mike patron, Rob Lovett, Heather Whitney, Jason Benoit and Carolyn Toll on the end, and I'm Frank Sprague." | |
| 0:03:24 | Sign-in for speakers | "If you could please sign your name clearly or print it and your word of residence. We were having a difficult time last meeting, hearing the names of the people speaking." | POSITIVE |
| 0:05:07 | Why the meeting was needed | Upton: the statute requires notice of the hearing and of the meeting "be posted on the district the school district website, seven days prior". "In this case, that did not occur." The district "doesn't have a website"; notices went on the SAU site "as a courtesy". The DRA "believes that because the district utilizes the website, it has been adopted the website". Defects: no hearing notice on the website, and the meeting notice "was posted six days ahead of the Special District meeting, not seven" (0:06:34). | MEDIUM POSITIVE |
| 0:07:36 | What the money is for | Autism program first: three students ready to go out, each placement "on average, $90,000", "to the tune of about $270,000". The PRIDE program: two students returned, "that's 155 000"; if seven more went out, "another $500,000" (0:09:07). Third priority, an alternative high school program. "we're talking about three programs for 650,000, which will go fast" (0:12:22). | |
| 0:13:00 | When questions may be asked | The moderator asked people to "refrain from asking questions until the Warren is really on the board for discussion"; a voter objected; the moderator: "I'm sorry, that was not appropriate. And the questions will come after." | |
| 0:14:43 | The article | "vote to establish a special education expendable trust fund pursuant to RSA 198 20 C for the purposes of funding special education costs, and you raise an appropriate the sum of $650,000 to be added to the fund." Then: "Shall the Claremont School District vote to ratify the affirmative vote at the November 21st, 2019 Special District meeting, specifically curing any defects in procedure as required by RSA 1973 A" [197:3-a]. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:16:13 | Chair: a business case | "Our stabilization grants have been restored." The money is "seed money"; "It's money that we that will have no burden on the taxpayers at all, invest in programs and we should see or will see immediate returns" (0:17:22). | |
| 0:18:04 | What a yes vote means | Moderator: "an affirmative vote tonight to ratify the November 21st vote is an endorsement to establish the Special Education Expendable Trust Fund"; "a negative vote will disallow the establishment". | |
| 0:19:21 | Against: return the relief | "The school board is asking us to provide $650,000, or exactly half of that tax." "The school board did not provide a business plan for specific amounts needed to fund this project." Urged a no vote (0:20:59). | |
| 0:21:28 | Written ballot request | A voter asked for a written ballot. Moderator: "In order to do that, you have to have presented the request in writing to me with five registered voters signatures prior to opening of the discussion on the ballot." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:22:27 | For: invest, not spend | Benware: "Last year, we took out 12 positions to keep the tax rate level"; legislators who punish a district for investing "don't deserve to be in Concord"; "I'm not a spender, but I am an investor" (0:24:19). | |
| 0:25:47 | Against: staff and the budget | Howard: the special-education plans "actually added 25, 25 staff members"; "you've slipped over almost $400,000 into the original main budget that was voted on earlier this year"; "It wasn't a separate warrant article for us to vote on" (0:26:51). These are the speaker's characterizations; no document was available to test them. | |
| 0:28:37 | For: programs that last | Daryl: past programs failed as "Band-Aid approaches"; the PRIDE program "has clear entry and exit criteria"; "Sending a student out of district is so far down the continuum on a least restrictive environment" (0:30:14). | |
| 0:31:38 | For: a parent | Burke: "There is no place here for my son. None. He has to be placed out of district because there is no place for him." "the minimum is $90,000 a year. That's not the max" (0:31:59). | |
| 0:34:17 | Question: future cost | "I don't want to vote for this. And then in three years, say, oh, we need $6 million to keep this program going". Superintendent: space exists "within elementary classrooms to start"; the business plan "has been online for for weeks now" (0:35:55). | |
| 0:40:51 | Question: life-skills students | "There's nothing at the school, at the high school for him to be able to go out to the community". Superintendent: "We can get that here." The program list was built "as soon as we could" after the money was freed up (0:41:58). | |
| 0:43:22 | Where do savings go? | Tom asked whether savings return to taxpayers. Sprague: "it's going to offset, current expenses, ongoing expenses, so that we don't have to raise taxes" (0:44:03). An unidentified answer: "if we are able to save our district $600,000 by not sending kids out of district, it's likely it gets eaten up with all those increases" (0:45:07). | |
| 0:45:54 | Question moved; vote | "Madam moderator, like to move the question." Voice vote; "I believe the ayes have it. Is anyone questioning that decision" (0:46:51); counted standing vote with registered-voter cards and two counters. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:52:44 | Result | "The final vote was 70. Yes. 12. No." | POSITIVE |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on December 12, 2019. They are not findings of violation, and nothing here is legal advice. Each flag names the rule it rests on; where no verified rule applies, it is recorded as an observation. Four flags follow, ordered by severity.
MEDIUM By the district attorney's own account, the November 21 special meeting was not noticed as RSA 197:3-a requires
The November 21, 2019 meeting was held under RSA 197:3-a, which lets an official-ballot district act on a change in state education aid in a single session. In force on these dates, its paragraph IV required notice of the public hearing to be posted in at least two public places, "one of which shall be on the school district's website, if such exists, at least 7 days prior to the hearing", and paragraph V required the same for the meeting notice and warrant. The district's attorney told the voters that the hearing notice was not posted on the website at all and that the meeting notice went up "six days ahead of the Special District meeting, not seven" (0:05:07, 0:06:34). He added that the district argued it had no website of its own, while the DRA took the view that it had adopted the SAU's. The statute's words "if such exists" are the crux of that disagreement, and this page does not resolve it. Under the severity rule the defect is graded MEDIUM, not HIGH, because the record mitigates it: the district identified the problem, took advice, and called this meeting to cure it (flag 4).
Sources: RSA 197:3-a, I, IV, V and VII (2019 codification; source note 2013, 197:1, eff. Sept. 7, 2013).
OBSERVATION The moderator's deadline for a written-ballot request was earlier than the statute's, and a doubted vote went to a standing count
When a voter asked for a written ballot, the moderator ruled that the request had to be in writing with five registered voters' signatures "prior to opening of the discussion on the ballot" (0:21:37). RSA 40:4-a, I, as it read on this date, gives five voters present the right to request a secret ballot "in writing prior to a vote by voice vote or division vote". On the recording no written, five-signature request was made, so the outcome would likely have been the same; the recorded rule, though, was stricter than the statute's timing. Later, when the voice vote was doubted (0:46:51), the moderator held a counted standing vote. RSA 40:4-b requires a vote questioned by seven or more voters to be retaken by secret ballot; the recording does not show how many questioned it. Both sections are written for town meetings; RSA 197:19 gives a district moderator a town moderator's powers, but whether 40:4-a and 40:4-b bind a single-session district meeting under RSA 197:3-a has not been verified here, so this is an observation.
Sources: RSA 40:4-a, I (2019 codification; source note ends 2006, 117:1); RSA 40:4-b (1971, 524:1; never amended); RSA 197:19 (1979, 321:6).
OBSERVATION The trust fund was created under RSA 198:20-c, so each later expenditure needs its own public hearing
The article as read establishes the fund "pursuant to RSA 198 20 C" (0:14:43). As it read on this date, RSA 198:20-c lets a district create expendable trust funds for specific purposes, allows the school board to be named agents to expend, limits spending to the fund's purpose, and requires that "the school board shall hold a public hearing prior to the expenditure", with notice in a newspaper of general circulation at least seven days before. Whether the article named the board as agents cannot be heard: the transcription of the article breaks off ("such sum to come from increases in the okay"). Later pages that record spending from this fund should check for the prior hearing. The superintendent's placement figures and the chair's expected savings are projections stated at the meeting, not audited results.
Sources: RSA 198:20-c, I and II (2019 codification; source note ends 2012, 219:2, 3).
POSITIVE The district disclosed its own notice defect and cured it on the statutory timetable, with a counted vote
Rather than rely on the November 21 vote, the district had its attorney explain the defect to the voters (0:05:07) and put a ratification to them to "protect the sanctity of the vote and provide more transparency" (0:06:34). RSA 40:16 allows an official-ballot district to call a single-session special meeting "for the exclusive purpose of curing such defect according to RSA 31:5-b". RSA 31:5-b requires a public hearing not less than 7 calendar days before the curing meeting, a meeting not less than 21 calendar days after the original vote, and the same majority as the original article. The board chair said at the SAU 6 meeting of December 5 that the hearing had been held "last night", December 4, eight days before this meeting; December 12 is exactly 21 days after November 21; and the article carried 70 to 12 on a counted standing vote with two named counters. The moderator also had speakers sign in with name and ward because names had been lost at the last meeting (0:03:24). The notice for this meeting itself could not be checked, as no notice or warrant is online.
Sources: RSA 40:16 (1999, 86:4); RSA 31:5-b (2019 codification; source note ends 1989, 287:1).
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 10649, "SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT MEETING regarding funding warrant 12-12-19": Claremont Community TV, CLAREMONT SCHOOLS gallery. 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 section 119, checked 9/26/26). The warrant, notices, business plan and minutes were not located.
- Related pages: SAU 6 Board, December 5, 2019 (the chair's account of the defect and the December 4 hearing) and Claremont School Board, January 8, 2020 (the superintendent's later report on outplacements). The November 21 and December 4, 2019 recordings are listed in MAP.md sections 116 and 117.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/10649 SchoolBoardSpecial121219.mp4.CSV (195 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/10649 SchoolBoardSpecial121219.mp4Input/Transcripts/10649 SchoolBoardSpecial121219.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10649 SchoolBoardSpecial121219.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 119
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 197:3-a (2019 codification): single-session special meeting for a change in state education aid; website posting 7 days before hearing and meeting.
- RSA 40:16 and RSA 31:5-b (2019 codification): legalization of meetings; 7-day hearing, 21-day interval, same majority.
- RSA 198:20-c (2019 codification): expendable trust funds; hearing before each expenditure.
- RSA 40:4-a, RSA 40:4-b and RSA 197:19: secret-ballot request, questioning a vote, powers of the district moderator.