Participants
Everyone in the record. Names follow the dialogue CSV; where the CSV says Unidentified, this page says unidentified. ASR renderings are shown in code. Residents are listed in speaking order with the ward they gave; several surnames rest on the transcription alone. No minutes were available to check spellings.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Ran the hearing (three minutes per speaker, "you must speak to me") and the meeting; told a resident his snow-plowing question belonged in the regular meeting; voted against the reduction. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Vice Chair | Seconded Whitney's reduction and voted for it; questioned the calendar's fit with Newport's. |
| Heather Whitney | Board member; capital improvement committee | Spoke on college preparation during the hearing; moved to cut the two reserve articles to $350,000 and $150,000: "I'd rather have 250 than nothing." |
| Jason Benware | Board member; budget subcommittee | Answered hearing questions on the default budget; moved the budget twice; moved policy DAF and the calendar. Rendered Jason Benoit at roll. |
| Carolyn Towle | Board member | Called for further public forums on restructuring; first saw the reserve articles "last week"; complained the room was freezing. Rendered Carolyn. Joel at roll. |
| Rob Lovett Jr.; Michael Petrin | Board members | Named in the roll call (Michael. Patron); not identified speaking. |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk and recording secretary | Called the roll (1:45:31). |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Announced the restructuring postponement: "If I had it to do over again and I was just talking to staff today. I would have waited to present that out." Answered questions on restructuring, pre-K and middle-school staffing. |
| Richard Seaman | Business administrator, SAU 6 | Presented budget, revenues, tax rate and default budget; "I've sat on this side as a member of the board". Could not explain several inherited lines; promised an answer on the snow-plowing contract. |
| Donna Magoon | SAU 6 administrator (addressed "Donna" and Mrs. Magnus) | Presented policy DAF and the 2020–21 calendar; reported ten sign-ups for the restructuring focus group; spoke on pre-K. |
| Unidentified administrator | Speaks on pre-K and early childhood | At 1:05:03 and 1:08:27; never named. |
| Tyler Sullivan | Student representative, speaking as a Ward 1 resident (surname as heard) | Defended middle-school social studies; asked about bus maintenance and the Disnard budget. |
| Patrick Adrian | Resident, Ward 1 | Asked for detail on the $1.5 million capital improvements. |
| Cynthia Howard | Resident, Ward 2 | Asked about Stevens renovation debt, pellet-boiler savings, the teacher contract, and restructuring costs; opposed adding social studies teachers. |
| Dave | Resident, Ward 3; spouse of a teacher | Concerns about restructuring's effect on families and teachers. |
| Misty Wheelock | Resident, Ward 3 | Restructuring would lose older-student role models. |
| Amanda Barton | Resident, Ward 2 | Asked why the default budget is so low. |
| Brianna Gordon | Resident, Ward 2 | Transitions for students with disabilities. |
| Mike Levine | Resident, Ward 1 (spelling as heard) | Mixed-age socialization. |
| Sam Torres | Resident, Ward 1; preschool teacher | Universal pre-K questions. |
| Michelle | Resident, Ward 2 | Asked for evidence and data supporting reconfiguration; asked whether full-day pre-K depends on it. |
| Rod Beaton | Resident, Ward 2 | Asked when the board knew of the plan; asked for more communication. |
| Vicky White | Resident, Ward 3 | Asked whether restructuring would go to a citizen vote. |
| Joyce Hines | Resident, Ward 2 (surname as heard) | For K–5 neighborhood schools. |
| Samantha Fontaine | Resident (ward heard as the Maple Ward) | Bus rules for siblings at different schools. |
| Shelly | Resident, Ward 2; kindergarten teacher in the district | Asked for the driving force behind restructuring. |
| Norm Saint Aubin | Resident, Ward 3 (spelling as heard) | Complained that the district's own trucks plow while a paid contractor does not. |
| Fred Weber | Resident, Ward 1 | Thanked the board for the information. |
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. The regular session had a written agenda ("We have an agenda in front of us tonight"). Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:09 | Public hearing on the 2020–21 budget: call to order | The chair outlines the order: restructuring update, budget and warrant articles, default budget, then citizens' comments. |
| 0:01:37 | Elementary restructuring update | Postponed a year; focus groups and online input announced. Informational. |
| 0:06:34 | Overview of the 2021 budget and warrant articles | Superintendent and business administrator; questions taken at 0:18:57. Informational. |
| 0:36:16 | Default budget | Presented by the business administrator. Informational. |
| 0:38:41 | Citizens' comments on the budget and restructuring | About sixteen residents spoke; board members responded from 1:28:36. Hearing closed at 1:36:39. |
| 1:44:49 | Regular meeting: call to order, Pledge, roll call | Roll at 1:45:30. |
| 1:45:44 | Approval of the agenda | Approved on a voice vote. |
| 1:46:06 | Minutes of the previous meeting (January 15) | Approved on a voice vote after the date was settled as 115. |
| 1:46:44 | Citizens' comments | One speaker (snow plowing). |
| 1:52:52 | Vote to move the FY21 budget and warrant articles to the deliberative session | Benware moves; Whitney's reduction (Article 6 to $350,000, Article 7 to $150,000) fails "4 to 2", ayes Whitney and Zullo; new motion (Benware, Sprague second) to move the $38,202,661 budget with Articles 6 and 7 at $500,000 each carries on a voice vote at 2:13:16. |
| 2:13:36 | Policy DAF (federal funds), second and final read | Approved on a voice vote (Benware motion). |
| 2:15:26 | 2020–21 school calendar | Start date August 31; approved on a voice vote (Benware motion, Sprague second). |
| 2:20:53 | Future agenda items; good of the order | Deliberative session and a Sunday, February 23 retreat; cold-room complaint; focus-group sign-ups. |
| 2:24:20 | Adjournment | Moved and carried on a voice vote. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological, from the dialogue CSV. Each time is the start of the cited row, 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 |
|---|
| 0:00:09 | Hearing opened | "I'd like to bring the public hearing for the 2020 2021 school budget to order. January 21st, 2020 at 6:30 p.m.." | POSITIVE |
| 0:02:27 | Restructuring postponed | "at this point, we have decided that we're going to push that off to next year". "If I had it to do over again and I was just talking to staff today. I would have waited to present that out." "at no time did we have any linkages between that, that the present budget was contingent upon that". | POSITIVE |
| 0:11:42 | Inherited lines | Seaman: "In the course of my three and a half months here, I could never find substantiation for why we had that there, so I've not included it in next year's budget for a reduction of 65,000." On out-of-district special education: "I don't know why 380 was put in there". | OBSERVATION |
| 0:20:20 | Capital improvements | "We're looking at about $650,000 of roofs. We're looking at about $400,000 of renovations, primarily over at the Dow building." HVAC "approximately 275,000". | |
| 0:22:00 | Middle-school positions | Chair: the middle school positions were "at least partly funded by efficiencies that were executed at the sea level" [SAU level]. | |
| 0:30:21 | Tax rate | "$15,363,082 from taxes"; "a total tax rate that will be being paid of $22.42, which is compares to the $24.49 that we had from this year's budget, or a reduction of $2.07." (At the deliberative session the same slide was read as $22.47.) | |
| 0:36:16 | Default budget | Removes the $1.5 million of capital work and the teachers' increase; "We have approximately 30 vacant positions that are not filled, haven't been filled and won't be filled. And we don't anticipate they'd be filled next year, which is approximately $700,000." "the reduction with the default budget is $5.68 lower than what we have this year." | POSITIVE |
| 0:38:58 | Hearing rules | "Come to the microphone, state your name and ward, you must speak to me." "You'll be given three minutes to speak." | |
| 0:40:05 | Howard's questions | Stevens renovation debt ("a total of $3.9 million, which was supported by the performance contract" at 0:42:46); pellet savings: chair, "The number 25,000 comes into my head from last year. I have no idea this year." Teacher grid: starting salary "from the current 36,228, up to approximately 40,000 over a three year period". | |
| 0:45:15 | Middle-school social studies | Tempesta: "It might not be required, but it is core content". Sullivan: "if it wasn't for having that foundation in middle school, then we wouldn't be able to have the level of success we have in social social studies at Stevens." | |
| 0:49:32 | Restructuring concerns | Dave (Ward 3): "thank you for joining the restructuring for another year." Wheelock: "we're destroying the idea of role models". Gordon (1:00:24) on students with disabilities facing extra transitions. | |
| 0:55:13 | Why is the default so low? | Barton: "Why is the default budget so low?" Benware: "You're somewhat penalized for being proactive". "because 1.5 million that's in there is for improvements, you can't include that in the default budget." | |
| 0:58:21 | Bus maintenance; Disnard | Seaman: "I didn't prepare the budget last year, and I don't have any work papers or anything that tells me how the budget last year was built." | OBSERVATION |
| 1:10:22 | Evidence and communication | Michelle: "where is the evidence and the data to support this reconfiguration." Beaton (1:14:38): "there was just a really a a lack of communication." "So just just for future, more communication would be would be very much appreciated." Tempesta: "I absolutely agree." | POSITIVE |
| 1:15:53 | A vote on restructuring? | White: "is this going to go for a citizen vote?" Towle: "This whole thing is going to require some further public forums." Benware: "I don't think it should be left to seven of us." Tempesta (1:27:34): "if it's the decision to go to a vote for that, so be it." | POSITIVE |
| 1:32:33 | Off-topic question deferred | "this is the budget hearing. So I'm going to ask you to wait a little while till we start the regular board meeting." | |
| 1:36:39 | Hearing closed | "Last call. Seeing none, I close the public hearing." | |
| 1:44:49 | Regular meeting | Pledge, roll ("Rob Lovett. Junior. Michael. Patron of the Whitney. Carolyn. Joel and Frank Sprague here."), agenda and January 15 minutes approved. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:47:11 | Snow plowing | Saint Aubin: a contractor "took the bid for 29.5 plus the cost of living for five years" while district pickups plow at overtime; "he's getting $30,000 a year". Seaman: "I can't answer it tonight. I'll come back." | OBSERVATION |
| 1:53:20 | Motion to move the budget | Benware: "the deliberative session on, February 6th. Is it February 5th? February 5th, 2020?" The amount is supplied by Seaman: "$38,202,661", which "includes the grants"; the warrant articles "are above and beyond that". | |
| 1:54:56 | Whitney: reserve articles too large | "I'm not 100% sure if if $1 million in Warren articles is is a figure that will pass". Towle (1:56:34): "the first time I saw the Warren article last week". Seaman (2:03:45): "the half $1 million number, which admittedly, I was estimating based on historic costs". | OBSERVATION |
| 2:01:48 | The governor's check | Benware: "I watched Governor Sununu handing over the $6.2 million check, and I watched it three times". "Not once did he speak about tax relief." | |
| 2:07:27 | Amendment, corrected | "I'd like to make a motion to amend articles with four and five." Corrected to Articles 6 and 7 after checking ("Good thing we checked"); motions withdrawn and remade (2:09:48). | POSITIVE |
| 2:11:58 | Reduction fails | "So we're voting now on the main budget with the decrease of to article six at 350,000 and article seven at 150,000." Result: "So 4 to 2 of the nays have it." "all the eyes were Heather and Rebecca. The nays were the other four of us." | OBSERVATION |
| 2:12:39 | Budget moved | "To the deliberative session, including all warrants for six at $500,000 and Warren, seven at $500,000." Carried on a voice vote, no tally announced: "Opposed? All right, so that moves forward." | OBSERVATION |
| 2:13:55 | Policy DAF | Magoon: the DOE said the policy "has to do with any federal funding that we receive the spending, not our general funding"; "part of our audit and we audit. This is what we we need to fix." Benware: "It's either take it or leave it." Chair: "There you go. You can finish the audit." | OBSERVATION |
| 2:15:31 | School calendar | Start on August 31 because the September 8 primary would otherwise push the end of school "basically at the end of June"; "I did meet with the teachers union today and they approved this calendar." | |
| 2:20:53 | Next meetings | Chair: "Our next scheduled meeting is deliberative, which is the eighth, and then our next regular meeting where we'll be discussing things will be Sunday the 23rd at our retreat." Zullo: "I thought February 5th was the deliberative." | |
| 2:22:32 | A cold room | Towle: "I'm sitting here and I'm shaking." "It's freezing in here." | |
| 2:23:31 | Focus group | "currently we have ten people that have already signed up to be on the Claremont Elementary School Reconfiguration Focus." | POSITIVE |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the state law in force on January 21, 2020. They are not findings of violation and nothing here is legal advice. Each flag cites the rule it rests on; where no verified rule applies, the flag says so and is recorded as an observation. Six flags follow, ordered by severity. No HIGH or MEDIUM flag was found.
OBSERVATION No minutes are online, and the recording alone leaves the vote record incomplete
RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification, in force on this date) requires minutes that record the members present, the subject matter, final decisions, and the names of the mover and seconder of each motion, open to inspection within five business days. None for this meeting are in the district's public shares, which begin in 2022; that is a limit of what the district posts online, not evidence that minutes were never kept, and the board approved the previous week's minutes at this meeting (1:46:06). The gap matters here because the recording does not settle the vote record. The roll call names all seven members but the answers run together (1:45:33); the one tally announced, on Whitney's reduction, is "4 to 2" with "all the eyes were Heather and Rebecca. The nays were the other four of us" (2:12:23, 2:12:29), which accounts for six members; and the decisive vote sending the budget forward was a voice vote with no tally (2:13:22). Whether a member was out of the room, abstained or was simply not counted cannot be told from the tape. Graded an observation under the project's rule for missing records.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1); Valley News, January 22, 2020 (reports the reduction "failed in a 4-2 vote").
OBSERVATION The new business administrator could not explain several inherited budget lines and had no work papers for the prior budget
Three and a half months into the job, Richard Seaman told the hearing he "could never find substantiation" for a $65,000 transfer and dropped it (0:11:42); that "I don't know why 380 was put in there" for out-of-district special education, against $750,000 spent in fiscal 2019 (0:12:44); and, asked about bus maintenance and the Disnard line, "I didn't prepare the budget last year, and I don't have any work papers or anything that tells me how the budget last year was built" (0:59:17). In the regular meeting he also could not answer a resident's complaint that a snow-plowing contractor paid "$30,000 a year" was not doing the work while district trucks plowed at overtime, and promised to report back to the board (1:51:13, 1:51:20). He committed to be able to "speak backwards" on next year's budget (0:59:44). The admissions are candid; the underlying point, that the district's prior-year budget could not be reconstructed from its own records, is worth testing against the fiscal 2019 and 2020 audits. No verified rule is cited.
Sources: the recording at the times linked above. No verified rule applies.
OBSERVATION Two $500,000 reserve articles reached the board a week before it voted, with amounts the administrator called estimates and at least one member did not know the basis for
Carolyn Towle: "that was the first time I saw the Warren article last week" (1:56:34), and later "I did not know where those five and five figures came from. So that communication" (2:11:27). Seaman explained the figure as roughly $1 million of warrant articles over the last three years and said the $500,000 was one he "admittedly, I was estimating based on historic costs" (2:03:22, 2:03:45). Whitney, who sits on the capital improvement committee, feared "$1 million in Warren articles" would draw "a protest vote" (1:55:21, 2:02:50). The reduction failed and both articles went forward at $500,000. Nothing unlawful is suggested: setting warrant-article amounts is the board's call. It is recorded because the board's own members said on tape that they had not discussed the amounts before the vote.
Sources: the recording at the times linked above. No verified rule applies.
OBSERVATION A federal-funds policy was adopted in state-supplied wording so that an audit could be closed
Donna Magoon told the board that the Department of Education said policy DAF governs spending of federal funds, "not our general funding", and that it was "part of our audit" and "what we we need to fix"; once approved, "I send it into the Doe in our audit is all set" (2:13:55, 2:14:18, 2:14:52). Benware confirmed "It's either take it or leave it" and the chair closed with "You can finish the audit" (2:14:39, 2:15:11). At the deliberative session two weeks later the business administrator said the fiscal 2019 audit was still under way. The item suggests an audit finding or condition on written federal-funds procedures; no audit report was available to confirm what it said or when it was issued. No verified rule is cited on this page; the federal written-procedures requirements would need to be checked against the 2019 edition of 2 CFR part 200 before any finding is stated.
Sources: the recording at the times linked above; the February 2020 deliberative session page for the audit status. No verified rule applies.
POSITIVE The administration postponed a contested restructuring after public feedback and opened focus groups and online input
The superintendent announced that elementary restructuring would be pushed "off to next year", said he would have presented it differently, and stated the budget was not contingent on it (0:02:27, 0:02:47). An online input page and focus groups were announced (0:05:35), and by the end of the meeting ten people had signed up for the focus group, including parents and non-parents (2:23:31, 2:23:53). Three board members said on the record that any final plan should go back to the public (1:16:09, 1:17:15, 1:17:30). A resident's criticism that the plan reached the community without warning was acknowledged (1:14:38). None of this is required by statute; it is recorded because it exceeds the legal minimum.
Sources: the recording at the times linked above.
POSITIVE The budget hearing met the SB 2 deadline, disclosed the default budget, and the board finalized the budget only after testimony closed
RSA 40:13, II-a requires SB 2 budget hearings under RSA 32:5 to be held "on or before the third Tuesday in January"; January 21, 2020 was the third Tuesday, so the hearing met the deadline on its last day. RSA 40:13, XI(a) requires the default budget to be "disclosed and presented for questions and discussion at the first budget hearing"; the business administrator presented it at 0:36:16 and answered a question on it (0:55:13). RSA 32:5, I (2019 codification) provides that the governing body "after the conclusion of public testimony shall finalize the budget"; the chair closed the hearing (1:36:39) before the board took up the budget in its regular meeting. The reduction debate was held in public, a mislabeled amendment was caught and corrected (2:07:27), and the one split vote was announced with the names of the members in the minority (2:12:29).
Sources: RSA 40:13, II-a and XI(a) (last amended 2019, 192:2; in force on this date); RSA 32:5, I (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 246:1).
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 10704, "SCHOOL BOARD meeting 1-21-20": Claremont Community Television. Every timestamp on this page links into this recording.
- No packet folder, agenda, budget document, hearing notice or minutes for this meeting is in the district's public Drive shares, whose year folders begin in 2022 (MAP.md section 123, checked 9/26/26).
- Press: Valley News, January 22, 2020, "Claremont superintendent postpones push to revamp elementary schools" (Patrick O'Grady).
- Related pages: Claremont School Board, January 15, 2020 (the budget presentation); the 2020 deliberative session.
Project files (the dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the pages)
Dialogue/10704 SchoolBoard012120.mp4.CSV: dialogue file, 756 rows.Input/Videos/10704 SchoolBoard012120.mp4; Input/Transcripts/10704 SchoolBoard012120.mp4.json.Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 123.Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10704 SchoolBoard012120.mp4.md; Scripts/roster_2015_2023.md.
Laws and rules cited on this page