Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part. Names follow the project's dialogue file; no minutes exist online to check spellings against, so non-member spellings are as heard and marked where unverified. Members are listed first.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Presided. Took up the public-comment question with the school board association; pushed back on using Claremont's own case count; announced he would oppose the amended matrix and voted no; raised education freedom account enrollment and the cost of printed board packets. |
| Heather Whitney | Board member | Amended the August 18 minutes to record that the vote empowered the superintendent to act on the matrix; moved the matrix amendment (masks strongly recommended at moderate, visitor discretion); reported for the superintendent evaluation committee; asked about the fish tank curriculum notice. The dialogue file also attributes the staffing-nominations motion to her voice (see method note). |
| Steven Horsky | Board member | Moved the agenda, the August 18 minutes, tabling vaccination incentives, the program of studies and adjournment; proposed dropping visitor masking at the minimal level; voted yes on the matrix amendment. |
| Joshua Lambert | Board member | Served on the superintendent evaluation committee; opposed loosening the mask recommendation because children could not yet be vaccinated; voted no. |
| Rob Lovett Jr. | Board member | Argued against revisiting masking rules at every meeting and called the flu comparison a straw man; voted no. |
| Michael Petrin | Board member | Abstained on the August 18 minutes (absent that night); raised consent and access concerns about in-school testing; voted yes on the matrix amendment; asked whether the superintendent's evaluation would survey his direct reports. |
| Nicholas Stone | Board member | Argued the matrix is a recommendation and that Claremont's own numbers should count; voted yes; asked for follow-up on the public-comment question and on urgent care testing. |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Superintendent's report on COVID-19 data and matrix clarifications; recommended tabling vaccination incentives; read the staffing nominations. |
| Ronnie (surname not stated on this recording) | Lead nurse, SAU 6 | Presented the state-funded surveillance testing program and answered questions on pooled testing and visitors. The August 18 recording gives her self-introduction as Ronnie Irani (spelling unverified). |
| Patricia Barry | Principal, Stevens High School | Presented the updated school profile and the transcript plan for the grading change; urged a single rule for visitors; reported 134 summer credits recovered. Two late remarks are assigned to her by content only. |
| Melissa Lewis | Principal, Disnard Elementary School | Explained how visitor rules play out at the elementary level. Dinard and Disney in the transcript are Disnard. |
| Jeff Small | Director of Technology, SAU 6 | Answered questions on board Chromebooks and Wi-Fi access for members' own devices. |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk | Called the roll and the roll-call vote. |
| Michael Demers | Citizens' comments, Ward 3 | Asked why the board does not take public comment on motions under discussion, as the city council does. Gave his name on tape only as Michael; the surname comes from his self-introduction on the September 15, 2021 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. The chair refers to lettered items (C and D will bump A and B down), so a written agenda existed. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:39 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | All seven members answer the roll (the transcript renders two names as beloved junior and Michael. Peter.). |
| 0:01:35 | Agenda amended | The transcript presentation and the surveillance-testing and vaccination item (C) moved up at the superintendent's request. Horsky moved, Whitney seconded; approved by voice vote. |
| 0:02:42 | Minutes of August 18, 2021 | Horsky moved; the chair names Stone as seconder. Amended on Whitney's request; approved, Petrin abstaining. |
| 0:03:43 | Citizens' comments | One speaker (Demers, Ward 3). |
| 0:05:28 | Superintendent's report | COVID-19 data and clarifications to the decision matrix. |
| 0:17:43 | Surveillance testing program | Presentation only. The board agreed no motion was needed for the administration to investigate. |
| 0:36:36 | Vaccination incentives | Horsky moved to accept the administration's recommendation and table incentives; the chair seconded; approved by voice vote. |
| 0:38:16 | High school transcript update; program of studies | Horsky moved approval of the Stevens program of studies with the addenda presented; seconder not identified; approved by voice vote. |
| 0:44:54 | Reopening plan: decision matrix | Whitney's amendment, itself amended on Horsky's motion; passed 4-3 by roll call. |
| 1:18:12 | Superintendent evaluation | Committee report; no vote. |
| 1:22:16 | Staffing nominations | Seven replacement hires. Motion (see method note on the mover) seconded by Stone per the chair; approved by voice vote. |
| 1:25:06 | Other business | Education freedom accounts; enrollment; board devices and printed agendas. |
| 1:32:18 | Next meeting | Set for September 15. |
| 1:39:42 | Adjournment | Horsky moved, Stone seconded; 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 |
|---|
| 0:01:16 | Roll call; agenda | Roll call by the clerk: all seven members present. The superintendent asked to move the transcript presentation and the surveillance-testing item forward: "We have a presentation on the transcript. I don't know if we want to move that up out of the order." Approved. | |
| 0:02:42 | August 18 minutes amended | Whitney: "we should amend the minutes to include that the vote empowered Mike to act on the matrix". The chair: "So Mike patron abstained. That was not here." (Petrin had been absent on August 18.) | POSITIVE |
| 0:03:55 | Citizens' comments: public comment on motions | Demers (Ward 3): "In city council, when we have motions that are being made and are being on the table, we open that up for public comment." He asked "if there was a will and an interest in changing that policy" and suggested "3 or 5 minutes". Chair: "I'm not sure if it's a policy, Mike." and "I'll call it the school Board Association and find out if there is anything official on it." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:05:28 | Superintendent's report: COVID-19 data | The state remains at substantial transmission; "377 in Sullivan County"; the county rate is "only at 129 as of this morning"; Sullivan County vaccination "60% one dose 54" at two doses, Claremont about 47. The superintendent referred to a survey response "I included that in the packet". | |
| 0:11:49 | Matrix clarifications | Masks "recommended in all indoor spaces only. Outdoor mass optional" at minimal; visitors defined as visitors "to school during the school day"; NHIAA guidance to govern athletics (NH I a in the transcript). The nurse: "according to the CDC, the plexiglass is no longer recommended"; outdoor distancing in substantial changed from six feet to three. | |
| 0:17:43 | Surveillance testing (SAS) | The lead nurse: surveillance testing "is a state. A state funded project. And it would no money would come out of our budget". Whitney described pooled testing; Horsky: "I think it's outside of the school scope"; Petrin raised consent: "those that don't consent, you can't test." Chair at 0:30:48: "the administration is going to investigate this, not implement this." No motion. | |
| 0:36:41 | Vaccination incentives tabled | Superintendent, after consulting nurses, staff, other superintendents, a county commissioner and the teachers union: "we should we should abandon this or table this". Horsky: "I'm going to make a motion to accept that recommendation and that we would table the incentives for vaccination of the public, staff and student." Seconded by the chair; approved. This disposes of the $20,000 proposal left open on August 18. | |
| 0:39:57 | School profile; transcripts for the grading change | Barry: the class of 2021 had "72% of two and four year schools students"; transcripts will show both grading systems, following the earlier transition: "Our seniors will have three years of degrading and they'll have one year of the A, B, C scale." Horsky moved "to approve the Stephen's High School Program of Studies Handbook with these addendum that have been presented tonight." Approved at 0:44:47. | |
| 0:49:25 | Matrix amendment moved | Whitney: "I'd like to make a motion to amend the decision matrix to change the mass recommendation at the moderate level to strongly recommending masks for students and teachers, and notifying families that that recommendation is in place instead of requiring them, and to change the visitor policy in the substantial range to the discretion of the individual school leadership." Horsky amended at 0:53:33: "in the minimal section. Parents are not required to wear masks." | |
| 0:50:03 | Debate | Lambert: "this matrix is a state guided matrix". Stone: "it's a recommendation. It's not a mandate." Lovett at 0:56:52: "We're asking you to put on a mask for arguably a few minutes at a time, the barest minimum." Chair at 0:58:58: substantial is "100 cases per 100,000" and "It's four times substantial." Barry at 1:02:16: visitor distinctions "turns us into police." Chair at 1:03:37: "I'm not going to support the motion as amended." Lovett at 1:07:02: "The correlation to the flu is a straw man argument." | |
| 1:09:23 | Motion as voted | Whitney restated it: masks "strongly recommended at moderate level", parents notified, and "for the visitors in the minimal level, parents only to not wear masks", with the superintendent's changes (no plexiglass, outdoor distancing). The nurse at 1:15:21: "Honestly right now, substantial, there should not be any visitors agreed." | |
| 1:15:56 | Roll-call vote: passed 4-3 | Whitney yes, Horsky yes, Lambert no, Lovett no, Petrin yes, Stone yes, Sprague no. Chair at 1:16:45: "we're not coming back and revisiting this unless there's a major, you know, something major happens." | POSITIVE |
| 1:18:15 | Superintendent evaluation committee | Whitney: the committee (Whitney, Lambert and two Unity members) set a framework "to start routinely evaluating the superintendent on a yearly basis, which is something that was not occurring." The plan: "to have a non meeting in August or late September", then further sessions in November and February. At 1:33:16 she asked to hold "the non meeting for the superintendent evaluation piece" before the September 15 meeting: "We do a non meeting first and then have the school board meeting afterwards". Petrin asked about surveying the superintendent's direct reports. | MEDIUM |
| 1:22:22 | Staffing nominations | Seven replacement hires read by the superintendent (several names garbled in the transcript). "I'd like to make a motion to accept the nominations for Mike Tempesta." Chair: "Nick seconds." Asked whether these were replacements, the superintendent: "Absolutely. Yeah. No. Nothing additional." and "No Covid related." Approved by voice vote at 1:25:06. | POSITIVE |
| 1:25:06 | Education freedom accounts; enrollment | Chair: the state "budgeted, I think $62,000" and "about 1500 have expressed an interest in that. And, to the tune of about $7 million"; the district will not know the effect before the October 1 count. High school enrollment: "576 yesterday." | |
| 1:27:57 | Board devices and printed packets | Chair: "I don't want to spend $5,000 on Chromebooks for the school board"; members may bring their own devices, with a printed agenda kept: "Okay. So effective immediately. Is everybody okay with that?" | |
| 1:32:35 | Next meeting | The October meeting moves to the 13th; the board keeps September 15, "we'll keep the agenda purposefully lean". | MEDIUM |
| 1:33:52 | Fish tank curriculum notice | Whitney asked about notifying elementary parents "about the addition of the fish tank project to the curriculum" with a link to the content; the superintendent undertook to have it "before the next meeting". At 1:37:51 she explained the board's concern that it could become "by default, the curriculum for social studies". | |
| 1:36:48 | Member items; adjournment | Horsky: the middle-school fence "It's still not repaired." Stone asked for the update "as far as, doing the citizens comments at a different time"; chair: "I'm going to call Will Phillips." Barry at 1:39:25: "134 credits were recovered" in summer school. Adjourned at 1:39:46. | OBSERVATION |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on September 1, 2021. 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. 4 flags follow, ordered by severity.
MEDIUM The board planned a "non meeting" of its members to give the superintendent evaluation feedback, a category the Right-to-Know Law does not contain
At 1:19:58 the evaluation committee's chair proposed that the board "have a non meeting in August or late September" at which the superintendent would review his strategic plan with each board and members would give him feedback against the evaluation matrix, with further sessions in November and February. At 1:33:16 the board agreed to hold "the non meeting for the superintendent evaluation piece" on September 15, before the regular meeting: "We do a non meeting first and then have the school board meeting afterwards".
Under RSA 91-A:2, I as it read in 2021, a meeting is "the convening of a quorum of the membership of a public body" "for the purpose of discussing or acting upon a matter or matters over which the public body has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory power." The paragraph's exclusions are collective-bargaining strategy, consultation with legal counsel, a party caucus, and circulation of draft documents; none covers a gathering of the board to discuss the superintendent's performance. A session of that kind would ordinarily need notice and minutes under RSA 91-A:2, II, or a properly moved nonpublic session under RSA 91-A:3. It may be that the September 15 session was noticed and minuted, or held as a properly moved nonpublic session; this page cannot see it. A text search of the September 15 dialogue file (show 11886) finds no mention of it. The grade is MEDIUM because the plan, as stated on tape, describes a probable process gap rather than a completed violation.
Mitigation stated on the record: the committee's aim was regular feedback "so he doesn't get blindsided at the end of the evaluation process", and it said the framework and matrix had been emailed to all members.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2 (2022 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1, so the text in force in 2021), paragraph I (definition of meeting and its four exclusions) and II (notice and minutes); RSA 91-A:3 (nonpublic sessions; 2022 codification).
OBSERVATION A resident asked for public comment on motions; no statute then required any public comment period, and the one enacted later would not have required it either
At 0:04:13 Michael Demers (Ward 3) asked why the board, unlike the city council, gives the public no opportunity to speak on motions under discussion, and suggested three- or five-minute limits. The chair said the practice might "have some basis in something" and undertook to ask the school board association; at 1:37:02 Stone asked for the follow-up, and the chair said he would call Will Phillips (identified in the attribution report as a school boards association attorney; spelling unverified). The record shows the board treating the request seriously.
In September 2021 the Right-to-Know Law required open meetings, notice and minutes but no public comment period. RSA 189:74, which requires school boards to provide at least 30 minutes of public comment at meetings held under RSA 91-A:2, was enacted a year later (2022, 333:1, effective September 6, 2022). It does not apply to this meeting, and it provides a general comment period, not comment on each motion. Whether to take comment on motions was therefore a matter for the board's own rules, which are not available online for 2021.
Sources: RSA 189:74 (school board public comment period; 2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022, cited only to show it post-dates this meeting); RSA 91-A:2 (2022 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1, so the text in force in 2021).
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting are posted online
MAP.md records that neither district Drive share holds a year folder older than 2022 and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023 (checked 9/26/26). That is a limit of what the district posts online, not by itself evidence that records were never made: the superintendent refers to a packet ("I think I included that in the packet", 0:14:25), and the board approves the August 18 minutes on this recording, amending them. In 2021 RSA 91-A:2, II required minutes to be "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting" and to record "The names of the members who made or seconded each motion". Without the minutes, three details here cannot be checked: who seconded the program-of-studies motion, who moved the staffing nominations, and who voted no on the voice votes. The limb of the project's missing-records rule applied is the online-availability observation.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2 (2022 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1, so the text in force in 2021); Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 150.
POSITIVE The divided matrix vote was taken by roll call, and the board corrected its own minutes to record what it had delegated
With members split on masking, the chair called a roll-call vote (1:15:41), so each member's position is on the record: Whitney, Horsky, Petrin and Stone yes; Lambert, Lovett and Sprague no. No statute required a roll call at an in-person meeting in 2021, so this is a practice beyond the legal minimum. Earlier, at 0:03:07, Whitney had the August 18 minutes amended to state that the vote "empowered Mike to act on the matrix", which puts the scope of the board's delegation to the superintendent in the permanent record, the purpose RSA 91-A:2, II's minutes requirement serves.
The staffing nominations were brought to the board and voted on (1:24:04 to 1:25:06), consistent with RSA 189:39 ("Superintendents shall nominate and school boards elect all teachers"; 1971, unamended); asked by the chair, the superintendent confirmed on the record that the hires replaced existing positions and none was COVID-related.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2 (2022 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1, so the text in force in 2021); RSA 189:39 (superintendent nominates, board elects teachers; 1971, 371:2, never amended).
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 11862, "Claremont School Board Meeting of 9/1/21": Claremont Community TV. 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, matrix document or minutes were located.
- Related pages: August 18, 2021 (matrix adopted; $20,000 incentive motion) and August 4, 2021 (reopening plan).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/11862 SchoolBoard090121.mp4.CSV (634 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/11862 SchoolBoard090121.mp4Input/Transcripts/11862 SchoolBoard090121.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/11862 SchoolBoard090121.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 150
Laws and rules cited on this page