Participants
Everyone in the record. Names follow the dialogue file; where it says Unidentified, so does this table. Attendance is from the minutes, because the roll call on tape is garbled. Where the minutes name someone the dialogue file leaves unidentified, the minutes are quoted as the source.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Heather Whitney | Vice Chair, presiding | Called the meeting to order and ran it. Summed up the handbook debate ("we support the restorative justice process"), raised VLACS weighting, the grading chart and policy JBAB, nominated Miles and Lambert as committee co-chairs, and noted the unlisted ad hoc parliamentary committee at the close. Moved adjournment herself (flag 1). |
| Frank Sprague | Board member | Former Stevens principal. Objected to restorative justice appearing as an option for felony-level offenses; asked for a firmer student-parking rule; moved the middle and elementary handbooks; nominated Skillen as NHSBA delegate and Petrin as budget co-chair; named NHSBA alternate and the sole board member on the middle/high/tech scheduling committee. |
| Whitney Skillen | Board member | Clarified the restorative-justice question, found the towing sentence on page 45, asked that the middle-school handbook revisit athletics for transgender students, asked the business administrator for an audit and grant update, and asked for a future item on retiree celebrations and exit interviews. Elected NHSBA delegate and co-chair of the elementary restructuring committee. |
| Joshua Lambert | Board member | Moved agenda approval; gave a weapon-incident example of how restorative justice might work on re-entry; read the district's transgender-student policy clause on athletics under other business. Named curriculum committee co-chair and liaison. |
| Bonnie Miles | Board member | Present per the minutes, which record her moving approval of the Stevens handbook; the dialogue file attributes no rows to her (the motion at 0:22:56 is unidentified). The chair notes "Bonnie forths it" on the delegate nomination. Named Capital Improvement Committee co-chair. |
| Michael Petrin | Chair | Absent (minutes; "Mike's not here. He can't defend himself." at 0:28:39). Named budget subcommittee co-chair in his absence. |
| Steven Horsky | Board member | Absent per the minutes. Named policy subcommittee co-chair and an elementary restructuring committee member in his absence. |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Supported the restorative-justice plan with a few wording tweaks; described curriculum committee meeting times and the scheduling committee. Identified by role content in the dialogue file (medium confidence). |
| Richard Seaman | Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources | Audit schedule for the 2020, 2021 and 2022 fiscal years and news that two grant-compliance items were cleared by the Department of Education (flag 3). |
| Michael Koski | Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, Innovation and Assessment (agenda title) | Said the curriculum committee would "Begin the end of September". Identified by role in the dialogue file (medium confidence); never named on tape. |
| Melissa Small | SAU administrative assistant, recording secretary | Called the roll at the chair's request and submitted the minutes. |
| Unidentified | Stevens High School administrator | Presented the Stevens handbook and defended the restorative-justice option at length. The dialogue file leaves this voice unidentified; the minutes attribute the same answers to "Principal Chris Pratt". |
| Unidentified | Staff (tech center; other administrators) | Short answers on the engineering course listing, VLACS weighting, the school counseling page and a question about the teachers' union meeting date. |
| (none) | Student representative | The agenda lists Hannah Petrin; "We have no student representative this evening." |
| (none) | Citizens' comments | No one spoke. Minutes: "Citizens Comments - None this evening". |
Agenda
From the posted Claremont School Board Agenda 8.24.22, with dispositions from the recording and the minutes. Quoted agenda and minutes wording is marked as such. The minutes were approved before the agenda on the night.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:03 | I. Call to Order and Pledge | Minutes: "meeting called to order by Vice Chair Heather Whitney 6:30pm". |
| 0:00:45 | II. Roll call | Minutes: "Present: Heather Whitney, Bonnie Miles, Frank Sprague, Whitney Skillen, Joshua Lambert; Absent: Mike Petrin, Steven Horsky". On tape the roll is fragmentary. |
| 0:00:57 | II. Minutes approval: August 17, 2022 | Taken before the agenda. Minutes: "Motion made by Frank Sprague to approve the 8.17.22 Claremont School Board minutes, seconded by Joshua Lambert; all in favor via voice vote." On tape the mover and seconder are unidentified. |
| 0:01:24 | II. Citizens Comments; Student Representative Report | No citizens; no student representative. |
| 0:01:47 | II. Agenda: Amendments and Final Approval | Lambert moved, Sprague seconded, voice vote. Minutes: "approve the agenda as written". |
| 0:01:57 | III.1 School Handbook approvals | Stevens High School handbook approved by voice vote at 0:22:59 (minutes: Miles moved, Skillen seconded). Claremont Middle School handbook: Sprague moved at 0:23:26; approved "with the correction of these grammatical errors" (minutes) after a revote at 0:24:39. Common elementary handbook for Bluff, Disnard and Maple: Sprague moved at 0:24:56, approved at 0:25:03. |
| 0:25:16 | III.2 NHSBA delegate and alternate | Agenda: "Nomination of Claremont School Board Delegate and Alternate to the New Hampshire School Board Association". Whitney Skillen delegate (Sprague nominated, Whitney seconded); Frank Sprague alternate (minutes: Whitney nominated, Lambert seconded). Voice votes. |
| 0:26:21 | III.3 School Board Committee assignments (a) to (f) | (a) Capital Improvement: Miles co-chair at 0:27:38. (b) Budget: Petrin co-chair in absentia at 0:28:28. (c) Policy: Horsky co-chair in absentia, vote at 0:29:24. (d) Curriculum: Lambert co-chair and liaison at 0:31:51. (e) Elementary Restructuring: Skillen co-chair at 0:33:20. (f) CMS/SHS/SRVRTC schedule: Sprague "by default the the co-chair and liaison" at 0:34:42. All voice votes (flag 2). |
| 0:34:53 | IV. Other Business | Lambert on the transgender-student policy and interscholastic athletics; Seaman's audit and grant update at 0:36:33. |
| 0:37:57 | V. Closing Activities | Skillen asked for a future item on retiree recognition and exit interviews; the vice chair recorded the ad hoc parliamentary procedure committee (Sprague, Whitney, Petrin) that was missing from the agenda. |
| 0:39:45 | VI. Adjournment | The vice chair moved to adjourn. Minutes: "A motion made to adjourn the meeting by Heather Whitney, seconded by Heather Whitney; all in favor via voice vote"; "Adjournment 7:15pm". |
Discussion timeline
Chronological, from the dialogue CSV. Times are the start of the cited exchange, 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 |
|---|
| 0:00:03 | Call to order; roll | "I'm calling to order the Claremont School Board meeting for August 24th, 2022." The roll as transcribed: "Heather Whitney here. Yeah. Friends right here with you. Skilling here. Joshua Lambert." | |
| 0:01:24 | Citizens' comments; agenda | "Do we have anybody that would consider themselves a citizen? No. So we're going to close citizens comments. We have no student representative this evening." Agenda approved as written. | |
| 0:02:26 | Stevens handbook: restorative justice and felonies | Sprague: "on the grid, there were offenses that were technically felonies that were there but were eligible for, restorative justice"; "if the police are involved, I think that that probably exempts that particular offense from, from assertive justice [restorative justice]." Later: "I just don't think it should even be anywhere on the page when it comes to a felony or a misdemeanor." | POSITIVE |
| 0:04:32 | Stevens handbook: the administrator's answer | Unidentified (minutes: Principal Pratt): the infraction chart is "really not a restorative piece at all. That's progressive discipline." The option exists "because we want to make sure before they come back ... that we want to have those conversations". Reading the handbook text: "Please keep in mind that the option is not automatic." About "8% to 10% of the same kids over and over again". | |
| 0:11:34 | Restorative justice: board views | Lambert: if a student brings a weapon and is not expelled, "they still need to have their place of learning. So I see that restorative justice piece of coming in." Skillen then restated the question as re-entry after long-term suspension. | |
| 0:13:43 | Consensus and a live edit | Whitney: "the concerns that are being brought forth are about the clarity in the handbook, not the process itself." The administrator, editing during the meeting: "the live document says restorative justice option upon reentry." Tempesta at 0:14:18: "I think it can be all served with a, with a few tweaks". | POSITIVE |
| 0:15:13 | Student parking | Sprague proposed "warning call home second offense towed at owner's expense". Skillen found the page 45 sentence that vehicles "may have their vehicle immobilized or towed"; Sprague: "that's not a hill that I want to die on." | |
| 0:19:13 | VLACS weighting; grading chart | Whitney on "Blacks [VLACS] classes or classes that were taken through running start"; answer: "They've been waited [weighted] as honors courses." The course knowledge, skills and application chart was dropped at 0:19:57 after Whitney said it "wasn't clarifying". | |
| 0:21:00 | Policy JBAB and athletics | Whitney: policy JBAB ("transgender and gender nonconforming students") appears in the elementary handbook but not the Stevens or middle-school handbooks, and "I don't think we have a policy right now to make transgender kids that want to compete in athletics eligible for NH AA [NHIAA] standards." | |
| 0:22:49 | Stevens handbook approved | Motion (unidentified; minutes: Miles), second by Skillen, voice vote. | |
| 0:23:26 | Middle-school handbook | Sprague moved. Skillen: "we do need to revisit the policy around athletics and trans student". Whitney had raised "grammatical areas" and "some phraseology in the introduction to citizenship" with the superintendent before the meeting. After a first vote, Sprague: "What now? What are we voting on?" The vote was retaken at 0:24:39. | |
| 0:24:56 | Elementary handbook | Sprague: "I make a motion that we accept the common handbook for the three elementary schools." Approved. | |
| 0:25:16 | NHSBA delegate and alternate | Sprague nominated "Whitney Scullin [Skillen]"; Whitney seconded; Sprague named alternate. | |
| 0:26:21 | Committee assignments | Whitney: "I think that we've lacked some clarity and that matter in the past." Co-chairs chosen for six committees; the capital committee has no chair "because we are working with the administration". Tempesta at 0:31:44: "As long as you don't have a quorum and more the merrier". Whitney at 0:32:41: "As long as we don't have a quorum, other people could be involved as well". | OBSERVATION |
| 0:29:37 | Curriculum committee timing | Tempesta: meetings around "330 quarter four" out of respect for teachers, "shorter meetings but maybe more, more frequent". Koski: "Begin the end of September." Tempesta asked for three board members; Whitney volunteered as an alternate. | |
| 0:33:44 | Scheduling committee | Whitney: "This is this is a alphabet soup MSSTM." Tempesta: "It's middle school high school, tech." Sprague the only board member, so co-chair by default. | |
| 0:35:03 | Transgender-student policy | Lambert read the district policy: "Students shall be permitted to participate in interscholastic athletics in a manner consistent with their gender identity." Whitney: "Not according to the NH I a [NHIAA] because I did cross-reference it". Referred to the policy committee. | |
| 0:36:04 | Audit and grant update | Seaman: "the unity and the SA [SAU] audits. We're hoping to have those completed in the next couple of weeks"; Claremont's also targeted for the end of September. Whitney confirmed 2020s. Seaman: "Then the 2021 is our November. The 2022 is by February for the Bartsch Single Audit, piece that we have to have done." Grant compliance: "They've both been cleared." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:38:04 | Future agenda: retirees and exit interviews | Skillen asked for a review of "policies or standard practices or historical practices related to celebration of retirees, as well as exit interviews for departing employees." Whitney: "We would only be able to discuss the Claremont School District." | |
| 0:39:12 | The unlisted ad hoc committee | Whitney: "we had an ad hoc, procedural committee that we didn't have listed here"; "That was an error on my part, not noticing that on the agenda before." Members: Sprague, Whitney and Petrin (my trainer, Mike Peter neuron in the transcript). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:39:45 | Adjournment | Whitney: "And I'd like to make a motion illegally because I'm chair to adjourn second." An unidentified voice at 0:39:55: "I can make motions. The chair can make motions." | OBSERVATION |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the state and federal law in force on August 24, 2022. RSA 91-A:2 is cited from its 2022 codification. 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. 4 flags follow, ordered by severity.
OBSERVATION The minutes name the vice chair as both mover and seconder of adjournment, and reached the public share after they had been approved
At 0:39:45 the presiding vice chair moved to adjourn, and the word second follows in the same transcript line with no separate speaker. The minutes read: "A motion made to adjourn the meeting by Heather Whitney, seconded by Heather Whitney". RSA 91-A:2, II (in this form since 2018, 244:1, eff. January 1, 2019) requires that "The names of the members who made or seconded each motion shall be recorded in the minutes." A member cannot second her own motion, so the seconder is in effect unrecorded. Every other motion in these minutes names a mover and a seconder, including two the tape leaves unidentified; this is recorded as an observation because the motion was procedural and uncontested.
The only copy located is a Google Doc in the September 7 packet folder, created there on September 14, 2022: the fourteenth business day after the meeting (Labor Day excluded), and a week after the board approved it. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting". A Drive created time dates when the district put the document in its public share, not when it was available at the SAU office, so this is an observation about online availability, not a finding that the deadline was missed.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification: movers and seconders; five business days); RSA 288:1 (Labor Day a legal holiday); CSB minutes 8.24.22.
OBSERVATION The board staffed six committees and an ad hoc committee; each is a public body in its own right, whatever the quorum of the full board
From 0:26:21 the board named members and co-chairs for the Capital Improvement, Budget, Policy, Curriculum, Elementary Restructuring and middle/high/tech scheduling committees, and at 0:39:12 recorded an ad hoc parliamentary procedure committee that had not been on the agenda. The quorum remarks at 0:31:44 and 0:32:41 address a different question: whether a gathering becomes a meeting of the full board. Under RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) a "public body" includes a school district board "or any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto", so each committee's own meetings carry notice and minutes duties under RSA 91-A:2, II regardless of how many board members attend. Two of these committees reported meeting within the month (September 7 and September 21 pages). The flag is prospective: it records the structure so that the committees' notices and minutes can be looked for; this page has not searched for them.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (2022 codification; committees and advisory committees are public bodies); RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification).
OBSERVATION The business administrator's schedule puts the fiscal 2020 audits more than two years after year end
Asked for a status report at 0:36:04, Seaman said the Unity and SAU audits for 2020 were expected "in the next couple of weeks", Claremont's by the end of September, fiscal 2021 in November and fiscal 2022 "by February for the Bartsch Single Audit, piece that we have to have done" (Bartsch is unexplained in the transcript). He also reported that two outstanding grant-compliance matters had been cleared by the Department of Education. The federal single-audit deadline and how far these years ran past it are set out in the September 7 page, flag 1, where the same schedule was discussed at length; it is recorded here as an observation so the finding sits on one page.
Sources: the recording at 0:36:04 to 0:37:46; 2 CFR 200.512(a)(1) (2022 edition: nine months after the end of the audit period).
POSITIVE Three student handbooks were read and argued over in public, and the high-school text was changed during the meeting
The board spent more than twenty minutes on the Stevens handbook. Sprague's objection to restorative justice appearing beside felony-level offenses (0:02:26) was answered point by point by the high-school administrator, other members tested it with examples, and the vice chair reduced the disagreement to a drafting question (0:13:43). The administrator then edited the live document to read "restorative justice option upon reentry" (0:14:06). Members also raised VLACS weighting, a confusing grading chart (removed), student parking and the absence of policy JBAB from two handbooks. Handbooks are routinely approved without discussion; here the reasoning behind the discipline matrix is on the public record. No rule requires this; it is recorded as practice exceeding the minimum.
Sources: the recording at 0:02:26 to 0:22:49; CSB minutes 8.24.22. No legal requirement is claimed.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/14582 SchoolBoardSpecial082422.mp4.CSV (323 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/14582 SchoolBoardSpecial082422.mp4Input/Transcripts/14582 SchoolBoardSpecial082422.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 173
Laws and rules cited on this page