Participants
Everyone in the record. Names follow the dialogue file; where it says Unidentified, so does this table. Where the agenda or minutes name someone the dialogue file leaves unidentified, the document is quoted as the source.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Michael Petrin | Chair; budget subcommittee co-chair | Presided. Limited citizens' comments to non-agenda items with answers by email; introduced a legislative candidate with a non-endorsement statement; reported the budget subcommittee "just met this afternoon" and asked members to email him their tax-rate goals; asked about transporting the football team and band. |
| Frank Sprague | Board member | Reported for the ad hoc parliamentary procedure committee ("I kept the notes"); moved third and final read of JICD and JICK, then withdrew; asked about diagnostic placements, ESSER II, the literacy curriculum ("Holistic, not being whole language, I hope") and heating costs. |
| Steven Horsky | Board member; policy subcommittee co-chair | Moved the agenda; policy subcommittee report (an NHSBA policy review); moved JICD and JICK to third read; proposed and moved the SB 420 warrant allocation; asked for last year's freshman-to-graduation rate; moved adjournment. |
| Whitney Skillen | Board member | Asked that family events be announced earlier; asked to hold the policies for the absent members; asked about the lowest diploma type and the literacy program; seconded the SB 420 motion; asked what became of money set aside at the December 12, 2019 special meeting for special education (flag 5). |
| Bonnie Miles | Board member; Capital Improvement Committee co-chair | Capital committee: had written to the facilities contact to set a meeting. Asked about the community van, rental vans, band transport, fuel costs and how much a bus costs. Identified by elimination in the dialogue file (medium confidence). |
| Heather Whitney | Vice Chair | Absent (minutes). Named by Sprague as chair of the ad hoc committee. |
| Joshua Lambert | Board member | Absent (minutes). |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Superintendent's report (FableVision events); ESSER III allocation by line (flag 6); restructuring and schedule committees to report next time; transportation shortages; dropout and graduation data. |
| Richard Seaman | Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources | Budget drivers (about $200,000 in contractual increases, health insurance, utilities, adequacy aid); the two-step SB 420 process and the warrant options; trust balances: the 2019 special-education trust "still has a balance of $650,000", the transportation reserve "262123". |
| Michael Koski | Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum | Curriculum plan under ESSER; i-Ready reading scores; "we lost the data basically" from the summer program. Identified by role continuity (medium confidence); not named on tape. |
| Stephanie Hurst | Literacy specialist, SAU 6 | Why the summer growth data could not be used and the plan for next year; the Scarborough reading rope and LETRS training; 24 teachers piloting new curricula. |
| Heather Pelkey | Curriculum specialist (mathematics), SAU 6 | Presented the development-of-mathematical-reasoning graphic and number talks. The dialogue file identifies her with medium-high confidence (called up as Heather while Heather Whitney was absent); the minutes name "Heather Pelkey (Math Specialist)". |
| Ben Nester | Director of Special Education (acting secretary) | Called the roll; one student "and a 90 day" [in a 90-day] diagnostic placement; the 2019 trust history; special-education staffing: "it's not a money issue. It's just the bodies are not there to do the work." |
| Unidentified | Student representative | School-by-school report and a survey of Stevens students on the new Cardinal recognition cards (119 responses). The chair's introduction is garbled (We have this Hanoverian); the agenda and minutes name the student representative as Hannah Petrin. |
| Unidentified | Stevens High School school counselor | Presented the class of 2022 school profile (40% four-year college, 19% two-year, 2% military, 35% employment); said the counseling office was down one counselor. The agenda lists the item as "Stevens High School Graduation Profile 2022 (Mimi Rhines)". |
| Hope Damon | Candidate for state representative; resident of Croydon | Introduced herself during citizens' comments at the chair's invitation: "my name is Hope Damon. I live in Croydon." Described the Croydon budget restoration campaign and state school funding. |
| Candace Crawford | Citizens' comments, Ward 2 | Three questions: whether counsel ever answered on the tech-center guidance counselor money, how Stevens counselors cover the tech center, and whether "$650,000 in grant money" due by September 15 had been used (flag 1). Later asked for the freshman-to-graduation percentage. |
Agenda
From the posted Claremont School Board Agenda 9.21.22 Final, with dispositions from the recording and the approved minutes. Quoted agenda and minutes wording is marked as such.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:09 | I. Call to Order and Pledge | Minutes: "Meeting called to order by Chair Mike Petrin at 6:30pm". |
| 0:01:11 | II. Roll call | Nester called the roll. Minutes: "Present: Bonnie Miles, Frank Sprague, Whitney Skillen, Mike Petrin, Steven Horsky; Absent: Heather Whitney, Joshua Lambert". |
| 0:01:38 | II. Agenda: Amendments and Final Approval | Item 1(g), the ad hoc parliamentary procedure committee report, added. Horsky moved "to approve the agenda as presented and amended"; second unidentified on tape (minutes: Skillen); voice vote. |
| 0:02:32 | II. Minutes approval: September 7, 2022 | Minutes: "Motion made by Frank Sprague to approve the 9.7.22 Claremont School Board minutes, seconded by Steven Horsky". Approved without correction (see the September 7 page, flag 3). |
| 0:03:03 | II. Citizens Comments | Hope Damon; Candace Crawford (flag 1). |
| 0:10:40 | II. Student Representative Report | School updates and the Cardinal card survey. |
| 0:14:45 | III. Superintendent Report | FableVision family and movie night and literacy month. |
| 0:18:46 | IV.1 School Board Sub-Committee Report Out (a) to (g) | (a) Capital Improvement: not yet met. (b) Budget: met that afternoon (0:19:42). (c) Policy: met; NHSBA review (0:25:52). (d) Curriculum: nothing (0:27:01). (e) and (f) Restructuring and schedule: next meeting (0:27:25). (g) Ad hoc parliamentary procedure: met September 16 (0:29:34) (flag 3). |
| 0:33:47 | IV.2 Second Read Policies: (a) JICD (b) JICK | Sprague moved third and final read and withdrew at 0:35:03. Horsky moved them "to third" read, Skillen seconded, voice vote at 0:35:38. Minutes: "Steven Horsky made a motion to move policies to second and third read; seconded by Whitney Skillen; all in favor via voice vote." |
| 0:35:38 | IV.3 Stevens High School Graduation Profile 2022 (Mimi Rhines) | The class of 2022 school profile. No action. |
| 0:41:33 | IV.4 ESSER III Update (M. Tempesta; R. Seaman) | ESSER III allocations by line. No action (flag 6). |
| 0:52:43 | IV.5 Curriculum Team presentation; Summer Program Student Growth | Koski, Hurst and Pelkey. The summer growth data was lost. No action. |
| 1:10:36 | IV.6 Transportation Update | Two drivers out; the transportation coordinator driving a route. No action. |
| 1:17:52 | IV.7 Special School District Meeting; (New Hampshire Senate Bill 420 (Additional Funds); Special Town Meeting (RSA 197:3) Warrant Posting) | Horsky moved a warrant putting $129,867.51 in an energy trust, $100,000 in the transportation trust and $200,000 in the capital improvement trust, hearing October 5 and vote October 19; Skillen seconded; voice vote at 1:32:48. The minutes record the special meeting "being held 10.20.22 at Stevens High school auditorium" (flag 2). |
| 1:33:53 | V. Other Business | The 2019 special-education trust; special-education staffing; transportation reserve balance; graduation-rate request; agenda-item emails to the chair. |
| 1:41:49 | VI to VII. Closing; Adjournment | Horsky moved; vote at 1:41:53. Minutes: "seconded by Whitney Skillen". |
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 |
|---|
| 0:00:09 | Call to order; roll; agenda; minutes | "I would like to call the September 21st Claremont School Board meeting to order." Roll as transcribed: "Steve here. Josh, 40 miles [Bonnie Miles]. Here." Agenda amended to add the ad hoc committee report; September 7 minutes approved. | |
| 0:03:03 | Citizens' comments: the rule | The chair: "citizens comments at this time are for non-agenda items. And they are just that. They're citizens comments. It's not really a time for back and forth and question and answer with the board or admin." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:03:27 | A candidate introduces herself | The chair: "Hope is not a member or a citizen of Claremont, but in the past, we have invited people running for office to come and introduce themselves. This is not in any way an endorsement of this board." Damon at 0:04:09: redistricting; the Croydon budget "cut by 53% on a motion from the floor" and restored "377 to 2"; "We are, in fact, last in the country for public funding from the state to schools". | |
| 0:07:00 | Crawford's three questions | "You said this isn't a question and answer, but I do have some questions, and I'm not sure how they get answered." The chair: "You can ask the questions the answered, probably via email or." Crawford: "Or or during the regular part of the meeting would be helpful." On counsel and the tech-center counselor money; counselor coverage; and "business manager Simon [Seaman] said that there was about $650,000 in grant money left to be identified". No answer on the record. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:10:48 | Student representative | Open houses at Maple and Bluff; Cardinal recognition cards: "62.2% of the students believe that these cards are already making a positive impact", "only 14.3% of the students have received one of these cards so far this year". | |
| 0:14:57 | Superintendent's report | FableVision family movie night on a Monday; Skillen at 0:18:23 asked that notices go out earlier. Tempesta: "absolutely. We can." | |
| 0:19:42 | Budget subcommittee | Petrin: "We just met this afternoon." Seaman at 0:21:32: "close to $200,000 of contractual increases that come from our four negotiated agreements"; health care "especially unknown"; adequacy aid draft "on the 15th of November"; "starting the process about a month earlier than we did last year". Petrin at 0:24:53: members to send "just some individual emails" on their tax-rate goal. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:25:52 | Policy subcommittee | Horsky: "We did have a meeting tonight. We were a short one member." A full policy review by the "Hampshire School Board Association" to ensure "we're all fully in compliance with state and federal law." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:29:02 | Ad hoc parliamentary procedure committee | Petrin: "Frank, Heather and myself. Got together, talked about really how the board runs, how the agenda looks", "how citizens comments are supposed to be and how they're supposed to look." Sprague at 0:29:34: "we met on the 16th"; topics: the SB 2 timetable, "talking to the press", "How to request an agenda item", parental concerns, required agenda items; notes to go on a shared Google Drive. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:34:00 | JICD and JICK | Sprague moved "Second and third read"; Horsky wanted to amend the optional superintendent-authority section; Skillen: "Can we save this for next time with Josh and Heather?" Sprague withdrew; Horsky moved them on "just in case they had something to add". Passed at 0:35:38. | |
| 0:36:25 | Class of 2022 profile | "we are down to school counselor"; "the four year college was 40%, two year college was 19%"; "2% went to the military and 35% went to employment". No SAT scores "the last few years. Because of Covid". Crawford at 0:40:20 asked the freshman-to-graduate percentage; the counselor: "I don't have that number." | |
| 0:41:41 | ESSER III allocation | Health screeners $52,330, health software "$25,000 each year", transportation software, diagnostic emergency placements, "$147,000 in for late busses", staffing "nearly approaching $3 million", CTE outreach, family engagement, FableVision. Nester at 0:50:47: one student in a 90-day diagnostic placement. ESSER II to come next meeting. | POSITIVE |
| 0:52:51 | Curriculum plan and reading scores | Koski: "We have 44% of our students from 20 1920 at grade level or above. In 2021, it went up to 50 and then to 51." Aligning courses so "all the algebra one courses will be teaching the same competencies". | |
| 0:55:44 | Summer program data lost | Hurst: "a growth monitoring assessment was assigned. And we can't access that data." Koski at 0:57:33: "it's not what anybody wanted to hear, but we, we we lost the data basically that was during the rollover to the new year". A pre and post standards assessment is planned for next summer. | POSITIVE |
| 1:00:43 | Math and literacy | Pelkey on additive and multiplicative thinking; Hurst at 1:02:33 on the Scarborough reading rope, LETRS training, and pilots of Wit and Wisdom and CKLA with "24 teachers who are piloting". | |
| 1:10:54 | Transportation | "a shortage of gear [of] two drivers"; the coordinator "is driving a route"; a community van; at 1:14:20: "We've been advised by Attorney Upton on this". Petrin at 1:15:37 asked whether the football team and band need buses. | |
| 1:17:52 | SB 420: the process | Seaman: "a two step process"; a hearing with a draft warrant, "seven clear days" of notice as counsel put it, and newspaper posting; "$429,867.51"; if nothing is done "those funds will just be incorporated into the tax rate setting". | OBSERVATION |
| 1:24:23 | SB 420: heating, buses, capital | Sprague on heating; Seaman: a roughly $100,000 increase. Horsky at 1:26:13: a bus costs "roughly 100 grand"; at 1:29:24: "This kind of gets us a little bit of cushion from the doom and gloom." Seaman at 1:30:34: an expendable trust "lives on after the year end". | OBSERVATION |
| 1:31:53 | SB 420: the motion | Horsky: "hold a special town meeting to approve a warrant, as follows"; energy trust, "100,000 back into the transportation trust", "200 000 would go into our capital improvement trust under RSA 197. Paragraph three"; hearing October 5, vote October 19. Passed at 1:32:48. Seaman at 1:32:59: "We'll start the posting for this on Friday." | OBSERVATION |
| 1:34:00 | The December 2019 special-education money | Skillen: money "allocated to keep higher needs students in district". Nester at 1:35:47: half went to a program that brought "two students back from a school in Vermont"; Seaman at 1:36:07: the program was funded locally instead and the trust "still has a balance of $650,000." Nester at 1:36:57 on staffing: "It's just the bodies are not there to do the work." | OBSERVATION |
| 1:38:25 | Transportation reserve; graduation rate | Seaman: "the balance in the transportation reserve. 262123." Horsky at 1:39:02 asked for "the freshmen through senior year graduation percentage"; Tempesta described the dropout definition. | |
| 1:41:07 | Agenda requests by email; adjournment | Petrin: if members send agenda items "maybe the subject is just agenda item". Horsky moved adjournment at 1:41:49. | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the state law in force on September 21, 2022. RSA 91-A and RSA 198:40-f are cited from their 2022 codifications; RSA 189:74 had been in force for fifteen days. 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. 6 flags follow, ordered by severity.
OBSERVATION Citizens' comments were limited to items not on the agenda, and a resident's three questions got no answer on the record
The chair opened comments at 0:03:03 as "for non-agenda items" and "not really a time for back and forth". Crawford asked three specific questions at 0:07:00 to 0:10:12 (counsel's advice on the tech-center guidance counselor money, how Stevens counselors cover the tech center, and whether "$650,000 in grant money" due by September 15 had been used), and was told answers would come "probably via email". The minutes record her questions verbatim, and "Any questions that are asked during the meeting will be answered via email at this time." None was answered during the meeting; she asked the $650,000 question again on October 5 (October 5 page). RSA 189:74, in force since September 6, 2022, requires a board to "provide the opportunity for the public to comment on school district matters" for at least thirty minutes, without limiting comment to items off the agenda. What that floor measures is unsettled, and nobody was turned away tonight: Crawford was called to the microphone during the graduation profile at 0:40:20. Recorded as an observation.
Sources: RSA 189:74 (2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022); Approved CSB Meeting Minutes 9.21.22.
OBSERVATION The board voted a reserve-only warrant for money the grant statute tied to a plan for student achievement; it later reversed itself
The motion at 1:31:53 sent the full $429,867.51 to three trusts: about $129,868 to a new energy trust, $100,000 to transportation and $200,000 to capital improvement, "under RSA 197. Paragraph three", and set the hearing for October 5 and the vote for October 19. The minutes put the special meeting on "10.20.22". The reasons given on the record were fuel costs, bus replacement and "a little bit of cushion from the doom and gloom" (1:29:24); no member mentioned students. The money was an extraordinary need grant created by 2022 N.H. Laws ch. 318 (SB 420); RSA 198:40-f, II, as it read in 2022, required the district to "provide a plan to the department of education outlining how the district intends to use grant award funds to improve the educational achievement and growth of students". A special meeting to change an education appropriation after the annual meeting is governed by RSA 197:3-a, not the RSA 197:3 on the agenda. At the October 5 hearing residents read the statute to the board, which tabled the warrant for counsel's written advice, and on October 19 adopted a single article framed around improving student achievement, as reported on the linked pages (October 5 page, flag 1; October 19 page). Recorded as an observation because the warrant voted tonight was never posted in this form.
Sources: RSA 198:40-f, II (2022 codification); RSA 197:3-a (source 2013, 197:1, unamended); 2022 N.H. Laws ch. 318 (SB 420), approved July 1, 2022, eff. July 1, 2022.
OBSERVATION Three committees reported meetings held since the last board meeting; no notice or minutes for them has been located, and budget goals were to go to the chair by individual email
The budget subcommittee "just met this afternoon" (0:19:42); the policy subcommittee "did have a meeting tonight" (0:25:52); the ad hoc parliamentary procedure committee "met on the 16th" (0:29:34) and discussed "how citizens comments are supposed to be". Under RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) each is a public body ("or any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto"), with the notice and minutes duties of RSA 91-A:2, II. The district's board packet folders in Drive hold no notice or minutes for any of the three; this page did not search further, so the finding is "not located", not "not kept". Separately, the budget subcommittee's chair asked each member to email him their tax-rate goal (0:24:53). One-way emails to the chair are not deliberation among members, but RSA 91-A:2-a, II provides that "Communications outside a meeting, including sequential communications among members of a public body, shall not be used to circumvent the spirit and purpose of this chapter", and budget targets gathered that way are not in the public record.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (2022 codification); RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification); RSA 91-A:2-a, I-II (2022 codification; source 2008, 303:4).
OBSERVATION The only copy of these minutes in the public share is the approved version, posted nearly four weeks after the meeting; the agenda was posted there the morning of the meeting
Approved CSB Meeting Minutes 9.21.22 was created in the October 5 packet folder on October 18, 2022: the eighteenth business day after the meeting, counting Columbus Day out, and after the board approved it on October 5. No draft was located. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting" (drafts suffice). The minutes name movers and seconders for each motion, as ¶II requires. The agenda's Drive copy was created at 8:36 a.m. on the day of the meeting, although a member said at 0:38:39 that the board had it by email "on the 16th". A Drive created time dates online posting, not the notice posted in public places or availability at the SAU office, so both points are observations about online availability.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2022 codification); RSA 288:1 (Columbus Day a legal holiday).
OBSERVATION Money voters set aside in December 2019 for special education still sat untouched at $650,000 while parents raised special-education staffing concerns
Skillen asked at 1:34:00 what became of money approved at a December 12, 2019 special meeting "to keep higher needs students in district". The special-education director said half was meant to build a program, which brought two students back from Vermont; the business administrator said that program was funded from the local budget instead, so the board "never did not have to come to the board to utilize that trust" and "It still has a balance of $650,000" (1:36:07). Skillen noted "a lot of concern in the community among parents of students with IEPs" and asked the administration to bring any use of the fund to the board. This page has not reviewed the 2019 warrant article that created the trust, so it makes no claim about the purposes the trust may lawfully serve; it records a sizeable reserve left idle for nearly three years.
Sources: the recording at 1:34:00 to 1:38:11; Approved CSB Meeting Minutes 9.21.22 ("the trust still has $650,000"). No legal requirement is claimed.
POSITIVE The ESSER III plan was shown line by line, and the curriculum team said plainly that the summer data had been lost
The superintendent walked the board through the ESSER III allocation with dollar figures for each line, from health screeners and software to late buses and staffing "nearly approaching $3 million" (0:41:41 to 0:49:51), with slides filed with the agenda. Two weeks after promising the summer program's growth results, the curriculum team reported instead that they could not be used: "it's not what anybody wanted to hear, but we, we we lost the data basically" (0:57:33), and described what would be done differently. Disclosing a failure in open session, rather than letting the promised item drop, is practice exceeding any legal minimum.
Sources: the recording at 0:41:41 and 0:55:44 to 0:57:33. 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/14627 SchoolBoard091522.mp4.CSV (486 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/14627 SchoolBoard091522.mp4Input/Transcripts/14627 SchoolBoard091522.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 175
Laws and rules cited on this page