Participants
Everyone in the record. Speaker names follow the project's dialogue file; where the draft minutes, the recording and that file differ, the row says so. Presence of members who are never heard rests on the draft minutes. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Michael Petrin | Chair, Claremont School Board; SAU 6 member | Presided over the Claremont hearing and meeting. In the SAU 6 half, moved the agenda and the corrected January 3 minutes, and seconded Sprague's first budget amendment. Spoke for the teachers' agreement at 1:21:36 ("It would be catastrophic if this did not pass"). Ran the budget votes that went wrong: counted "four in favor and two again opposed" at 2:35:46, then allowed a revote, a roll call and a paper ballot. Announced the final figure as "$37,345,313" at 2:43:53 after a motion for $37,345,312. Addressed as Mikey in the Claremont roll call. The CSV often splits his voice across diarizer clusters. |
| Heather Whitney | Vice Chair, Claremont School Board; SAU 6 member | Arrived at the SAU hearing at 6:45 p.m. per the SAU minutes (answers the SAU roll as Heather Whitman). Opposed the SAU raise freeze: "the only administrator that we evaluate is a superintendent, and the superintendent is covered by contract." In the Claremont half, asked the business administrator to explain the teachers' agreement, seconded Sprague's $38,345,312 motion, Horsky's paper-ballot motion and his $1,000,000 cut, and told the room at 2:26:49 that "what we have in this room is a very specific type of voter, not representative of the average voter in our community." Not to be confused with member Whitney Skillen. |
| Steven Horsky | Member, Claremont School Board and SAU 6 | Had missed the January 3 SAU meeting and the January 9 Claremont meeting with the flu ("Get sick on my birthday with the flu"); abstained on both sets of minutes. At SAU 6, moved to strip non-contractual cell-phone stipends (failed on a show of hands) and (per the SAU minutes) a five-minute recess to sort out the budget figure. In the Claremont meeting, presented his own handout at 2:08:50, a class-size exercise against the state minimum standards that he said found "somewhere around $2.2 million"; moved the paper ballot at 2:39:24 and the $1,000,000 cut to $37,345,312 at 2:42:20. Rendered Mr. Hauschka and Steve Gorski in this corpus. |
| Frank Sprague | Member, Claremont School Board; Vice Chair, SAU 6 | Questioned the SAU figure against the January 3 minutes, withdrew and re-made his amendment, and moved the SAU budget to $2,396,000 at 0:49:47. In the Claremont meeting, added the NH Listens school board forum to the agenda and moved to send $38,345,312 to the deliberative session at 2:22:25. Asked Principal Pratt whether the personal-finance course was a half-credit class. Rendered Greg and Frank. Strange. elsewhere in this corpus. |
| Whitney Skillen | Member, Claremont School Board and SAU 6 | Moved at SAU 6 to rescind administrators' raises not required by contract and level fund salaries, citing the Lupini organisational study: "these raises are not justified because of the move. The findings of the report, and the lack of performance." Abstained on her own amendment's vote, per the chair and the minutes. In the Claremont meeting, voted No on the abandoned roll call and argued for keeping the two technical-center programs. The minutes record her as not voting on the final $37,345,312 motion. Answered roll as Whitney Skilling; joked "Just call me skillet." |
| Bonnie Miles | Member, Claremont School Board and SAU 6 | Named in this recording by the chair ("Bonnie, you had a yes") and the roll caller. Made the case for the technical center at 2:28:36 with NHDOE graduation and earnings figures and the Lupini report, then said she was confused by the vote she had just cast: "Explain it again to me? Because I." Voted No on the abandoned roll call. Seconded the Claremont adjournment per the minutes. |
| (vacant seat) | Seventh Claremont seat | Vacant since Joshua Lambert's resignation on January 11, 2023. The SAU minutes' masthead lists eleven members accordingly. |
| Marjorie Erickson | Chair, SAU 6 Board (Unity) | Presided over the SAU 6 hearing and meeting. Accepted the point of order that the noticed hearing had to stay open until 7:00. Defended the move of shared positions into the SAU budget ("it's cleaner to put the positions into the saw") and opposed the raise freeze because the Lupini findings "have not been addressed yet" but were being worked into the superintendent evaluation. Put the final SAU budget vote at 1:00:51 and announced "We have approved $2,396,000 budget." Never named on this recording; the dialogue file identifies her by role and content (medium confidence) and the SAU minutes confirm she chaired. |
| Shannon Popescu, Rocco Ruggeri, Atonya Hart | SAU 6 members (Unity) | Present per the SAU draft minutes; no speech is attributed to any of them in the dialogue file. Popescu abstained on the January 3 minutes, which the board corrected to record her absent from that meeting. |
| Garry Bator | SAU 6 member (Unity) | Absent per the SAU draft minutes (roll call and meeting). The transcript's roll-call fragment at 0:25:36 reads Gary Bader here; the voices in that fragment are not separable and this page follows the minutes. Spelled Garry Bator in the minutes and Gary Bader in the project roster; spelling unverified. |
| Michael C. Tempesta | Superintendent of Schools, SAU 6 | Answered Patrick Adrian at 1:27:24 on where the $754,470 of unidentified reductions would come from: about $400,000 of turnover savings, positions on letters of agreement, and ESSER money, including three pre-K paraprofessionals who "will absolutely be funded using Esser funds as an emergency". The CSV attributes this block to him by content (medium confidence). Superintendent from July 2019 until January 2024. |
| Richard Seaman | Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations, SAU 6 | Presented both budgets. SAU: "$2,311,072.74, increase of $515,127.51", with a 6 percent salary increase offset by a new 96/4 health-insurance share. Claremont: the two new technical-center positions removed, a further "total reduction of $754,470" to be found in the year, a targeted rate of $24.53, "an increase of $0.95 from current year", and a default-budget rate of "$23.19 or reduction from current year of $0.40". Explained that the teachers' agreement is inside the operating budget "at the request of the Sri". Asked at the end how the board wanted the $1,000,000 cut spread across the state forms. |
| Jeff Small | Director of Technology, SAU 6 | Called both Claremont roll calls at the chair's request and collected the paper ballots. Defended his cell-phone stipend at SAU 6: "I get. On call 247." |
| Chris Pratt | Principal, Stevens High School | Answered David Putnam on the new personal-finance course at 1:50:53: about 100 juniors, "Six sections", so "probably two thirds of the position would need to be dedicated to the high school." Principal, not superintendent, in January 2023. |
| Unidentified administrator | SAU 6 central office | Spoke for the cell-phone stipend at 0:55:44 ("I can speak to it, Mike"); not named on the recording. The attribution report suggests Mike Koski or Ben Nester without deciding. |
| Chelsea Weatherford | Recording secretary | Submitted both sets of draft minutes. Not heard on the recording. |
| Gary Merchant | Public: Ward 2; NH state representative (Claremont, Croydon) | Spoke at both hearings and at SAU 6 citizens' comments. Asked whether the SAU's 6 percent raise to offset a health-insurance share was matched for teachers ("We have to be fair across the board"). Raised the point of order at 0:21:29 that "Since this was a notice meeting. Yes. I think legally you have to wait until 7:00." At SAU 6 citizens' comments asked the SAU to keep its website current and post minutes: "You have to be posted within five days." At the Claremont hearing, urged the board to think about how it presents the budget. |
| David Putnam | Public: Ward 2; former board and SAU chair | Asked at the SAU hearing whether the SAU budget automatically becomes part of each district's default budget (Seaman: "yes, it becomes a part of the default budget"). At the Claremont hearing warned that an agreement embedded in the operating budget is "kind of hidden" and urged the board to campaign for it; asked about the technical center line and the personal-finance position. Raised a point of order at 2:25:53 that the public could not speak while a seconded motion was pending. Spoke again in Claremont citizens' comments on student achievement. |
| Patrick Adrian | Public: Ward 1; former board member | First Claremont hearing speaker, asking where the Claremont Middle School reduction and the $754,470 would come from; "there's more than just money that motivates teachers." Spoke again on the personal-finance requirement, and in citizens' comments at 2:01:41 on the Stevens High School schedule, saying a former principal had linked it to low math scores. |
| Mary Lovett | Public: Ward 2; former student representative | Said she was "a little disheartened" by board members' conduct at the previous meeting, and asked whether paraprofessionals would get a raise (the chair: they are under a three-year agreement). Returned at 1:56:08 on how hard the budget document is to read ("Some lines are just zero"). The minutes give her Ward 2 on her first turn and Ward 1 on her second; on the recording she says Word two. The corpus also carries the spellings Marian and Mary Ann Lovett. |
| Alex Herzog | Public: Ward 2; Director, Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center | Defended the visioning committee's two proposed programs as not duplicating Newport's, and reported on the technical center boilers; spoke twice. |
| Scott Pope | Public: Ward 2; retired technical center teacher | Suggested starting the entrepreneurship program with a half-time teacher, as the center had done when it opened. |
| Unidentified speaker | Public: Ward 2 (SAU hearing) | Compared the SAU's 6 percent raise and 4 percent health share with the teachers' agreement at 0:16:58. The self-identification is lost (Board. Two Claremont.); the SAU minutes list only Merchant and Putnam as hearing speakers. |
Agenda
Claremont items are from the posted agenda, 1.17.23 CSB Agenda.docx (2).pdf, with dispositions from the Claremont draft minutes. The SAU 6 agenda and notice sit in the SAU share's folder 2. SAU Public Hearing FY24 Budget 1.17.23, which this project's map has not inventoried; the SAU rows below follow the item headings printed in the SAU draft minutes. Quoted agenda and minutes wording is marked as such. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:23 | SAU 6 public hearing on the FY24 budget: call to order, pledge, roll | SAU minutes: "6:30PM Marjorie Erickson, Chair called the public hearing to order". Present per the SAU minutes: Erickson, Sprague, Petrin, Popescu, Ruggeri, Hart, Horsky, Miles, Skillen, and Whitney "(arrival at 6:45 PM)"; absent Garry Bator. The chair asked "Ben, are you doing a roll? Call?"; the answers run together on the recording. |
| 0:01:46 | SAU 6 hearing: overview of the FY24 budget | Presented by Richard Seaman as "a budget of $2,311,072.74, increase of $515,127.51": two special-education positions moved from Claremont, a new human resources director, the curriculum coordinator moved into superintendent salaries, and a 6 percent raise offset by a 96/4 health-insurance share. |
| 0:06:50 | SAU 6 hearing: citizens' comments | Gary Merchant and David Putnam per the SAU minutes; a third Ward 2 voice on the recording is not named. Closed once at 0:20:53, reopened on Merchant's point of order that the noticed hearing had to run to 7:00, and closed again at 0:25:07. SAU minutes: "Public hearing closed by chair, Marjorie Erickson at 7:00 PM". |
| 0:25:15 | SAU 6 meeting: call to order, roll, agenda | SAU minutes: "7:00 PM - Meeting called to order by Chair, Marjorie Erickson"; "Michael Petrin makes a motion to approve the agenda as presented; seconded by Steven Horsky; all in favor via voice vote." |
| 0:26:27 | SAU 6: approval of the January 3, 2023 minutes | Horsky said he "wasn't included as being absent or present"; the chair noted Popescu was the one omitted. SAU minutes: approved "with the addition of adding Shannon Popescu as being absent; seconded by Heather Whitney; all in favor via voice vote except Shannon Popescu, Steven Horsky, Whitney Skillen choosing to abstain." The chair on the recording: "We have three abstentions from the absent people." |
| 0:28:08 | SAU 6: citizens' comments | Gary Merchant on posting minutes and notices on the website. See flag 4. |
| 0:29:15 | SAU 6: FY24 budget approval | Four motions. (1) Skillen, to rescind administrators' raises not required by contract and level fund salaries; failed on a voice vote, Skillen abstaining (minutes: "majority no"). (2) Sprague, to restore "$2,406,073", withdrawn after a five-minute recess found the January 3 figure was $10,000 too high. (3) Sprague, to amend to $2,396,000; carried by voice vote (minutes: "all in favor via voice vote", no seconder recorded). (4) Horsky, to remove non-contractual cell-phone stipends; failed on a show of hands. The chair then put the budget as amended, $2,396,000, which carried at 1:01:07; the minutes record "majority vote was approved" with no mover or seconder. See flags 2, 3 and 6. |
| 1:01:23 | SAU 6: adjournment | SAU minutes: "Michael Petrin makes a motion to adjourn the SAU6 meeting; seconded by Frank Sprague". The minutes head the item "7:30 PM Closing Activities". |
| 1:02:03 | Claremont public hearing: I. Roll call | Agenda: "7:30pm Secretary Roll Call of Attendance of Board Members". Called by Jeff Small. Claremont minutes: "Present: Michael Petrin, Heather Whitney, Bonnie Miles, Whitney Skillen, Steven Horsky, Frank Sprague". All six sitting members. |
| 1:04:28 | II. Overview of Fiscal Year 2024 Budget; III. Overview of the 2024 Default Budget | Agenda: "7:35 pm Overview of Fiscal Year 2024 Budget" and "7:40 pm Overview of the 2024 Default Budget". Seaman presented both together: proposed budget $38,345,312 with the technical-center positions removed and $754,470 of reductions still to be identified; targeted rate $24.53; default-budget rate $23.19. See flag 9. |
| 1:23:19 | IV. Citizens Comments | Agenda: "During this time, only questions and comments directly related to the budget will be heard", three minutes each and two on a second turn, citing policy BEDH. Speakers: Patrick Adrian, David Putnam, Mary Lovett, Alex Herzog, Scott Pope, Gary Merchant, then second turns by Herzog, Putnam, Adrian and Lovett. The minutes record the six first turns and Lovett's second, and omit the second turns of Herzog, Putnam and Adrian. |
| 1:58:33 | V. Closing of Public Hearing | Agenda: "8:00 pm Closing of Public Hearing". Closed at 1:58:33, about 56 minutes after it opened; the agenda allowed 30. |
| 1:58:38 | Claremont meeting: I. Call to order; II. General business | Roll by Jeff Small; all six present per the minutes. Sprague added the NH School Board Forum. Minutes: "Steven Horksy makes a motion to approve the agenda as amended; seconded by Heather Whitney; all in favor via voice vote" (Horksy is the minutes' spelling). January 9 minutes: "Heather Whitney makes a motion to approve the 1/9/23 meeting minutes as presented; seconded by Whitney Skillen; all in favor via voice vote with Steven Horsky abstaining." |
| 2:01:26 | III. Citizens Comments | Patrick Adrian (the Stevens schedule) and David Putnam (student outcomes). |
| 2:08:37 | IV.B (as printed) Fiscal 2024 Budget Approval | The agenda numbers this item B. under IV with no item A. Horsky presented his class-size exercise; Sprague moved $38,345,312, seconded by Whitney; a voice vote the chair counted 4 to 2 was followed by a motion to revote, an abandoned roll call and a paper ballot. Minutes: "Steven Horsky motions to hold a secret ballot; seconded by Heather Whitney; Secret ballot vote is 3 yes, 3 no." Then "Steven Horsky makes a motion to send forward thirty seven million three hundred forty five thousand three hundred and thirteen dollars to the deliberative session; seconded by Heather Whitney; all in favor via show of hands with Whitney Skillen not voting." On the recording the motion is $37,345,312 and the chair announces "I had 5 to 1." The minutes also give Sprague's figure as thirty-eight million three hundred forty-five thousand three hundred and thirteen. See flags 1, 5 and 7. |
| 2:44:15 | B. New Hampshire School Board Forum (added) | Minutes: "Frank Sprague heard from NH Listens on holding a forum on February 28, 2023." No vote. |
| 2:45:43 | VI. Other Business/Future Agenda Items; VII. Closing Activities | Seaman asked how to allocate the $1,000,000 on the state forms; see flag 7. |
| 2:49:28 | VIII. Adjournment | Minutes: "Steven Horsky motions to adjourn the meeting; seconded by Bonnie Miles". On the recording the chair says "seconded by Heather". |
Discussion timeline
Chronological, from the dialogue CSV (1,008 rows). Each time is the start of the cited exchange, rendered 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 |
|---|
| 0:00:23 | SAU 6 hearing opens | "Okay. I'd like to call the public hearing to order." Pledge and a roll whose answers the transcript cannot separate. | |
| 0:01:55 | SAU budget presented | Seaman: "Recommended and was agreed to was a budget of $2,311,072.74, increase of $515,127.51." Drivers: the outplacement coordinator and Medicaid clerk moved from Claremont, the new human resources director, the curriculum coordinator, and "a 6% increase in salary, which is offset by a change in the match on the insurance", from 100 percent employer-paid to 96/4. Sprague immediately asked where an extra $15,000 on the assistant superintendent's assistant had come from. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:07:00 | Merchant: parity with teachers | "If I understand what I heard about the 6% increase in salary, basically what I heard was that because we're going to have them pay for their health insurance, we're giving them extra money in the paycheck to pay for it." Seaman: the insurance share is "comparable to what has been negotiated" with each bargaining unit. Horsky established that the SAU staff in question are under no collective bargaining agreement. | |
| 0:10:36 | Putnam: does the SAU budget ride in the default? | "Does it automatically become part of the default budget?" Seaman: "And my understanding on that, David, is, yes, it becomes a part of the default budget." He added that the teachers' share moves from 3 to 5 percent: "it's changing to 95% if this contract is approved and 5% employee." | |
| 0:16:17 | Why the positions moved to the SAU | Erickson: "These were positions that unity was utilizing... it seemed to make more sense to move them into the say since both districts were utilizing them." Putnam, a former chair, endorsed the approach. Seaman gave the split as "Percent for Claremont, 9.8% for unity" after 79.2; the SAU minutes record "91% and Unity 9%", which is also what the superintendent says on the January 3 recording. | |
| 0:20:53 | Hearing closed early, then reopened to 7:00 | The chair closed the hearing at about twenty minutes and began to open the regular meeting. Merchant: "Just a point of order." "Since this was a notice meeting. Yes. I think legally you have to wait until 7:00. Other people want to be here to give them time to arrive." Erickson: "I appreciate that point. That's a good point. So we shall do that." The board waited, asked for further comment at 7:00, and closed at 0:25:07. | POSITIVE |
| 0:26:27 | January 3 minutes corrected | Popescu added as absent; three abstentions "from the absent people". | |
| 0:28:24 | Merchant: post the minutes | "If we could somehow say you to keep the website updated as far as posting minutes, posting notices of hearings... let's check for compliance. 918 requires it." "You have to be posted within five days." (918 is as transcribed; the five-day rule he describes is RSA 91-A:2, II.) | MEDIUM |
| 0:29:31 | Skillen: rescind SAU administrators' raises | "To make a motion to rescind the raises for the six administration. We're not prohibited by contract in the 2023 saw six budget and level fund to the previous budget year." Her reason: "the lack of performance" and Lupini-report concerns that "have not been addressed, brought up, discussed or communicated effectively." Whitney: the board evaluates only the superintendent, so "we can't, single out individuals for performance." Petrin: the motion would reach secretaries and support staff too; only the superintendent's contractual raise would survive. Seaman: teachers' increases next year "range from 6.6% to 15%." Erickson: the report's concerns "have not been addressed yet" but are being built into the superintendent's evaluation. Failed, Skillen abstaining. | |
| 0:44:09 | Which budget figure? A recess to find out | Sprague moved to restore "$2,406,073. It's in the minutes." Horsky: "what I have in front of me is it's about 100 grand less." Erickson: "The budget that got sent out, Richard, was 2 million 412." After a five-minute recess (inaudible talk; one voice: "Right. I think it's just an error of the minutes." Seaman: "That's 10,000 too high."), the chair summarised at 0:48:22: "The budget that we spoke about tonight was 2,412,714... At our last meeting, we had discussed adding only 85,000". Seaman: "It appears what was said during the meeting was adding 95 as opposed to 85." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:49:47 | SAU budget amended to $2,396,000 | Sprague re-moved at $2,396,000; an unidentified voice seconded ("I'll second Frank's motion."). Petrin: "So that's a reduction from the correct budget number of 2,000,412." Carried at 0:50:54 by voice vote. | MEDIUM |
| 0:51:46 | Cell-phone stipends | Horsky moved to remove all stipends not required by contract. Seaman: stipends had been cut to $50 a month. An unnamed administrator and Jeff Small defended them ("On call 247"); Sprague noted that stipends carry payroll taxes on top. Horsky: "I was I was unavailable for the previous meeting because I was out with the flu, and I still have the right to the same amount as representation and request as anybody else in this room." Failed on a show of hands at 0:59:38. | |
| 1:00:27 | SAU FY24 budget adopted: $2,396,000 | "The budget was amended to a bottom line value of $2,396,000, even I believe." "I'd like a show of hands just in case it's close. All those in favor of 2,396,000, say I, I." "Okay. The ayes have it. We have approved $2,396,000 budget." No mover or seconder is heard for this final question. Seventeen days after the January 1 adoption date in RSA 194-C:9, I. | HIGH MEDIUM |
| 1:02:03 | Claremont hearing opens | Pledge, then Jeff Small calls the roll ("Whitney Skilling."). All six sitting members present. | |
| 1:04:46 | Claremont budget: what changed since January 11 | The two new technical-center positions eliminated; the board's target of the FY2022 rate: "I was also asked to target the budget at the same as what we had in fiscal 2122, which was $24.53... which would be a total reduction of $754,470." That amount would come "out of a range of different line items, different areas, and utilization of grant funds". | |
| 1:06:59 | The teachers' agreement is inside the budget | "The cost of the teacher contract is a little over $1 million. That is included within the budget, as opposed to as a separate warrant article. This is at the request of the Sri to include the negotiated budget in or the negotiated agreement in the budget". (Sri is the transcript's rendering of SREA, the Sugar River Education Association.) | |
| 1:15:50 | Tax rates: proposed and default | "the 38. Three. 45. Three. 12" [$38,345,312] leaves "a local tax rate of $23.09"; with the state rate, "the targeted rate that we were requested by the board at last meeting of $24.53, an increase of $0.95 from current year." Default budget: "the only reduction we're seeing in the default budget is related to the teachers contract", giving "a tax rate of $23.19 or reduction from current year of $0.40." | POSITIVE |
| 1:17:46 | Why the teachers' agreement matters | Seaman: if the budget fails, "the teacher salaries will stay at this year's salary, and the teachers will stay at this year's steps"; "it's it's almost catastrophic if we're not able to pass any teacher contract, but especially this one." Whitney on the unseen cost of turnover; Petrin: "We looked at all surrounding communities... This puts us right in the middle to the upper of that pack." | |
| 1:23:50 | Adrian: where the cuts come from | Asked about the Claremont Middle School reduction ("the reduction of $798,000"); Seaman: roughly $560,000 of it is out-of-district spending. Adrian: "I think that there's more than just money that motivates teachers." Tempesta at 1:27:24: about $400,000 in turnover savings "as we have each year as a semi buffer", positions on letters of agreement, ESSER redundancy, and a tuition reserve fund created in 2019; three pre-K paraprofessionals "will absolutely be funded using Esser funds as an emergency". | |
| 1:31:36 | Putnam: an embedded agreement is "kind of hidden" | "When it's put in the budget like this, it's it's kind of hidden." He described how an earlier board sent teams out to community groups to explain the budget: "It's up to you, up to you folks to sell it because you represent the community." Seaman on the technical center line: "There are no new programs. I was requested at the last meeting to take both of those positions out". | |
| 1:35:28 | Lovett: conduct, and paraprofessional pay | "I am a little disheartened to see that in the last meeting." "So is there an increase for paraprofessionals?" Petrin: "They're under a three year agreement." She compared a local paraprofessional wage with a rate she said was updated "January 12th, 2023, at 1857 per hour" [$18.57] and suggested a practicum pathway through River Valley (the transcript says River Valley Community Center). | |
| 1:39:16 | Herzog and Pope: the technical-center programs | Herzog: the proposed programs "do not compete with because we followed the region ten agreement"; a teacher-education program would help the center's preschool compliance. Pope at 1:42:48: start with a half-time teacher, as the center did at its founding ("When we started this center, we had half time teachers"). | |
| 1:46:25 | Merchant: teachers and how the budget is sold | Urged the board to "compensate the teachers accordingly" and to think about how it presents the budget to voters. | |
| 1:49:34 | The personal-finance position | Putnam asked how much of a combined high-school/technical-center position the new state personal-finance requirement would take. Pratt: "approximately 100 ish juniors", "Six sections", "probably two thirds of the position". Sprague: "Mr. Pratt said that was a half credit class." Adrian at 1:54:03 asked whether the state had actually released the requirement. | |
| 1:56:08 | Lovett: the budget document is hard to read | "It can be hard for someone without any financial literacy background". Hearing closed at 1:58:33. | |
| 1:58:38 | Claremont meeting: agenda and January 9 minutes | Forum item added; January 9 minutes approved, Horsky abstaining ("Get sick on my birthday with the flu. So I didn't come here."). | |
| 2:01:41 | Citizens' comments: the Stevens schedule | Adrian: "a former principal even confirmed to me last year that, that they believe the schedule plays a part into the low math scores at the high school level." Putnam at 2:05:47 on student achievement. | |
| 2:08:50 | Horsky's class-size exercise | "I was provided with editor 306 from, the administration, which is the minimum standards" [Ed 306]. "I figured out a way to save tons of money, and when I say tons of money, we're talking somewhere around $2.2 million just by condensing our classroom sizes." "So the small class sizes is not working." His handout was distributed at the meeting and is not in the posted packet. | |
| 2:21:56 | Motion: $38,345,312 to the deliberative session | Petrin: "We have to move something for it to deliver this section by the 25th or 26". Sprague: "Thousand $338,345,312. Is that the right number?" [$38,345,312]. Seconded by Whitney. Skillen: "I'm not ready to vote yes for this" and asked to hear from a voter. Putnam's point of order at 2:25:53: with a motion and a second pending, "it's not appropriate for us to speak at this time." Whitney: the room is "not representative of the average voter in our community." Miles for the technical center; Whitney on an Ed 306 career-development specialist. | |
| 2:34:04 | A voice vote counted 4 to 2, then set aside | After Miles asked for the motion to be explained ("I don't know, say that again. What?"), the chair called it again and announced at 2:35:46: "So my count is four in favor and two again opposed." Miles: "I'm not in favor." An unidentified voice: "Okay. You can't call for revote." Horsky: "I'm going to make a motion for a revolt." [revote]; Whitney: "I'll second it." No vote on that motion is heard. | OBSERVATION |
| 2:36:36 | A roll call begun and abandoned | "Jeff, can I ask you to roll call? Vote for me please." Skillen: No. An unidentified Yes. Miles: No. Then an unidentified voice: "Motion to seal the vote." Another: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I can't do that." The roll call is never completed. | OBSERVATION |
| 2:39:16 | A paper ballot | Petrin: "So even though you're asking for a private ballot." Horsky: "I make a motion to have a private ballot." Whitney: Second. Ballots were collected by Jeff Small at 2:40:41 ("Jeff, can I ask you to collect the votes for us?"). No result is audible on the recording; the minutes record "Secret ballot vote is 3 yes, 3 no." | HIGH |
| 2:42:15 | The $1,000,000 cut carries 5 to 1 | Seaman: "Somebody just make an alternative alternate motion." Horsky: "I found $2 million in savings. And I'm betting that the administration can too... So I'm going to go for $37,345,312 to be sent to the public at the deliberative session." Seconded by Whitney; show of hands; "I had 5 to 1." The chair then states the figure as "$37,345,313". | OBSERVATION OBSERVATION |
| 2:44:15 | School board candidate forum | Sprague relays an NH Listens offer of February 28 or March 7; the board prefers February 28. | |
| 2:45:53 | Where does the $1,000,000 go? | Seaman: "I need to put together a number of required forms. And that's 26 being one of them. And default budget in another one." "I'm just looking for direction on where you'd like that million dollars allocated." Horsky offered his handout as "a pretty good roadmap"; Seaman: "So I'm fine with pro rata share." Whitney: leave it "to the building administrators". | OBSERVATION |
| 2:49:28 | Adjournment | Horsky moved; the chair names Whitney as seconder, the minutes name Miles. | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the state law in force on January 17, 2023; where a provision has since been amended, the flag says which text it uses. 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. Nine flags follow, ordered by severity.
HIGH The Claremont board decided its $38,345,312 budget motion by secret ballot in open session, and the individual votes are in no record
At 2:39:24 Steven Horsky moved "to have a private ballot"; Heather Whitney seconded; paper slips were handed out and collected by the technology director at 2:40:41. No result is audible on the recording. The Claremont draft minutes record the outcome as a tally only: "Steven Horsky motions to hold a secret ballot; seconded by Heather Whitney; Secret ballot vote is 3 yes, 3 no." A tie defeats the motion, so this ballot is what disposed of the administration's proposed $38,345,312 and cleared the way for the $1,000,000 cut minutes later (flag 5). Just before it, an unidentified voice had asked for a "Motion to seal the vote." and been told "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I can't do that."
RSA 91-A:2, II, in the text in force on this date, says (quoted from the statute): "Except for town meetings, school district meetings, and elections, no vote while in open session may be taken by secret ballot." A school board's vote on what budget figure to send to the deliberative session is none of the three: the board is not the school district meeting (that is the voters, at the deliberative session and the March ballot), and choosing a dollar figure is not an election. The same sentence appears, word for word, in the 2017 codification and in the 2023 codification; the only amendments between those texts are 2018, 244:1 (eff. January 1, 2019) and 2023, 188:1 (eff. October 3, 2023, after this meeting), so it governed this vote.
The consequence is the one the rule exists to prevent: on the single most consequential vote of the budget season, the public cannot learn how any of its six elected members voted. The record gives two partial clues and they do not settle it: the abandoned roll call caught Skillen and Miles voting No and one unidentified Yes, and the chair's earlier voice count was four to two in favour. In fairness: the motion was moved and seconded openly, the tally was announced to the minutes-taker, and nobody on the recording suggested the ballot was lawful or unlawful; it appears to have been an attempt to get an unambiguous count after two confused ones.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification; secret-ballot sentence); RSA 91-A:2, II (2023 codification, same sentence; source note); Claremont draft minutes, January 17, 2023.
HIGH The SAU 6 board adopted its FY24 budget on January 17, 2023, seventeen days after the date RSA 194-C:9, I sets, and two days after the apportionment was due to the district boards
RSA 194-C:9, I provides (quoted from the statute): "At a meeting held before January 1, the school administrative unit board shall adopt a budget", and "Prior to January 15 in each year, the board shall certify to the chairperson of the school board" of each district its apportioned share. The SAU 6 board adopted its FY24 budget at 1:01:07 of this recording: "Okay. The ayes have it. We have approved $2,396,000 budget." It had also voted a figure two weeks earlier, on January 3 (see the January 3, 2023 page), itself after January 1. Neither vote falls before the statutory date, and the budget was still being amended on the floor tonight.
The lateness had a visible effect in the same room. Presenting the Claremont budget a quarter of an hour later, the business administrator explained at 1:15:04 that his figures were "based on the budget which was proposed tonight, so there'll be a slight difference as I work through the allocations with the slightly lower saw budget". The Claremont hearing was held on an SAU assessment not yet final. On February 16, 2023 the SAU chair said on the record that the board had missed holding its SAU budget hearing in December, when it should have been held (see the February 16, 2023 page, which quotes her).
What could mitigate it, and why it does not appear to: RSA 194-C:9, III disapplies paragraph I for districts that have adopted RSA 194-C:9-a, but that section exists to enable the alternative procedure of RSA 194-C:9-b, which "shall not apply to a school administrative unit that includes a city", and Claremont is a city; nothing in this record suggests either district adopted it. One gap in the record should be named: the December 1, 2022 SAU minutes end "Next SAU meeting is scheduled for 12.15.22", and no agenda, minutes or recording of a December 15 meeting has been located. If a budget was adopted that night, this flag would fall; the January 3 and January 17 records, which treat the amount as open, make that unlikely. This is graded HIGH, consistent with the February 16 page, because it is a missed statutory deadline on the face of the district's own documents.
Sources: RSA 194-C:9, I and III (2023 codification; source note 1996, 298:3; 2003, 279:1, so the text governed this meeting); RSA 194-C:9-a; RSA 194-C:9-b; SAU 6 draft minutes, January 17, 2023; SAU 6 minutes, December 1, 2022.
MEDIUM The SAU minutes name no seconder for the $2,396,000 amendment and no mover or seconder for the final budget vote
The SAU draft minutes record the two votes that fixed the budget as: "Frank Sprague makes a motion to move forth the 2 million 3 hundred ninety six thousand dollars budget; all in favor via voice vote." and "Budget was amended to 2 million 3 hundred ninety six thousand dollars; majority vote was approved." The first names no seconder; on the recording an unidentified member says "I'll second Frank's motion." at 0:50:07. The second names nobody, and the recording at 1:00:27 suggests why: the chair put the amended budget to a vote without a motion being stated. The minutes also place the cell-phone motion after the budget vote, which reverses the order on the recording.
RSA 91-A:2, II requires (quoted from the statute): "The names of the members who made or seconded each motion shall be recorded in the minutes." That sentence was added by 2018, 244:1, effective January 1, 2019, and was in force here. The remaining SAU motions in these minutes do name mover and seconder, which is to the recorder's credit; the gap falls on the two votes that mattered most. Graded MEDIUM as a documentation defect rather than a missing record.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (mover and seconder; 2022 codification, source note ends 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019); SAU 6 draft minutes, January 17, 2023.
MEDIUM Neither body's minutes reached the public share within five business days; the SAU's took about ten weeks
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be "promptly recorded and open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting" (quoted from the statute; drafts suffice). Five business days after Tuesday, January 17 is Tuesday, January 24. The only located copy of the Claremont minutes, draft 1.17.23 CSB meeting minutes .docx.pdf, carries a Drive createdTime of January 27, 2023 (18:39 UTC) and a modifiedTime of the same day, in the packet folder for the February 1 meeting: the eighth business day. The only located copy of the SAU minutes, draft 1.17.23 SAU6 meeting minutes, was created on March 30, 2023 (18:09 UTC) in the SAU packet for that date. The same evening, Gary Merchant had asked the SAU at 0:28:24 to post minutes because "You have to be posted within five days."
Applying the project's severity rule for records: this is the MEDIUM limb, not HIGH. The minutes exist, both boards' meetings were noticed and recorded, and the statute requires minutes to be open to inspection, not posted online; a draft may have been available at the SAU office sooner, which this project cannot test. What the Drive dates do establish is when the public could first read these minutes in the district's own online shares.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (five business days; 2022 codification, source note ends 2018, 244:1, so the text in force in January 2023); Google Drive metadata for 1oPME2RG3luDS_meu03M0v35V3r90HU3D and 1s9tDwg6QwqhAAfZQG-etk2bT5oV4tWLp, read 2026-09-26.
OBSERVATION Four attempts at one vote, and minutes that record only the last two, with figures one dollar off the motions
On Sprague's motion to send $38,345,312 to the deliberative session, the chair first announced at 2:35:46 "So my count is four in favor and two again opposed." Bonnie Miles then said "I'm not in favor." and Horsky moved a revolt [revote], seconded by Whitney; no vote on that motion is heard. A roll call began at 2:36:36 and stopped after three answers. The paper ballot followed (flag 1), then Horsky's $1,000,000 cut, which the chair called at 2:43:46: "I had 5 to 1."
The minutes do not mention the 4 to 2 announcement or the roll call; they give Sprague's figure as "thirty eight million three hundred forty five thousand three hundred and thirteen dollars" and the carried figure as "thirty seven million three hundred forty five thousand three hundred and thirteen dollars", where the motions on tape are $38,345,312 and $37,345,312 (the chair himself says "$37,345,313" after the vote; the warrant read at the February 8 deliberative session carries $37,345,312); and they record the final vote as "all in favor via show of hands with Whitney Skillen not voting", where the chair's count was five to one. No statute requires minutes to narrate abandoned votes, and parliamentary procedure is the board's own affair. The point for a reader is narrower: the minutes are not a reliable guide to how this decision was reached, and the recording is.
Sources: Claremont draft minutes, January 17, 2023; February 8, 2023 deliberative session page (Article 2 as read). No rule cited: observation.
OBSERVATION Three different SAU budget figures were in circulation, and the one read to the public at the hearing was not the one the board adopted
At the hearing the business administrator presented "a budget of $2,311,072.74". The chair said the budget emailed to members that week was "2 million 412"; the January 3 minutes record a motion at "2 million 4 hundred and 6 thousand and 73 dollars"; and after a recess the board worked out that the January 3 motion had added $95,000 where $85,000 was meant, and adopted $2,396,000. So the public was heard on a figure $84,927 lower than the one adopted, which included the assistant superintendent's administrative assistant moved from the Claremont budget.
RSA 194-C:9 requires no SAU budget hearing at all (flag 8), and RSA 32:5, which governs district budget hearings, is not the SAU's statute, so no rule is engaged. The observation is practical: a hearing is only as useful as the figure put to it, and the board discovered the discrepancy only when a member who had missed the previous meeting asked which number was in front of them.
Sources: SAU 6 minutes, January 3, 2023; RSA 194-C:9 (no hearing requirement). Observation.
OBSERVATION The $1,000,000 reduction was lawful after the hearing, but it was voted without any allocation, and the administration asked for one minutes later
A reduction voted after the public hearing is not a defect: RSA 32:5, I directs the governing body, "after the conclusion of public testimony", to "finalize the budget to be submitted to the legislative body" (quoted from the statute), and RSA 32:5, II bars only the insertion of amounts not disclosed at the hearing. What the record shows is a round-number cut with no line items behind it. The mover's own reference was his handout, which he described as a "pretty good roadmap" to about $2.2 million in class-size savings; the business administrator, who had to complete the state forms, said at 2:45:53 "I'm just looking for direction on where you'd like that million dollars allocated" and settled on "pro rata share". The allocation arrived at the February 1 meeting as a grade-reconfiguration plan (see the February 1, 2023 page).
Sources: RSA 32:5, I and II (2023 codification; source note ends 2021, 134:3, 4, so this text governed). Observation.
POSITIVE The SAU held a budget hearing the statute does not require, and kept it open to the noticed hour when a citizen objected
RSA 194-C:9 imposes no public-hearing requirement on an SAU budget. SAU 6 held one anyway, after a former board member pressed for it on January 3. When the chair closed it early, Gary Merchant raised a point of order at 0:21:29 and the chair accepted it at once ("I appreciate that point. That's a good point. So we shall do that."); the board waited, asked again for comment at 7:00, and only then closed. Both steps favour public participation over convenience.
Sources: RSA 194-C:9 (2023 codification).
POSITIVE The Claremont budget hearing met the SB 2 calendar and put the default budget and its tax effect in front of the public
RSA 40:13, II-a(c) requires budget hearings in a March-voting SB 2 district to be held "on or before the third Tuesday in January"; January 17, 2023 was that Tuesday. RSA 40:13, XI(a) requires that "The default budget shall be disclosed and presented for questions and discussion at the first budget hearing held pursuant to RSA 32:5 or RSA 197:6." The agenda gave the default budget its own item, and the business administrator gave both tax rates side by side at 1:16:32: $24.53 for the proposed budget and "$23.19 or reduction from current year of $0.40" for the default. Because RSA 40:13, II-a opens "Notwithstanding any other provision of law", the 22-day interval between this hearing and the February 8 deliberative session does not offend the 25-day floor in RSA 32:5, I. RSA 40:13's last amendment was 2019, 192:2, so its current text governed.
Sources: RSA 40:13, II-a(c) and XI(a); 1.17.23 CSB Agenda.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 14847, "Claremont School Board and SAU6 Public Hearing Budget 1/17/23": Claremont Community TV. Runs 2:49:38. Every timestamp on this page links into this recording.
- Drive packet folder "3. CSB FY24 Budget Public Hearing 1.17.23": 4 documents, by their exact Drive names:
- SAU 6 folder "2. SAU Public Hearing FY24 Budget 1.17.23": holds the SAU hearing's packet and the SAU6 1.3.23 Meeting Minutes_ approved tonight. The folder's other contents (the SAU agenda and notice) were not inventoried by the project map and were not read for this page.
- Minutes of this meeting: Claremont,
draft 1.17.23 CSB meeting minutes .docx.pdf, in the February 1, 2023 packet folder; SAU 6, draft 1.17.23 SAU6 meeting minutes, in the SAU 6 packet folder for March 30, 2023. Neither is in the district's Meeting Minutes share, whose 2023 year folder begins at February 1, 2023 (per the project map).
- Not located: Horsky's class-size handout distributed at the meeting; the SAU budget version emailed to members that week; and any record of an SAU 6 meeting on December 15, 2022 (flag 2).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/14847 SchoolBoardBudgetHearing011723.mp4.CSV (1,008 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/14847 SchoolBoardBudgetHearing011723.mp4Input/Transcripts/14847 SchoolBoardBudgetHearing011723.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/14847 SchoolBoardBudgetHearing011723.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 184
Laws and rules cited on this page
- Right-to-Know. RSA 91-A:2, II: the secret-ballot sentence ("Except for town meetings, school district meetings, and elections, no vote while in open session may be taken by secret ballot."), the five-business-day minutes rule, and the mover-and-seconder sentence added by 2018, 244:1, eff. January 1, 2019. Text in force on January 17, 2023 read from the 2022 codification (source note ends 2018, 244:1) and the 2023 codification; the 2023, 188:1 amendment (eff. October 3, 2023) and the 2025, 112:1 additions post-date this meeting and are not applied. Current text: gc.nh.gov.
- SAU budget. RSA 194-C:9, I and III (adoption before January 1; certification before January 15; no hearing requirement; 2023 codification, three paragraphs, source note 2003, 279:1; paragraph IV was added by 2024, 329:1 and is not applied). RSA 194-C:9-a and RSA 194-C:9-b (alternative procedure; not available to an SAU that includes a city).
- District budget. RSA 32:5, I and II (hearing; finalising after testimony; bar on post-hearing insertions; 2023 codification, source note ending 2021, 134:3, 4). RSA 40:13, II-a(c) and XI(a) (SB 2 hearing date; default-budget disclosure at the first hearing; last amended 2019, 192:2).