Participants
Everyone in the record. Names follow the agenda and minutes; where the transcript renders a name differently, the row says so.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Vice chair, presiding; Finance Sub-Committee chair | Called the meeting to order and ran every item. Moved the nonpublic session and the exit from it; seconded the six-month seal. Asked members to route budget questions through him: “as I’m the chair of the of that committee, that you look, look this over, and if there are questions, ask me first” (0:12:33). Asked about ninth-grade math placement and about policies the auditors had said the district lacks (0:27:11). Rendered Craig in one roll call. |
| Whitney Skillen | Member; Policy Sub-Committee chair | Moved both Programs of Studies (0:09:33); seconded the exit from nonpublic session and the adjournment. Gave a nine-minute policy-audit presentation from 0:21:06. Asked how the budget interviews worked: “it looked like some administrators were shocked at, like, some of the details” (0:13:40). The dialogue file also places the Croydon motion in her voice; the minutes give it to Gallagher (flag 10). |
| Candace Crawford | Member; Finance Sub-Committee; SRVRTC Visioning Committee | Gave the finance report: “They those sessions have been recorded on CCTV” (0:11:06). Walked through the week’s budget interviews and warned members off the variance column (0:18:50). Moved the six-month seal (0:03:35). Reported the tech-center study delayed to March (0:29:37). |
| Arlene Hawkins | Member; SAU 6 Board chair | Corrected the November 15 minutes from the floor to record a vote to seal (0:01:05). Seconded the Croydon motion. Asked for the effect of schedule changes on staff “before we vote” (0:18:36). Explained the NHSBA priority, recommended and optional categories (0:26:18). Announced the next evening’s 6:00 p.m. SAU 6 meeting (0:34:08). Rendered Marlene in one roll call. |
| Jennifer Gallagher | Member; Curriculum Committee chair; Ad Hoc Disruptive Behaviors Committee chair | Gave the disruptive-behaviors report (0:30:23). The minutes name her as mover of the Croydon motion and the adjournment and as seconder of the nonpublic entry and the Programs of Studies motion. The only member who answers roll with Present. |
| Bonnie Miles | Member; Capital Improvement Sub-Committee chair | One segment: “We have not had a meeting. We haven’t had a meeting recently, so nothing new to report” (0:10:26). |
| Heather Whitney | Board chair — Absent | Recorded absent in both sets of minutes. Her name is read first in each roll call and is not answered. No written submission appears in the record. |
| Michael C. Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Explained the Croydon request (0:03:57): an anchor school is one “in which a district can ensure fate [FAPE] all the way up to age 22.” Said he too was surprised in the budget interviews, “where we were looking at potential schedule changes and what might happen” (0:13:48), and promised “another iteration” of the budget. |
| Mary Henry | Business Administrator, SAU 6 | “We’ll take another year to really get it” (0:20:40); on the audit, “I have a lot of them written that I need to pass along to the committee” (0:28:34). |
| Noelle Kronberg | School Board Clerk | Read all four roll calls; the minutes name her as the taker of each and she signed them. Appointed clerk November 15, 2023. |
| Mimi Rhines | School counselor, Stevens High School; presenter | Presented both Programs of Studies from 0:05:54: “You have two you have a block format and a period schedule. One, just because there are talks of us changing our scheduling” (0:06:18). Rendered Mimi Ryan by the chair. |
| Dr. Michael Herrington | Assistant Principal, Stevens High School; listed presenter | Named on the agenda and minutes as co-presenter and welcomed at 0:05:31 (“Doctor Michael Harrington [Herrington]”). No segment of his appears in the dialogue file. |
| Aaron McKeon; Frank Perotti | Croydon School Board chair; Croydon superintendent | Not named in the agenda, minutes or recording. The Valley News of December 9, 2023 reported that “The Claremont School Board, McKeon and Perotti met in a non-public session” (reporting, quoted from the article). A farewell to departing visitors follows the Croydon vote at 0:05:38. See flag 3. |
| Michael Koski; Ben Nester; Jeff Small; Angela Vivian | SAU 6 central office (agenda roster) | Listed on the agenda and minutes mastheads. Not heard and not named on the recording. |
| Nicole Bouchard; Kylee Plummer | Student representatives — Absent | The minutes record the student report as “absent”. On the recording: “Looks like. Not tonight.” (0:02:00). |
| Chelsea; Alex | Named, not identified further | “Chelsea has these” (the budget binders, 0:12:21); “I’m just gonna send this to Alex since he’s here” (0:03:04). The recording gives first names only and this page goes no further. |
| Citizens’ comments | — | None. Reached at 0:01:47 and closed at 0:01:52; the minutes record “None”. |
Agenda
Items as posted in “CSB Agenda 12.6.23.docx (1).pdf” (created in Drive December 1, 2023), with dispositions from the approved minutes, checked against the draft minutes and the recording. The agenda’s numbering runs I, II, III, V, VI, IX, and the minutes reproduce it.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:04 | I. Call to order and Pledge | Agenda: “6:30 PM Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance.” Sprague opens in the chair’s absence. |
| 0:00:36 | II. Roll call | Minutes: “Present: Frank Sprague, Bonnie Miles, Whitney Skillen, Jennifer Gallagher, Arlene Hawkins, Candace Crawford”; “absent: Heather Whitney”. The minutes stamp General Business at 6:32 p.m.; the agenda at 6:35 p.m. |
| 0:00:49 | II. Consent agenda (vote required): agenda; minutes of 11.15.23 | Hawkins supplied a correction at 0:01:05. The chair asked “is there any objection to the amendment to the minutes?” and took a voice vote at 0:01:37. No motion, mover or seconder. Minutes: “Correction requested by Arlene Hawkins for Page 2, II, motion to seal for 1 year”; “No discussion, unanimously approved”. See flag 5 and flag 14. |
| 0:01:47 | II. Citizens comments | None. See flag 11. |
| 0:02:00 | II. Student board member report | Both students absent; minutes: “absent”. |
| 0:02:03 | III.1 Nonpublic session | Agenda: “Non-Public Session RSA91-A:,II (k) Consideration of a school board of entering into a student or pupil contract authorized by RSA 194 or RSA 195-A”. Moved by Sprague, seconded by Gallagher (minutes); roll call at 0:02:35, all present yes. Out at 0:03:16 (Sprague, Skillen seconding), roll call yes. Sealed for six months at 0:03:35 (Crawford, Sprague seconding), roll call yes. The minutes stamp the Discussion/Action block 6:35 p.m.; the agenda 7:10 p.m. See flag 3 and flag 9. |
| 0:03:57 | III.2 Croydon Tuition Agreement (Discussion/Vote) | Superintendent’s explanation; motion at 0:05:05 to proceed with negotiations to become Croydon’s anchor district; Hawkins seconded; “Passes unanimously” at 0:05:25. Minutes: “Jennifer Gallagher makes motion to proceed with negotiations to accept becoming Croydon’s anchor school, Arlene Hawkins seconded; no further discussion; unanimously approved”. No term, rate or student count was stated in public. See flag 10. |
| 0:05:31 | III.3 SHS Program of Studies 2024, Schedule and Preliminary Staffing Request | Agenda: “SHS Presentation of Program of Studies 2024, Schedule and Preliminary Staffing Request Dr. Michael Herrington, Assistant Principal & Mimi Rhines, Guidance Counselor Presenting”. Rhines presented; Skillen moved both versions at 0:09:33; seconded by Gallagher per the minutes; voice vote at 0:09:51. Minutes: “Whitney Skillen motions to accept two versions of program of studies (both block and period schedules) as written”. No schedule decision or staffing request was presented. See flag 4 and flag 7. |
| 0:10:17 | III.4(a) Capital Improvement | Minutes: “No meeting to update on”. |
| 0:10:36 | III.4(b) Finance Sub-Committee | Report by Crawford. Minutes, first bullet: “Sessions have been recorded on CCTV”; also “Budget binder provided- a revised version will be available” and “Request to know the implication of budget and schedule changes on the schools”. No vote. See flag 1 and flag 16. |
| 0:20:52 | III.4(c) Policy Sub-Committee | Agenda item was a presentation on “Operational Guide and Delegation of Policy Audits”. Skillen said at 0:20:59 that it was not ready and gave a progress report instead. Minutes: “Presentation will be in January- not ready yet”. See flag 15. |
| 0:29:04 | III.4(d) Curriculum Committee | Minutes: “Will have updated draft in January”. The report comes from an Unidentified voice in the dialogue file. |
| 0:29:31 | III.4(e) SRVRTC Visioning Committee | Minutes: “Have not met; SREV has data that they need and report will come out in March”. |
| 0:30:20 | III.4(f) Ad Hoc Disruptive Behaviors Committee | Toileting, aggressive behavior and attendance. Minutes: “Toileting issues- no policies in place, might need to involve policy committee”. See flag 8. |
| 0:34:03 | VI. Future dates | Taken before Other Business. Hawkins added the SAU 6 meeting of December 7 at 6:00 p.m.; the minutes list it first. The minutes still list “Deliberative Session 2.7.24”, although the November 15 minutes record the board moving the session to February 3. |
| 0:34:42 | V. Other business | None. Minutes: “V. 7:20 PM Other Business - none”. |
| 0:34:53 | IX. Adjournment | Motion at 0:34:56; Skillen seconded; voice vote at 0:35:00. Minutes: “Motion to adjourn made by Jennifer Gallagher, seconded by Whitney Skillen”, stamped 7:22 p.m. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological topics. Quotations are from the dialogue transcript as transcribed; bracketed text is an insertion or correction. Quotations from the agenda, minutes, packet documents or press are attributed to them.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:04 | Vice chair opens | “I’d like to bring the Claremont School Board meeting of December 6th, 2023 to order, please.” | |
| 0:01:05 | Correction to the November 15 minutes | Hawkins: “There was a motion to seal when we came out of that meeting. So I believe it should read motion to seal for one year. Made by Frank Sprague, seconded by Heather Whitney. And the roll call vote was unanimous.” The November 15 draft in this meeting’s packet lacks that bullet; the approved November 15 minutes, created in Drive December 11, 2023, carry it. | POSITIVE OBSERVATION |
| 0:02:03 | Into nonpublic session | Sprague: “I would like to make a motion to go into nonpublic session under RSA 91 at a only two. A federation of the school board of entering into a student or pupil contract authorized by RSA 194 for our say 195 to have a.” He is reading the agenda wording. Roll call at 0:02:35. | MEDIUM OBSERVATION |
| 0:02:55 | The nonpublic session, as the recording has it | Skillen, on the minutes: “Who made the motion? Who seconded it? Not members were present. Who else was present?” Then the motion to come out at 0:03:16. The audio runs on without a break. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:03:35 | Sealed for six months | Crawford: “I’d like to make a motion to seal the minutes for six months of the non public meeting.” Roll call at 0:03:44. No member stated a reason. Six months ran to June 6, 2024. | MEDIUM |
| 0:03:57 | Croydon’s request | Tempesta: “They’re looking for an anchor school. And what an anchor school is, even though it’s not formally defined, but it’s it’s a a school in which a district can ensure fate [FAPE] all the way up to age 22.” At 0:04:28: “And Croydon has grades up to only fourth grade.” | |
| 0:05:05 | The Croydon vote | “I’d like to make a motion that we proceed with negotiations for accepting Corden’s [Croydon’s] proposal to become their anchor district.” Hawkins: “I’ll second.” At 0:05:25: “Opposed? Passes unanimously.” Then a farewell at 0:05:41: “It was nice to meet all of you. Get home safe.” | MEDIUM OBSERVATION |
| 0:05:57 | Two Programs of Studies | Rhines: “We haven’t really had updated program studies the last couple of years just due to staff turnover.” At 0:06:34: “The only new ones in this are the three drama ones.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:07:03 | Ninth-grade math placement | Sprague, on Math Skills: “I remember the first year, one year we offered that and 50 one [51] eighth graders signed up for it.” Rhines on the new prerequisite charts at 0:07:59. | |
| 0:08:34 | Middle-school recommendations | Rhines: a meeting with the eighth-grade team before vacation “So we can also tighten up that as well, because there have been some bumps the last couple of years with that.” | |
| 0:09:07 | “There’s two drafts” | Skillen: “And there’s two drafts like. That’s crazy. So good job.” No member asked which schedule the school would use or what either would cost. | MEDIUM |
| 0:09:33 | One motion, both versions | Skillen: “I’d like to make a motion to accept the the two versions of the program of studies presented by Miss Rhines for the Stevens High School period, schedule and block format.” Sprague: “Second Gen [Jen]. Gallagher. Further discussion. All those in favor?” No count announced. | MEDIUM OBSERVATION |
| 0:10:40 | Finance: “recorded on CCTV” | Crawford: “the finance committee is made up of Heather Whitney, Frank’s Sprague and myself.” At 0:11:06: “They those sessions have been recorded on CCTV. So if you have any questions about what has transpired, just take a look on CCTV. We do have another meeting next week. On Wednesday.” | HIGH POSITIVE |
| 0:11:41 | Budget to the board in two weeks | Crawford: “I think it will be presented to the board in two weeks.” At 0:11:53: “next week, Frank and Heather and I will be meeting to see what kinds of recommendations and thoughts we can share with the rest of you, having gone over it line by line.” | HIGH |
| 0:12:21 | Binders, and “ask me first” | Binders were handed out (“Chelsea has these”). Sprague at 0:12:33: “if there are questions, ask me first.” At 0:13:00: “ask me or candy [Candace], don’t email the whole group, but one of us or other.” Minutes: “For questions, ask Frank Sprague or Candance or Heather first”. No binder is in the packet folder. | HIGH |
| 0:13:18 | A question about process | Skillen: “I saw a little bit of one of. I can’t remember if it was Thursday or Friday.” At 0:13:40: “it looked like some administrators were shocked at, like, some of the details.” Tempesta at 0:13:48: “I was also a little bit surprised”, “where we were looking at potential schedule changes and what might happen.” At 0:14:41: “particularly schedules are very hard to understand.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:14:53 | Five sessions, school by school | Crawford: “last Thursday night we had a meeting here two hours, and we went over the three elementary schools”; administrators “submit a budget, their budget proposals, but then they don’t actually see what gets put into the budget until that point.” At 0:15:31: “On Friday we did the, middle school and the high school and the tech center.” At 0:15:59: “on Friday we also did district wide. And today we did special ed and maintenance.” | HIGH |
| 0:16:29 | Why the sessions are televised | Skillen: “I think other people in the community like having the meetings televised and so that they can feel like their voices get heard.” Crawford at 0:16:42: “We want people to know the details if they want to know them.” | POSITIVE |
| 0:17:27 | A staffing reduction, and “before we vote” | Hawkins: “I’ve tried to watch and as I was watching, I was thinking, I wish I had the binder because I could follow as it was done.” At 0:17:49: “a discussion about a reduction in staff”. At 0:18:36: “when it comes to budget implications of schedule changes, there are implications. And I think we would benefit from knowing what those implications are before we vote.” Tempesta: “Absolutely.” | HIGH MEDIUM |
| 0:18:50 | The variance column | Crawford: “don’t be focused on that percentage because we’ve learned in the process that, look, last year’s figures, there were a lot of anomalies in the way the budget was put together last year.” At 0:20:05: “Some of the categories, items were in one category that shouldn’t have been.” Hawkins at 0:20:21 reports the same in the SAU budget; Henry: “We’ll take another year to really get it.” | OBSERVATION |
| 0:20:59 | Policy presentation postponed | Skillen: “it says we’re doing a presentation on the operational guide and delegation of policy audits, but we’re not quite there yet.” At 0:21:06: “For the sake of transparency, for the sake of understanding of for everyone to know what the policy committee does and is doing.” | POSITIVE |
| 0:21:26 | Policy-manual audit | “we have drafted a policy Audit tracker spreadsheet that is part of a shared Google Drive for the Claremont School Board Policy Committee.” At 0:22:50: “we’ve gone through the entire Claremont School Board Policy Manual and made a distinction as to where we are missing required policies.” No count of missing policies was given. At 0:24:26, on writing the process down: “these guys are going to basically be our our memory”. | POSITIVE OBSERVATION |
| 0:26:18 | NHSBA categories | Hawkins: “The priority and the recommended and the optional are suggested by the New Hampshire School Board Association.” | |
| 0:27:11 | The auditors’ policy findings | Sprague: “Was it 2020? What was the last one we got.” Henry: “2021 I think or 2020 you got.” Sprague at 0:27:28: “There were there were a number of references in there to policies that we are required to have that we don’t have in the audit.” Skillen at 0:28:42: “I just added Miss Henry to the the audit file today.” | OBSERVATION POSITIVE |
| 0:29:37 | Tech-center study delayed | Crawford: “it’s anticipated that the report will come out in March. That which is about three months later than we hoped it would be.” The consultant is rendered “s reb [SREB]”. | |
| 0:30:23 | Disruptive behaviors | Gallagher: “One of those items is a toilet issue of students that are not yet toilet trained. But we don’t have, policies in place that are supportive or that exist at all to address that.” At 0:30:54: aggressive behavior; at 0:31:32: “attendance is an issue in our schools.” Sprague at 0:31:51: competency-based learning meant “we had to completely revamp our attendance policies”. Tempesta at 0:32:36: one more meeting, then a document “for the board and especially the policy committees review.” | OBSERVATION |
| 0:33:46 | Access to the tracker | Skillen: “anyone who’s not part of the school board that wants to see it, I’m only going to give them view permission.” | OBSERVATION |
| 0:34:08 | SAU 6 early start | Hawkins: “Tomorrow night’s this a [SAU] meeting. We’ll focus primarily on budget and we start at 6:00.” Sprague: “So notice the special early start tomorrow.” That meeting has its own page. | POSITIVE |
| 0:34:53 | Adjournment | “Then I’m looking for a motion.” “I’ll make a motion to adjourn.” Voice vote at 0:35:00; last words at 0:35:05. | OBSERVATION |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer’s aid. They are not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each flag cites the rule it rests on, as that rule stood on December 6, 2023; an Observation rests on no confirmed rule.
HIGH The Finance Sub-Committee held five budget sessions in nineteen days, none has minutes in any district share, and the board’s own account of the record is the broadcast
Crawford reported for the committee at 0:11:06: “They those sessions have been recorded on CCTV. So if you have any questions about what has transpired, just take a look on CCTV.” The approved minutes open the finance item with the bullet “Sessions have been recorded on CCTV”. No one said minutes exist or are coming. The recording dates the sessions: the elementary schools “last Thursday night” (November 30), the middle school, high school, tech center and district-wide on Friday (December 1), special education and maintenance “today” (December 6), and “another meeting next week. On Wednesday” (December 13). The project holds a fifth recording, December 18. MAP.md §§31, 32, 33, 36 and 38 record a search of the district’s 2023 Meeting Documents archive, both candidate year folders of the Meeting Minutes share and the next packet folder, with Drive keyword searches, and no packet or minutes for any of them (verified 2026-08-28).
RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) makes a public body of a school district’s “committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof”. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes that “include the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions”, open to public inspection “not more than 5 business days after the meeting”. Two members said at this meeting that the broadcast was not enough to follow: Skillen could recall only “a little bit of one” (0:13:18), and Hawkins, “I wish I had the binder because I could follow as it was done” (0:17:27). The binder itself is in no district share. This is the unmitigated limb of the project’s severity rule: the committee had its three members, reviewed the whole FY25 budget, and nothing on the record says minutes exist elsewhere. Mitigation: televising the sessions was voluntary and is credited at flag 16, and this meeting’s minutes summarise the committee’s report in nine bullets.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (last amended 2008; text read 2026-09-25); RSA 91-A:2, II (2023, 188:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023; text read 2026-09-25); 20. Approved CSB minutes 12.6.23; the December 6 Finance Committee page.
MEDIUM The draft minutes reached the district’s Drive on the ninth business day, filed in the next meeting’s folder
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be “open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting”. The fifth business day after Wednesday, December 6 was Wednesday, December 13. The draft, “CSB draft minutes 12.6.23 (1) (2).pdf”, was created in Drive on Tuesday, December 19, 2023, in the December 20 meeting’s folder; this meeting’s own folder holds nothing added after December 1. The approved version followed on January 2, 2024. Graded on the mitigated limb: minutes were produced, they are detailed, and a Drive upload date shows when the public could read them online, not whether a copy was available at the SAU office earlier. By comparison, the approved November 15 minutes were in Drive by December 11.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II; Drive metadata for CSB draft minutes 12.6.23 (1) (2).pdf (created 2023-12-19) and 20. Approved CSB minutes 12.6.23.pdf (created 2024-01-02), read 2026-09-25.
MEDIUM The Croydon nonpublic session was sealed for six months with no stated ground; the outside officials present are in no district record, and nothing has been released since the seal lapsed
The session was held under the tuition-contract exemption, RSA 91-A:3, II(k), which fits the subject. The seal passed six to none on a roll call at 0:03:44, clearing the two-thirds that RSA 91-A:3, III requires. But III permits withholding only where it is determined that disclosure “likely would affect adversely the reputation of any person other than a member of the public body itself, or render the proposed action ineffective, or pertain to terrorism”. No member stated a ground, and neither set of minutes records one. The six months ran out on June 6, 2024. The district’s “Unsealed Minutes” folder holds only 2025, 2026 and 2027 subfolders (Drive title search, 2026-09-25), and a Drive search on “Croydon” returned no district document. III also requires that “a list of such minutes or decisions shall be kept and this list shall be made available as soon as practicable for public disclosure”; none was located.
II(k) carries its own publication duty: “A contract negotiated by a school board shall be made public prior to its consideration for approval by a school district, together with minutes of all meetings held in nonpublic session”. RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to name “persons appearing before the public bodies”. The minutes name no one from Croydon; the Valley News of December 9, 2023 reported that “The Claremont School Board, McKeon and Perotti met in a non-public session”, naming Croydon’s board chair and superintendent. Mitigation: the board voted only to proceed with negotiations (0:05:05), so II(k)’s publication trigger had not been reached on this record; the superintendent explained the request in public; and every vote was taken in public by roll call.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(k), III (2023, 189:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023; text read 2026-09-25); RSA 91-A:2, II; Unsealed Minutes folder; Valley News, December 9, 2023 (Patrick O’Grady) (reporting, not law).
MEDIUM The board adopted two different Programs of Studies “as written” without the schedule decision or the staffing request its agenda promised
Item III.3 was noticed as “Program of Studies 2024, Schedule and Preliminary Staffing Request” with two presenters. Only the course booklets were presented; the assistant principal has no segment in the dialogue file, and neither booklet contains the word “staffing”. The two booklets differ in structure, not only format. Counting “Length:” entries in their text layers, the period booklet has 74 year-long, 45 semester and 21 quarter courses; the block booklet has 29, 70 and 40. The period index lists “MAT131 Math Skills I 0.5 9-12 Semester” where the block index lists “MAT131 Math Skills I 1 9-12 Semester”, and English I runs a year in one and a semester in the other. Fall Production, Senior Play and Comedic Acting, which Rhines called “the only new ones” (0:06:34), appear only in the period booklet. Algebra I CP (MAT141) has a listing and description only in the block booklet, although the period booklet names it as a prerequisite for Honors Geometry.
Eight minutes after the vote, Hawkins asked about “a reduction in staff” (0:17:49) and for the “budget implications of schedule changes” “before we vote” (0:18:36); the superintendent said the schedule was among the things that surprised him in the budget interviews (0:13:48). A year later the December 18, 2024 packet carried a single “Program of Studies 2025_2026- PERIOD FORMAT” and a staff schedule review whose first finding reads “14 of 17 teachers note significant stressors with the change over to the current period schedule” (district document). Mitigation: the school did not yet know its schedule, the booklets had not been updated in years, and no rule limits a board to one program of studies. The concern is a control gap: final acceptance of two inconsistent documents without the cost information the notice promised, two weeks before the budget vote.
Sources: CSB Agenda 12.6.23; SHS Program of Studies 24-25 Period; SHS Program of Studies 24-25 Block; Exhibit B- 2024-2025 SHS Schedule Review and Exhibit A- Program of Studies 2025_2026- PERIOD FORMAT (December 18, 2024 packet); RSA 91-A:2, II (minutes record final decisions).
OBSERVATION The consent agenda, including the corrected November 15 minutes, passed on a voice vote with no motion
The agenda marks the consent agenda “(vote required)”. At 0:01:37 the chair asked for objections and called “all those in favor”; no motion was made and no one seconded. The minutes record “No discussion, unanimously approved” and name Hawkins as requesting the correction. RSA 91-A:2, II requires “The names of the members who made or seconded each motion” (2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019). Where no motion was made there is no name to record, so the minutes are accurate; the point is procedural. Every other vote at this meeting has a mover and seconder in the minutes.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II; 20. Approved CSB minutes 12.6.23.
OBSERVATION The published recording shows no nonpublic session, and the minutes’ clock times imply about fourteen minutes missing from it
Between the entry roll (0:02:35) and the motion to come out (0:03:16) the audio runs about 40 seconds without a gap. The minutes stamp Discussion/Action Items, which the recording reaches at 0:02:03, at 6:35 p.m., implying a start near 6:33; they stamp adjournment, reached at 0:34:53, at 7:22 p.m., implying a start near 6:47. The fourteen-minute difference falls between those points. The likeliest reading is that the broadcast was stopped for the nonpublic session and the published file is spliced, which this project has also documented on the SAU 6 recording of December 7. That would be proper, and it means the recording positions on this page are not clock times after 0:02:35. The alternative, that the minutes’ clock times are wrong, cannot be excluded.
Sources: the dialogue transcript; 20. Approved CSB minutes 12.6.23 (clock stamps); RSA 91-A:3 (nonpublic sessions).
OBSERVATION The booklets accepted “as written” are marked DRAFT and contain placeholders
The title pages read “PERIOD SCHEDULE DRAFT 2024-2025” and “BLOCK FORMAT DRAFT 2024-2025”. Each booklet’s graduation-requirements table contains nine instances of “*FILL IN HERE*” where page numbers belong. Both booklets print “??” in place of course numbers in about 65 places (for example “PART??” and “NEW??”); the three new theatre courses in the period booklet read “Course description TBD”. No rule requires a finished document before acceptance; this notes what the minutes’ phrase “as written” covered.
Sources: SHS Program of Studies 24-25 Period; SHS Program of Studies 24-25 Block (text layers read 2026-09-25).
OBSERVATION The disruptive-behaviors committee reported that the district has no policy on toileting and weak policies on aggression and attendance
Gallagher reported at 0:30:23 that for students “not yet toilet trained” “we don’t have, policies in place that are supportive or that exist at all to address that”, and asked the policy committee to look at aggressive behavior and attendance. Toileting and behavior support for young children can engage disability law: FAPE “must be available to all children residing in the State between the ages of 3 and 21, inclusive”, and a district must have Section 504 grievance procedures. This page names no student, school or number, and none is on the record. The board’s response, one more committee meeting and a document for the policy committee (0:32:36), is reasonable; its outcome is outside this record.
Sources: 34 CFR 300.101; 34 CFR 104.7(a)–(b) (framework, not a finding).
OBSERVATION The nonpublic exemption is miscited in the agenda and both sets of minutes
The agenda prints “RSA91-A:,II (k)”; the minutes record the motion as “non-public under RSA91-A:II(k)”. The exemption is RSA 91-A:3, II(k); RSA 91-A:2 has no (k). The chair read the exemption’s wording aloud at 0:02:03, which carries its substance, so RSA 91-A:3, I(b)’s requirement that the motion “state on its face the specific exemption” is arguably met in content. The written record points a reader to a provision that does not exist. The agenda also drops the statute’s word “tuition” (“student or pupil tuition contract”).
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(k); CSB Agenda 12.6.23; 20. Approved CSB minutes 12.6.23.
OBSERVATION The minutes and the dialogue file disagree on who moved the Croydon motion
Both sets of minutes: “Jennifer Gallagher makes motion to proceed with negotiations”. The dialogue file puts the motion at 0:05:05 in Whitney Skillen’s cluster, and the minutes agree that the same cluster moved the Programs of Studies four minutes later. Gallagher’s cluster holds seven segments, all from one later item. The minutes were written by the clerk in the room and approved without change; the diarization is not decisive here. This page reports both and resolves neither.
Sources: 20. Approved CSB minutes 12.6.23; the dialogue transcript; RSA 91-A:2, II.
OBSERVATION Citizens’ comments opened and closed in about five seconds, with no one waiting to speak
RSA 189:74 requires school boards to “provide the opportunity for the public to comment on school district matters at a meeting” and says “The public comment period shall be for no less than 30 minutes.” The text does not settle whether the 30 minutes applies when nobody asks to speak, and no one was turned away. No member of the public spoke at any point in the recording.
Sources: RSA 189:74 (2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022).
OBSERVATION Members were told not to rely on the budget’s variance column, and could not say which year’s audit was the latest
Crawford at 0:18:50 warned that last year’s figures carried “a lot of anomalies”, attributed in part to recategorisation (0:20:05); the business administrator said it would take “another year”. At 0:27:11 neither the vice chair nor the business administrator could say whether the most recent audit received was for 2020 or 2021, and Sprague said it cited policies “that we are required to have that we don’t have”. RSA 21-J:19 provides for school-district audits by independent accountants but is permissive as to timing, so a late audit is a control weakness here, not a missed statutory deadline.
Sources: RSA 21-J:19 (holding only; permissive); 2 CFR 200.303 (internal control over federal awards; framework).
OBSERVATION The policy committee’s audit tracker is a governmental record, whatever the Drive permissions say
The tracker sits in a shared Google Drive; Skillen offered view access to non-members on request (0:33:46). RSA 91-A:1-a, III defines governmental records as “any information created, accepted, or obtained by, or on behalf of, any public body”, and RSA 91-A:4, I gives citizens the right to inspect them; the committee is a public body under VI(d). Access is a right, not a permission, and a citizen cannot ask for a file whose existence is not announced. Nothing here was refused, and the committee presented its work for transparency.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, III and VI(d); RSA 91-A:4, I (the inspection right predates the 2024, 49:1,2 amendment, which is not applied).
POSITIVE A member restored an omitted seal vote to the November 15 minutes, and the corrected document is public
The November 15 draft recorded that meeting’s first nonpublic session as entered and exited, with no seal. At 0:01:05 Hawkins supplied mover, seconder, duration and vote from the floor. The approved November 15 minutes, created in Drive December 11, 2023, read: “Frank motioned to seal the minutes of the non-public session for one year; Heather Whitney seconded; roll call vote taken by Ben Nester, all board members present voting yes”. One qualification: this meeting’s packet folder still holds only the uncorrected draft.
Sources: draft CSB Meeting Minutes 11.15.23.docx (1) (2).pdf; 19. Approved CSB Meeting Minutes 11.15.23 (1).pdf; RSA 91-A:3, III.
POSITIVE The Policy Sub-Committee audited the whole policy manual for missing required policies and is writing its method down
Skillen reported a completed first pass against the NHSBA sample manual (0:22:50), a plan to adopt missing priority policies in order and publish them, a board survey to rank recommended policies (0:25:08), and operational guides so “future committees, this board and future boards have some documentation on how to do this process” (0:24:26). When Sprague raised the auditors’ policy findings, Skillen had already added the business administrator to the audit file that day (0:28:42). She also corrected her own agenda item rather than presenting something unfinished. The number of missing required policies was not given.
Sources: 20. Approved CSB minutes 12.6.23; the recording at the timestamps above.
POSITIVE The Finance Sub-Committee televised its budget interviews, and members said why
No statute requires a subcommittee to broadcast its meetings. This one broadcast line-by-line budget interviews with administrators, and those interviews surfaced a control gap: building administrators “don’t actually see what gets put into the budget until that point” (0:14:53). Crawford: “We want people to know the details if they want to know them” (0:16:42). The limit is the subject of flag 1: a broadcast is not minutes.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (what the law does require); MAP.md §§31–33, 36, 38 (the Cablecast recordings).
POSITIVE The clerk read every roll call, the minutes name a mover and seconder for every motion made, and the SAU 6 time change was announced
Kronberg read all four roll calls, and the minutes name her as taker of each. Every motion made at the meeting carries a mover and seconder in the minutes, as RSA 91-A:2, II requires. Hawkins announced the next evening’s SAU 6 meeting and its 6:00 p.m. start (0:34:08), and the minutes list it first among future dates.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II; RSA 91-A:3, I(b) (roll call on entry to nonpublic session); 20. Approved CSB minutes 12.6.23.
Appendix — source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast: School Board Meeting 12/6/23 (show 15453)
- Drive folder: 27. CSB 12.6.23 — 4 documents, created December 1, 2023:
CSB Agenda 12.6.23.docx (1).pdf;
draft CSB Meeting Minutes 11.15.23.docx (1) (2).pdf (uncorrected);
SHS Program of Studies 24-25 Period .pdf trailing space is the district’s;
SHS Program of Studies 24-25 Block.pdf
- Minutes: CSB draft minutes 12.6.23 (1) (2).pdf (in folder 28. CSB 12.20.23); 20. Approved CSB minutes 12.6.23.pdf. The approved text matches the draft item for item.
- Prior meeting: 19. Approved CSB Meeting Minutes 11.15.23 (1).pdf
- Later district documents: Exhibit B- 2024-2025 SHS Schedule Review.pdf; Exhibit A- Program of Studies 2025_2026- PERIOD FORMAT .pdf (December 18, 2024 packet)
- Reporting: Valley News, December 9, 2023
- Not located: minutes of this meeting’s nonpublic session (seal lapsed June 6, 2024); the RSA 91-A:3, III list of withheld minutes; any Croydon contract or proposal; the budget binder; minutes, notice or packet for the Finance Sub-Committee sessions of November 30, December 1, 6, 13 and 18, 2023 (MAP.md, verified 2026-08-28).
- Adjacent pages: Claremont School Board — November 15, 2023; Finance Committee — December 6, 2023; SAU 6 Board — December 7, 2023; Claremont School Board — December 20, 2023.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Laws and rules cited on this page
- Right-to-Know: RSA 91-A:1-a, III, VI(d) (last amended 2008); RSA 91-A:2, II (2023, 188:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023; mover/seconder clause 2018, 244:1); RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(k), III (2023, 189:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023); RSA 91-A:4, I
- Schools: RSA 189:74 (2022, 333:1); RSA 21-J:19
- Federal: 34 CFR 300.101; 34 CFR 104.7; 2 CFR 200.303
- Not applied, for vintage: the start-time, end-time and minutes-producer clauses added to RSA 91-A:2, II by 2025, 112:1 (eff. Aug. 22, 2025); the 2024, 49:1,2 amendment to RSA 91-A:4.