Participants
Board, administration and staff. Attendance follows the approved 1.21.25 minutes; no member of the public spoke. Name spellings follow the minutes where the automatic transcript differs.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Heather Whitney | School Board Chair | Presided (132 segments); moved both agenda additions, presented the NH Listens request, walked the warrant and assigned deliberative-session duties. |
| Frank Sprague | Vice Chair; Finance Subcommittee chair | Seconded both agenda additions, moved the NH Listens funding and seconded the motion moving Articles 1–4 (minutes). |
| Arlene Hawkins | Board member | Moved the nonpublic session and the exploratory committee, seconded the motion to seal, and caught the Article 1 error. |
| Michael Petrin | Board member | Seconded the nonpublic, return and committee motions; moved to seal the nonpublic minutes for seven years; moved Articles 1–4 to the deliberative session. Rendered "Mr. Patron" and "Mr. Peterson" by the transcript. |
| Bonnie Miles | Board member | Moved to come out of nonpublic session; reported the Capital Improvements committee's playground and roof items and was asked to compile a list. |
| Candace Crawford | Board member | Absent (minutes). The chair reported that Crawford agreed by phone to present Article 3 at the deliberative session. |
| Whitney Skillen | Board member | Absent (minutes). Assigned in absentia to move the restriction on reconsideration of Articles 1 and 2. |
| Noelle Kronberg | School Board Clerk | Took the three roll calls; submitted the minutes. Rendered "Miss Cronenberg" in the transcript. |
| Christopher Pratt | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Proposed routing the committee's questions through his Superintendent's Advisory Council; took on the NH Listens coordination. |
| Mary Henry | Business Administrator, SAU 6 | Distributed and corrected the draft warrant; described the filing with the Department of Revenue Administration; gave the trust balance. |
| "Chelsea" | District staff, first name only | Named by Henry as handling posting. No surname in the recording or the minutes; not identified further here. |
| Tracy Pope | District Moderator | Not present. Named in the minutes as "District Moderator (Tracy Pope)"; the chair relayed her deliberative-session requirements. |
| Michael Koski · Michael McCosker · Jeff Small · Patrick O'Hearn | Central-office administration | Listed on the minutes header; not heard on the recording |
| Miles Sheehan · Lilly Clark | Student board members | Listed on the minutes header; not recorded present or speaking |
| Citizens' comments | None | The chair opened the floor at 0:03:39 and closed it with no speakers; the minutes record "none" |
Agenda
No packet folder exists for this meeting, so no agenda was posted with a packet. The item list below is the agenda reproduced inside the approved minutes, checked against the chair's transitions. Quotations in this table are from the minutes unless a speaker is named. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:00 | I. Call to Order and Pledge | Whitney: "I would like to call to order the January 21st 25 special Claremont meeting of the Claremont School Board on attendance." |
| 0:00:32 | II. Roll call | Present per the minutes: Hawkins, Miles, Petrin, Sprague, Whitney. Absent: Crawford, Skillen. Five of seven, a quorum. |
| 0:00:43 | II.a.1 Amendments and final approval of the agenda | Two additions, each moved by Whitney and seconded by Sprague with no opposition: the NH Listens candidate forum and funding request (item 2), and Hawkins' exploratory committee on maximizing student opportunities (item 3). |
| 0:03:17 | II.a.2 Minutes approval, 1.7.25 | Minutes: "Consent approval, minutes accepted". The chair's spoken date is transcribed as "7251725". |
| 0:03:39 | II.b Citizens Comments (Policy BEDH) | Whitney: "Is there anyone in the public that would like to speak to non-agenda items? I see nobody stepping up to the podium or raising their hand for acknowledgment so citizens comments is closed." Minutes: none. |
| 0:04:16 | III.1 Nonpublic session | Minutes: "Non-public meeting session 91-A: 3" with the text of exemption (c) printed. Hawkins moved, Petrin seconded, roll call, all present in favor (6:34). Out at 7:42 on Miles' motion, Petrin second, roll call. Petrin moved to seal the minutes for seven years, Hawkins second, roll call, all present in favor. See flags 1 and 2. |
| 0:06:07 | III.2 NH Listens candidate forum (added) | Sprague moved "to empower the administrative team to communicate with NH Listens and to release funds up to $750 from the School Board line to facilitate a forum for School Board candidates", Whitney seconded. Voice vote, all present in favor. |
| 0:11:17 | III.3 Exploratory committee (added) | Hawkins moved to create the committee, Petrin seconded; voice vote, all present in favor. The minutes describe it as "an ad hoc committee to maximize resources to create the best opportunities for students by looking at the whole district". |
| 0:20:18 | III.4 FY2026 Budget Approval for Deliberative Session | Petrin moved Article 1 as amended (two board seats for three-year terms), with Article 2 (the budget), Article 3 (paraprofessionals' contract) and Article 4 (administrators' contract); Sprague seconded. Voice vote, all present in favor. A sentence written as a question was corrected, subject to Henry checking with the Department of Revenue Administration. |
| 0:31:37 | III.4 (cont.) Deliberative-session duties | Saturday, February 1, Stevens High School, 9 a.m.: Miles leads the Pledge; Petrin presents Article 1, Sprague Article 2, Crawford Article 3, Hawkins Article 4; motions to restrict reconsideration assigned. Board arrives 8:15 for a dry run. |
| 0:36:18 | III.4 (cont.) Subcommittee confirmations | The chair read back each member's committee assignments; Hawkins corrected one. Part of the exchange is marked uncertain in the dialogue file. |
| 0:38:18 | IV. Other Business: Capital Improvements | Miles on the Stevens roof, playgrounds at Bluff and Disnard, and Mr. Holt's estimates; Henry on the trust balance. See flag 6. |
| 0:41:32 | V–VI. Future dates; adjournment | Minutes: "Claremont School Board Deliberative Session- Saturday, February 1, 2025." Consent adjournment at 8:18 p.m. per the minutes. The recording ends at 0:41:49, before the adjournment. |
Discussion timeline
Times are from the dialogue transcript. Its Role column marks many segments as merged or uncertain; motions, seconds and votes on this page follow the approved minutes. Quotations reproduce the transcript as transcribed; brackets mark insertions or corrections.
| Time | Topic | What was said (leading text; hover/focus for more) | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:00 | Called to order as "special" | "It is not just us. Oh, my kids here. Oh, I would like to call to order the January 21st 25 special Claremont meeting of the Claremont School Board on attendance." The approved minutes are headed "CLAREMONT SCHOOL BOARD MEETING" with the ordinary agenda form. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:01:13 | NH Listens asked to host a candidates' forum | Whitney: "I reached out to, New Hampshire, listens to see if they could host a school board candidate forum for upcoming election." "Now they no longer have a grant. So they are requesting that we cough up some funds to make this happen." Estimate: "a little over $500 for travel expenses and possibly a hotel stay". | |
| 0:02:28 | Hawkins asks for an exploratory committee | "I would like to add an agenda item to discuss an exploratory committee for, maximizing student opportunities." Whitney restated it as "an ad hoc subcommittee for enhancing student opportunities"; Sprague seconded; no opposition. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:03:39 | Citizens' comments: nobody | "Is there anyone in the public that would like to speak to non-agenda items? I see nobody stepping up to the podium or raising their hand for acknowledgment so citizens comments is closed." Six days after a hearing that drew three residents to the podium, the meeting that put the warrant on the ballot drew none. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:04:16 | Into nonpublic session | Whitney: "a nonpublic session per RSA 91. Dash a colon three. Can I have a motion to move into nonpublic please?" Hawkins: "We move into nonpublic session. The RSA 91-A colon three second." No paragraph II exemption is spoken. Kronberg read the roll. The minutes name exemption (c) and print its text. | MEDIUM POSITIVE |
| 0:05:25 | Out of nonpublic; about 68 minutes not recorded | The recording resumes 37 seconds after the vote to go in. The minutes time the motions at 6:34 and 7:42 p.m. The arithmetic closes: 6:30 plus the 4:48 recorded before the break gives 6:34, and 7:42 plus the 36:23 recorded after it gives the 8:18 adjournment. Miles moved to come out, Petrin seconded, roll call. | |
| 0:05:53 | Minutes sealed for seven years | Petrin: "Can I make a motion to seal the minutes for seven years?" Hawkins seconded; the roll was taken; all five present in favor. No reason is stated on the recording or in the minutes. Whitney: "Thank you. Thank you. Mike. Appreciate that." | MEDIUM |
| 0:06:07 | Up to $750 for the forum | Whitney sought permission for "enabling the administrative team to access the school board funds once we've negotiated with New Hampshire. Listens"; "they recommended 500." She had asked a restaurant chain's corporate office to donate a room. Sprague moved and set the ceiling at 750. Sprague recalled an earlier forum at which "A lot of people showed up". | |
| 0:08:57 | An earlier format recalled | Sprague: "But this is a wonderful format. We did something different a few years ago where we had, Kevin Tyson." Hawkins: "We had individual interviews." The exchange is brief and its reference is not explained on the recording. | |
| 0:09:43 | Only if there is a contest | Petrin: "if there's no more than two candidates, I don't see a reason to to do it". Whitney: "If we only have two candidates, I will cancel." Voice vote: all in favor. This page does not establish whether the forum was held. | |
| 0:11:17 | A committee to look at the whole district | Hawkins: "I would like the board to approve the creation of an exploratory committee. Purely exploratory for maximum student opportunities." "right now we have schools that don't have room for programs." At 0:12:29 she wanted it to reach beyond the board to community members. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:13:07 | Or the Superintendent's Advisory Council | Pratt: "I recently formed the Superintendent's Advisory Council." He offered seats for two board members; the two bodies would "work in tandem". Sprague: "I'm looking for a better word than opportunities". | |
| 0:16:38 | Reconfiguration, unnamed | Petrin: "I hate to say because it was a sore spot, but I think it also brings back the reconfiguration. That was discussed several years ago." Hawkins: "There was a lot of frustration with that idea because people voiced that." | |
| 0:18:33 | Petrin: subcommittee load | "the more we subcommittee, subcommittee, subcommittee, the more work we end up putting on an administration". He asked whether to "wait till after the election to start this." Whitney: "We can approve this tonight and then revisit at the time". Voice vote: all in favor. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:21:07 | Two seats, not three | Working from paper handed round the table, Hawkins: "Who's the board? Three school board members. I thought it was two." Whitney: "It's only two." Henry: "It's only two. Okay, sorry about that. I copied it over from. Oh, okay. That's my bad." Settled as "Two for three years." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:22:54 | Finding the numbers on the page | Hawkins: "No I see I missed a number. I didn't see the 42933. I apologize, I didn't see that." At 0:24:05 Whitney: "So do I see 42,772,000 is the default. But where is it on here." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:24:36 | A stray question mark and the DRA | Sprague found a sentence punctuated as a question. Henry: "When I was looking at these two question marks, I've got to ask the Dr. A [DRA] if." The minutes: the wording was not hers to change. | |
| 0:26:38 | Articles 1–4 move to the deliberative session | Petrin: "So I'd like to make a motion to move. Article won [one] the election of school district officials to the session as amended. So it reads two school board members." Then Articles 2, 3 and 4 "To the delivered recession [deliberative session]." Voice vote, all present in favor. Article 2 remained $42,933,564, the figure aired at the January 15 hearing. | POSITIVE |
| 0:28:56 | Everything posted a week ahead | Whitney, relaying the moderator: all documentation for the deliberative session "has to be on the website and available for public one week before". Sprague: "Be by this Friday." Whitney: "we need to make available the entire budget." Henry could not submit to the DRA "until tonight" but could post the budget before the signed forms came back. | POSITIVE |
| 0:32:09 | Deliberative-session assignments | Miles leads the Pledge; Petrin, Sprague, Crawford (by phone) and Hawkins present Articles 1 to 4. Skillen (absent) to move restricting reconsideration of Articles 1 and 2 and Petrin of 3 and 4, Miles seconding. Presenters get five minutes, then three more as voters. | |
| 0:35:20 | Childcare at the session | Petrin: "in the past, we also had students that volunteered to for child care". Whitney: "I don't know who we would even ask to do that." Sprague: "So we're getting late in the game here." No childcare was arranged on the record. | |
| 0:38:18 | Playgrounds, a roof, and "the trust" | Miles: the Stevens roof "can hold off for a year"; playground structures at Bluff and Dessner [Disnard], with Mr. Holt getting estimates. "You said that can be taken from the trust." At 0:39:45 Henry put the balance at "160 because of the interest"; not enough for the roof, but "If we do have surplus, we could do that again." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:40:29 | "Is there a list somewhere that we could just see?" | Hawkins asked whether the capital subcommittee's list exists in writing: "Is there a list somewhere that we could just see?" Whitney asked for it to be compiled; Sprague: "Have it ready for next meeting." | OBSERVATION |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting record against state and federal law in force on January 21, 2025. They are not findings of violation, and nothing here is legal advice. Each flag cites the rule it rests on.
MEDIUM The motion to enter nonpublic session named no exemption on the recording
RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires the motion to "state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II" and the vote to be by roll call. On the recording the chair announced "a nonpublic session per RSA 91. Dash a colon three" and the motion was "We move into nonpublic session. The RSA 91-A colon three" (0:04:16). No paragraph II ground is spoken. In fairness: the approved minutes identify exemption (c), reputation of a person other than a member of the body, and print its text; the roll call was taken. Whether the ground was stated in the room and lost to the microphone cannot be established from the audio.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and II(c) (2023, 189:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023); approved 1.21.25 minutes.
MEDIUM Nonpublic minutes sealed for seven years with no recorded determination
RSA 91-A:3, III makes nonpublic minutes public within 72 hours unless the body, by "recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present taken in public session", determines that divulgence would likely affect adversely the reputation of a person other than a member, or render a proposed action ineffective, among the listed grounds. The vote was properly taken: in public session, by roll call, five of five present in favor (0:05:53). What is missing is the determination. Neither the recording nor the minutes states which statutory circumstance applies. The statute also fixes no term: information may be withheld "until, in the opinion of a majority of members, the aforesaid circumstances no longer apply", and ¶IV requires review "no more than 10 years" after the vote. A seven-year figure is inside that outer limit but has no statutory source. Mitigation: the session was entered under exemption (c), the same reputational ground, so a reader can infer the likely basis.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, III and IV (2023, 189:1; text read 2026-09-25); approved 1.21.25 minutes.
OBSERVATION No packet exists for the meeting that put the FY2026 warrant on the ballot
The board voted all four FY2026 warrant articles, including the $42,933,564 operating budget and two collective-bargaining articles, to the deliberative session. The district's 2025 Meeting Documents archive has no folder for this meeting: it runs from 12. CSB Budget Public Hearing 1.15.25 to 13. CSB Deliberative Session 2.1.25. No agenda, draft warrant or supporting document was posted in advance; the January 7 and January 15 meetings had packets. The draft warrant was handed out on paper and read cold: Hawkins caught the Article 1 error (0:21:07) and then said she had missed the budget figure, and the chair could not find the default on the page (0:24:05). No member of the public spoke. Nothing in the Right-to-Know Law requires a packet to be posted in advance, so this is an observation, not a finding.
Sources: RSA 91-A:4 (governmental records); 2025 Meeting Documents archive; approved 1.21.25 minutes.
OBSERVATION Called "special" by the chair; recorded as an ordinary board meeting
The chair opened "the January 21st 25 special Claremont meeting of the Claremont School Board" (0:00:00). The approved minutes are headed "CLAREMONT SCHOOL BOARD MEETING" with the ordinary numbered agenda, and the business was ordinary: consent agenda, prior minutes, citizens' comments, a nonpublic session, two added items, the warrant and other business. RSA 91-A:2, II requires notice at least 24 hours before a meeting, excluding Sundays and legal holidays. No posting record survives in the district's shares, but the chair announced the date on camera at the January 15 hearing, six days earlier. The observation is that the chair's characterization and the district's record do not agree, and the recording is what residents are most likely to see.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (notice at least 24 hours in advance; text read 2026-09-25); approved 1.21.25 minutes.
OBSERVATION The new committee is a public body in its own right
The board created an exploratory (in the minutes, ad hoc) committee intended to include community members (0:12:29). RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) makes a public body of any board of a school district "or any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto", so the new committee owes 24 hours' notice, open meetings, and minutes available "not more than 5 business days after the meeting". The point is practical for this board: for the Finance Committee's January 6, 2025 session, which built the FY2026 budget on camera, the project's document map records no packet and no minutes in either district share. The charter was left open: Sprague objected to the word opportunities, Pratt offered his Advisory Council instead, and Petrin warned about workload (0:18:33); the chair's resolution was to approve now and revisit.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d); RSA 91-A:2, II; January 6, 2025 Finance Committee meeting.
OBSERVATION Playground spending proposed from "the trust" without naming the fund or the spending authority
Miles proposed paying for playground structures at Bluff and Disnard from "the trust", which Henry put at about 160,000 (0:39:45). The record does not say which fund is meant, and the rules differ. A capital reserve fund is held by the trustees of trust funds until the district votes to withdraw it or agents to expend have been named, and may be spent only for its established purpose (RSA 35:15). An expendable trust fund may be spent by the school board only where it has been named agent, and "only for the purpose for which the trust fund was established" (RSA 198:20-c). Henry's alternative, year-end surplus, has its own rule: "Prior to expending retained general funds, the school board shall hold a prior public hearing" (RSA 198:4-b, II(a)). No motion was made and no money moved; the chair asked for a written list for the next meeting.
Sources: RSA 35:15 (2021, 105:2); RSA 198:20-c (2012, 219:2, 3); RSA 198:4-b, II (2020, 38:25).
POSITIVE Roll calls on every nonpublic vote, movers recorded, and the warrant moved unchanged and posted early
Entering, leaving and sealing were each done by roll call with the clerk reading the roll, as RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires, and the seal vote was taken in public session. The minutes name the mover and seconder of every motion, as RSA 91-A:2, II requires. The warrant articles went to the deliberative session at the figure aired at the January 15 hearing; the only changes were corrective, so nothing was added after the hearing (RSA 32:5, II). The board treated the moderator's one-week posting request as binding (0:28:56), which would put the documents up by January 25, ahead of the statutory posting date for warrants and budgets, the last Monday in January (January 27, 2025), under RSA 40:13, II-a(d).
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), III; RSA 91-A:2, II (mover and seconder; 2018, 244:1); RSA 32:5, II; RSA 40:13, II-a(d) (2019, 192:2).
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/16286 SchoolBoard-012125.mp4.CSV (349 rows)Input/Videos/16286 SchoolBoard-012125.mp4Input/Transcripts/16286 SchoolBoard-012125.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 74 (and section 71 for the January 6 finance meeting)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- Right-to-Know: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d); RSA 91-A:2, II (text in force before the 2025, 112:1 additions); RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(c), III, IV (2023, 189:1); RSA 91-A:4
- Budget process: RSA 32:5, II; RSA 40:13, II-a(d) (2019, 192:2)
- Funds: RSA 35:15; RSA 198:20-c; RSA 198:4-b, II(a)