| 0:00:45 | A “non meeting” with counsel | Whitney: “there has been a request from our legal counsel to have a non meeting before the meeting. Progressive. So unfortunately, we’ll have to ask you folks to just be patient with us and till we finish our business and be back.” The next row is a single “Okay.” and the consent agenda follows at 0:01:20; the consultation itself is not on the recording. No statute or subject was stated. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:01:46 | By-laws moved to consent | Whitney: “if anybody had a desire to amend the bylaws, that would require two thirds vote”; she moved them into the consent agenda to “keep the meeting probably within the two hour limit tonight” (0:02:11). The by-laws’ own preamble provides for revision “by 2/3 vote annually at the first meeting following elections”; they were adopted by consent, with no member objecting. | |
| 0:02:11 | JBAB added to the agenda | A request, in a row labelled Whitney that Hawkins later claims as hers (0:58:23): “I would like to amend the agenda to include the revision of policy JBAB to item number three under discussion action items, and then have the general assurances become number four.” The posted agenda does not list JBAB. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:05:44 | The trip donation and the donors’ request | Whitney: “a generous donation, a in which we’re not supposed to mention who it’s from”, “and then we also have one from the from the Cornish fair.” Simino (0:06:01): “The one donation that we received from the anonymous donor is over $1,000, and that needs school board approval.” At 0:13:18 Pratt identifies that gift as the consent item: “The $4,000. We’ve we’ve had the donation before, but but the donors have asked that we do not publicize their name.” Whitney: “Which we just did.” The donors’ names are printed on the posted agenda and in the approved minutes; this page does not repeat them. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:19:21 | Henry: “this current administration was not here during this time” | Henry, by Zoom: “when I came on board here two years ago, I was tasked with getting our audits caught up in the more financials organized, putting in places, procedures and things of that nature. The things I’m going to talk about, though, I want to make sure everybody understands this current administration was not here during this time.” | |
| 0:19:46 | FY2020: $765,333 short | Henry: “we have run into an issue with opposites [deficits] in fiscal year 20 and 21 because of the money that had been returned to taxpayers and error. In fiscal year 20, we should have had $966,213 in the surplus. Instead, we sent back 1.7 million $31 and 1.7 million $31,546 [$1,731,546]. So that left our actual deficit of seven $765,333.” At 0:20:29 she tied it to “our DOF 25 [DOE-25] and the miss 25 [MS-25] that goes forward and goes to the to set the tax rate.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:20:54 | FY2021 and the two-year total | Henry: “We had $133,150 in surplus. And we gave back 1.4 million $56,960 [$1,456,968]. So this actually puts us in an overall deficit for those two years of $2,000,089 and $160,089,152 [$2,089,152]. I just want everybody to understand that procedures have been put in place for this not to happen again.” The bracketed figures are the minutes’. | MEDIUM |
| 0:21:43 | Grants spent but never claimed | Henry: “We’ve had grant monies that were spent but never claimed. And of course, grants flows out in a certain period of time. So if you don’t claim them within that certain period of time, they have to be written off to your general budget”. At 0:22:03: liabilities “not being properly expensed”, and “We’re currently working on fiscal year 22.” At 0:26:05: “when I came on, we were 18 months behind on some of our grants on claims.” Pratt at 0:26:42: “that money came out of the local budget, when it should have been” charged to a grant. | MEDIUM |
| 0:22:27 | Audit timetable; this year’s trust withdrawals | Henry: “We hope to have all our audits completed by the October or November of this year, with the exception of 24, but we’re getting there slowly but surely. And again, this is adding to our deficit. We have this year, which we had just taken some money out of our, our trust funds to cover that.” | HIGH |
| 0:23:58 | Pratt: “We found it. We’re fixing it.” | Pratt credited Henry and Campo as “the ones who discovered it” and said at 0:24:17: “This was something that was inherited. … We found it. We’re fixing it.” Whitney’s summary at 0:24:43–0:25:33: FY2020 and FY2021 were the problem years, the board of the time believed there was a larger surplus, “largely because grants that we were expecting as revenue were not submitted appropriately”. | |
| 0:27:08 | Why the statements looked healthy | Henry: “a book we’re not kept well, meaning that we weren’t updated. Transactions were updated. I do want to say this. I don’t believe there is any foul play here at all.” At 0:27:28: “when I came on board, we were going back 3 or 4 years to record transactions and balanced cash.” At 0:27:51: “we now scan everything into the system. Transactions are done immediately.” At 0:28:15: “we have not had good starting numbers for our liabilities, our cash accounts and things like that.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:28:54 | Counsel: “a structural deficit” | Upton: “This is what I refer to as a structural deficit. It’s it’s a deficit that really only impacts cash flow at the present time. And it’s something that I think we can address over a period of, two, three, four, even as long as five years if we need be.” | |
| 0:29:32 | A deficit-reduction expendable trust, $400,000 in March 2026 | Upton: “for your annual meeting in March of 2026 that we establish a deficit reduction, expendable trust and that we appropriate money into that trust.” At 0:30:03: “because of special ed costs, you’re likely not to come out of this year with any kind of a surplus”. At 0:30:30: “recommend that you appropriate $400,000 in March of 2026 into that expendable trust”. A recommendation for the district’s annual meeting; no vote was taken. | |
| 0:31:25 | Campo: “working on this audit since 2016” | Campo: “I’ve been working on this audit since 2016.” He described turnover in the finance department and “records going to places that weren’t located after the fact.” At 0:32:04: “To say this has been a challenging audit process would be putting it lightly”, with regular status meetings now held “with a member of the board, with the superintendent, and with the business unit.” | HIGH |
| 0:32:27 | The auditor confirms the over-return | Campo: “because I’m in fiscal year 22, everything they’re saying here to be reasonable. I can verify that the school district has returned more fun [fund] balance than they had”. | MEDIUM |
| 0:32:55 | November, and March 31 for FY2025 | Campo: “My intention would be that by the November deadline that we do have all the audits, with the exception of this current year that we’re in already completed. And I believe we had talked to the board and said for the March 31st, headline [deadline] for the federal clearinghouse is a goal that was shooting four [for] for the 25 audit.” | HIGH |
| 0:35:14 | “you were not getting audit reports on an annual basis” | Campo: “you didn’t see a report in 2016 for the 2016 because of the difficulties we had between the quality of the general ledger at the time, as well as the cooperation of management at the time”. At 0:35:40 he described a team of six turned back because the business manager did not come to the office. At 0:36:09: “you were not getting audit reports on an annual basis, and it had a lot to do with the the quality of the records”. | HIGH |
| 0:37:42 | Sprague: “They just weren’t right.” | Sprague, a member in the FY2020–21 years: “We received detailed records. They just weren’t right.” At 0:37:48: “We operated on what we were given.” Henry asked whether the reports were Excel or system output; Sprague: “Everything was in Excel.” Henry at 0:38:55: “I can’t guarantee the accuracy of the numbers that were given to you.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:39:21 | The auditor says he urged caution | Campo: “I had conversations with management at the time for 20 and 21, with concerns with not knowing what being years behind that, not knowing where fund balance was, was at to please be conservative with their or I advised them.” Minutes: he advised “to be cautious with what was returned to taxpayers since the audit was not complete”. | MEDIUM |
| 0:39:55 | Counsel’s context: extraordinary grant money | Upton: “during these years and even into 22, there was an awful lot of extraordinary grant money that was being, distributed throughout the state.” At 0:40:57: “eligibility for grants was probably booked as revenues yet, were not fully recovered. And that created the structural deficit.” To Hawkins at 0:41:37: “Can’t speak to the competency of anybody. But I can say that I think there was a lot of inefficiency”. Asked whether he wrote clarification letters for Claremont, at 0:43:03: “It was never asked.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:43:05 | Henry on grant discipline; the state’s review | Henry: “you should not be spending money unless you have an activity that’s been approved by the state.” At 0:43:56: “I also know we overspent some of those lines as well”. At 0:44:21: “The state actually came in and auditing us and said that they’re happy with the way we’re doing it, because we’re keeping things separate from the years and the account numbers for each activity we do.” | POSITIVE |
| 0:45:14 | “Why isn’t this a criminal act?” | Whitney: “Why isn’t this a criminal act?” Upton at 0:45:19: “Normally when you’re talking about criminal acts, you’re talking about activity that benefits an individual, like stealing. This was no indication from what Mary has indicated. Or Mr. Campos indicated that there was any criminal activity.” Counsel’s characterization; no investigation or referral was described. | |
| 0:47:26 | Madden on verbal assurances | Madden: “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I went forward on verbal assurances. I’ve asked other board members, have you ever seen any of these procedures? No.” At 0:47:53: “We haven’t even quantified how bad things are. We’re using trick names, structural deficits. It’s a shortfall.” At 0:49:37: “We’re putting it on a credit score card, and we’re asking daddy to pay the bill.” | OBSERVATION |
| 0:49:50 | Henry: “I strongly disagree” | Henry: “We did get the money to begin with. The errors were made when it went back to the taxpayers. So honestly, the taxpayers already raised this money.” At 0:50:12: “we’re $2 million short and we can’t manage cash flow if we don’t have that money.” Madden at 0:51:58: “I think you’re great. I think you’re extremely hard working. I think you have an impossible situation here.” At 0:52:52: “There’s a management problem and all we’re getting is assurances verbally.” | |
| 0:53:16 | “We will ask for the procedures” | Whitney: the Finance Subcommittee is “going through every fiscal policy, line by line.” Madden at 0:53:37: “Do we get to see those procedures?” Whitney: “We will ask for the procedures. I can assure you.” The minutes record that “the Board will see the procedures”; no date is set. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:56:56 | Hawkins: “trust but verify” | Hawkins: “the expression trust but verify.” At 0:57:25: “they need an annual audit on a regular basis. And they will they should not go forward until they get it. And they should all resign if they don’t get it.” At 0:57:50: “the audit policy is being reviewed”. | POSITIVE |
| 0:58:23 | JBAB: from the policy subcommittee and counsel | Hawkins: “I asked to have this agenda amended to include this. And we at our meeting earlier, we did develop a, a motion”; she and the chair add that there was “a follow up meeting” “With legal counsel” (0:58:38–0:58:41). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:58:49 | The motion, and which read was waived | Howard: “I make a motion to accept Jabez [JBAB] as revised and to raise or to waive the first read, for meeting approval.” Whitney at 0:59:03: “Mr. Madden second it”. Howard at 0:59:12: “Frank whispered to me, waive the second read.” The minutes record the second read as waived. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:59:16 | Why JBAB was accelerated | Howard: the board had sent JB[AB] back “to be revised to fit within, new laws, new federal. Executive orders”, and “originally planned to present it at the first meeting in June”. At 0:59:46: “because of the general assurances that are on our agenda tonight, which require us to sign that we’re in compliance with a variety of different anti discriminatory laws. We, under the advice of legal counsel, want to make sure that we’re going to be able to get our funding.” Pratt at 1:02:14: “the assurances have to be turned in by June 1st. The previous meeting we had about Jab, we were unaware of that date.” | OBSERVATION |
| 1:00:40 | “We are suspending our rules for tonight” | Hawkins: “when we’re developing, revising or withdrawing policies, as you know, we have the two readings which we are suspending … We are suspending our rules for tonight.” Howard at 1:01:13: the superintendent had supplied a list of other anti-discrimination policies, “including transgender students who would be covered under JB.” The vote at 1:02:56: “The revised policy has been adopted”, with the online manual to be updated “within 24 to 48 hours”. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:04:06 | What the general assurances are | Pratt: “it’s a 16 page document … we have to comply to every page of this document to the point where we have to initial off every page.” At 1:04:39: “if you want your grant money by July 1st, you need to agree to this and sign it on. Before June 1st.” Asked the amount, at 1:06:14: “In the past has been over 2 million.” | HIGH |
| 1:07:19 | Counsel’s cover letter | Upton: a cover letter “that basically recognizes that there are a number of lawsuits that are in, in courts right now that may influence our future actions”. At 1:07:54: “we don’t want our clients representing that they’re going to follow something that may be deemed in the future on lawful [unlawful].” | POSITIVE |
| 1:08:37 | The general-assurances vote | Sprague: “I’d like to make a motion that we approve the general assurances for Mr. Pratt to to sign and include the letter that Mr.. Upton has recommended.” Crawford at 1:09:55: “it’s only the inclusion of this letter that I could support voting for this general assurance.” Whitney at 1:10:14: “I really am uncomfortable”. The chair called the vote at 1:11:42, then asked for the motion to be reread; Sprague restated it at 1:12:02 to include “Miss Whitney” as a signer; carried at 1:12:22. | POSITIVE |
| 1:12:50 | Finance Subcommittee purpose statement | Sprague: “the finance committee has developed a, purpose statement. And along with our cadence meeting cadence.” Whitney at 1:13:10: it will go on the website “so that the public also knows what we’re going to be accountable for.” Carried at 1:13:51. Sprague at 1:13:59: an e-mail from the state “regarding the fiscal monitoring” report. | POSITIVE |
| 1:16:15 | SRVRTC subcommittee | Crawford: “we had a meeting on May 14th with Mr. Howard, Mr. Putin [Petrin] and I … We met with the assistant director, Michelle Harrington [Herrington]. A copy of the minutes of that meeting in your packet. We also, adopted or recommended to put forth, A purpose statement and a schedule of meetings and that is not in your packet.” Neither document is in the posted packet folder. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:17:05 | The nonpublic session is waived | Whitney: “We’re going to waive this nonpublic meeting as a topic that we were going to discuss is no longer relevant.” | POSITIVE |
| 1:17:21 | Community forum; time capsule; teacher appreciation | Howard: NH Listens has “a cost associated”; at 1:18:21 an ad hoc committee with “a pretty short lifespan”; formation put on the next agenda at 1:19:01. Pratt on the Masonic time capsule at 1:19:51: “we know we know exactly where it is.” Crawford at 1:20:36: costs “about $775”, “only about $335” to the district after board members’ donations. | |