Participants
Everyone heard or recorded as present. Board and staff names follow the agenda and approved minutes; the minutes name no member of the public, so citizen names and wards are as announced on the recording and unverified.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Michael Petrin | Vice Chair; presided | Took the roll (“Our secretary is not here tonight”); struck the staffing update; ran comment; moved the manifest-signatory appointment; seconded the policies and the manifest deadline; read the candidates’ names. |
| Arlene Hawkins | Board member; Policy Subcommittee chair; SAU 6 Board chair | Moved the 9/3 and 9/10 minutes (per the minutes); moved the Bluff motion; described the SAU 6 consulting contract; moved the manifest deadline; moved adoption of the policies; moved adjournment. |
| Candace Crawford | Board member | Seconded the minutes and the Bluff motion (per the minutes); explained the chair’s absence; appointed as a manifest signatory. |
| William “Bill” Madden | Board member | Timekeeper for comment; asked for the deficit number; asked for a roll call on the Bluff vote; volunteered as manifest signatory; raised two undelivered administration commitments. |
| Loren Howard | Board member | Moved support for Proposal 3 (no second); the only vote against the Bluff motion; declined to be a manifest signatory; seconded Petrin’s signatory motion; proposed future agenda items. Rendered “Lauren” and “Lord”. |
| Heather Whitney | Chair | Absent. Crawford at 2:06:32: a “long standing family commitment that took her out of state”. |
| Noelle Kronberg | School Board Clerk | Absent per the minutes; the Vice Chair called the roll. The minutes do not say who produced them. |
| Kerry Kennedy | Interim Superintendent, SAU 6 | Introduced at 0:26:41 (“Miscarry Kennedy”), still serving as Claremont Middle School principal; answered questions; said Bluff’s closure is a question of when. |
| Matt Angell | Senior Comptroller / Business Administrator | Framed the decision as capacity, not money; reported the deficit work 60% done; raised the manifests. |
| Melissa Lewis | Principal, Disnard Elementary | Presented the elementary team’s plans. |
| Mark Blount; Dale Chenette | Principals, Maple Avenue and Bluff Elementary | Named on the minutes as presenters (Blount is “Mr. blunt” on the recording); neither is identified speaking. |
| Patrick O’Hearn; Michael Koski; Jeff Small; Mary Henry | HR Director; Assistant Superintendent; Director of Technology; Business Administrator (minutes masthead) | None identified speaking. O’Hearn and Kennedy were billed for the struck staffing update. Petrin at 2:20:12 said O’Hearn’s and Whitney’s absence had “no hidden reason”. |
| Sherry Williams | Citizens’ comments (ward not stated on the recording) | Asked whether $60,000 matters against the deficit, how the contracted special educator would be hired, and why last week’s presenters were absent without explanation. |
| Amanda Barton | Citizens’ comments, Ward 2 | Favoured Proposal 3; asked about case-manager equity and compensation for teachers taking on more. |
| Charlene Lovett | Citizens’ comments, Ward 2 (“Charlene Leavitt” in the transcript) | “Personally, I’m for plan three.” Asked why the district is not fundraising for substitutes. |
| Tammy Yates | Citizens’ comments; teachers’ union president | “I propose a proposal number three.” |
| Hope Damon | Citizens’ comments; State Representative | Described a retained building-aid bill, a Claremont-specific bill she would file, and bills on audits and reporting. See flag 8. |
| Heather Dubrovsky | Citizens’ comments | Fourth meeting in four weeks; asked for status updates on the audit and the deficit. |
| Unidentified speakers | Citizens’ comments: residents, parents, teachers, a former board member | About twenty further turns, labeled Unidentified in the dialogue file, including a Ward 3 speaker on Medicaid billing (flag 6), a Bluff teacher asking that the school stay open for the year, a former consultant urging board approval of any consultant or intern hire, and a Ward 1 former board member of 15 years on voucher signing (flag 1). Names announced at the podium are garbled in the transcript and not given here. |
Named on the record but not present: the five seat applicants (flag 11); Transportation Director “Pamela”, first name only (1:31:35); Maintenance Director Steven Holt; Karen Ladd of the SREA (1:41:48).
Agenda
Items as posted in “CSB Agenda 9.17.25”, with the time each was taken up and its disposition from the recording and the approved minutes. Where they differ on a mover or seconder, the minutes govern and the difference is noted.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 6:00 p.m. (noticed) | I. Non-Public Meeting Session: RSA 91-A:3, I & II | The agenda prints exemption (a). The approved minutes repeat the agenda text and record no motion, roll call, times or outcome. Not on the recording. See flag 2. |
| 0:00:07 | I. Call to Order and Pledge | “I’d like to call the September 17th school board meeting to order.” |
| 0:00:55 | II. Roll call | Taken by the Vice Chair. Minutes: present Petrin, Hawkins, Crawford, Madden, Howard; absent Whitney, Kronberg. |
| 0:01:26 | II. Consent 1: amendments and approval of agenda | Petrin removed item III.3, the staffing update: “we’re just not ready for that tonight.” No vote audible; minutes: “Move further with amended agenda”. |
| 0:02:14 | II. Consent 2: minutes 9.3.25 and 9.10.25 | “Move that we accept the minutes of September 3rd and September 10th.” (unidentified on the recording). Minutes: Hawkins moved, Crawford seconded, all present in favour. |
| 0:02:30 | III.1. Presentation on Consolidation Plans (Discussion/Vote) | Lewis for the elementary team. Plan 1 withdrawn; Plans 2 and 3 presented. Howard’s motion for Proposal 3 at 1:42:29 received no second. Hawkins’s motion at 1:50:29 to move Bluff’s students, faculty and classrooms intact to Disnard and Maple Avenue by October 20, pending a fire-department inspection, carried by show of hands at 1:53:42. Minutes: seconded by Crawford; in favour Madden, Crawford, Hawkins, Petrin; opposed Howard. |
| 0:30:16 | III.2. Citizens Comments | Three minutes each, Madden keeping time; closed at 1:25:46. The minutes summarize the period in one paragraph and name no speaker (flag 3). |
| (struck) | III.3. District Staffing Update | “Patrick O’Hearn, HR Director & Kerry Kennedy, Interim Superintendent” (agenda). Removed by the agenda amendment. See flag 7. |
| 1:54:30 | III.4. Announcement of Candidates for Vacant School Board Seat | Agenda: “Questions from the board will be provided to each candidate on Friday, September 19th via email.” Five names read. See flag 11. |
| 1:55:36 | III.5. Creation of School Board Facebook Page | The agenda asks about “hiring a temp communication expert for the acute phase of crisis” and notes “Claremont would not pay SAU 6.” Hawkins described the SAU 6 consulting contract; Howard and Crawford doubted a board page; no motion. |
| 2:01:59 | III.6. Approve Manifests (Discussion/Action) | Petrin moved Crawford and Madden as signatories, Howard seconded, passed at 2:08:24. Hawkins moved the Friday-noon delivery deadline at 2:08:34, restated at 2:10:20, Petrin seconded, passed. Minutes: both unanimous. See flag 1 and flag 9. |
| 2:10:58 | III.7. Subcommittee Reports | Policy only. Second read and adoption of GBCE, JFAA, BEDG; adoption of EH, EH-R(1), EH-F(1), EH-F(2) and IHBI, AB, JICJ, DIH, which the agenda listed as first reads. Hawkins moved, Petrin seconded, passed at 2:12:43. See flag 10. |
| 2:13:40 | IV. Other Business | Howard: metal detectors, the NHSBA delegate vote on October 25, job listings, an elementary restructuring committee. Madden: the interns report and the whistleblower policy. |
| 2:20:39 | V. Future Dates / Agenda Items | Youth risk assessment in October; the September 24 meeting “not set in stone”; October 1 and 15 at the Technical Center. |
| 2:23:39 | VI. Adjournment | Minutes: Hawkins moved, Petrin seconded, all in favour. No time recorded. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological topics. Quotations are from the dialogue transcript as transcribed; bracketed text is an insertion or correction.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:37 | Staffing update struck | “we’ll move that on probably to the next meeting, but we’re just not ready for that tonight.” | OBSERVATION |
| 0:07:02 | Plan 1 off the table | “Sadly, we have had the resignation of three bus drivers. Transportation is simply not possible in that plan.” | |
| 0:07:50 | The problem statement | “The elementary school principals are concerned about our ability to consistently meet the needs of all students for the school year at Bluff Elementary School”. At 0:09:03: “a total right now of 46 students at Bluff Elementary School” identified for special education. | MEDIUM |
| 0:10:07 | Plan 2: move Bluff intact | “They would not change trusted adults.” Two classrooms to Disnard; PRIDE and four classrooms to Maple Avenue, two kindergartens combined to 20 with two teachers and two third grades to 29 with two teachers. At 0:11:51: “No positions would be eliminated in this process.” | |
| 0:14:22 | Plan 2’s costs | “One addition would be a contracted service provider for special ed case management, because we need to meet the legal obligations that are outlined in our IEPs.” Savings “of approximately $60,000”; at 0:14:46, “There could be some additional transportation costs, there would be moving expenses.” No cost was given for the contract. | MEDIUM |
| 0:20:09 | Target date | “What we would be aiming for is the new first day for students being October 20th, 2025.” | |
| 0:21:56 | Where Plan 3 came from | “Here’s where Claremont educators are tenacious.” At 0:22:26: “I heard it from my staff Thursday morning. Mr. blunt [Blount] heard it from his staff.” | |
| 0:22:58 | One special educator for 46 students | “there’s one special educator for 46 students at Bluff Elementary School.” Plan 3 at 0:24:22: case management for fourth and fifth grade “done through that contracted service provider that is 21 students.” At 0:24:49: “What financial gains are there to this proposal? There are none.” | MEDIUM |
| 0:27:16 | The interim superintendent introduces herself | “I am still sitting as a principal of Claremont Middle School”. At 0:28:30: “While I didn’t create the situation we’re in, I’m here to help get us out of this as best as I can.” | |
| 0:28:56 | Angell: the operational problem | “I do see a path going forward financially.” At 0:29:23: “The only problem I see is a path going forward operationally.” “some of the local school districts are starting to try to poach our teachers.” | |
| 0:33:38 | Citizens’ comments open | “Where are the checks and balances starting? Because they’ve not happened.” At 0:52:05: “once you close bluff, you won’t reopen it.” | |
| 0:46:32 | Sherry Williams | “when we’re talking about, you know, 5 million in debt, 1.8 million in deficit, budget deficit, does 60,000 actually have an impact?” At 0:48:34: “I’m very surprised that last week’s figures are not here tonight and there was no mention of them.” | OBSERVATION |
| 0:58:40 | A Bluff teacher | “I’m a Bluff School teacher.” At 0:59:49: “So let’s just keep the school open for the year for everybody”. | |
| 1:04:03 | A former consultant on consultants | “I was a practicing consultant for a long, long time”. At 1:05:03: “any hiring of consultants or interns always be here going forward, a board level approval before that happens.” | |
| 1:06:37 | Charlene Lovett | “Personally, I’m for plan three.” At 1:07:08: “there’s a lack of funding for substitute. Is that correct? And if that’s correct. Then why aren’t we fundraising for that?” | |
| 1:10:21 | The union president | Tammy Yates, in fragments from 1:09:56: “Are scared.” “Trauma in them.” At 1:10:28: “I personally don’t feel that we as educators have been supported” and “I propose a proposal number three.” | |
| 1:11:55 | Medicaid billing | A Ward 3 speaker: “We were reimbursed $623,085 in 2021 2022.” At 1:12:51: “Are we okay with not billing Medicaid and not pursuing these revenues with our current flow problems?” | OBSERVATION |
| 1:19:14 | Whistleblowers, from the floor | “what is coming of the whistleblower situation. Because it sounds like there might be more now.” | OBSERVATION |
| 1:21:07 | Rep. Hope Damon | On building aid: “It’s not dead yet.” At 1:21:34: “I am submitting tomorrow a bill for the next legislative session that will be specific to just Claremont”. At 1:22:07, audits “submitted to the Department of Revenue Administration, which is already in statute”. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:26:05 | Angell: capacity, not money | “This is about capacity.” At 1:26:27: “It’s not about the money. It’s not about the $60,000.” | |
| 1:27:10 | Kennedy: reporting, and “when” | “I’ve already approached the board about making sure we have financial statements at each board meeting.” At 1:27:25: “Unfortunately, I cannot comment on personnel issues.” At 1:28:33: “It’s more like when and when we can make this the best decision. Nobody wants this.” | OBSERVATION |
| 1:34:18 | Still no deficit number | Madden: “What’s the progress of the audit? Do you have a number yet?” Angell at 1:34:30: “I’m 60% of the way to figuring out what the deficit is.” At 1:35:17: “the Department of Revenue Administration has been calling me often.” | |
| 1:39:23 | Crawford: no time for a long process | “we do not luxury of having a 2 to 3 year process”. At 1:39:52: “I want the schools to stay open for the year.” | |
| 1:42:29 | Howard moves Proposal 3; no second | “Make a motion of support for proposal number three. That’s my motion.” At 1:43:06: “I think the one thing I’d really like to see is a number value attached to the contracted service for this.” At 1:43:51: “a pretty disingenuous representation of proposal number two.” | MEDIUM |
| 1:47:56 | Kennedy: contracted case managers either way | “we still need to do this either way because we are still short case managers.” At 1:48:26: “We don’t have an unlimited supply of money for substitutes.” | MEDIUM |
| 1:50:29 | The Bluff motion | Hawkins: “And I’m not sure.” “Of the wording for.” At 1:50:33: “So Carrie, I look to you for assistance. I look that we move the bluff students and faculty classrooms fully intact to Disney [Disnard] and Maple Avenue with a target date of October 20th, pending an inspection of the buildings by the fire department.” | OBSERVATION |
| 1:51:06 | Howard: the 19 unratified teachers | “Of the 19 teachers, we decided not to ratify”; “Five of these people were from bluff specifically.” At 1:51:45: “I was the only person who voted to ratify them anyway”. Crawford at 1:52:38: “I’m concerned about, plan three because I’m afraid to get to December.” | |
| 1:53:37 | The vote | Petrin: “Seconded by Kennedy.” (the minutes record Crawford). At 1:53:42: “I’d like to, have a show of hands.” Madden at 1:53:48: “Roll call.” Petrin at 1:53:50: “Those opposed? Yeah. Lauren.” At 1:53:57: “The motion passes.” Minutes: 4–1, Howard opposed. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:54:30 | Five applicants for one seat | “Mr. David Putnam has put in his letter, to fill the vacant seat.” Also “Mr.. Don, the ballot [Lavalette]”, “Mr.. Kevin Tyson”, “Mr. Jeffrey Glover” and “Mr. Bradley Bolton [Molton]”. At 1:55:10: questions to the candidates through Chelsea; answers at the next meeting. | POSITIVE |
| 1:56:26 | What the SAU 6 consultant was hired to do | Hawkins: a contract “having three components”; the review “is not forensic. It is not criminal.” At 1:58:35: “why do we have, in some instances, unqualified people in positions”. At 1:59:08: “So that contract has been signed at the essay [SAU] level”. See the September 11 SAU 6 page. | |
| 2:02:25 | Manifests: no one designated | Angell: “We issue vendor and payroll manifests”; board review “didn’t actually happen.” At 2:03:00: “Right now, there are no members that are designated for the school board.” Hawkins at 2:03:35: policy “approved in August”. | HIGH |
| 2:04:49 | Howard declines the role | “My financial ability to look at these, just them and then sign off on them.” Petrin at 2:05:45: “I’m going to make a motion to appoint Candy Crawford and Mr. Adam [Madden].” | POSITIVE |
| 2:06:51 | “It stopped during Covid” | A Ward 1 former member: “I sat on that board for 15 years”; “I went in twice a month to say you [SAU] office at 7 a.m.” At 2:07:14: “So my question is, when did that stop? It stopped during Covid.” At 2:08:02: “a lot of times the checks were spent already.” | HIGH |
| 2:08:34 | Friday-noon deadline | “I also move that manifest to be signed by the Claremont School Board, be provided to Claremont School board members no later than noon on the Friday prior to Claremont school board authorizations.” Madden at 2:09:12 on executive summaries for every item. | POSITIVE |
| 2:10:58 | Policies adopted | “The policy subcommittee met this afternoon”. At 2:12:31: “People will be excited to hear DIH is a fraud prevention and fiscal management policy.” (labeled Petrin in the dialogue file; the minutes give the remark to Howard). | POSITIVE |
| 2:13:02 | SchoolCare and retirement | Kennedy on “the school care, the New Hampshire retirement system.” Angell at 2:13:29: “School care is paid up to date and so is it. Names? Retirement.” | |
| 2:15:03 | Howard: a restructuring committee | “we develop a committee of parents, teachers.” At 2:15:22: “Obviously, it’s not just bluff we’re talking about.” | |
| 2:18:42 | Madden: two commitments not kept | “what happened to the report on the two interns? The administration committed to giving us a report. They haven’t.” At 2:19:15: “It turns out we don’t have a whistleblower policy.” Hawkins at 2:19:56: “So on the first we’re going to talk about Daff [DAF] which will add a whistleblower section two.” | 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; an Observation rests on no confirmed rule. The law applied is the law in force on September 17, 2025.
HIGH District bills and payroll were being paid with no board review and no members designated to approve them
The business administrator said board review of vendor and payroll manifests “didn’t actually happen” (2:02:25) and “Right now, there are no members that are designated for the school board” (2:03:00). The treasurer may pay out district money “only upon orders of the school board or upon orders of the 2 or more members of the school board empowered by the school board as a whole to authorize payments.” On the administrator’s account, payments were going out with neither. A former board member of 15 years told the board members once signed vouchers twice a month at the SAU office and that the practice “stopped during Covid” (2:07:14); the board could not say when or why. Nobody at the table disputed either account. The board fixed the gap the same night (flag 9).
Sources: RSA 197:23-a (treasurer pays only on board orders or those of two or more empowered members); approved minutes, item III.6.
MEDIUM A 6:00 p.m. nonpublic session was noticed, and no record says whether it was held
The agenda opens with “Non-Public Meeting Session: RSA 91-A:3,I & II” and quotes exemption (a). The approved minutes repeat that text and record no motion, exemption stated on the motion’s face, roll call, time in or out, or outcome, and no nonpublic minutes were located in the district’s shares. The recording starts with the 6:30 call to order. If the session was held, RSA 91-A:3, I(b) required a motion naming the exemption and a roll-call vote, and 91-A:3, III required minutes, disclosed within 72 hours unless sealed by a recorded two-thirds vote taken in public session. If it was not held, the minutes should say so. The record does not let a reader tell which. This page applies the mitigated (MEDIUM) limb of the project’s missing-records rule: the meeting was noticed and minuted, and only the nonpublic record is missing. The earlier version of this page graded it HIGH.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), III (2023, 189:1; read 2026-09-25); CSB Agenda 9.17.25; approved minutes.
MEDIUM The approved minutes omit the persons who appeared, the actual start and end times, and who produced them
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to include “the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies” and, from August 22, 2025, “the start time and end time of the meeting, and name of the person who produced the minutes”. The approved minutes for this meeting summarize an hour of comment in one paragraph and name no speaker, although the recording identifies the teachers’ union president, a state representative, a former mayor and several residents by name. The board’s own draft minutes for September 10 named most speakers. The minutes print only the agenda’s scheduled times (“6:30 PM”, “8:30 PM Adjournment”), and the clerk was absent with no producer named. Separately, they attribute the DIH remark to Howard where the dialogue file labels it Petrin (2:12:31); the transcript’s speaker labels can be wrong, so this page does not decide it.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2025, 112:1, eff. Aug. 22, 2025; read 2026-09-25); approved minutes; 9.10.25 DRAFT CSB Meeting Minutes (2).pdf for comparison.
MEDIUM One special educator for 46 students at Bluff, and both plans depended on a contracted case manager whose cost was never stated
The principals told the board “there’s one special educator for 46 students at Bluff Elementary School” (0:22:58), after positions went unfilled over the summer. Plan 2 required “a contracted service provider for special ed case management, because we need to meet the legal obligations that are outlined in our IEPs” (0:14:22); Plan 3 gave that contractor 21 students (0:24:22); the interim superintendent said the contract was needed “either way” (1:47:56). Howard asked for “a number value attached to the contracted service” (1:43:06) and the board voted without one. Federal rules require an IEP in effect for each eligible child and require each provider responsible for it to know their duties; a contract that does not materialise leaves that obligation to a staff the principals described as insufficient. The record on September 17 shows concern about consistently meeting needs, not an admission of services missed, so this page grades it MEDIUM rather than the earlier HIGH. Mitigation: the plan adopted keeps each child with the teacher and paraprofessionals named for them.
Sources: 34 CFR 300.323(a), (d); RSA ch. 186-C; 09_17_25 School Board Presentation.
OBSERVATION A school was closed mid-year on a motion drafted from the table, by show of hands, with a roll call asked for and not taken
The mover asked the interim superintendent for wording (1:50:33); Madden asked for a roll call (1:53:48) and the vote stayed a show of hands, announced as “The motion passes.” The 4–1 tally and the names come from the minutes. The chair named the seconder as “Kennedy” (1:53:37), who is not a board member; the minutes record Crawford. The interim superintendent had told the room the closure is a question of when, not if (1:28:33). No verified rule requires a hearing, a roll call or a notice period before a board reassigns students among its own buildings; RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires a roll call only to enter nonpublic session.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b); approved minutes.
OBSERVATION Medicaid reimbursement figures were put to the board and drew no answer
A Ward 3 speaker read year-by-year reimbursements, beginning “$623,085 in 2021 2022”, and asked “Are we okay with not billing Medicaid and not pursuing these revenues with our current flow problems?” (1:11:55, 1:12:51). Several figures are fused in the transcript and are not restated here. No one at the table answered, and the minutes do not record the question. The figures are the speaker’s and are unverified; no rule on this project’s citation list reaches school-based Medicaid claiming.
Source: the recording at the timestamps above.
OBSERVATION The staffing update was struck, and two commitments from the previous week went undelivered
The only item that would have answered personnel questions was removed before the meeting began (0:01:37), and the minutes record “No comment at this meeting on personnel questions raised during public comment.” Madden listed two commitments not kept (2:18:42, 2:19:15): the report on the two intern salaries raised on September 10, and distribution of a whistleblower policy that “we don’t have”. He said he and “Patrick O’Shaughnessy” had distributed the statute instead (2:19:32); the name is garbled and this page does not resolve whom he meant. New Hampshire’s Whistleblowers’ Protection Act, RSA chapter 275-E, covers governmental employers whether or not a district has a policy. Madden’s proposed fix, listing commitments as dated action items until reported, is the constructive half, as is the whistleblower section promised for policy DAF.
Sources: RSA 275-E:1; RSA 275-E:2, I; approved minutes; 9.10.25 draft minutes.
OBSERVATION The legislative remedies described from the floor were proposals, not law
Rep. Damon described a retained building-aid bill (“It’s not dead yet”), a Claremont-specific bill she would file, and bills to route audits to the Department of Education and send compliance reports to every board member (1:21:07–1:22:59). None was law on September 17, 2025. The next session enacted 2026 N.H. Laws ch. 272 (SB 586), approved July 2, 2026, effective July 1, 2026, which repeals and reenacts RSA 198:4-d: audit reports go to the department “within 9 months of the end of the fiscal year”, and the commissioner withholds “state grant funding, not including RSA 198:40-a funding” from non-compliant districts and SAUs. It does not apply to this meeting, and this page does not say which bill she meant. Her statement that submitting audits to the DRA is “already in statute” is not verified here; RSA 21-J:19, the audit statute in the project’s catalogue, is permissive.
Sources: 2026 N.H. Laws ch. 272 (SB 586), approved July 2, 2026, eff. July 1, 2026; RSA 21-J:19.
POSITIVE The board restored manifest approval the night the gap was disclosed
The board appointed Crawford and Madden as members empowered to sign invoices and payroll vouchers (Petrin moved, Howard seconded, unanimous, 2:08:24) and required the manifest to reach members by noon on the Friday before each authorization (Hawkins moved, Petrin seconded, unanimous, restated at 2:10:20). That puts payments back on the footing RSA 197:23-a requires. Howard’s candour in declining the role (2:04:49) and Madden’s volunteering in his place are both on the record; the administration also confirmed SchoolCare and state retirement payments were current (2:13:29).
Source: RSA 197:23-a; approved minutes.
POSITIVE Records-access and fraud-prevention policies adopted
In one motion (2:12:43) the board adopted EH (Public Access to School District Records) with its Right-to-Know procedure and waiver and indigency forms, BEDG (Meeting Minutes), and DIH (Fraud Prevention and Fiscal Management), among others. The EH series is the procedure a citizen uses to exercise the right in RSA 91-A:4. The EH, IHBI, AB, JICJ and DIH policies were listed on the agenda as first reads and adopted the same night as priorities; the minutes record that basis.
Sources: RSA 91-A:4; First Read Policies; Second Read Policies.
POSITIVE Every applicant for the vacant seat was named in public, with the same questions to go to each
Petrin read all five letters of intent into the record (1:54:30): David Putnam, Don Lavalette, Kevin Tyson, Jeffrey Glover and Bradley Molton (the minutes note Molton withdrew in favour of Glover). Board questions were to go to every candidate by email, with answers at the next meeting before a vote (1:55:10). The law leaves filling a board vacancy to the board and requires no publication of names or questions, so doing both is above the minimum. Conflict disclosure: Kevin Tyson, one of the applicants, maintains the Government Transparency Project. This flag credits the board’s process, not any candidate, and rests on the minutes and the recording.
Sources: RSA 197:26 (the school board fills vacancies on the board); RSA 671:33, II; approved minutes, item III.4.
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.
Laws and rules cited on this page
- Right-to-Know: RSA 91-A:2, II (2025, 112:1, eff. Aug. 22, 2025); RSA 91-A:3, I(b), III (2023, 189:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023); RSA 91-A:4
- School money and officers: RSA 197:23-a; RSA 197:26; RSA 671:33, II; RSA 21-J:19
- Session law, for context only: 2026 N.H. Laws ch. 272 (SB 586), approved July 2, 2026, eff. July 1, 2026 (RSA 198:4-d, ¶VIII)
- Special education: RSA ch. 186-C; 34 CFR 300.323(a), (d)
- Employment: RSA 275-E:1; RSA 275-E:2, I