Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part. Names follow the project's dialogue file, with its uncertainty notes carried over; no minutes exist online to check spellings or attendance against.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Richard Seaman | Chair | Presided; thanked the candidates and staff; held the January 19 minutes over; questioned Chief Scott on background checks; urged caution on class rank ("before we implement anything, we've got to bring it back to the board"); asked how voters can reach the annual report. |
| Brian Rapp | Board member | Seconded the agenda and the warrant motion; answered for the fire department's licensing exemption. The dialogue file marks his short cluster uncertain. |
| Chris Irish | Board member | Asked why the district cannot obtain fuller background checks through the police; favored a broad committee on class rank and scholarships; urged a wider publicity effort on the budget before March 8. |
| Brent Ferland | Board member | Questioned class rank under competency-based grading; proposed regular joint meetings with the city council; moved to place Articles 1 through 9 on the March 8 ballot. |
| John (surname not stated) | Board member | Asked whether the city tests CDL holders; raised committee membership and state assessment data on class rank; spoke for joint work with the council. First name only on this recording. |
| Unidentified member | Board member | Moved approval of the agenda (0:01:34), seconded "by Brian". Not identifiable. |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Introduced the drug-screening item; proposed a review of class rank with the high school principal; reported a baseline climate and culture survey; proposed inviting school board candidates to the next meeting. |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Spoke on grading reform and the new federal law (ESSA) in the class-rank discussion. Identification by content, medium-high confidence. |
| Mary Woodman | School District Clerk and recording secretary | Noted that no one had filed for moderator; read the absent student representative's report; raised the need for a motion placing the warrant articles on the ballot. |
| Alex Scott | Claremont Police Chief (guest) | Presented on pre-employment drug and alcohol screening and background investigations; said he was not giving legal advice and deferred legal questions to the district's counsel. |
| Heather (surname not stated) | Public commenter, parent | Spoke on class rank, dual-enrollment (Catch the Wave) grades and scholarships, and later suggested the superintendent write a newspaper article before the vote. The attribution report suggests she may be the temporary moderator of the deliberative session earlier that evening; that is not confirmed. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted in any district share, so this list is reconstructed from the chair's transitions. The chair refers to "an agenda that was sent out" and the superintendent to item "Roman numeral seven, F", so a written agenda existed. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:21 | Pledge; roll call | Roll call inaudible beyond the chair's answer. |
| 0:01:24 | Agenda | Approved as written by voice vote; seconded by Brian Rapp. |
| 0:01:37 | Minutes of January 19 | Held to the next meeting: the wrong minutes had been printed for members. |
| 0:03:11 | Chair's remarks | Thanks to candidates and building leaders; clerk notes the moderator vacancy. |
| 0:05:32 | Student representative report | Read by the clerk in the representative's absence. |
| 0:07:51 | Superintendent's report | Brief; deferred to the principals' presentations at the deliberative session. |
| 0:08:15 | Citizens' comments | Opened; no speakers. |
| 0:08:24 | Pre-employment drug screening | Presentation by Police Chief Alex Scott; discussion; no action. |
| 0:27:40 | Class rank | Superintendent to work with the high school on a recommendation; public comment taken on the item; no action. |
| 0:42:42 | School board and city council 2016 meeting dates | Discussion; to be taken up once the new board is seated. |
| 0:47:27 | Climate and culture survey | Informational. |
| 0:48:44 | Date to introduce school board candidates | Candidates to be invited to speak at the February 17 meeting. |
| 0:50:38 | FY17 budget (placeholder) | Discussion of publicizing the budget before March 8. |
| 0:53:09 | Placing warrant articles on the ballot | Brent Ferland moved to place Articles 1 through 9 on the March 8, 2016 ballot; seconded by Brian Rapp; voice vote, no opposition heard at 0:55:26. |
| 0:56:13 | Late public comment; adjournment | A citizen was allowed to speak before adjournment; motion to adjourn at 0:56:37. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological, from the dialogue CSV. Times are the start of the cited exchange, taken from the CSV's own second count. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped cell for the full entry.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:37 | Minutes held over | The superintendent: the minutes "of the sixth and the ninth were approved on January 19th." A member: "the wrong minutes were printed and given to us." Seaman: "Do you mind if we hold on the approval of the of the, January 19th minutes until next meeting." | OBS |
| 0:04:04 | Chair on the budget | "I'm glad that we have gotten our way through our budget. Now it's really up to the voters to support the work that we did." | |
| 0:05:08 | No candidate for moderator | Woodman: "There is an open spot for moderate. Nobody put in a moderator for the next year." Seaman: "It has to be a write in." | |
| 0:05:48 | Student report | Read by the clerk: academic honors, a donation for a planned service day, and a drill after which "now five police officers have SHC swiped cars to enter the building in case of emergency". | |
| 0:08:15 | Citizens' comments | "We'll open for citizens comments then. Anyone who would like to come forward." No one spoke. | POS |
| 0:08:31 | Drug screening introduced | McGoodwin: the topic "Has come up by the board" and Chief Scott will give "some background information as we go forward in developing a policy." | |
| 0:09:27 | Chief Scott's presentation | "Even though I am an attorney, I'm not I'm not here tonight to to provide legal advice". City lifeguards, librarians, firefighters and public works staff "are all subject to a, you know, criminal background check, as well as pre-employment drug and alcohol screening." He urged at least "pre-employment drug testing". | |
| 0:14:25 | Reasonable-suspicion testing | "Most of the collective bargaining agreements in the city of Claremont have a reasonable suspicion standard testing protocol in them." Rapp on the fire department's license: "We do. It's part of its exempt okay." | |
| 0:17:30 | Why not use the police for checks? | Irish asked what prevents the district contracting with the police. McGoodwin (0:20:28): "The RSA prevents school superintendents or public schools from accessing that information through. So it's not about money." Scott: a person can obtain their own New Hampshire record "with a notarized request" (0:21:34). | |
| 0:21:56 | Random testing; legal limits | Scott: after hiring, the general approach requires "articulable or, or reasonable suspicion", "For, compliance with Fourth Amendment." John (0:23:05): "this is a matter of us creating policy". | |
| 0:25:15 | Background-check bill | Seaman urged members "to get in touch with our with our local legislators, House and Senate, and get this bill passed", reported as going "to the Senate floor tomorrow." | |
| 0:27:43 | Class rank proposal | McGoodwin recounted a graduate who said involvement in the fine arts cost her points, and asked for "your support or lack of support" for a recommendation "To change our practice on class rank". | |
| 0:33:08 | Class rank and competency grading | Brent Ferland: "How can you even continue to have class rank?" LeClair (0:35:07) noted ESSA's reauthorization and the dormant standards-based grading steering committee. Irish (0:36:35) raised scholarships going to "the top kids that don't necessarily need the money". | |
| 0:38:49 | Parent comment on rank and scholarships | Heather, recognized by the chair's consent (0:38:33): dual-enrollment grades should get credit; from personal experience, "I ended up calling up and saying, where does she actually stand in the standings? The guidance counselor said, where does she need to be?" then "Yeah, we can make that work. Are you serious?" | OBS |
| 0:40:29 | Board direction on class rank | Seaman: the district kept GPA and class rank piecemeal when it changed grading; "before we implement anything, we've got to bring it back to the board." McGoodwin (0:41:40): "this is going to be a transparent and careful process." Irish (0:42:10) favored a committee including an alumnus, a citizen and a student. | |
| 0:42:51 | Joint meetings with the city council | Council interest in joint dates; Brent Ferland (0:43:56) proposed "regular intervals" with an agenda set by the chair and the mayor; Seaman (0:46:16) wanted substantive topics such as homelessness, "teenage pregnancy" and growth. | |
| 0:47:27 | Climate and culture survey | A baseline survey; "I think it would be unwise to take this information to start making some specific changes"; a comparable survey in the spring. | |
| 0:48:47 | Candidates to address the board | McGoodwin proposed inviting "those candidates who have indicated their their desire to run for school board to address the board"; set for February 17, with a few minutes each. | |
| 0:50:52 | Publicizing the budget | Irish: "I really want to see us make a more and more of an effort than we usually do in the past to market and publicize"; "We need to get the realities of the tax impact out there." The annual report is to go online (0:51:33); McGoodwin: "we can put it on our website" (0:52:10). | OBS |
| 0:53:09 | Placing the articles on the ballot | Woodman: usually the mover "states that, it's being placed on the warrant, such and such a date. And that wasn't done tonight." Brent Ferland (0:54:59) moved "that we place articles one through nine as written and voted upon in the public. Deliberative session?" Carried by voice vote. | OBS |
| 0:56:13 | Late public comment | Seaman: "Shall we allow a citizen to come forward." Heather suggested "that the superintendent perhaps write an article for the Eagle Times" before the March 8 ballot. | POS OBS |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on February 3, 2016, citing each provision as it then read. They are not findings of violation, and nothing here is legal advice. Where no verified rule applies, the flag says so and is recorded as an observation. 5 flags follow, ordered by severity.
OBSERVATION A parent described a guidance counselor offering to adjust her daughter's class standing for a scholarship; the board did not take it up on the record
Speaking on the class-rank item at 0:40:06, a parent recounted calling the high school to ask where her daughter stood: "The guidance counselor said, where does she need to be?" and, after she answered, "Call me back a few minutes. Yeah, we can make that work. Are you serious?" This is one speaker's account of a past conversation, with no counselor named and no year given, and nothing on the recording tests it. It matters because the board was weighing whether to keep class rank at all, and an account that a ranking could be adjusted on request goes to its integrity. The chair's reply (0:40:29) addressed the piecemeal history of the grading change, not the account itself. No follow-up is on the record.
Sources: No verified rule; speaker's characterization only. See the timeline at 0:38:49.
OBSERVATION The board voted to place Articles 1 through 9 on the ballot, a step the SB 2 statute already made automatic
At 0:53:09 the clerk said that the motion on each article usually states it is being placed on the warrant for a given date, "And that wasn't done tonight", and the board then voted on Brent Ferland's motion to place Articles 1 through 9 "as written and voted upon in the public. Deliberative session" on the March 8 ballot. RSA 40:13, VI, as it read in 2016, provided that "All warrant articles shall be placed on the official ballot for a final vote, including warrant articles as amended by the first session." The board's vote therefore added nothing legally, and its absence would have taken nothing away; no article had been amended at the deliberative session, so there was no wording question for the board to settle. The practice is harmless, but it reflects a belief that the ballot depended on this vote.
Sources: RSA 40:13, VI (2017 codification; source note ends 2014, so in force on February 3, 2016); the deliberative session page.
OBSERVATION Members asked the administration to "market and publicize" the budget before the vote; the electioneering statute later enacted was not yet in force
At 0:50:52 Irish asked for a larger effort than usual to "market and publicize" the budget and "get the realities of the tax impact out there", with the annual report posted online and district email outreach; a parent later suggested the superintendent write a newspaper article (0:56:26). Explaining the budget and its tax effect is ordinary public information. The line between information and advocacy by staff became a statutory question in New Hampshire only with RSA 659:44-a, which bars a public employee from electioneering "while in the performance of his or her official duties" and took effect January 1, 2017, eleven months after this meeting. It does not apply here, and nothing on the recording shows material that was produced. Recorded so that a reader applying the later statute does not apply it to 2016.
Sources: RSA 659:44-a (source note 2016, 176:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017): not in force on February 3, 2016.
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes are available online, and members were given the wrong minutes for approval
MAP.md records that neither district Drive share holds anything before July 2022 (checked 9/26/26), so this page rests on the recording alone; the drug-screening material, the class-rank research and the climate survey the superintendent sent members are not available. The recording shows minutes being kept and approved (January 6 and 9 minutes approved on January 19, 0:02:56), and a packet error: "the wrong minutes were printed and given to us", so the January 19 minutes were held over. On February 3, RSA 91-A:2, II required minutes "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting"; draft minutes of January 19 may well have existed, and the mix-up concerns the packet copy, so no timeliness finding is made. Graded under the project's missing-records rule as an observation about online availability.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2015 codification; source note ends 2008, so in force for all of 2016); Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 5.
POSITIVE Public comment was offered three times, including on a discussion item and after the agenda ended
The chair opened citizens' comments at 0:08:15 (no one came forward), then asked the board's consent to take public comment during the class-rank discussion (0:38:33) and again before adjournment (0:56:13), insisting the speaker use the microphone "so people can hear you." No statute required a public comment period at a school board meeting in 2016; the 30-minute rule in RSA 189:74 dates from 2022. Taking comment on the item under discussion, when it can still inform the board, goes beyond the minimum.
Sources: No statute required this in 2016; RSA 189:74 (2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022) is noted only to show the later requirement did not yet exist.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 8192, "SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 2-3-16": Claremont Community TV. Every timestamp on this page links into this recording.
- No Drive material: neither the Claremont nor the SAU 6 share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023 (MAP.md, checked 9/26/26). No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting were located.
- Related pages: deliberative session, February 3, 2016 (held earlier the same evening) and March 16, 2016 (drug-testing policy first reading; ballot results).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/8192 SchoolBoard020316.mp4.CSV (350 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/8192 SchoolBoard020316.mp4Input/Transcripts/8192 SchoolBoard020316.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/8192 SchoolBoard020316.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 5
Laws and rules cited on this page
- New Hampshire statutes, as in force on February 3, 2016. RSA 91-A:2, II (minutes open to inspection within 5 business days; 2015 codification, in force through December 31, 2016). RSA 40:13, VI (all articles to the official ballot; 2014 text).
- Later statutes noted only as not yet in force. RSA 659:44-a (electioneering by public employees; eff. Jan. 1, 2017). RSA 189:74 (public comment period; eff. Sept. 6, 2022).