Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part, as named in the project's dialogue file and its attribution report. The roll call is not audible by name. Where the dialogue file leaves a voice Unidentified, this page does too.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Brian Rapp | Chair | Presided; reopened citizens' comments he had skipped (0:31:10); asked why growth was stronger in the elementary grades (0:42:02); thanked the administration for its candor on data, recalling that as a board member he "had to file 91 A requests" (1:42:06); asked for the strategic planning meeting to be posted online (1:58:25); scheduled the joint meeting (2:23:54). |
| Chris Irish | Vice chair | Proposed student voting power and a local civics course (0:17:06, 0:17:48); asked for the tax-rate sheet to be published, including a paid newspaper ad and a copy to every parent (1:45:27 to 1:49:58); said the city should lead on lead poisoning (1:52:36); seconded adjournment (2:26:30). |
| Michelle Pierce | Member | Asked why this year's school board candidates had not been invited to speak (2:04:32 to 2:08:23); moved the three policies as a group (2:11:28); raised consolidation of schools and teacher retirements (2:14:39, 2:16:08); announced a Heart of Claremont event (2:20:13). |
| Patrick Adrian | Member | On voter disengagement (0:19:19); asked what i-Ready shows that teachers did not already know (1:22:23, 1:23:43) and then apologized if he "came across as antagonistic" (1:33:28); on the tax-rate figures (1:46:47); asked about the Stevens schedule (2:24:35). |
| Dr. Alex Herzog | Member (appointed November 2016 to a term ending March 2017) | Moved the Youth and Government trip (0:29:40), the leadership conference (0:33:11), acceptance of the Bluff principal's resignation (2:09:45) and adjournment (2:26:27); asked about i-Ready and college readiness (1:36:52); asked the school to consider a student activity fund, "not a board sanction request" (2:12:11). |
| Frank Sprague | Member | Absent (family matter, per the chair, 0:01:01). |
| Brent Ferland | Member (resignation recorded in the project's backlog report as effective March 13, 2017) | Not heard. Presence not established. |
| Mary Ann Lovett (spelling unverified) | Student representative | High school report (0:03:15); "I'm not on roll call because it doesn't matter if I'm here for you all to run a meeting" (0:15:56); urged approval of the Youth and Government trip (0:28:50). The March 15 dialogue file spells the name Marion. |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Agenda additions (0:01:25, 0:01:50); report on a New Hampshire Listens governance forum (0:06:31); framed the data presentation (0:52:34); lead policy update (1:50:58); principal search and strategic planning committee (1:56:28 to 1:58:47); budget-process expectations for the new board (2:01:22); Lansing's resignation (2:09:13); the three policies (2:10:09); the SREA schedule committee (2:24:59). |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Presented midyear i-Ready growth and proficiency data (0:35:35 to 0:52:34); on data culture and transparency (1:24:06, 1:27:54); on the strategic planning committee's membership (1:59:20). |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator, SAU 6 (surname per project roster) | Explained the projected tax-rate sheet (1:43:35 to 1:45:16). |
| Patricia Barry | Principal, Stevens High School | Presented the NHIAA leadership conference request (0:31:45); the high school's i-Ready approach (1:12:57 to 1:15:34); asked for a data specialist's support (1:40:33). |
| Melissa Lewis | Principal, Disnard Elementary | Disnard's data-meeting process (0:53:38 to 0:57:59; the transcript renders the school Disney). |
| Michael Lansing (spelling unverified) | Principal, Bluff Elementary | Bluff's data use (0:58:14); on what i-Ready adds (1:29:54). His resignation, effective July 1, 2017, was accepted tonight. |
| Dan (surname not on record) | Principal, Maple Avenue Elementary | Maple's early data work (1:02:51, 1:03:56). |
| Paulette (surname not on record) | Principal, Claremont Middle School | Middle school plan in response to the data (1:06:59 to 1:12:43). |
| Nancy Lewis | Stevens High School social studies teacher; Youth and Government advisor | Presented the Youth and Government delegation trip; students pay $200 (0:22:32 to 0:27:56). |
| Unidentified | Roll responses, seconds, staff answers | 129 of 866 rows, mostly short seconds and backchannel. |
| No citizens | Citizens' comments | Opened late, after the first action item, with no speaker (0:31:10). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted online, though the chair and superintendent refer to one, with Roman-numeral items and a packet (0:01:17, 0:01:25). This outline is reconstructed from the chair's transitions. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:15 | Call to order; pledge; attendance | Sprague absent (0:01:01). |
| 0:01:17 | Agenda | Floor amendments: the Youth and Government trip (item VI A) moved to an action item and taken first; the NHIAA Student Leadership Conference added as VII C (0:01:25, 0:01:50). Approved on a motion by an unidentified member, seconded, voice vote (0:02:34). |
| 0:02:34 | Minutes of February 1, 2017 | No changes; approved, mover and seconder unidentified, voice vote (0:02:57). |
| 0:03:10 | Student representative's report | Mary Ann Lovett: Respect Week, SAT day, senior play. |
| 0:06:31 | Superintendent's report | New Hampshire Listens forum on school governance; discussion of student voice and civics. |
| 0:22:20 | Action: Youth and Government delegation trip | Motion Herzog (0:29:40), seconded, with a report back requested; voice vote (0:30:00). |
| 0:31:10 | Citizens' comments | Opened after being skipped; no speakers. |
| 0:31:36 | Action: NHIAA Student Leadership Conference overnight | March 16 and 17 in Concord; no cost known (0:32:53); motion Herzog (0:33:11), voice vote (0:33:14). |
| 0:34:55 | Discussion: midyear i-Ready report | Assistant superintendent and all five principals. No action. |
| 1:43:02 | Estimated tax rate 2017-18 | Business administrator's sheet; board asked that it be published and sent out (1:50:44). No vote. |
| 1:50:57 | Lead screening policy update | Rough draft sent to members; to be edited with Valley Regional Hospital. |
| 1:56:19 | Bluff Elementary principal search; strategic planning; FY19 budget expectations | Updates; strategic planning committee meets Saturday 8 to 12 (1:58:47). |
| 2:04:23 | Candidates for the March 14 election | Pierce asked why candidates were not invited to speak. No action. |
| 2:09:13 | Resignation of the Bluff Elementary principal | Letter dated February 16, 2017, effective July 1; motion Herzog "with reluctance", seconded, voice vote (2:09:45, 2:09:58). |
| 2:10:07 | Policies, first read | Procedural safeguards / nondiscrimination on the basis of disability, emergency care and first aid, evaluation for specific learning disabilities; as a group on a motion by Pierce, seconded, voice vote (2:11:28 to 2:11:43). |
| 2:11:50 | Board comments; future agenda items | Student activity fund; tech center plan; consolidation; candidate forums; Heart of Claremont event. |
| 2:21:42 | Joint meeting with the City Council | March 29 penciled in, the chair to contact the mayor (2:23:54, 2:24:00). It was held on Thursday, March 30 (Cablecast show 9010). |
| 2:26:24 | Adjournment | Motion Herzog, second Irish, voice vote. |
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 |
|---|
| 0:01:25 | Agenda changes | McGoodwin: the Youth and Government trip "be moved under an action item"; the leadership conference "could be perhaps Roman numeral seven C" (0:01:50). | |
| 0:06:31 | Governance forum | A New Hampshire Listens forum "on education governance held in January in Concord"; the district has "received a grant" (0:06:59); "the continued inequities built into the state school funding formula" (0:10:13). | |
| 0:15:56 | Student voice | Student representative: "I'm not in this packet, even though I've been here longer than some people on this board". Irish: "I'd love to see if there is a way we could give them voting power." (0:17:06); "a mandatory curriculum that would give us civics credit" (0:17:48). | |
| 0:22:32 | Youth and Government trip | Student bills include health inspections for portable toilets and "making sugary drinks a controlled substance" (0:26:33, 0:27:03); "Students pay $200 for the program" (0:27:56). Approved (0:30:00). | |
| 0:31:10 | Citizens' comments | Rapp: "I skipped citizens comments. So we'll go back to that. I apologize." No one spoke. | |
| 0:31:45 | Leadership conference | Barry: the NHIAA "25th Annual Student Leadership Conference on March 16th and 17th"; "There is no cost that I am aware of." (0:32:53). Approved (0:33:14). | |
| 0:35:35 | i-Ready growth targets | LeClair: targets of 70% (math) and 80% (reading) meeting growth in the elementary grades (0:37:47); middle school 85% and high school 80%, "and we're in the 34 to 49% range for mid-year" (0:40:12); "41% have met at least mid-year and then 23% have already met" (0:41:14). | POSITIVE |
| 0:42:02 | Why the gap by grade | Rapp asked why growth is stronger in the elementary schools; LeClair later: "there is a stronger culture of data use right now at our elementary level" (1:24:06); before last year there was nothing "to know if students in the high school were progressing" (1:24:44). | |
| 0:52:34 | Principals' responses | McGoodwin: "Our objective is to be as transparent as we can"; "you'll never hear the Claremont School District shy away from data" (0:52:57). Disnard (0:53:40), Bluff (0:58:14), Maple (1:02:51), middle school (1:07:04), high school: "why or why are we flatlining here?" (1:15:34). | POSITIVE |
| 1:22:23 | What the data adds | Adrian: "So what are we learning from this that we didn't know before?" (1:23:43). LeClair: "As soon as we start sugarcoating things or hiding things, then we end up getting what we've always gotten" (1:27:54). | |
| 1:41:40 | Chair on candor | "This hasn't always been the case to be so upfront and open about data." "There was a time where even as a board member, I had to file 91 A requests to get information that people didn't want to discuss." (1:42:06). | |
| 1:43:35 | Projected tax rate | O'Neill: the state education tax rate "actually dropped from 242 to 226" (1:44:02); "the decrease in the rate projected from the general fund budget passing is $0.63 per thousand" (1:44:21); with all warrant articles, "this still is projected to be a recent decline" (1:44:47). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:45:27 | Publishing the sheet | Irish: "Can we get this this one page just published in the newspaper."; a paid "full page ad" a couple of days before the vote (1:46:24); "I don't want any editorializing" (1:47:21); "I think to every parent. Here it is. This is what you're voting on." (1:49:58). McGoodwin: "It's not on our website" but can be (1:48:14); "Can be sent out tomorrow." (1:50:44). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:50:58 | Lead screening policy | "what you received last night is a very rough draft"; the state presenter "says we're the first" (1:51:49). Irish: "The city should be spearheading this, not the schools." (1:52:36). McGoodwin: "I consider the city council to be partners" (1:53:19). | |
| 1:56:28 | Bluff principal search | Lansing "is relocating to Nevada"; all Bluff parents and staff invited to join the screening committee (1:56:52). | |
| 1:57:42 | Strategic planning committee | "This Saturday, the Claremont School District Strategic Planning Committee is meeting again." Rapp: "Could I get something to post online. Just sort of as an advertisement. That's a public meeting." (1:58:25). McGoodwin: "It's a public meeting" (1:58:37); "it's not like a school board meeting. We haven't we haven't posted it" (1:58:47). LeClair: membership was "an open invitation to anyone" (1:59:20). | MEDIUM |
| 2:01:22 | New board, budget process | McGoodwin wants from the new board "Clarity with a budget schedule for fiscal year 19"; a Sugar River Valley Regional Tech Center strategic plan is coming (2:03:52). | |
| 2:04:32 | Candidates not invited | Pierce: "We did it when we ran. Why is it not happening this time?" Irish: "They don't have to. We're not the ones electing them." (2:04:37). McGoodwin: "Last year. We did invite those. This year we did not." (2:04:59). | |
| 2:09:13 | Principal's resignation | Letter "dated February 16th, 2017"; leaving "effective July 1st". Herzog: "Make a motion of that with reluctance." (2:09:45). | |
| 2:10:09 | Three policies | "Some of these are, are the result of, of RSA s"; changes are "very small changes to inserts, but in compliance with the legislation" (2:10:46). Passed first reading as a group (2:11:43). | |
| 2:12:11 | Student activity fund | Herzog: "this is not a board sanction request" that the school look at a fund so "students that have may have more of a financial need can go in the future." | |
| 2:14:39 | Consolidation | Pierce: "we are divided into subcommunities within one community"; "over half of our teachers were 15 year end plus" (2:16:08). | |
| 2:17:58 | Candidate forums | Irish: the chamber or the Heart of Claremont used to host a candidates forum; "Nobody does that anymore." (2:18:19). | |
| 2:21:42 | Joint meeting date | Part of the meeting "will involve Tom Kinnear [Connair], who was part of the the the Claremont lawsuit" (2:22:02); "pencil in the 29th"; "I'll get in touch with the mayor" (2:24:00). | |
| 2:24:59 | High school schedule | McGoodwin: under the agreement with the Sugar River Education Association a committee will develop a new schedule, with "a new collective bargaining agreement reflecting that" in the fall of 2018 (2:25:29). | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on March 1, 2017. They are not findings of violation, and nothing here is legal advice. Each flag names the rule it rests on; where no verified rule applies, it is recorded as an observation. Ordered by severity.
MEDIUM The district's Strategic Planning Committee was meeting publicly but without posted notice
The superintendent announced a Saturday meeting of the "Claremont School District Strategic Planning Committee" (1:57:42). The chair asked for a public posting (1:58:25); the superintendent answered that it is "a public meeting" but "it's not like a school board meeting. We haven't we haven't posted it", adding that anyone who arrives can watch (1:58:37, 1:58:47). The assistant superintendent described open volunteer membership and a facilitator (1:59:20), and the March 15 recording describes a school board representative among the members. The law then in force treats as a public body "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body" of a school board "or advisory committee thereto", and requires notice of each meeting at least 24 hours ahead in two appropriate places, with minutes. If this committee advises the board, as its planned presentation to the board suggests (1:57:42), its meetings needed notice and minutes. Graded MEDIUM: the recording shows meetings not posted, on the superintendent's own statement, but whether the committee is the board's advisory committee or the superintendent's is not settled on tape. In the district's favor: the chair himself asked that the meeting be posted.
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (source note ends 2008, 354:1, so the text in force in 2017): public body includes "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto"; RSA 91-A:2, II (2016 codification; source note ends 2016, 29:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017): notice "at least 24 hours, excluding Sundays and legal holidays", in 2 appropriate places; minutes within 5 business days.
OBSERVATION The board asked for the tax-rate sheet to go to the press and every parent before the March 14 vote, with no editorializing
The business administrator's sheet projected a lower tax rate if the budget passed (1:44:21, 1:44:47). Members asked that it be published in the newspapers, possibly as a paid full-page ad "a couple days before" the vote, posted online, and sent "to every parent. Here it is. This is what you're voting on." (1:46:24, 1:48:14, 1:49:58); the superintendent said it could go out the next day (1:50:44). Irish specified "I don't want any editorializing" (1:47:21). New Hampshire law barred public employees from electioneering in the performance of their duties and from using government property to do so, defining electioneering as acting "in any way specifically designed to influence the vote of a voter on any question or office". Distributing a factual, district-prepared projection is not by itself electioneering, and the instruction against editorializing points the right way; how the sheet was worded and sent is not on the record. Recorded as a reviewer's aid for anyone examining the pre-election mailing, not as a finding.
Sources: RSA 659:44-a, I-III (source note ends 2016, 176:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017, so the text in force in March 2017): no public employee "shall electioneer while in the performance of his or her official duties"; no use of government property; definition of electioneering.
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting are online
The meeting ran from a numbered agenda and a packet containing, among other things, a January 12 memo on the trip, an email on the leadership conference, a two-page New Hampshire Listens summary, the tax-rate sheet, the lead policy draft, the principal's resignation letter and three policy drafts with a cover letter (0:01:25, 0:01:50, 0:06:31, 0:22:32, 1:43:08, 2:09:13, 2:10:09). None of these, and no minutes, are in the district's online shares, which begin in 2022 and 2023 (MAP.md section 27). The superintendent said the agenda, but not the tax sheet, was on the district website at the time (1:48:14). This is a finding about what is online now, not evidence that records were never kept; the recording shows no lapse of its own.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2016 codification, text in force in 2017): minutes "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting".
POSITIVE Midyear assessment data were presented in public, including results well short of the district's own targets
The assistant superintendent showed the board, on camera, that middle and high school students were "in the 34 to 49% range" against targets of 80 to 85 percent (0:40:12), and each principal explained what the school was doing about its numbers, the high school principal asking aloud "why or why are we flatlining here?" (1:15:34). The superintendent said the district would not "shy away from data" (0:52:57); the chair contrasted it with a time when he "had to file 91 A requests" as a board member (1:42:06). No statute required a midyear public presentation of interim assessment data; doing so exceeded the minimum.
Sources: the recording itself (no statute required this presentation).
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 8948, "SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 3-1-17": 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 section 27, checked 9/26/26). The agenda, the packet documents listed in flag 3 and the minutes were not located.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/8948 SchoolBoard030117.mp4.CSV (866 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/8948 SchoolBoard030117.mp4Input/Transcripts/8948 SchoolBoard030117.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/8948 SchoolBoard030117.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 27
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (unchanged since 2008): committees and advisory committees as public bodies.
- RSA 91-A:2, II (2016 codification, text in force during 2017): notice and minutes.
- RSA 659:44-a (text in force from January 1, 2017): electioneering by public employees.