Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part, as named in the project's dialogue file and its attribution report. The roll call is garbled (0:00:45 to 0:01:12); presence is taken from the roll where audible and from who speaks. Where the dialogue file leaves a voice Unidentified, this page does too.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Brian Rapp | Chair, Claremont School Board | Called the joint meeting to order (0:00:11) and opened the citizens' forum (0:01:21); reported the lead screening policy's first reading and second reading still to come (0:05:18, 0:05:58); asked whether older rental properties could be tested during city inspections (0:52:54); spoke on state funding and special education (1:25:25, 1:26:14); raised a June date for the next joint meeting (2:21:28). |
| Chris Irish | Vice chair, Claremont School Board | Answered the roll (0:01:06). Asked about lead grant eligibility and contractor certification (0:20:35, 0:27:39, 0:31:05); spoke at length against vouchers (1:40:00 to 1:44:15). His cluster attribution is rated low-medium in the attribution report. |
| Patrick Adrian | Member, Claremont School Board | Asked about landlord misinformation on lead (0:44:13); answered a question about home school standards (1:47:30); asked why the stabilization grant phase-out was not grounds for a lawsuit (1:51:10, 1:52:05); read from a senator's editorial on SB 193 (2:16:56). |
| Michelle Pierce, Frank Sprague, Rebecca Zullo | Members, Claremont School Board | Heard answering the roll in one row (0:01:12; Zullo transcribed Rebecca. Zula). None is attributed a speaking row. An Unidentified female participant who asks about the stabilization grant (2:06:34) is suggested in the attribution report as possibly Zullo; this page leaves her unidentified. |
| Michael Petrin | Member, Claremont School Board (sworn in March 15, 2017) | Not heard on the roll or in the discussion. Presence not established. |
| Charlene Lovett | Mayor, City of Claremont | Addressed as Madam Mayor (0:02:03). Introduced the city manager (0:01:44); ran the lead and funding items; reported SB 247's Senate progress (0:38:31, 2:20:21); announced the superintendent's SB 193 testimony (2:15:51); set the June 22 date and topic (2:22:52, 2:23:05). |
| Ryan McNutt | City Manager | Introduced himself, started February 1 (0:03:38); described a New Hampshire Housing Finance lead abatement grant round and the receivership tool the city lacks (0:10:26, 0:11:50). |
| Pope (first name not on record) | City Councilor | Asked about home school standards and aid when pupils return (1:47:07, 1:49:11); asked for an update on a Northfield and Franklin coalition letter (2:12:53). |
| Allen Damren | City Councilor | Recognized as Councilor Damron (1:47:57); described the former home school registration process (1:48:00). Medium confidence in the attribution report. |
| Unidentified (transcribed John Simon) | City Councilor, answering the roll | Roll response only (0:00:57). The project roster suggests Councilor John Simonds, with the spelling unverified. |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Reported the pre-kindergarten change to the lead policy (0:06:39); spoke on adequacy aid, fixed costs, the stabilization grant and SB 193 (1:27:57 to 1:39:54, 2:07:06); said he would testify in Concord on April 4 (1:37:47). |
| Gauthier (first name not on record) | State Representative | Thanked by the city manager for receivership work (0:13:54); asked about lead test results and parental consent (0:37:03, 0:41:26); said the legislature is in contempt of court (1:35:22); proposed an income-tax line for school funding (1:44:38); said he would back home school accountability legislation (2:12:03). |
| John Cloutier | State Representative (spelling from the public record; transcribed John Claudia) | On SB 247 (0:14:30); on HB 597 and adequacy aid (2:02:32 to 2:03:20). |
| Keith Thibeault (surname spelling unverified) | Southwestern Community Services | Described Head Start testing and home rehabilitation work, and estimated abatement at less than $15,000 a unit (0:15:42 to 0:20:17, 0:29:20). |
| Peter Wright | Valley Regional Hospital; chairman, Sullivan County Public Health Commission (self-described) | Arrived partway and reported the hospital's point-of-care testing and screening rates (0:33:34 to 0:36:27); offered the hospital's tester for community use (0:59:18). |
| Tom Connair | Attorney, Claremont school funding lawsuit counsel | Introduced by the mayor as Tom cannon (1:03:29). Presented the history of the Claremont litigation (1:04:03 to 1:23:49); answered questions on vouchers and advocacy (1:54:27, 2:01:11, 2:09:22). |
| Unidentified | Several participants | The roll-call responses (0:00:45 to 0:01:12); a participant asking about lead case tracking (0:26:17); a female participant asking who reduced the stabilization grant and whom to contact (2:06:34, 2:08:45); scheduling interjections. 47 of 583 rows are Unidentified. |
| No citizens | Citizens' forum | The chair opened a citizens' forum and no one spoke (0:01:21, 0:01:27, 0:01:35). |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted in the district's online shares, though the chair and the mayor both refer to one (0:01:35, 0:01:44). This outline is reconstructed from the presiding officers' transitions. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:11 | Call to order; pledge; roll call | Called to order by school board chair Rapp; the roll covers both bodies and is largely inaudible in the transcript (0:00:45 to 0:01:12). |
| 0:01:21 | Citizens' forum | Opened; no speakers. |
| 0:01:44 | New business: introduction of the city manager | Ryan McNutt introduced by the mayor. No action. |
| 0:04:20 | Screening and prevention of lead poisoning: update | Hospital screening rates (reported by the mayor, later by Peter Wright); the school board's lead screening policy, first read done, second read scheduled; city grant and receivership plans; Southwestern Community Services. Next steps summarized by Rapp (0:58:55) and the mayor (0:59:41 to 1:02:04). No action. |
| 1:03:29 | New Hampshire's responsibility to fund public education | Presentation by Tom Connair; discussion of adequacy aid, the stabilization grant, SB 192, SB 193 and HB 597 by the superintendent, members, councilors and representatives. No action. |
| 2:20:21 | Close; next joint meeting | The mayor carried one item to the next meeting (2:20:21); June 22 chosen (2:22:22, 2:22:52); topic to be childhood poverty (2:23:05). No adjournment motion heard. |
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 |
|---|
| 0:00:11 | Call to order and roll | Rapp: "Call the joint meeting of the Claremont School Board and City Council." The roll reads, as transcribed: "John Simon here." "Love it. Here." "Irish. Here." "Michelle Pierce. Frank Sprague here. Rebecca. Zula here. And Brian right here." (0:01:12). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:01:21 | Citizens' forum | Rapp: "Open it up for citizens Forum." "Anybody like to speak? Citizens forum." No one did. | POSITIVE |
| 0:01:44 | New city manager | McNutt toured Stevens High School with Assistant Superintendent LeClair: "It was absolutely a beautiful high school." (0:03:26). "I started here in February 1st. I live up here in Claremont now." (0:03:38). | |
| 0:04:20 | Hospital screening rates | The mayor, for the absent Wright: the hospital pediatric office "doubled their screening rates at this point" (0:04:43). | |
| 0:05:18 | School lead screening policy | Rapp: "We had our first breed [read] of our our new policy for screening. And it's the green sheet." McGoodwin: the text will add "entering pre-kindergarten or kindergarten" (0:06:39); "According to the state, we are the first district in New Hampshire that is has a school district policy." (0:07:37). The mayor: Claremont Newport Healthy Homes may fund test kits "which are about $8 apiece" (0:08:54). | POSITIVE |
| 0:09:36 | City lead grants and receivership | McNutt: the city intends "to partner with New Hampshire Housing Finance on their current grant round" to abate homes (0:10:26); receivership, a provision "that basically 49 other states have", which the city is pursuing with Representative Gauthier (0:11:50, 0:13:54). | |
| 0:14:27 | SB 247 | Cloutier: "the state Senate has passed a bill, Senate Bill 247, sponsored by Senator Fells [Feltes] of Concord" (0:14:30). The mayor: "It's my understanding the Senate is hearing that today." (0:14:55). | |
| 0:15:42 | Southwestern Community Services | Thibeault: Head Start children are all tested; "less than 20% of children get tested" in New Hampshire (0:17:28); abatement is "probably less than $15,000 a unit" (0:29:20). | |
| 0:20:35 | Grant access; contractor certification | Irish asked whether the grant money is available to owners directly; McNutt: contact "myself or Nancy Merrill" (0:20:50). Irish on the shortage of certified contractors (0:31:58); the mayor on free state training (0:31:25). | |
| 0:33:34 | Valley Regional Hospital report | Wright: a point-of-care test in the office; "50% of the screenings in the trailing 12 months had been done in December and January" (0:36:27); results go to the state (0:37:31). | |
| 0:38:31 | SB 247 status | The mayor: "the Senate did pass the bill, SB 247 17 to 6" and then referred it to Senate Finance on a roughly $6 million fiscal note (0:38:58); state goal of 85% testing against "less than 60% of one year olds" and "less than 30% of two year olds" (0:39:32). At the close she reported "SB 247 passed the Senate 15 to 7" (2:20:21). | |
| 0:41:01 | Testing in schools | Rapp: "It's going to be a requirement for. It now. Not yet know yet." McGoodwin: "we're still in the developmental stages of this" (0:41:37). Wright: "Parents have to give permission." (0:41:32). | |
| 0:44:13 | Landlord misinformation | Adrian asked whether progress had been made on property owners' misperceptions; Wright described a public education campaign (0:46:09); McNutt: the city can list the housing stock and canvass (0:48:25). | |
| 0:52:54 | Testing at inspection | Rapp asked about testing older properties during city inspections, perhaps "by ordinance"; the mayor: "we don't want to approach it from a punitive standpoint" (0:54:24); she suggested a note with the quarterly tax bills (0:55:21). | |
| 0:58:55 | Lead next steps | Rapp: "Our next step is having our second read". The mayor: possible ordinance language on the council side "maybe not at this time"; a child care provider training on April 11 or 13 (1:00:03). | |
| 1:04:03 | Connair: the Claremont litigation | "And March 1989, 28 years ago this month, the Claremont School Board voted to begin the process of challenging the way that we fund education" (1:06:24); "Lebanon. For every dollar we raise, they would raise four." (1:08:27); "about 35 school districts that contributed" (1:10:41); "Again, we spent $16,000. Waterville Valley spends 32." (1:23:15). | |
| 1:25:25 | Board chair on funding | Rapp: "we're fighting over the same funding"; on special education, "I think we're getting 60% of what we're supposed to from the state." (1:26:14). | |
| 1:27:57 | Superintendent on adequacy and costs | A nearby district smaller than Claremont: "Their budget is $10 million more." (1:28:33). The district "receives $5.8 million in a grant from the state" which "over the next several years, that is going to be reduced to $0." (1:30:03). Fixed costs up about $590,000 since 2012 while combined budgets rose $64,000 (1:31:20). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:34:57 | HB 525; Fair Tax Coalition | The mayor: HB 525 "has been retained in committee" and "Meanwhile, we're still losing 4%." Gauthier: "I think that the legislature is in contempt of court" and says 73% of Claremont voters backed the Granite State Fair Tax question (1:35:22). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:36:43 | SB 192 and SB 193 | McGoodwin: the adequacy reduction "if left unchecked over the next 18 or so years, will take over $5 million"; "Senate Bill 193 is a voucher bill" (1:37:14); "I'm going to Concord with several other superintendents next Tuesday, April 4th, to testify." (1:37:47); "approximately 25,000 New Hampshire students who might be eligible" at "$3,000 each. That's $75 million." (1:38:17). | |
| 1:40:00 | Irish on vouchers | "We are in serious trouble"; if the state had "just fully funded the formula. We would have never had a Claremont lawsuit." (1:40:16). | |
| 1:47:07 | Home schooling | Pope asked who certifies home schools. Damren: families once "had to register with the district, get their curriculum approved" with a year-end follow-up (1:48:00). McGoodwin: "accountability is not there." (1:49:02). | |
| 1:50:29 | Voucher amounts | McGoodwin: against a $20,000 private tuition "the scholarship going to a private school would be 3 to $4000"; "the drawing of public school funding is not done equitably." | |
| 1:51:10 | Stabilization grant | Adrian: when they decided to phase out the stabilization grants "there wasn't any any legislative decision or any change in the law to my understanding" (1:52:05); "how is this not grounds for a lawsuit?" (1:52:50). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:54:27 | Connair responds | "the voucher program initiative in itself isn't dangerous"; later "I agree with you. The legislature is in contempt." and the coalition will consider whether "to go back yet one more time" (2:01:11). | |
| 2:02:32 | Cloutier on adequacy aid | "House Bill 597" to restore adequacy aid "only failed by 21 votes a few weeks ago"; he supports Representative Horn's retained bill as "the minimum we can do" (2:03:20). | |
| 2:06:34 | Who cut the grant | An unidentified participant: "who is they that reduced it and why?" McGoodwin: "there was a cap and I believe it was called the Dover case" (2:07:06); "I think it was in September 2016, Supreme Court said this is wrong." (2:07:37). | OBSERVATION |
| 2:12:03 | Home school accountability | Gauthier: "I'm going to be backing up some legislation about accountability on homeschoolers." | |
| 2:12:53 | Coalition of communities | Pope asked for an update on a letter from a "Northfield Franklin Coalition of Communities". The mayor: Connair will be sent background and will "send to us some language that we can use" (2:14:42); "Doctor Goodwin is going to testify on Tuesday for SB 193" and written statements can go through him (2:15:51). | |
| 2:16:56 | SB 193 eligibility | Adrian, Irish and McGoodwin on who would qualify and how the money moves; Irish: "It's school preference. It's a political term." (2:19:56). | |
| 2:20:21 | Close and next meeting | "we're over our time"; SB 247 "passed the Senate 15 to 7". June 22 agreed (2:22:52); "the topic will be childhood poverty and how it's affecting Claremont." (2:23:05). | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on March 30, 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. No votes were taken at this meeting.
OBSERVATION No agenda or minutes for this joint meeting are online on the district side, and the city side was not inspected
The chair and the mayor both refer to an agenda (0:01:35, 0:01:44) and the school board members had a green sheet policy draft in front of them (0:05:18); none of this, and no minutes, are in the district's online shares. Those shares begin in 2022 and 2023 (MAP.md section 29), so this is a finding about what the district now posts online, not evidence that minutes were never kept. The city's notice, agenda and minutes would be held by the city clerk; this page did not inspect them and makes no finding about them. Under the law then in force, a meeting of a public body needed 24 hours' notice and minutes open to inspection within five business days. Graded OBSERVATION under the project's rule for pre-2023 records: the recording shows no lapse of its own.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2016 codification; source note ends 2016, 29:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017, so the text in force throughout 2017): notice at least 24 hours; minutes "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting".
OBSERVATION The recording establishes a school board quorum but not a City Council quorum
A joint meeting is two public bodies meeting together, and each needs its own quorum to meet as a body. For the school board, five members answer the roll (0:01:06, 0:01:12) and a sixth (Adrian) speaks later: a quorum of the seven. For the council, the charter sets nine seats and a majority quorum; the mayor, Councilor Pope, Councilor Damren and one councilor transcribed John Simon (0:00:57) can be identified, which is four. The other roll responses are unnamed (0:00:45, 0:00:49, 0:01:08), so the tape neither confirms nor excludes a fifth councilor. Nothing turned on it: no vote was taken. The council's minutes would settle it and were not inspected.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, I (2016 codification): a meeting is "the convening of a quorum of the membership of a public body"; Claremont City Council page (nine seats) and Claremont City Charter secs. 16 and 21 (copy of undetermined date at newmarketnh.gov): "A majority of the council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business".
OBSERVATION A member said the stabilization grant phase-out came with no change in the law; the statute then in force wrote the 4 percent phase-out in
Adrian asked why the phase-out of the district's stabilization grant was not grounds for a lawsuit, saying "there wasn't any any legislative decision or any change in the law to my understanding" (1:52:05, 1:52:50). The mayor had just described the district as "still losing 4%" (1:35:06), and the superintendent put the district's grant at $5.8 million, "going to be reduced to $0" (1:30:03). The adequacy-aid statute as codified in 2016 did provide for this: for fiscal year 2017 a municipality received 96 percent of its fiscal year 2012 stabilization grant, "reduced by 4 percent of the amount of the 2012 education grant for each fiscal year thereafter". The superintendent's link of the change to the Dover case and a September 2016 Supreme Court decision (2:07:06, 2:07:37) is his characterization; this page did not verify it. Whether the phase-out was constitutional is a legal question the page does not answer; the point recorded is only that the reduction was statutory, not an administrative decision.
Sources: RSA 198:41, IV(a) and IV(d) (2016 codification; source note ends 2015, 276:139 and 2016, 8:4, 5 and 85:9): stabilization grant "96 percent for fiscal year 2017", then reduced by 4 percent each fiscal year.
POSITIVE A citizens' forum was opened at the start of the joint meeting although no statute then required one
The chair opened the floor to the public before any business (0:01:21, 0:01:27); no one came forward. New Hampshire's statutory public comment period for school board meetings dates from September 2022; in 2017 a comment period was a matter of the board's own practice. Offering it at a joint session, with both bodies at the table, exceeds the legal minimum of the time.
Sources: RSA 189:74 (source 2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022): public comment period at school board meetings; not law in 2017.
POSITIVE Lead screening was coordinated in public across the district, the city, the hospital and a community agency, ahead of any state mandate
The district's policy asks for lead testing on entry to pre-kindergarten or kindergarten (0:06:39); the superintendent said the state called Claremont "the first district in New Hampshire" with such a policy (0:07:37), a claim this page did not verify. The policy had been drafted with the school nurses and the hospital's medical staff (0:06:09), and the city described a parallel abatement grant effort (0:10:26). SB 247, the state bill on universal testing, was still in the Senate that evening (0:38:31, 2:20:21). No statute required a school district to adopt a lead screening policy in March 2017, so the board acted ahead of the law, in a televised joint session. Graded POSITIVE on that basis, with the caution that the recording shows plans, not results.
Sources: the recording itself (no statute then required a district lead policy; SB 247's later enactment was not verified for this page).
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 9010, "JOINT MEETING OF CITY COUNCIL AND SCHOOL BOARD 3-30-17": 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 29, checked 9/26/26). The agenda, the lead policy draft, the superintendent's handout and the minutes were not located. The City of Claremont's records of the meeting were not inspected.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/9010 SchoolBoardCityCouncilJoint033017.mp4.CSV (583 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9010 SchoolBoardCityCouncilJoint033017.mp4Input/Transcripts/9010 SchoolBoardCityCouncilJoint033017.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9010 SchoolBoardCityCouncilJoint033017.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 29
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, I and II (2016 codification, text in force during 2017): meeting defined by a quorum; notice and minutes.
- RSA 198:41, IV(a) and IV(d) (2016 codification): stabilization grant and its 4 percent annual reduction from fiscal year 2017.
- RSA 189:74 (eff. Sept. 6, 2022): cited only to show no comment-period statute existed in 2017.
- Claremont City Charter secs. 16 and 21 (council of nine; majority quorum), copy of undetermined date.