Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part. Names follow the project's dialogue file and its attribution report; no minutes exist online to check spellings against. Members are listed first.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Brian Rapp | Chair | Presided and called the votes. Asked whether the grants should be approved separately and whether the food service request for proposals had a closing date; said he had long felt welding was needed at the center; closed the technical center item for a later meeting. Appears to have joined the food service evaluation committee (attribution report: hypothesis). |
| Chris Irish | Vice Chair | Absent. The chair said he was at another meeting and might come later; he confirmed on April 19 that he was not here. |
| Michelle Pierce | Board member | Moved the agenda, the grants and the Primex resolution; seconded the three policies and the lead policy and the nonpublic motion. Asked for building-by-building capital needs and per-school costs, about the new child care space, and questioned why the technical center could not add health science, welding or information technology sooner. Answered Michelle Pierce here at the nonpublic roll call. |
| Frank Sprague | Board member | Moved acceptance of the previous minutes and the three policies; seconded the Primex resolution. Asked whether voucher support follows party lines; added staffing patterns, busing, maintenance and administration to the budget topic list; pressed the technical center director on seat entitlements at Newport, an aptitude-based needs assessment and an offer from River Valley Community College. |
| Patrick Adrian | Board member | Asked for evidence that special education and early childhood programs are working; asked whether a computer program at the center would compete with River Valley's; questioned whether teacher preparation fits the center's pre-K program; declined the food service committee ("I can't do another committee."). The dialogue file assigns to him the words To go. in the nonpublic motion. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Board member | Asked how special education results would be measured, what Primex is, how the technical center ranked programs and what Perkins money covers; said she had been researching the state and federal food service rules. Named by the superintendent for the evaluation committee ("Rebecca's research."). Identification: medium-high (attribution report). |
| Michael Petrin | Board member | Identified by elimination only (attribution report: low confidence). The voice asked whether eighth graders tour the center, counted the food service vendors, suggested Prescott Herzog for the committee and moved the lead screening policy. |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Moved grants to action items and added the nonpublic session. Reported on the River Valley Community College pathway, his testimony against Senate Bill 193 in Concord the day before, a student's e-mail about school meals and his invitation to that student, and calendar talks with the teachers' association. Presented the Bluff principal search status, the strategic plan and the fiscal 2019 budget topic schedule. |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Identification: medium, never self-identified. Reported the system of care grant and presented $44,750 in new grants for acceptance, including McKinney-Vento money supporting a newly licensed child care space for students' children; said competitive grants this year total "about $502,000". |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator, SAU 6 | Presented the Primex contribution assurance program and read its resolution into the record; presented the food service request for proposals, its evaluation criteria and a schedule of vendor presentations. Rendered Michael Neal. |
| Joel Snyder | Director, Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center | Presented the center's strategic plan: enrollment history, a student interest survey, labor market data, and a proposal to add pre-engineering, teacher preparation and computer repair and networking. Surname spelling unverified (attribution report); rendered Joel Sinai by the superintendent. |
| Student representative(s) | Stevens High School and Claremont Middle School | Gave the Stevens and CMS reports. Not named on this recording. |
| Carol Gregory | Not stated | Named by the superintendent as having provided a food service schedule packet ("This this was provided by Carol Gregory."). She does not speak on the recording and her role is not stated; spelling as transcribed. |
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 on the recording. The superintendent refers to "Roman numeral six A" and the director to item Seven d, so a numbered written agenda existed. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:30 | Call to order, pledge, roll call | The roll call is barely audible. The chair notes Irish's absence at 0:01:21. |
| 0:01:31 | Agenda amendments and approval | District grants moved from updates to action items; a nonpublic session under RSA 91-A:3, II(c) added at the end. Pierce moved; seconded; approved by voice vote at 0:02:45. |
| 0:02:58 | Minutes of the previous meeting | Sprague moved to accept "as written"; seconded; approved by voice vote. |
| 0:03:32 | Citizens' comments | Offered; no one came forward. |
| 0:03:47 | Student representatives' reports | Stevens High School and Claremont Middle School. Informational. |
| 0:08:38 | Superintendent's report | River Valley pathway, athletes' recognition, Senate Bill 193 testimony, a student's e-mail on food service, calendar talks. Question from Sprague. |
| 0:22:06 | Discussion: Bluff Elementary principal search | Status report; recommendation to come after a site visit. No action. |
| 0:23:18 | Discussion: school district strategic plan | Status report; committee to meet the following Friday at 3:00 in the conference room. No action. |
| 0:25:19 | Discussion: fiscal 2019 budget schedule | A two-sided list of presentation topics and dates; members added items. No action. |
| 0:44:30 | Action: Claremont School District grants | $44,750 accepted as one motion: $20,250 Title I reallocation for the Department of Education summer summit, $16,500 McKinney-Vento, and two early-learning grants of $3,000 and $5,000. Pierce moved at 0:50:50; seconded; approved by voice vote. |
| 0:53:47 | Action: Primex contribution assurance program | Resolution read into the record by O'Neill. Pierce moved; Sprague seconded; approved by voice vote at 0:57:47. |
| 0:58:28 | Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center strategic plan | Presentation by Director Joel Snyder and discussion. No action; the chair at 1:57:24: "I think this is something we're going to need to probably bring back". |
| 1:57:57 | Food service request for proposals | Vendor presentations at the next three meetings; an evaluation committee to include board members. No vote. |
| 2:09:21 | Policies ACE, EBBC and IHBAA, third reading | Nondiscrimination on the basis of disability, emergency care and first aid, and evaluation requirements for specific learning disabilities. Sprague moved; Pierce seconded; approved by voice vote at 2:11:03. |
| 2:11:05 | Policy: lead screening, second reading | Pre-kindergarten added. Moved (the dialogue file assigns So moved. to Petrin); Pierce seconded; approved by voice vote at 2:15:05. |
| 2:15:24 | Nonpublic session | Motion under RSA 91-A:3, II(c); Pierce seconded; roll call from 2:15:38. The recording ends during the roll call. |
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 |
|---|
| 0:00:30 | Call to order | Pledge and roll call. Chair at 0:01:21: "Mr. Irish has another meeting that he's at." | |
| 0:01:38 | Agenda amended | Superintendent: grants "require to have the board approve", so they move to action items; and "we will need to discuss matters which if discussed in public, would likely affected virtually the reputation of of a person." He corrected himself twice before settling on "It's three Roman numeral two C." Approved on Pierce's motion. | POSITIVE |
| 0:03:13 | Minutes; citizens' comments | Sprague: "I move the accept the minutes as written." Approved. At 0:03:32 the chair opened citizens' comments; at 0:03:44: "Okay. Seeing none." | OBSERVATION POSITIVE |
| 0:03:51 | Student reports | Stevens: "All juniors took the state assessment"; Opera North; the Key Club's Easter baskets. CMS at 0:06:15: national assessment sampling of eighth graders, the state tests "should be done by April 13th", a math competition, a STEM festival. | |
| 0:08:43 | River Valley pathway | Superintendent: an article on a River Valley Community College "pilot program nets early college credits for students", and a plan for current eighth graders to earn college credit at Stevens. He said he wrote to four student athletes on behalf of the board. | |
| 0:10:51 | Senate Bill 193 testimony | Superintendent: he testified in Concord the day before on "Senate Bill 193 is the voucher program". Small withdrawals across grades "would not necessitate a need to reduce staffing, but it would draw $36,000 from the Claremont School District." He said the fiscal 2017 budget's $0.11 tax-rate effect became a $1.25 increase because of reduced stabilization funding, and that testimony ran "about 10 to 1 in favor" of defeating the bill. His figures are not checked here. | |
| 0:15:37 | A student's e-mail on school meals | Superintendent read Prescott Herzog's e-mail about "the action item on the April 5th school board meeting. Food service" and said he had invited him to April 19: "Actually, I've already invited him, so it's too late to give me a permission, I guess." | |
| 0:19:28 | Voucher bill and property wealth | Sprague asked whether legislators from wealthier towns are "just following the party line". Superintendent: he testified about "tax rate and zip code"; "the tax rate was about $43 per 1000". | |
| 0:22:15 | Bluff Elementary principal search | Superintendent: "We are doing a site visit, next week." Ten committee members "were unanimous about this individual being the next leader of bluff." He withheld the name until the site visit. (The nomination came to the board on April 19.) | |
| 0:23:20 | Strategic plan | Begun in early July with a hope to finish by Thanksgiving; "it'll collect us in the shelf" if not made meaningful. Next committee meeting the following Friday at 3:00 in the conference room. | |
| 0:25:27 | Fiscal 2019 budget topics | Superintendent: "The development of a budget is much more than just numbers." Topics include special education, technology, athletics, capital improvement, security, early childhood and K to 5 health education. At 0:29:03: "There's a great deal of lobbying that goes on during the budget process." Sprague at 0:30:20 added staffing patterns, busing, maintenance and administration. | |
| 0:31:15 | Special education and early childhood | Adrian asked for evidence programs are working; Zullo asked what data would show it; LeClair at 0:38:18 said early learning investment pays off in later savings. Pierce at 0:40:58 asked for per-school costs given declining enrollment and retirements, and a multi-year capital plan. | |
| 0:44:39 | Grants accepted | LeClair: the system of care grant is "approximately $2 million over the course of four years" (accepted earlier). New: "$20,250 to send a team of folks" to the Department of Education summer summit (Title I reallocation); "an additional $16,500" in McKinney-Vento money for a newly licensed child care space for students' children; "two grants from Broome, one for $3,000, one for $5,000" for early learning. "So I'm looking for approval of 44,750 tonight." Accepted on Pierce's motion at 0:50:50. The chair's 2,044,750 at 0:50:29 includes the earlier $2 million grant. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:51:04 | More grants on the horizon | A book grant for preschoolers, a Home Depot application for an outdoor play space the building trades students would build, and "about $502,000 in additional competitive grants just for this year". Pierce asked at 0:52:14 whether students who had left school could use the child care. | |
| 0:54:02 | Primex contribution cap | O'Neill: the program "limits your increase to a 7%"; without it, "We actually saw 16% increase year over year" after building additions and bus purchases. He read the resolution at 0:55:23. Sprague asked about the history; Zullo asked what Primex is ("a risk pool insurance company that all public entities participate in"). Approved at 0:57:47. | |
| 0:58:38 | Technical center strategic plan | Superintendent had sent the PowerPoint "Three weeks ago". Snyder at 1:01:19: the 20-year regional agreement "expired in 2012" and was renewed with Newport for ten years; eligible students in the region fell 61%; enrollment 155 in 2001 against 129 this year, peaking at 222 in 2003. | |
| 1:14:16 | Three proposed programs | "I'm proposing that we we we introduce three programs pre-engineering, teacher prep, and computer repair and networking." Each teacher would cost "$67,431 to $104,045 per teaching position" with benefits; equipment (about $56,000 for computer repair) from federal Perkins money, which "wouldn't leave us enough money to pay for even one staff position." | |
| 1:24:32 | Questions on the plan | Zullo on the scoring of student preferences and Perkins funding; Pierce on health science, the survey and timing; Sprague at 1:36:45 suggested an aptitude-based needs assessment and asked why a River Valley offer was not being pursued. On seats at Newport, Snyder at 1:33:37: "Well Newport gets and we get three." | |
| 1:40:09 | Welding | Sprague: Newport's welding is full; the chair, whose opening words the file gives to Sprague: "For a while that we need to have welding here." Snyder at 1:50:10: "within this building, within our labs, as he exists now, is no space to safely put in a welding training area." | |
| 1:44:39 | Scheduling and access | Superintendent: the Stevens scheduling committee starts the following week; access to the center now depends on whether it fits a student's schedule. Petrin (by elimination) asked about eighth-grade tours. | |
| 1:50:49 | Teacher preparation and pre-K | Adrian questioned using the center's pre-K program for teacher preparation. Superintendent at 1:54:35: "The Department of Education, Patrick for two years has been telling us the program should be discontinued." The chair closed the item for a later meeting at 1:57:24. | |
| 1:58:43 | Food service request for proposals | O'Neill: proposals "will be evaluated by a committee against the following criteria with assigned wages [weights] indicated"; vendors to present "at the next three board meetings"; the committee's makeup "is not specific by statute", and he recommended "a couple of board members, teaching staff, interested persons". The chair asked about a closing date; O'Neill at 2:03:46: "I believe, April, my April 19th, which is the day of the first vendor meeting". He said the weights are "determined by statute" and "We can't change the weight". | OBSERVATION |
| 2:06:51 | Evaluation committee formed | Zullo: the state and federal rules are "so extensive that my brain turned to mush". Superintendent at 2:07:09: he would establish a committee "representative of the district, both in house as well as community". Zullo was named; Adrian declined; the chair appears to have joined. Members suggested high school and middle school students, including Prescott Herzog. | OBSERVATION |
| 2:09:21 | Three policies approved | ACE, EBBC and IHBAA on third reading, "unchanged from two weeks ago". Sprague moved; Pierce seconded; superintendent: Which which means it's approved. | |
| 2:09:46 | Lead screening policy | Superintendent: discussed "last week at the joint meeting with the City Council and school board"; "I have added pre-kindergarten." Sprague at 2:11:39 on the value of screening information for student support teams; the superintendent recalled sanding lead paint in an 1830s house. The chair: "it's obviously unique. No one else has won and I'm proud of it." Approved at 2:15:05. | |
| 2:15:24 | Nonpublic session | Chair: "Need a 91, a two, three, two." Superintendent: "C write a brief a brief meeting." Pierce: I'll second. Roll call from 2:15:38; the recording ends at 2:16:59. | POSITIVE |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on April 5, 2017. Several provisions cited below were later amended, and each flag cites the text 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. Five flags follow, ordered by severity.
OBSERVATION Three grants of $5,000 or more were accepted in one motion with no public hearing on the record
At 0:46:12 to 0:50:44 the assistant superintendent presented $20,250 in Title I reallocation money for the summer summit, $16,500 in McKinney-Vento money and two early-learning grants of $3,000 and $5,000, and asked for "approval of 44,750 tonight". The chair asked whether to approve them separately and was told "One lump sum is good." The board accepted them on one motion at 0:50:50. The superintendent had moved the item from updates to action items at the start of the meeting because it would "require to have the board approve".
RSA 198:20-b, as in force in 2017, lets a district adopt an article authorizing its board to accept and spend "unanticipated money from a state, federal or other governmental unit or a private source" without a further district vote, and paragraph III(a) then required that "For unanticipated funds in the amount of $5,000 or more, the school board shall hold a prior public hearing on the action to be taken", with seven days' newspaper notice; below $5,000, paragraph III(b) required notice in the agenda and the minutes. No hearing appears on this recording, and none is mentioned. The statute applies only if Claremont had adopted the enabling article and only to money that was not anticipated in the budget, and neither fact is in any available record; a hearing could also have been held on another date. It is an observation for that reason. The grants themselves were presented in detail in public, with their purposes stated.
Sources: RSA 198:20-b, I and III(a)-(b) (2017 codification; source note ends 2005, 188:1): acceptance of unanticipated funds; prior public hearing at $5,000 or more.
OBSERVATION A food service evaluation committee with board members was formed without any stated plan for its notice and minutes
The business administrator proposed at 2:00:12 that a committee of "a couple of board members, teaching staff, interested persons" evaluate the food service proposals after vendor presentations, make site visits and recommend an award to the board. The superintendent said at 2:07:09 he would establish it; Zullo was named and the chair appears to have joined. RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d), unchanged since 2008, makes a public body of a school board "or any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto", and a public body's meetings need 24 hours' notice and minutes under RSA 91-A:2, II. Whether this committee is the board's (appointed by it, with its members) or an administrative committee of the superintendent is not settled on the tape, and nothing said addresses notice or minutes for its meetings. None are available online.
Two further points are the speaker's characterization and are not verified here: that the evaluation weights are "determined by statute" and cannot be changed, and that the request for proposals closes on April 19, "the day of the first vendor meeting", with other vendors still awaiting state approval before they could submit. On April 19 the first vendor did not appear (see the April 19 page).
Sources: RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (source note ends 2008, 354:1, so the text in force in 2017): committees and advisory committees of a school board are public bodies; RSA 91-A:2, II (2016 codification, the text for calendar 2017): notice and minutes.
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting are posted online
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. That is a limit of what the district posts online, not by itself evidence that records were never made: the recording shows a numbered agenda and a packet in use, the board accepting its previous minutes at 0:03:13, and the April 19 recording shows these minutes being approved. In 2017, RSA 91-A:2, II required minutes to include the names of members, persons appearing and a brief description of the subject matter and final decisions, and to be "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting". Whether that was met cannot be tested from here. The limb of the project's missing-records rule applied is the online-availability observation, because the record shows minutes being kept and approved.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2016 codification; source note ends 2016, 29:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017): minutes content and five-business-day inspection; Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 30.
POSITIVE The nonpublic session was announced at the start with its ground stated in plain words, and entered by roll call
At 0:01:38 the superintendent asked to add the session and described its subject in the statute's own terms, "matters which if discussed in public, would likely affected virtually the reputation of of a person", settling on "It's three Roman numeral two C." after two corrections. At the end of the meeting the chair's call for the motion is garbled on the tape ("Need a 91, a two, three, two."), the superintendent supplied the letter, Pierce seconded, and a roll call began at 2:15:38. RSA 91-A:3, I(b), as in force in 2017, required a motion that "shall state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II" and a recorded roll-call vote. Two limits: the words of the motion itself are not clearly audible, and the recording ends during the roll call, so the tally and any action are not on tape; the nonpublic minutes, which RSA 91-A:3, III required to be disclosed within 72 hours unless sealed by a recorded two-thirds vote, are not available online.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(c) and III (2017 codification; source note ends 2016, 30:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017).
POSITIVE Citizens' comments were offered near the start of the meeting, in a year when no statute required a comment period
The chair opened citizens' comments at 0:03:32, before any business was taken up, and closed the period only after asking twice. No one spoke. The statutory public comment period for school boards, RSA 189:74, did not exist in 2017: it was enacted by 2022, 333:1, effective September 6, 2022.
Sources: RSA 189:74 (source: 2022, 333:1, eff. Sept. 6, 2022): public comment period, not in force in 2017.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 9020, "SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 4-5-17": 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, checked 9/26/26). No agenda, packet, grant documents, Primex resolution, technical center plan, request for proposals or minutes for this meeting were located.
- Related pages: the meeting index; the April 19, 2017 meeting, which approved these minutes, accepted the Bluff principal nomination, heard the student food service presentation and adopted the lead screening policy on final reading.
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/9020 SchoolBoard040517.mp4.CSV (648 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9020 SchoolBoard040517.mp4Input/Transcripts/9020 SchoolBoard040517.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9020 SchoolBoard040517.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 30
Laws and rules cited on this page