Participants
Board, and every citizens'-comment speaker. Name spellings and attendance follow the approved minutes; where the automatic transcript renders a name differently, the transcript's rendering is noted. Titles are given only where the minutes supply them.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Heather Whitney | Chair | Presided; called the meeting to order, led the Pledge, put the consent agenda, opened and closed citizens' comments, and announced the nonpublic session. The only board voice identifiable on the recording. |
| Frank Sprague | Vice Chair (also Finance Sub-Committee chair) | Present per the minutes; moved to exit nonpublic session and seconded the motion to seal those minutes. Not separately identifiable on the recording. |
| Candace Crawford | Board member | Present per the minutes. Not separately identifiable on the recording. |
| Arlene Hawkins | Board member | Present per the minutes; seconded both nonpublic-session motions. |
| Michael Petrin | Board member | Present per the minutes; moved to enter nonpublic session under RSA 91-A:3, II(a). |
| Bonnie Miles | Board member | Absent (per the minutes) |
| Whitney Skillen | Board member | Absent (per the minutes) |
| Noelle Kronberg | School Board Clerk | Took the roll call of attendance and both nonpublic roll-call votes; submitted the minutes. The clerk's voice calling names is not captured by the automatic transcript. |
| Seth Melcher | Citizens' comments — ward not stated | First speaker (0:01:55); five turns. Minutes: "spoke to express his concern with recent events and how they were handled." |
| Joseph Audette | Citizens' comments — ward not stated | Second speaker (0:03:49); two turns on the recent dismissal of a teacher and what the district knew. Gave only "Joseph" at the podium and is labeled "Joseph" in the dialogue file; the approved minutes supply the surname Audette. |
| Kyle Mercier | Citizens' comments — ward not stated | Third speaker (0:04:53); eleven segments opposing the Acuity construction-and-demolition proposal. The approved minutes spell the name "Kyle Messier" and twice refer to "Ms. Messier"; the podium self-introduction on the recording is "Kyle Mercier." |
| Gary Merchant | Citizens' comments — ward not stated | Fourth speaker (0:08:08); commended the board, then asked it to take a position against the facility. He does not state his name on the recording and the dialogue file labels him "Unidentified public commenter"; the approved minutes identify the fourth speaker as Gary Merchant and describe exactly these remarks. |
| Charlene Lovett | Citizens' comments — ward not stated | Fifth speaker (0:10:23); six segments on lead exposure and the district's 2017–18 lead-prevention work. The minutes name her with no title, so none is asserted here; the dialogue file's Role column calls her a former Mayor of Claremont, which the minutes do not corroborate. |
The minutes carry a standing masthead listing SAU 6 central-office administration (Christopher Pratt, Michael Koski, Michael McCosker, Jeff Small, Patrick O'Hearn, Mary Henry). That block appears identically on every set of minutes this year and is not an attendance record; no administrator speaks on the recording, and the minutes record attendance only for board members. Student board members Miles Sheehan and Lilly Clark are likewise listed in the masthead and neither appears in the recorded portion.
Agenda
Agenda as reproduced in the approved minutes; the posted packet also contains CSB Agenda 2.19.25 (1).pdf. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for full text. Items with no timestamp were reached after the recording ends.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:03 | I. Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance (6:30 p.m.) | Whitney: "I would like to call to order the February 19th, 2025 meeting of the Claremont School Board. All attendance. Please rise and join." The Pledge is recited as a group and captured by the automatic transcript as a single voice. |
| 0:00:29 | II. General Business — Secretary roll call of attendance (6:35 p.m.) | "Miss, please call. Roll call. Attendance. Here. Here." Per the minutes — Present: Candace Crawford, Arlene Hawkins, Michael Petrin, Frank Sprague, Heather Whitney. Absent: Bonnie Miles, Whitney Skillen. The clerk reading the names is not picked up by the transcript, so only the "here" responses appear. |
| 0:00:42 | II.a. Consent Agenda (vote required) | "Our first order of business is the approval of the items on the consent agenda. Those items are approval of the board agenda and the approval of the minutes from February 5th, 2025. If there is no objection, I would like to approve the agenda items as written and approve the 20, the two, five, 25 minutes. So any objections?" — "Seeing none." Minutes record: "Consent approval." The 2/5/25 draft minutes are one of the two documents in the posted packet. |
| 0:01:11 | II.b. Citizens Comments (Policy BEDH) | "Public comments are an opportunity for the public to provide input to the board. Board members are without the authority to answer spontaneously on behalf of the board. Board response, if any, will be deferring pending a full board consideration." Speakers were asked to "State your name for the record, and we allow each speaker three minutes." Five residents spoke; the minutes name all five. Comments ran roughly eleven of the recording's thirteen minutes. |
| 0:12:42 | III.1. Nonpublic session — RSA 91-A:3, II (7:00 p.m.) | Whitney: "we're going to close citizens comments at this point. Our first item on the agenda is a non public session per RSA 91-A colon three two a I need a motion." The agenda text printed in the minutes quotes both II(a) (employee dismissal, promotion, compensation, discipline or investigation of charges) and II(c) (reputation of a non-member); the motion as made, and as recorded in the minutes, invokes II(a) only. Per the minutes: Petrin moved, Hawkins seconded, roll call taken by Kronberg, all present voting in favor; entered nonpublic at 6:43 p.m. |
| 7:00 p.m. | III.1. (continued) Return to public session and sealing vote | Not on the recording. Per the minutes: Sprague moved to exit nonpublic and return to public session, Hawkins seconded, roll call by Kronberg, all present in favor; reentered public session at 9:54 p.m. Whitney then moved to seal the minutes for 10 years, Sprague seconded, roll call by Kronberg, all present voting in favor. The nonpublic session ran roughly three hours and eleven minutes. |
| 7:00 p.m. | III.2. Schedule School Board Evaluation Meeting (Discussion/Vote) (Exhibit B) — Heather Whitney, Chair | Not on the recording, and the approved minutes record no discussion, motion or outcome under this heading — the item appears with no entry beneath it. The "Exhibit B" the agenda references is not among the two documents in the posted Drive packet. |
| 8:20 p.m. | IV. Other Business | Not on the recording. Minutes record only: "Volunteers needed for the NH Listens event and selecting a contact person from the board." No volunteer or contact person is named. |
| 8:25 p.m. | V. Future Dates / Future Agenda Items | Not on the recording. Minutes list: SAU #6 School Board Meeting — February 13, 2025; Claremont School Board NH Listens Candidate Forum March 4, 2025 at SRVRTC — John Goodrich Community Room; Claremont Board Meeting — March 5, 2025; Voting Day — March 11, 2025. The first entry, February 13, had already passed when this meeting was held. |
| 8:30 p.m. | VI. Adjournment | Not on the recording. Minutes: "Consent adjournment at 9:56pm." Respectfully submitted by Noelle Kronberg, School Board Clerk. |
Discussion timeline — citizens' comments
Times are from the dialogue transcript (Output/Dialogue/16351 School Board 021925.mp4.CSV). Quotations reproduce the automatic transcript as-is, including its garbles; corrections are in square brackets. Eight days after the February 11 lockdown at Stevens High School, the recorded comment period does not take that incident up directly: four of the five speakers addressed the proposed Acuity construction-and-demolition facility, and the two who spoke about district matters raised a personnel decision, not the lockdown.
| Time | Topic | What was said (leading text; hover/focus for more) | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:55 | Seth Melcher — "something fell apart" | "My name is Seth Melcher, and I've been in and out of this town for my whole life. I was born here. I was raised here. My family is from here recently. I think we all know there was a situation in this town. And I've come here today to express my concerns." He does not name the situation: "I don't believe there's enough action that was taken. And I believe that there was a lot of things that were left unsaid… People were unheard. People weren't listened to. There's a lot of reports. I just I'm upset. Visibly shaken. This is my community." … "information that I've received from other teachers as well and other people in this town, I feel that something needs to be done beyond just one thing. I think action needs to be done. I think accountability needs to be taken. Those responsible need to be held accountable." … "And I just wish that you guys do the right thing. That's all I asked. I don't know what the situation is and I don't ask any questions. I just wanted to voice my opinion." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:03:49 | Joseph Audette — what the district knew about a dismissed teacher | "My name is Joseph and I'm a resident here in Claremont. I'm also concerned about what has been happening recently regarding the teacher that was, fired recently. And I really have some questions about what the school knew, what the superintendent knew going into that. Because the reports by the New Hampshire Journal make it pretty clear that the, the town police had informed the school that they were still investigating the the matter with the teacher, and she was reinstated." … "So I'm very concerned that, I don't know if it was lack of staffing that was a priority over student safety, but it's something was the ball was dropped somewhere." No board member responds; under Policy BEDH as the chair read it, none could. The minutes record the comment and no district reply. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:04:53 | Kyle Mercier — the Acuity proposal near Maple Avenue School | "I'm a long time member of the community and a concerned citizen. I'm here tonight to speak about the proposed construction and demolition facility located near Maple Avenue School. That will affect our children and our taxes." He thanks the district for moving the school-safety meeting date: "I want to first thank you for the school leaders for moving the date of the school safety meeting, which I'm sure is very important so that not to conflict with the upcoming public meeting with the state." On the proposal: "They have already been told no twice by Clermont [Claremont]. Now acuity is appealing. There are decision by going to the state, circumventing local control… Because acuity proposal would bring 70 trucks a day carrying materials such as lead, asbestos and mercury over our roads, by our schools and through our neighborhoods, exposing us to poisonous substances." … "70 trucks a day, over 312 million pounds of imported toxic waste would be brought to their site near 400 homes and the Maple Avenue Elementary School." | |
| 0:07:14 | Mercier — the March 6 state hearing; chair calls time | "Attending the meeting at the opera House March 6th at six will be. Being there matters. Speak if you wish. Bring friends and family members. Sign the online petition or the paper petition." Whitney: "Close to time." Mercier: "Follow updates on the website the QR code. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you." Whitney later apologises for the interruption — "I made that cut off a little bit too soon last time." | |
| 0:08:08 | Gary Merchant — asks the board to take a position | "I want to come for the school board. First of all, commend you for the work you've been doing. It's hard work. It goes many times unrecognized… The budget for transparency is phenomenal." Then: "The real concern I have is the safety of our students. Think of these large trucks going down Bradstreet past Stevens… After go by Stevens, they're going to buy [by] in the middle school. After the middle school. They're going to buy [by] Maple Leaf [Maple Avenue]. The safety of students is my fundamental concern tonight… We have problems today at the middle school, at the crosswalks." His ask: "hopefully somewhere along the way the school board may take a position to oppose it. That's my recommendation to you folks tonight is think about it, discuss it, and come up with some sort of comment." The board took that up two weeks later and voted to endorse a letter of opposition on March 5. | |
| 0:10:23 | Charlene Lovett — lead exposure and the district's prevention record | "So just to. Remind everybody here back in 2018, 2017, I think it was this community, the school board, the city council, major stakeholders in the community all made the prevention of lead poisoning a community wide priority. And for that, this school district was leading the state in policies that said children should be tested." … "The fact that they're bringing in out of state construction demolition material, we know, because New England has the highest rate of homes with lead based paint. We know that this material will be toxic." … "So there is a correlation. It's been well studied. There's articles about it of a 40% correlation between children that have been poisoned by lead with special education needs." … "It's lead poisoning. You don't see it when it happens. It's not like mustard gas. It's not like sarin gas. But it happens. And when it happens is irreversible." | |
| 0:12:42 | Comments closed; motion into nonpublic session | Whitney: "Is there anyone else I didn't want? I'm sorry, I, I made that cut off a little bit too soon last time. No. All right. So we're going to close citizens comments at this point. Our first item on the agenda is a non public session per RSA 91-A colon three two a I need a motion." The motion follows at 0:13:06: "We'll make a motion. We go into nonpublic for RSA 91-832A [RSA 91-A:3, II(a)] second." Whitney: "Second. Any discussion. We need roll call to go in and." The recorded "yes" votes run to 0:13:26 and the last recorded words — the chair's "Thank you" — come at 0:13:31, five seconds before the recording ends. Per the minutes, Petrin moved and Hawkins seconded. | POSITIVE OBSERVATION |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the record against current state and federal law. They are not findings of violation, and nothing here is legal advice. Each flag cites the rule it rests on; where no verified rule applies, the item is labelled an observation.
MEDIUM Nonpublic minutes sealed for ten years with no statutory determination recorded
The approved minutes record the sealing vote in full as: "Heather Whitney made a motion to seal the minutes for 10 years, Frank Sprague seconded the motion; roll call vote taken by Noelle Kronberg, all present voting in favor." RSA 91-A:3, III requires that minutes of a nonpublic session be publicly disclosed within 72 hours unless two-thirds of the members present determine that divulgence would likely affect adversely the reputation of a person other than a member of the public body itself, or would render the proposed action ineffective, or pertains to terrorism. The roll call and the unanimity of the five members present satisfy the two-thirds requirement on their face; what the record does not contain is any statement of the determination the statute requires, or of which ground it rests on. The sealing vote took place after the public session resumed at 9:54 p.m. and so is not on the recording — the minutes are the only record of it. A ten-year seal is also longer than any period the statute names; the statute sets no maximum, but it conditions the seal on the determination, and directs that the minutes be unsealed when the circumstances no longer apply.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, III (disclosure within 72 hours unless a recorded 2/3 vote with a statutory determination); Approved CSB meeting minutes 2.19.25.
OBSERVATION A 13-minute recording of a meeting that ran to 9:56 p.m.
The Cablecast recording runs 13:32. It begins at the call to order and ends seconds after the last recorded roll-call vote to enter nonpublic session — the vote the minutes place at 6:43 p.m. Per the approved minutes the board then sat in nonpublic for about three hours and eleven minutes, returned to public session at 9:54 p.m., voted to seal, and adjourned at 9:56 p.m. by consent. That closing public segment is not in the recording. Neither is agenda item III.2, the School Board Evaluation Meeting, for which the minutes record no discussion or action at all; nor Other Business, where the minutes note only that volunteers were needed for the NH Listens event and a board contact person selected, without naming either. Nothing in the Right-to-Know Law requires a public body to record or broadcast its meetings, so the gap is not a violation; it is stated here because the recording is the only contemporaneous public account of the meeting, and for this date it covers the public-comment period and nothing else. This page does not speculate about why the recording stops where it does.
Sources: Cablecast show 16351 (13:32); Approved CSB meeting minutes 2.19.25; RSA 91-A:2 (minutes requirement — a record of a meeting, not a recording of one).
OBSERVATION Two residents raised a personnel and student-safety question that the public record does not answer
Seth Melcher (0:01:55) told the board "I think we all know there was a situation in this town" without naming it, and asked that "those responsible need to be held accountable." Joseph Audette (0:03:49) was specific: he asked "what the school knew, what the superintendent knew" about a teacher who had been dismissed, citing New Hampshire Journal reporting that "the town police had informed the school that they were still investigating the the matter with the teacher, and she was reinstated," and concluded "the ball was dropped somewhere." Under the chair's reading of Policy BEDH, board members are "without the authority to answer spontaneously," and no response was given. The minutes summarise both comments and record no district reply, and the recording ends before any later agenda item. This page takes no position on the underlying facts, which are not established anywhere in the record it draws on. It is noted as an observation, not a legal finding: no provision on this project's verified citation list creates a duty to respond to a public comment, and RSA 193-D:2, the safe-school-zones statute, delegates reporting specifics to state board rules and local policy rather than setting a notification duty of its own.
Sources: Approved CSB meeting minutes 2.19.25 (Citizens Comments); RSA 193-D:2 (safe school zones — procedures delegated, no notification duty created by the section itself).
OBSERVATION Packet holds two documents; the agenda's "Exhibit B" is not among them
The Drive packet folder for this meeting contains two files: CSB Agenda 2.19.25 (1).pdf and 2.5.25 DRAFT CSB meeting mintues.pdf — the misspelling "mintues" is the district's own file name and is reproduced here verbatim. Agenda item III.2 cites "(Exhibit B)" for the School Board Evaluation Meeting; no Exhibit B is posted, and the minutes record no action on the item. There is no general statutory duty to post supporting exhibits in advance; RSA 91-A:4 makes governmental records available on request rather than requiring proactive publication. This is recorded as a documentation gap in the district's own packet convention, not as a violation.
Sources: Drive packet folder "15. CSB 2.19.25" (2 documents); RSA 91-A:4 (availability of governmental records).
POSITIVE The nonpublic motion named its exemption on the record and was taken by roll call
RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires that the motion to enter nonpublic session state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II relied on, and that the vote be taken by roll call. Both are audible on the recording: the chair announces "a non public session per RSA 91-A colon three two a" (0:12:42), the mover states "We go into nonpublic for RSA 91-832A" — the transcript's rendering of RSA 91-A:3, II(a) — at 0:13:06, and the chair calls for the roll: "We need roll call to go in and" (0:13:13). The minutes name the mover (Petrin), the seconder (Hawkins), the clerk who took the roll (Kronberg), the result, and the time of entry, and do the same for the motion to return to public session. The exit and the sealing vote were also taken in public session, as the statute contemplates.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and II(a); Approved CSB meeting minutes 2.19.25.
POSITIVE The minutes name every person who appeared before the board
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to include the names of members and of "persons appearing before the public bodies," along with a brief description of the subject matter and final decisions. The approved 2/19 minutes name all five citizens'-comment speakers and give a one-line summary of each, including the resident who never states his own name on the recording. That is what makes it possible to identify the speaker the dialogue file could only label "Unidentified public commenter," and to supply a surname for the speaker who gave only "Joseph" at the podium. The minutes were also approved and are posted in the district's public Drive share.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (minutes must name persons appearing before the body); Approved CSB meeting minutes 2.19.25.
Appendix — source files
Official and public sources
Packet documents (exact Drive names)
Project files (relative links work when this page is opened from Output/HTML/)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2 (definition of meeting; minutes, and the duty to name persons appearing); RSA 91-A:3 (nonpublic sessions: I(b) motion and roll call, II(a) and II(c) exemptions, III disclosure and sealing); RSA 91-A:4 (availability of governmental records)
- RSA 193-D:2 (safe school zones — cited only to note what it does not require)