Participants
Names, roles and roll follow the draft minutes for 11/19/25. Where the dialogue file's speaker label differs, the label is noted in parentheses. Segment counts are of the 1,220 rows in the dialogue file.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Heather Whitney | School Board Chair | Presided. Read the proclamation to the state-champion girls' soccer team; opened by apologising for late minutes and agendas; established that the paraprofessional posts under discussion are required by students' IEPs; put the intern salaries at $80,000 — "I would never have agreed to appropriate $80,000 for an intern" — and objected to contracts signed with a stamp. Voted against the truancy officer and was the single vote against policy JLP. 306 segments. |
| Michael Petrin | School Board Vice Chair | Moved the Home Depot donation; pressed on whether the truancy post is year-round, who it reports to and how its productivity would be measured; the most insistent opponent of the head-lice revision — "You're seriously putting that decision on an eight year old kid"; forced the AED policy back to committee by objecting to language limiting who may use one. 30 segments (rendered "Mr. Peterson"/"Mr. patron"/"Mr. Patron"). |
| Arlene Hawkins | School Board Member; Policy Subcommittee Chair | Moved the minutes out of the consent agenda — "Only because I haven't read them" — and asked that all three sets be deferred; questioned the interim superintendent programme by programme on which special-education posts are actually filled; moved the truancy officer, and refused a friendly amendment to the job description; carried the whole policy block. 202 segments. |
| Candace Crawford | School Board Member; Finance Subcommittee Chair | The meeting's line-by-line reader of the finance report: contracted special-education services $701,000 over against $145,000 left in special-education salaries, "almost $500,000" of difference on the more expensive option; Maple Avenue paraprofessionals $383,000 over from the Bluff transfer; substitutes underspent because none can be found. Seconded the truancy motion and voted for it; voted for the head-lice revision. 72 segments. |
| Frank Sprague | School Board Member | Reinstated to the board two weeks earlier. Asked whether the behavioural specialists ever got the RBT training promised them; asked where the pre-K money is; asked whether McKinney-Vento grant funding could cover the transportation the district is paying for; voted against the truancy officer while saying "I couldn't agree more with the necessity of this." 66 segments. |
| Loren Howard | School Board Member; Policy Subcommittee; NHSBA Delegate | Reported on the NHSBA Delegate Assembly — resolutions opposing state-mandated open enrolment and supporting a simple majority for building bonds. Seconded most of the policy motions; explained the policy committee's reliance on CDC guidance on head lice, then abstained on it. Asked that the memorial tree at the closed Bluff school be salvaged. 27 segments. |
| William "Bill" Madden | School Board Member | Absent — recorded absent in the minutes and answered as "not here" in the roll. Cited in his absence: the $90,000 transportation cost he had raised at the previous meeting. |
| Noelle Kronberg | School Board Clerk | Unavailable for the meeting — the chair noted the interim business administrator "has put on another ha[t]" and he called the roll. The draft minutes are nonetheless submitted over her name. The chair proposed compensating her for the extra work she is taking on, at 3:05:31. |
| Kerry Kennedy | Interim Superintendent, SAU 6; Principal, Claremont Middle School | Delivered the Ed 306 staffing review and, with the acting student services director, the programme-by-programme special-education staffing report; brought the truancy officer request. 192 segments (rendered "Carrie"/"Kari" in places). |
| Jessica MacLeod | Acting Director of Student Services | Supplied the numbers on every self-contained programme — how many students, how many one-to-one paraprofessionals prescribed, how many in post; explained the school psychology interns' agreements and the missing state identification numbers. 58 segments (labeled "Jessica McCloud" in the dialogue file; the minutes' spelling is used here). |
| Matt Angell | Senior Comptroller / Interim Business Administrator | Called the roll; gave the finance update — cash balance $307,000, loan repaid, deficit projection cut to $1.7 million; stopped the AED policy to run it past the district's insurer; offered a board member inquiry access to the HR system. 68 segments (rendered "Mr. Angel"). |
| Dr. Michael Herrington | Principal, Stevens High School | Presented the draft Program of Studies — career clusters, the move away from Carnegie units, civics to freshman year, at least nine free college credits for level-two CTE students; then spoke for the truancy post: "Without a truant officer … I can't do anything about truancy." 96 segments. |
| Michelle Herrington | Career and technical education (Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center) | Credited by two members with driving the career-pathways work; will ask Home Depot about flooring for the restaurant and medical-assistant rooms "to bring both up to industry standards." 8 segments (referred to as "Mrs. Herrington" and "Missus Harrington"). |
| Scott Maple | Former Community Attendance / Truancy Officer (position eliminated) | Gave the evidence the debate turned on: 98 students on his truancy list, 400 home visits in five months, 94 students returned to school "in one way or form," visits continued through the summer unpaid. 20 segments. |
| Mr. Chennette | School administrator | Spoke after the vote in support of the truancy post and of Maple, citing post-Covid attendance research. 2 segments (unidentified in the dialogue file; named in the minutes). |
| Noel Beauchaine | Student, Stevens High School | Came to the microphone unprompted to say the high school's college credits mean she can graduate college "a semester or year early." 3 segments (unidentified in the dialogue file; named in the minutes). |
| Don Lavalette | Citizens' comments — Ward 2 | Could not find board members' signed ethics forms online; read policy BCA paragraph ten back to the board and questioned the circumstances of Frank Sprague's reinstatement — "I just curious what changed"; asked about policy BAR board self-evaluation; noted the NHSBA flowchart on "what constitutes a meeting … just keep that in mind with email usage." Announced he will be a candidate in March. 6 segments (self-identification rendered "Donnell Ward two"; the minutes' spelling is used here). |
| Hope Damon | Citizens' comments — NH State Representative | Reported on the proposed loan fund for distressed districts and its amendment, and that of roughly 200 legislative service requests filed for the 2026 session, a large share touch school finance. 6 segments (rendered "Hope Daimon"). |
| Melissa Lewis | Citizens' comments — Ward 1; district educator | Thanked the PTOs for matching shirts for every elementary student and staff member and described the photographs taken at each elementary school "now uniting all three of our elementary schools." 6 segments (rendered "Melissa Louis"). |
Agenda
Items follow the agenda reproduced in the draft minutes. Dispositions are the minutes' record, checked against the recording.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:03 | I. Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance | "I would like to call to order the November 19th, 2025 meeting of the Claremont Scho[ol Board]." |
| 0:00:31 | II. Proclamation — Lady Cardinals | "Heather Whitney read a statement and proclamation from the School Board to the SHS girls' soccer team and presented them each with a rose and copy of the proclamation" (minutes). The proclamation recites the NHIAA Division championship and "grit, heart and unshakable belief"; a copy was sent to the high school to be posted. Eight and a half minutes, before the roll was called. |
| 0:08:58 | III. General Business — roll call | Called by the interim business administrator in the clerk's absence. Minutes: "Present: Michael Petrin, Candace Crawford, Arlene Hawkins, Loren Howard, Frank Sprague, Heather Whitney. Absent: William Madden." |
| 0:09:13 | III.a Consent Agenda (vote required) | Agenda, minutes for 9/17, 10/1 and 11/5, and the manifest. Hawkins moved the minutes out — "Only because I haven't read them … We got them very late and it's not a reflection on anyone because there have been many changes" — and the chair took them off by consent at 0:10:02: "Is there an objection from the board to remove the minutes and to move that to our next meeting for approval? … Seeing no objections." The manifest was left to the end of the meeting. |
| 0:10:24 | III.b Citizens Comments — per policy BEDH | Three speakers: Don Lavalette (Ward 2) on ethics forms, policy BCA and Sprague's reinstatement; Rep. Hope Damon on the proposed loan fund for distressed districts and the 2026 filings; Melissa Lewis (Ward 1) on the PTOs' matching shirts across the three elementary schools. |
| 0:17:37 | III.c Follow-Up Items | The chair's apology for late minutes and agendas; professional development for building administrators led by Luke Webster of Drummond Woodsum and consultant Tara Gear on behaviour matrices, civil rights and due process; the behavioural specialist posts at CMS and their budget impact; the grant manager posting; a Parent Information Center for families in the special-education process; and a note that the interim superintendent is "awaiting final approval as to what information can legally be presented" on compensation packages. |
| 0:25:07 | III.d Superintendent's Report | "Posting of staff at CMS past/current vs. industry and NH Ed. 306 minimum standard" from 0:27:43; student services staffing across Life Skills, Visions, Camp, Academy and Pride from 0:42:04; National Honor Society and National Art Honor Society inductees; the Superintendent's Advisory Council; HB765 on SAU structure and a bill on state receivership; free online tutoring; and Disnard and Maple Avenue recognised as "Schools in Good Standing," with Bluff — now closed — having been in the state's lowest 5%. |
| 0:57:53 | III.e Finance Update | Tuition rates for the middle and elementary schools, forgotten at the last meeting, deferred again by consent. Tax rate not yet set and "it's not from the school district." Auditors "have begun." Cash balance in the general ledger $307,000; the loan repaid; year-end deficit projection cut to $1.7 million; year-to-date available appropriation down $388,000 to $5.5 million; new costs of $151,000 transportation repairs, $90,000 special-education tuition, $34,000 heating pellets, $12,000 software and $5,300 of interest on the $4 million Claremont Savings Bank loan. |
| 1:14:56 | IV.1 SHS Program of Studies (Review / Possible Vote or Revision) — Dr. Michael Herrington | Draft presented for correction, with the vote set for the first meeting in December. Career clusters aligning coursework to careers; a half credit of logic and rhetoric added; civics moved to freshman year because of the graduation test; lab biology swapped into physical science; a move away from Carnegie units and seat time; level-two CTE programmes carrying at least nine free college credits. Hawkins on the proposed honour-roll change: 173 of 429 students would qualify, "almost 25%, which is commendable." |
| 1:41:53 | IV.2 SAS Scores Review: Academic Benchmarks (Report) | Deferred on the night — "in deference of time, because I know we got cut off the last [time]" — with a fuller presentation on results, the improvement plan and grant funding promised for the next meeting. |
| 1:43:19 | IV.3 Information on School Psychology Interns (Discussion / Possible vote on action) | No vote taken. The interns' state identification numbers had never been entered against the role of school psychologist — "just a clerical error" — and their intern agreements "was finalized today, and their intern authorization was delivered to us this afternoon." The board had not known the posts were filled by interns; counsel confirmed the contracted salaries must be honoured. Angell undertook to give the board lists of offers and acceptances. |
| 1:54:58 | IV.4 2025 NHSBA Annual Delegate Assembly (Report) — Loren Howard, CSB Delegate | About ten resolutions considered; Howard noted how unified the delegation was. Adopted this year: opposition to state-mandated open enrolment, and support for a simple majority rather than a supermajority for bonds for "improvements necessary to meet the requirements of the minimum standards for school facilities." Minutes and the resolution list are in the packet's shared folder. |
| 1:57:50 | IV.5 Truant Officer Hybrid Position (Discussion / Vote) | Hawkins moved "that we reinstate the position of true[ancy] officer as a hybrid position to include transportation under McKinney[-Vento]" at 2:19:38; Crawford seconded. Carried 4–2 on a voice vote at 2:26:29 — in favour Petrin, Hawkins, Crawford, Howard; opposed Sprague, Whitney (minutes). The chair's proposed friendly amendment to widen the job description was declined by the mover and the motion was voted as it stood. |
| 2:29:22 | IV.6 Acceptance of Donations — Home Depot Flooring (Discussion / Vote) | Petrin moved "to accept the donation from Home Depot of flooring supplies and the labor to install the floor[ing]" at 2:32:02, Whitney seconded; carried unanimously at 2:32:51. The quote alone is under $2,500; with labour it exceeds $2,500 but stays under $20,000, which is why board approval was required. |
| 2:33:05 | IV.7 Subcommittee Reports | Finance (Crawford): one meeting held, minutes on the website, two more on December 10 and 12 at 9:00 a.m., broadcast on CCTV, to go over the current budget in preparation for next year's. Policy (Hawkins) from 2:34:20: nine policies on first read, four pulled out for separate votes. Ad Hoc Superintendent & Business Administrator Search: no report. |
| 3:05:31 | V. Other Business | Compensation for the clerk's expanded duties, to be discussed next meeting; student representatives to the board, appointed by the high school principal; a metal-detector policy discussion to come; Howard's request for a Bluff building update and for the memorial tree there to be salvaged; a public hearing needed to receive about $134,000 in trust funds; and a flat refusal on requests to use Bluff for sports practices — "Absolutely not. It is a hard no. … We are we are looking to drain the fire suppression system." |
| 8:25 p.m. | VI. Future Dates / VII. Adjournment | Next meetings 12/3/2025 and 12/17/2025. "Consent adjournment" (minutes); the recording ends at 3:10:02 with thanks from the chair. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological topics with the moment each is taken up. Timestamps link to the same moment in the Cablecast recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:09:36 |
Three sets of minutes come off the consent agenda |
Hawkins: "I move that we move the approval of the minutes out of the consent agenda. Only because I haven't read them." Asked whether to abstain instead, she added at 0:09:54: "We got them very late and it's not a reflection on anyone because there have been many changes, but I haven't had a chance to read them." All three sets — 9/17, 10/1 and 11/5 — went to the next meeting by consent. |
HIGH |
| 0:10:40 |
Citizens' comments: ethics forms and a reinstatement |
Lavalette could not find the board's signed ethics forms online and read policy BCA back to the board — members "will take no private action that will compromise the board" — then: "the last meeting it was mentioned that there were extraordinary circumstances surrounding Frank[.] as a former supporter of Frank, I'm wondering why that account is so different. In the article that was posted, says he declared he could no longer work with the architects of this disaster … I just curious what changed." He closed by announcing his own candidacy in March. No board member responded. |
|
| 0:18:04 |
The chair's apology on minutes and agendas |
"And just for the community to know that we did have some real issues with getting our meetings together. We've been stumbling along, trying to get our agendas posted in a timely manner. And we do apologize if items are not posted as they should. We did lose our clerk to maternity leave, and we also miss Chelsea Weatherford, who normally does all of the board related activities … We don't have access to the web. So the board is kind of at the mercy of people who do this great work for us." |
HIGH |
| 0:22:42 |
Behavioural specialists: training promised, not delivered |
Sprague asked what certification the two behavioural specialists at CMS hold. MacLeod: they hold Safety Care training, "a training … where there is mandate for us to have the training [in] de-escalation." Sprague at 0:24:18: "when Ben was here, he had promised that people would receive the training" — the RBT credential. The posts are ESSER-funded, the union is being consulted on where they sit, and the chair flagged them as a budget-season question. |
|
| 0:27:43 |
The middle school against the state minimum standards |
"with Ed three [306] and policy 306 for the New Hampshire standards, there's a list of folks that are required by the state to have in school districts … So one of them is arts and covers music. So we had a music teacher at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, that person has resigned." Health and wellness: "we had one. Unfortunately that was one of the staff members that was riffed [RIF'd]. And unfortunately that is legally required for the state. And so it's been posted for a while. We've had a substitute in there." Computer science "is something that we will need to look for to meet" the standard. World languages are optional and not offered. |
MEDIUM |
| 0:30:17 |
Counsellors, and no nurse |
"We had one per grade level. This year we have one and a half for the three grade levels" — the minutes give the ratio as one counsellor per 300 students against a middle-school population of 331. On the nurse at 0:30:57: "that is unfortunately impacting other roles because other folks are having to assume the nurse responsibilities … We were hoping to have somebody full time in January[; that] first candidate is unfortunately, due to conflicts within their own family life, has not been able to fulfill that." Whitney at 0:39:18: "one of the struggles with getting the nurse position is that they're in the CBA agreement. So for a registered nurse right now, the salary is 70 to 80,000" — capped, Kennedy added, at "a top step teacher." |
MEDIUM |
| 0:38:02 |
"Even though on paper there may look like there's some supports" |
Hawkins had put to the superintendent the rumour that a 40% staff reduction had left needs met with fewer people. Kennedy at 0:36:26: "the eighth graders started off already a little bit behind without having a special educator"; the Academic Resource Center went from two staff to one; "we're looking for paraprofessionals. I put signs out today at the [SAU] office." Then: "even though on paper there may look like there's some supports, it's still lacking in the day to day." Whitney established the point at 0:41:50: "And the paraprofessionals. Are they required by their IEP there? Yes they are." |
HIGH |
| 0:42:04 |
Every special-education programme, counted out loud |
Pride, moved from the closed Bluff school to Maple Avenue: one teacher, two paraprofessionals with one post still open, six of a maximum twelve students, all staff required to be Safety Care trained. Camp at CMS: six students, no paraprofessional and, on Hawkins's questioning at 0:47:18, no special educator — "we don't have a special educator there as of right now," with "somebody doing specialized services" instead, although MacLeod stated a self-contained programme "has to have a special educator because of that population." Academy, a hybrid programme at the high school with about twenty students across two sessions: two paraprofessionals, both leaving, one candidate identified. |
HIGH |
| 0:47:56 |
Early Education and Visions: the one-to-one gaps |
The K–1 self-contained room: "There's five pairs [paras] and those are 1 to 1" against six needed — "understand that these students are … medically" complex. The grades 2–3 self-contained room: eight students, "seven paras, seven. One to ones right now. And so we are one short," with a board-certified behaviour analyst supporting and no general educator because the programme is self-contained. Visions, grades four and five, at 0:51:24: the in-person special educator post "is still not filled, but tentatively. Could be very soon," and of the paraprofessionals, "Seven pairs. Four are filled" — "that room has the most challenges in terms of staff that we're missing … for one to ones I believe we're missing three." |
HIGH |
| 0:57:53 |
Tuition rates forgotten; tax rate unset; auditors begun |
"at the last meeting, I asked the school board to approve tuition rates. And I forgot to ask you for middle school and the elementary school. I've actually had a school ask us what next year's rates are going to be." Deferred again, without objection. Then at 0:58:47: "the tax rate has not yet been set. The DRA is looking for some information and it's not from the school district" — restated for the record by Crawford — and at 0:59:15: "The auditors have begun. And actually, Candice walked into my office and she heard me speaking to an auditor." |
OBSERVATION |
| 0:59:48 |
$307,000 in the general ledger |
"our cash balance in the general ledger as of today is $307,000." The loan has been repaid and can be drawn on again for a payroll of about $1 million; the year-end deficit projection is cut to $1.7 million "because we're not able to hire people into these contracted services fast enough"; year-to-date available appropriation is down $388,000 to $5.5 million, "a majority of it's going to be used to reduce the deficit." |
POSITIVE |
| 1:03:04 |
Crawford reads the budget line by line |
"we actually got a month to date actual to budget report, which I appreciate … I think I can rely on the numbers to be accurate." Then the findings: Bluff still carried as an open school in the budget because staff have not been moved in the software; special-education salaries with $145,000 left against contracted services at minus $701,000 — "almost $500,000, and it's more costly to use contracted services. Am I understanding that correctly?" Angell: "Yes." Maple Avenue special-education paraprofessionals $383,000 over from the Bluff transfer; "middle and high school is over funded" on electricity while facilities says its budget is underfunded — "We need to do a deeper dive in how these allocations are done." |
POSITIVE |
| 1:43:37 |
The interns: numbers never entered, agreements signed that day |
MacLeod: "the school psych interns, we as a district, had not, taken their educational identification numbers and entered them into the role of school psychologist. So that was just a clerical error." The internship agreements had been signed in August; the state authorisation "was finalized today, and their intern authorization was delivered to us this afternoon." Whitney at 1:44:36: "we had not been aware that these positions had been filled, by interns. And so there was concerns on the salary amount … Sarah Freeman, who is the district attorney … has confirmed that we are obligated to maintain the salaries as signed by the agreement." A health benefit is being offered that is not in the contract. |
MEDIUM |
| 1:50:50 |
"$80,000 is a no go for me" |
Whitney: "my understanding is that I think the internships were $80,000 is a no go for me. And when I did contact, the one … school district that did have an intern last year, which was Lebanon, they were paid as a first year teacher because they were already a teacher." Then the wider point: "we've discovered that there have been many positions in the past budget and this situation where the board was not aware that we were hiring individuals that were outside of what was being posted or what was in our budget as being approved with appropriations. So I would never have agreed to appropriate $80,000 for an intern." And on the contracts themselves: "a lot of these contracts had a rubber stamp, that the signature was a stamp … to me is obscene." Kennedy: "I don't have a rubber stamp and I'm [signing] everything." |
MEDIUM |
| 2:01:15 |
$90,000 a year to transport one student |
Angell, on why the truancy post is drawn as a hybrid: "Right now we're paying … $90,000 a year to pick up a homeless student … we are splitting the cost, but that would alleviate some of that need." Sprague at 2:03:28: "Doesn[']t McKinney Vento pick up the transportation cost?" Angell: "[McKinney-]Vento requires us to go and pick them up." Kennedy: "There was some funding through some McKinney Vento grants." Angell: "we don't have any right now. … We don't have a grant writer." Sprague: "I don't want to pay for something that a grant will pay for." |
OBSERVATION |
| 2:06:25 |
The former attendance officer's numbers |
"When I started that position back in March, March throughout until my position was done away with, I made 400 home visits. I had almost 100 students on my truancy list … out of the 400 home visits and 98 students that I had, 94 of them returned to school at in one way or form." On cause: children "made to work from home" during Covid "missed out on social interaction. And when they came back to school, they found that the environment had changed … these kids were afraid to come to school." He continued the visits through the summer. The high school principal at 2:15:27: "Without a truant officer … I can't do anything about truancy," and described a student returning after two years out of school. |
POSITIVE |
| 2:19:38 |
Truancy officer reinstated, 4–2 |
Hawkins moved reinstatement "as a hybrid position to include transportation under McKinney[-Vento]"; Crawford seconded. Hawkins in discussion: "policy J H indicates that truancy issues will be … responsib[ility of]" the principal or the truancy officer, so all of it currently falls on principals. Sprague, opposed: "I couldn't agree more with the necessity of this … [but] It's going to fix little, I'm afraid." Petrin pressed on year-round work, reporting line and accountability. The chair asked for a friendly amendment widening the job description; Hawkins declined — "the answer is no" — and the motion was put as it stood at 2:26:29. In favour Petrin, Hawkins, Crawford, Howard; opposed Sprague, Whitney. |
POSITIVE OBSERVATION |
| 2:41:42 |
Five policies adopted together on first read |
"I move that we have we adopt after first read policies. Each f a I'm BADAFBBCA and KFA [EFA, IMBA, DAFB, BCA and KFA]" Seconded by Howard; carried unanimously at 2:42:04. Four had been pulled out for separate votes at the chair's and vice chair's request. Hawkins had opened the block at 2:34:20 with: "I hope you had a chance to read through the policies. They were last minute because of the transition." |
HIGH |
| 2:42:17 |
Head lice: the nurses' revision defeated 2–3 |
JLCC would have changed the day-of-diagnosis rule from students "will not remain in class" to "may" remain for the rest of the day, per CDC guidance and at the nurses' request. Petrin: "You're seriously putting that decision on an eight year old kid, whether they want to stay in[?]" Whitney gave the history — a former member "ran for the board because of this policy because there was rampant lice and families were upset that they had to continually treat their child … It was a collective punishment." Voted at 2:49:57: in favour Hawkins and Crawford; opposed Petrin, Sprague, Whitney; Howard abstaining. "One abstention. Policy [remains] as is." |
OBSERVATION |
| 2:50:24 |
Parental notification adopted 5–1 |
JLP, a new policy responding to a recent RSA, requires notification of parents unless a child may be subject to abuse or neglect. Whitney, the sole vote against: "if you are concerned that a child is going to be ab[used] … I think it's a slippery slope," and she pressed why mandated reporters would not simply report. Hawkins: "It doesn't say you don't do that … it just says you don't put a child in danger," and the policy "authorizes you, miss interim superintendent, to adopt procedures." Sprague: "I think we just have to trust our personnel on this one." Adopted at 2:56:26, Whitney opposed. |
|
| 2:56:36 |
AED policy withdrawn to ask the insurer first |
Petrin objected that KFD limits AED use to designated employees: "I think the a[E]d should be approved to be used by anybody if I'm on the ground. I don't care who's going to sa[ve me]." Sprague, the former high school principal, wanted it qualified — "he thinks of the kid who takes that off the wall." Angell at 2:58:40: "If you're thinking about removing it. Can I run it by Prime[x], our insurance company? … I don't want to go down a road and then have to back up." Hawkins withdrew the motion at 2:59:09. |
POSITIVE |
| 2:59:15 |
What a board member may say in public — and when four of them make a quorum |
On policy BBAA, Whitney asked how a member may speak outside meetings on matters within the board's remit. Hawkins: "As long as you indicate you're not speaking on behalf of the board … That's a First Amendment right that you have." Sprague gave a live example from Facebook that evening. Whitney raised the recurring problem: "there have been concerns in the past regarding having a quorum when responding to online posts," and Hawkins: "If you're sitting anywhere and you have four people together, it's a quorum." Petrin: "the quorum issue is separate from the policy." Sent back for a second read and to counsel at 3:04:04. |
POSITIVE |
Items flagged for review
These are a reviewer's aid, not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each rule-based flag names the provision it rests on and links to the primary source; where no verified rule applies, the item is labelled an observation. Verify against the recording and the primary sources before relying on any of it.
HIGH Draft minutes for three meetings reached the public weeks after the five-business-day deadline, and the chair said so on the record
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be "promptly recorded and open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting." The important distinction — and the one the discussion at this meeting blurs — is that the statute governs availability, not approval. A board may take months to approve minutes without breaching anything, provided the draft was open to inspection within five business days. So the deferral itself is not the problem: Hawkins moved the 9/17, 10/1 and 11/5 minutes out of the consent agenda at 0:09:36 — "Only because I haven't read them" — and the board consented to carry them forward, which is ordinary practice.
What does engage the statute is when those drafts first became available. Taking the district's own public Drive shares and the creation timestamps Drive records for each file (read 2026-08-23): the earliest posted draft of the 9/17/25 minutes was created on 3 November 2025, about six weeks after the five-business-day deadline of roughly 24 September; the earliest posted draft of the 10/1/25 minutes was created on 13 November 2025, roughly five weeks past a deadline of about 8 October; and the draft of the 10/15/25 minutes was created on 26 November 2025, again about five weeks late. The 11/5/25 draft, by contrast, was created on 13 November — inside the window — so the pattern is a backlog being worked off, not a blanket failure. The chair described the cause herself at 0:18:04: "we did have some real issues with getting our meetings together. We've been stumbling along, trying to get our agendas posted in a timely manner. And we do apologize if items are not posted as they should," attributing it to the clerk's maternity leave and the reassignment of the staff member who handles board work, and adding that board members themselves have no access to publish to the web. Hawkins made the same point about the policy documents at 2:34:20: "They were last minute because of the transition." Two qualifications are owed. First, a Drive creation timestamp shows when a document entered that share, not when minutes first existed or first became available for inspection at the SAU office, which is what the statute actually requires; the district may have held inspectable drafts earlier. Second, the reason given is a staffing failure, not concealment, and the board apologised in public for it without being asked. Graded HIGH because the deadline is explicit, the gap is measured in weeks across three consecutive meetings, and the body's own chair described the availability of minutes and agendas as a problem she was apologising for.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (minutes promptly recorded and open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting); RSA 91-A:4 (access to governmental records); draft minutes as posted — draft CSB meeting minutes 9.17.25.docx.pdf, draft CSB Meeting Minutes 10.1.25.docx.pdf, draft CSB meeting minutes 11.5.25.pdf, and the earlier 08. draft CSB meeting minutes 9.17.25.pdf; 11.19.25 DRAFT CSB Minutes.
HIGH Special-education programmes are running below the one-to-one support the district says students' IEPs prescribe
This is the most consequential material on the page, and it comes from the district's own administrators, unprompted by any board question about compliance. Asked directly at 0:41:50 whether the missing paraprofessionals are "required by their IEP," the answer was "Yes they are." Programme by programme, on the record and in the minutes: the Visions programme for grades four and five needs seven one-to-one paraprofessionals and has four — "that room has the most challenges in terms of staff that we're missing … for one to ones I believe we're missing three" — and its in-person special educator post "is still not filled." The grades 2–3 self-contained room has eight students and seven of the eight one-to-one paraprofessionals prescribed, "and so we are one short." The K–1 room has five of six, for students described as medically complex. Camp at the middle school has no paraprofessional and, on Hawkins's questioning at 0:47:18, no special educator — someone is "doing specialized services" instead, although the acting director stated that a self-contained programme "has to have a special educator because of that population" and that where a paraprofessional is absent "there should be [one] because you have to have a par[a]." Academy at the high school has two paraprofessionals, both leaving, with one candidate identified. Pride, displaced from the closed Bluff school to Maple Avenue, has one post open. Alongside this the finance report shows the mechanism: contracted special-education services running $701,000 over while $145,000 of special-education salary budget sits unspent, because, as Crawford put it and Angell confirmed, "we haven't been able to hire staff and we've had to use contracted services that are more expensive."
New Hampshire's special-education chapter, RSA ch. 186-C, places the duty to provide special education and related services to eligible children on the school district. A shortfall against the one-to-one support an IEP prescribes goes to the substance of that duty, not to process. Two limits on this flag must be stated plainly. First, the anchor is cited at chapter level: this page does not name the operative section, and does not cite the federal special-education statute or its regulations, which are not on this project's verified list — so what is established is that a duty of this kind exists in New Hampshire law, not the precise provision breached. Second, the record establishes vacancies against prescribed supports at a moment in time; it does not establish that any individual student went without services, and the administration described active recruitment, a board-certified behaviour analyst supporting one room, specialised instruction being pushed in where a post is empty, and a Parent Information Center being set up for families in the process. Graded HIGH nonetheless, because the district's own officers stated on the record that supports prescribed by IEPs are not staffed, across five programmes at once.
Sources: RSA ch. 186-C (special education — chapter page; the chapter opens at RSA 186-C:1 with the state policy of a free appropriate public education for children with disabilities). The chapter is cited at chapter level and no operative section is asserted; 11.19.25 DRAFT CSB Minutes, "Student Services Staffing: Life Skills, Visions, Camp, Academy, Pride"; recording from 0:42:04 to 0:52:13. Federal special-education law is deliberately not cited: it is not among this project's verified anchors.
MEDIUM Required subjects at the middle school are unstaffed against the state's minimum standards
The interim superintendent walked the board through Claremont Middle School against the New Hampshire minimum standards for school approval from 0:27:43, and the gaps are her own account, not an outside finding. Arts including music: the music teacher resigned, the post is posted and vacant, with a substitute in place. Health and wellness education: the teacher was RIF'd — "unfortunately that is legally required for the state. And so it's been posted for a while. We've had a substitute in there" — and, she added at 0:41:50, "that sub isn't necessarily a certified teacher." Computer science "is something that we will need to look for to meet" the standard. Beyond the named subjects: no school nurse, with other staff absorbing the duties and the post constrained because, as the minutes put it, "it is part of the CBA and limited to a teacher's salary (nurse pay is higher than teacher pay)"; counselling reduced from one counsellor per grade to 1.5 across three grades, against a stated benchmark of one per 300 students in a school of 331; and teachers covering multiple curricula after the reductions. The chair's summary question at the end — how many open positions are needed to meet the standard — produced the answer that they are paraprofessional posts required by IEPs plus computer science and digital literacy.
Ed 306 is a binding administrative rule, not guidance, and one of the vacancies is described by the district's own superintendent as legally required. This is graded MEDIUM rather than HIGH for a reason worth stating: this page cites Ed 306 at the part level only and does not name a subsection, so it cannot show which specific requirement is unmet or on what timetable; the minimum standards contemplate schools working toward compliance, and every post named here is posted and being recruited for. A reader wanting the operative text should start from the part page linked below and from the copy of the standard the district itself put in the packet.
Sources: N.H. Code Admin. R. Ed 306 (minimum standards for public school approval — part page; no subsection is asserted); ed-306.22-2026-standard-regulation.pdf, the copy of the standard in the meeting packet; 11.19.25 DRAFT CSB Minutes. The nurse-salary constraint is a collective bargaining agreement term; RSA ch. 273-A is the governing chapter for public employee labor relations, cited at chapter level only.
MEDIUM Two school psychology posts were filled by interns without the board's knowledge, outside the appropriated budget, and unrecorded in the state's educator data until the day of the meeting
Three separate failures surfaced in one item. First, the appointments: the chair said at 1:44:36 that "we had not been aware that these positions had been filled, by interns," and at 1:51:44 that "I would never have agreed to appropriate $80,000 for an intern," generalising it to "many positions in the past budget and this situation where the board was not aware that we were hiring individuals that were outside of what was being posted or what was in our budget as being approved with appropriations." RSA 189:39 places nomination with the superintendent and election with the school board; a board that learns after the fact that two professional posts were filled, and at what price, has not performed that function, whatever the merits of the appointees. Second, the state record: the interns' educator identification numbers "had not [been] taken … and entered … into the role of school psychologist," a clerical error corrected only in the days before this meeting, with the intern authorisation "delivered to us this afternoon." RSA 189:28 requires the statistical reports the department prescribes and provides that aid may be withheld "until such time as complete and accurate information has been submitted"; staff recorded in the wrong role, or not at all, is exactly the kind of inaccuracy that provision addresses. Third, the paperwork: the chair objected that "a lot of these contracts had a rubber stamp, that the signature was a stamp." The interim superintendent answered that she does not use one and signs everything.
The mitigations are real and were offered in the same discussion. Counsel — Sarah Freeman, named by the chair as the district's attorney — confirmed the district must honour the contracted salaries, so the board did not attempt to unwind them. The chair had independently checked with Plymouth State and the state department that supervised interns may provide the required services. Angell undertook to give the board standing lists of offers and letters of employment, a staffing map, and, if it wants, inquiry access to the HR system for one member; the interim superintendent described new checks in the HR department. This is graded MEDIUM rather than HIGH because whether a school psychology intern is a "teacher" within RSA 189:39 is not settled on this record, and because no missed filing or withheld aid under RSA 189:28 is established here — only an inaccuracy the district identified and corrected itself.
Sources: RSA 189:39 (superintendents nominate and school boards elect all teachers); RSA 189:28 (statistical reports to the department; aid withheld until complete and accurate information is submitted); 11.19.25 DRAFT CSB Minutes, "Information on School Psychology Interns," which links the contracts.
OBSERVATION The district owes McKinney-Vento transportation, is paying $90,000 a year for it, and has no grant and no grant writer
42 U.S.C. §11432(g)(1)(J)(iii) requires a state's plan to provide that a homeless child is transported to and from the school of origin at a parent's or guardian's request, with the local educational agency responsible for the cost where the child remains in its area. That duty does not depend on funding, and the exchange at 2:03:28 is the district saying so out loud: asked by Sprague whether "McKinney Vento pick[s] up the transportation cost," Angell answered "[McKinney-]Vento requires us to go and pick them up." Kennedy noted there had been "funding through some McKinney Vento grants"; Angell: "we don't have any right now. … We don't have a grant writer." The current arrangement is a contracted pick-up at about $90,000 a year for one student, cost-shared with another district. Sprague's objection — "I don't want to pay for something that a grant will pay for" — went unresolved beyond Angell putting it "down on my list," and the grants manager post is, per the follow-up items, still only posted internally with one potential candidate. Nothing here is a breach: the district is meeting the transportation obligation, expensively. It is recorded as an observation because the sequence — statutory duty, no grant capacity to defray it, and a position created partly to absorb the cost — is a funding gap the board should be able to see in one place, and because the reinstated post's contribution to it was asserted rather than costed.
Sources: 42 U.S.C. §11432(g)(1)(J)(iii) (McKinney-Vento transportation to the school of origin); 11.19.25 DRAFT CSB Minutes, "Truant Officer Hybrid Position." The $90,000 figure is Angell's statement on the record; no supporting document is in the packet.
OBSERVATION Tuition rates half-set, a tax rate not set, and audits only just begun
Three loose ends in the finance update, none of which this page can tie to a rule the district has broken. On tuition, Angell told the board at 0:57:53 that he had brought the high school rates to the previous meeting and "forgot to ask you for middle school and the elementary school," and that another district had already asked what next year's rates would be; the item was deferred again by consent so he could do more research. On the tax rate: "the tax rate has not yet been set. The DRA is looking for some information and it's not from the school district" — restated for emphasis by Crawford, "it's not [the] school district['s] fault. They have all the data." On the audits, the whole of the report is "The auditors have begun," with a personnel map for payroll in progress; the minutes render it "Mr. Angell still meeting with auditors."
Why each is an observation and not a finding. RSA 21-J:34, V requires the school district financial report to reach the Department of Revenue Administration by September 1, and RSA 21-J:19 provides for audit by independent public accountants — but nothing in this record says whether the district's own September 1 filing was made, and the only statement about the delay attributes it to information the state is seeking from someone other than the district. On the wider record for this quarter the FY2022 audit was still in draft in October 2025, so "the auditors have begun" in late November is consistent with a serious backlog; this meeting does not establish which years remain open. On tuition, no verified provision on this project's list fixes a date by which a district must set its non-resident tuition rates. The reader should treat all three as threads to pull rather than as violations.
Sources: RSA 21-J:34, V (school district financial report due to DRA by September 1); RSA 21-J:19 (audits by independent public accountants). Neither is applied as a finding here; no verified rule was identified for the tuition-rate timing.
OBSERVATION A policy the district's nurses asked for, following CDC guidance, was defeated on the board's own recollection of a past controversy
Policy JLCC would have changed the head-lice rule from students "will not remain in class" on the day of diagnosis to "may" remain for the rest of the day. The policy subcommittee brought it because, in Hawkins's account, "the nurses are in favor of the CDC guidelines … they're the ones who brought it to our attention," and in Howard's, the committee "opted to follow the CDC guidance" and weighed "interrupting the schooling." Petrin's objection was about who decides — "You're seriously putting that decision on an eight year old kid, whether they want to stay in[?]" — and the chair supplied the history at 2:46:31: a former member "ran for the board because of this policy because there was rampant lice and families were upset that they had to continually treat their child," so the board had then departed from the same CDC guidance, treating exclusion as protection for the other families. Defeated at 2:49:57 two in favour (Hawkins, Crawford), three against (Petrin, Sprague, Whitney), Howard abstaining — a six-member board with one absent, so the revision fell on a plurality of those voting. Hawkins had noted the revision retains a provision for chronic cases, under which a student is removed. No verified rule requires a district's exclusion policy to follow CDC guidance, and a board is entitled to weigh its community's experience against it; this is recorded because the professional advice on the record ran one way, the vote ran the other, and the existing policy therefore stands unchanged and unreviewed.
Sources: 11.19.25 DRAFT CSB Minutes, which record the vote by name; First Read Policies — the packet's shared folder holding JLCC and the rest. No verified rule was identified; graded an observation.
POSITIVE The truancy decision was made in public, on evidence, by a board that split and recorded who split
Sprague set the standard early: "I would find the argument far more compelling if we saw data that showed the efficacy of this as an [intervention] … Why should I vote for this?" What followed is what a board hearing ought to look like. The former post-holder gave his own figures at 2:06:25 — 98 students on the list, 400 home visits in five months, 94 returned to school "in one way or form," visits continued unpaid through the summer. The acting student services director gave the special-education angle: "he's able to get paperwork that I can't get when parents are not reachable," and "He has made gains with this student that I have not been able to do." The high school principal gave the operational reality: without the post "I can't do anything about truancy," and described a student back in school after two years out. Petrin pressed the accountability questions — year-round work, reporting line, productivity over the summer — and got answers. The chair asked for the job description to be widened as a friendly amendment; the mover declined, and rather than pressing it the chair put the motion as it stood and voted against it. The minutes then record each member's position on a 4–2 split. The board also did the thing that makes such a debate honest: it separated the person from the post, with the chair stating at 2:29:04 that "we've heard nothing about anything negative about your work ethic."
Sources: 11.19.25 DRAFT CSB Minutes (vote recorded by name); 42 U.S.C. §11432(g)(1)(J)(iii), the transportation duty folded into the post; RSA 91-A:2, II (minutes record final decisions), which the recorded tally satisfies.
POSITIVE A monthly actual-to-budget report, read out loud, in a district that had not been getting one
No statute compels a school board to receive a month-to-date actual-against-budget report, which is what makes this worth recording in a district whose books were being rebuilt after its business administrator was dismissed. Crawford opened her questions at 1:03:04 by telling the public what had changed: "we actually got a month to date actual to budget report, which I appreciate … I think I can rely on the numbers to be accurate." She then used it in public, item by item, and got answers or an admission that none was ready: Bluff still carried as an open school because staff have not been moved in the software, "a data problem … that is being corrected"; special-education contracted services $701,000 over against $145,000 of unspent salary, the more expensive option being forced by unfilled posts; Maple Avenue paraprofessionals $383,000 over because some Bluff staff transferred and some did not, with budget adjustments still to come to the board; electricity over-funded at the middle and high schools while facilities says it is short — "We need to do a deeper dive in how these allocations are done." Sprague's questions on athletics stipends and the missing pre-K line got the same treatment, including a plain "I don't have the capacity for that. Right." and a commitment to a full pre-K report. The hard numbers were stated rather than summarised: cash in the general ledger $307,000, the loan repaid, the deficit projection cut to $1.7 million, available appropriation down $388,000 to $5.5 million, and the new costs itemised down to $5,300 of loan interest.
Sources: recording from 0:57:53 to 1:14:56; 11.19.25 DRAFT CSB Minutes, "Finance Update." No statute requires monthly reporting of this kind, which is the point of recording it as a positive.
POSITIVE Two policies were stopped short of adoption to check with the insurer and with counsel
Nine policies came to the board on first read and five were adopted as a block. The two that were not adopted are the better indicator. On KFD, use and location of AEDs, Petrin objected that the draft confines use to designated employees; Hawkins offered floor language opening it to anyone and Sprague suggested qualifying it — and at that point Angell stopped the drafting at 2:58:40: "If you're thinking about removing it. Can I run it by Prime[x], our insurance company? … I don't want to go down a road and then have to back up." Hawkins withdrew her own motion and sent it back to the policy committee. On BBAA, board member authority, the discussion turned into a genuine open-meeting question — whether a member commenting online in a personal capacity is speaking for the board, and Whitney's recollection that "there have been concerns in the past regarding having a quorum when responding to online posts" — and rather than adopt language nobody was sure of, the board sent it for a second read and to legal counsel. Withdrawing a motion you have moved, in front of the public, because someone has raised a risk you had not considered, is a small thing that boards under pressure routinely fail to do. It also puts the AED language where the liability question can be answered before, rather than after, the policy is in the manual.
Sources: recording at 2:56:36 (KFD) and 2:59:15 (BBAA); 11.19.25 DRAFT CSB Minutes, "Policy Subcommittee." Consultation with legal counsel is outside the definition of a "meeting" under RSA 91-A:2, I, so referring the policy to counsel raises no notice question of its own. The minutes record no motion on BBAA; the recording carries the mover withdrawing one at 3:04:19.
Appendix — source files
Official and public sources
- Recording: Claremont Community TV, Cablecast show 16982 — "Claremont School Board 11/19/26" (3:10:02). The gallery title is reproduced exactly; its year is wrong, and the show's own
eventDate, the packet folder and the minutes all give November 19, 2025.
- Packet folder: 12. CSB 11.19.25 — 8 items, two of them subfolders
- CSB Agenda 11.19.25 (2).pdf
- Subfolders: First Read Policies — the nine policies taken up under the policy subcommittee report; NH School Board Association Delegate Assembly — the assembly minutes and resolution list behind Howard's report
- H3408-156560 Quote (1).pdf — the Home Depot flooring quote; the minutes link a second copy of the same quote
- ed-306.22-2026-standard-regulation.pdf — the copy of the state standard the district put in the packet for the CMS staffing review; the minutes link a second copy
- The three sets of draft minutes deferred at this meeting, all filed in this packet folder: draft CSB meeting minutes 9.17.25.docx.pdf, draft CSB Meeting Minutes 10.1.25.docx.pdf and draft CSB meeting minutes 11.5.25.pdf the ".docx.pdf" double extensions are the district's
- Documents linked from the minutes but not in the packet folder: the CMS staffing comparison, the student services staffing sheet, the SHS Program of Studies, the intern contracts, the Truancy Officer Job Description and the National Honor Society inductee list
- Minutes: 11.19.25 DRAFT CSB Minutes — draft only; no approved version of these minutes has been located in the district's Meeting Minutes share (2025 and 2026 year folders checked 2026-08-23).
- Companion meetings on this site: October 1, 2025 and October 15, 2025, whose minutes are part of the backlog described in flag 1; November 5, 2025, the meeting at which Sprague was reinstated and the $90,000 transportation cost first raised; and SAU 6, November 13, 2025, six days earlier.
Project files
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Laws and rules cited on this page