BY TIMOTHY LAROCHE
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CLAREMONT — More than a week after voters braved a snowstorm for the Claremont School Board election, several new faces filled the Goodrich Community Room at the Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center.
Four new members were sworn in to the Claremont School Board on Wednesday during the board’s annual reorganization meeting. Chair Frank Sprague and Vice Chair Rebecca Zullo were both appointed to retain their roles as board officers, with both motions passing unanimously.
Sprague and Zullo have served as board officers since the Jan. 31 meeting, when then-Vice Chair Chris Irish motioned that he and then-Chair Brian Rapp should step down from their board roles amid growing tensions.
Zullo and school board newcomers Jason Benware and Steven Horsky were sworn in to three-year seats, while newcomer Carolyn Towle was sworn in for a single-year term.
Sprague offered his thanks to former board members Rapp, Irish and Alex Herzog, all of whom “served diligently.” He also thanked voters for turning out despite the weather and all candidates for running.
With several new faces on the board, Superintendent Middleton McGoodwin briefed newcomers on operation policies, rules of order and open meeting laws. Additionally, he outlined his hope for board members to continue implementing the strategic action plan developed by former board members in August 2017.
“The hope is that every time there is a turnover on the board, the plan doesn’t start over,” McGoodwin said.
The entire board will attend professional development training to learn about the roles and responsibilities of school board members on April 18. New Hampshire School Board Association Staff Attorney William Phillips will host the training.
The swearing in came more than a week after voters approved a $34,920,410 operating budget and several warrant articles appropriating money school bus replacements, roof replacements and security upgrades.
The now-approved budget is $22,000 less than the 2017 budget, resulting in a 3 cent decrease to the tax rate and cuts to several teaching positions.
Board members said during the budget development process that the budget was a “compromise” between school district administrators and the school board.
“It was a very hard process, but everything passed,” Sprague said in reference to the at-times contentious budget development process.
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