The Sandown Board of Selectmen released this legal letter of opinion which discusses the ability of the town’s governing body to form a “minority committee” to explore withdrawal from the Timberlane Regional School District. The letter dates from April and clearly expresses the opinion that the town does have the authority to establish a minority committee.
I believe the Board of Selectmen made a mistake in disbanding the committee. From my perspective, it looked like the people petitioning for this hoped that by disbanding the minority committee that the district’s committee would immediately find withdrawal not feasible and put an end to the whole enterprise. Instead, the district’s committee says it is going ahead with a withdrawal plan.
timberlaneandsandown 
Donna,
I’m sorry I didn’t think to send you the email with the attachment especially as I didn’t have time to post it when I got it. Tuesday was a hectic day — and evening.
As I said on FB the opinion is an ambiguous interpretation of an unclear law. In particular it seems to make the mistake commonly made by selectmen around the state, that the word “town” in an RSA means “selectmen”.
The selectmen were right to disband the committee. Any committee can submit a purported minority report to the state BOE but the state BOE is only authorized to act on a report submitted by the minority members of the statutory study committee.
No need to apologize. I’m grateful for the information you share and your application of considerable brain power to the issues, though we may differ in ultimate opinions. Cheers.