The letter immediately below was not included in the school board’s correspondence folder at the Sept. 15th meeting. Devoted readers might recall that my disagreement with Ms. Belcher back in 2014 concerned my correspondence to the board being excluded from the correspondence folder. A thank you to my fellow board member, Ms. Dube, for writing this letter.
Dear Chairman Bealo, Chairman Cipriano and respective Boardmembers:
Since the last SB meeting, on Sept.1st, I have thought alot about what took place during the agenda topic of “Hampstead Schools Issue.” I have heard from many people regarding their reaction to what they witnessed and the overwhelming majority has not been positive, regarding the comments directed at Mrs. Green by Chairman Bealo. Further, it was also brought to my attention that while the Chair chose to read aloud the whole letter from Chair Jason Cipriano, there are numerous letters/ emails that get relegated to the yellow correspondence folder and not afforded the same attention. The correspondence folder and the contents therein need to be given the same gravity. I certainly hope my fellow board members would be in agreement with me and would want to rectify this.
I have also listened to the audio of that portion of the meeting, under “Hampstead Schools Issue” several times and have the following observations/ concerns:
1) This was not necessary to address at all, let alone in a public session, as the Chair of the SAU, Jason Cipriano indicated in his email this topic would be discussed at the next SAU meeting in October.
2) The term “investigate” was used at least 3 times to describe Mrs. Green’s comment. Her exact words are as follows: “I would very much appreciate hearing what issues you encountered if you care to share them with me. We can arrange to talk through my email donnagre@gmail.com. Thank you and best going forward.” This was not an investigation – This was a response to a Mother’s public FB post about her child in OUR community. This was a supportive response to this parent as there were many other supportive and reassurig comments directed at her.
3) I have been unable to find any mention or reference by Mrs. Green regarding the “actions of employees” as was the charge by Mr. Cipriano. Can you please let me know where/ when this took place?
4) The legal advice: I would like to know if the Chair sought legal advice on this issue. If so, at whose direction? What, if any legal advise was given?
5) Mr. Cipriano further mentioned that he didn’t believe Mrs. Green was “speaking on behalf or at the direction of the Timberlane Board…”
This is an interesting comment especially since it directly relates to another School Board Member, Rob Collins, who, with “permission” gave details about the Superintendants evaluation and did, in fact speak on behalf of the Board. His comments were also cited in the recent lawsuit by David Taylor against the SAU (screen shot of Mr. Collins’s comments on facebook attached.)
6) Mr. Bealo mentioned that he was “shocked and appalled” and “deeply saddened, ashamed and disgusted.” by Mrs. Green’s actions.
The parent, after learning about Mrs. Green’s public chastising had this to say:
“.. was just made aware of all this conflict over Donna reaching out to me. Donna thank you for reaching out to me. I am truly sorry that you were spoken to that way by other ‘educational professionals’.
How unfortunate that the HMS is more interested in making a case about this communication rather than seeing a red flag that a student left the school district because of a lack of competent and caring leadership. After hearing the communication read to TRSB from the HMS Board Member, my decision to withdraw from HMS is confirmed even further. As a mom I feel terrible because obviously my daughters experience is not a concern, as an educator, what were the words he threw out there to Donna…disgusted, appalled….those are a few words I can relate to right now. Watching that was truly enlightening.”
So, given all of the above, it certainly appears that the Chair grossly over-reached and owes Mrs. Green a public apology.
In closing, when are the SB and SAU 55 Chairmen going to address Rob Collins’ commenting on behalf of the Board? And since Mrs. Greens comment on Facebook was addressed in public session, so should this also be done for Rob Collins.
Sincerely,
Stefanie Dube
timberlaneandsandown 
The correspondent refers to these buffoons as “educational professionals”. It’s amazing how compliant and hoodwinked your taxpayers are! “useless hacks” or “incompetent seat warmers” would be more accurate.
When a student is removed from a (likely toxic) public school environment, the real “educational professionals” would seek answers and corrections. That none of these imbeciles taking up good space and oxygen bothered to contact this parent is sufficient evidence for some [edit] electoral recalls.
What these dunces deserve is a nice lawsuit to test their legal budget and temerity. In fact, it’s asked if “legal advice” was sought. Legal advice is costly. Someone should be keeping a running total of how much is being wasted on attacking political opponents. Be sure to post a running total on your pages. Let the taxpayers know what the latest increase is paying for.
I understand you to mean board members when you refer to “educational professionals.” There is no public information to make any judgment about employees in the school, nor do I make or encourage any judgments with respect to employees or the school environment. This is all about the boards of the two districts.
There is no provision for recall in NH and I think that is a good thing in most cases. This won’t surprise you, but the SAU is secretive about legal fees and requires Right to Know requests for even board members to learn about legal costs. Once in a while I or a citizen will obtain invoices but the SAU claims it takes them a month to redact them which I know is a lie because the law firm does not put names of students on the invoices. The Timberlane district paid $30k to a law firm dated July 1, the start of the 2017 fiscal year. I assume that was a retainer. The majority of the TRSD board makes a virtue of ignorance and couldn’t care less what we spend in legal fees or anything else for that matter. When you hire a “CEO” you go along for the ride without comment and enjoy the view out the window. Wheee!
And in my opinion you are right about public money being used against political opponents.
Regarding Mr. Collins’ self important revelations. it is a violation of law to reveal details of an executive session in public, particularly after a vote to seal those minutes.
Legally, once the conversation is revealed privilege has been waived.
A Further point of order. By law, the ONLY “legal consultations” exempted from disclosure under RSA 91-A is found in RSA 91-A:3,II, (e); which reads;
“Consideration or negotiation of pending claims or litigation which has been threatened in writing or filed by or against the public body or any subdivision thereof, or by or against any member thereof because of his or her membership in such public body, until the claim or litigation has been fully adjudicated or otherwise settled.
Notice it ONLY covers current litigation, or claims threatened IN WRITING.
ALL OTHER legal consultations; questions asked, opinions offered, clarification sought, ARE LEGALLY PUBLIC INFORMATION.
And, Yes, the SAU abuses this law just like they do the rest of 91-A
Thank you Stefanie Dube for speaking out on behalf of Donna Green and most importantly the parent who took the best action for her child. Keep up the good work.
Are you saying this letter was addressed to TRSB but not in the correspondence folder?
Yes. The posting has be rewritten to make this more clear. Thanks for pointing out the problem.