Stamford Select Board — 2026-03-30 (Regular)
- Pledge of allegiance
- Discussion limited to library use: superintendent's demand to close the town library for student state testing during the next three weeks (12-3 on Tuesday and Thursday)
- Other business
- Motion to adjourn
Motions (2, 2 passed)
Send email to superintendent re: library Speaker 2 (chair)passed
Motion to adjourn Speaker 1passed
Other decisions
| Email wording and recipients | The board informally agreed the email should state disagreement with the superintendent's 'approach' (not his 'decision'), affirm the library will be open to the public 12 to 6 for the next three weeks, be sent by email (not mail) that evening, and be copied to the school board, with a separate email to the school board attaching the email correspondence as a PDF. |
| Compromise option considered and not adopted | Speaker 18 suggested a one-time compromise: the town would support paying the librarians for the time lost and try to get it back from the school department, making clear it would not be tolerated again. The board did not adopt this; it voted to send the email of disagreement instead. |
| Select board jurisdiction over the library | The board discussed whether it has authority over the library. The consensus was that the library trustees are a separate, elected board with their own budget (defending it at town meeting) and are not under the select board; the select board's control is at most over the town-funded portion. The chair said the board cannot say the library is open 'per select board' and can only express the board's opinion and support. |
Who owes what (5)
| Action | Owner | By when | Note | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Send email to the superintendent (by email, not mail) disagreeing with his approach in dealing with the trustees and the use of the library, supporting the library's decision to be open the next day (3/31) from 12 to 6, open to the public, for the next three weeks; copy the school board. | Select board | evening of 2026-03-30 (before the library opens 3/31) | Passed by formal motion (proposed by Speaker 2, the chair). | overdue the minutes set 2026-03-30 and it has passed ¶ ¶337 |
| Send a separate email to the school board attaching the email correspondence as a PDF (as the trustees had sent to the select board). | Library trustees / select board | — | Agreed so the school board is in the loop; trustees also asked that the school board be asked to communicate with the superintendent that the library should be open. | open no date in the minutes |
| Follow up with a letter of support from the select board after the superintendent's next response. | Library trustees (with select board support) | — | 'We do have another one drafted. We can send it after.' | open no date in the minutes |
| Open the library as usual the next day (3/31), 12 to 6, open to the public, for the three-week period; if access is blocked, record the incident on a cell phone and call the chair. | Library staff (Speaker 33 offered to be at the library at noon; Danielle walks in the next morning) | 2026-03-31 | Speaker 1 said to call him and he will show up; phone-recording suggested by Heidi (Speaker 23). | overdue the minutes set 2026-03-31 and it has passed |
| Make/duplicate a library key for the select board. | Library (Speaker 33: 'I can make keys') | — | Deferred: 'We can discuss that later.' | open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶273 |
scripts/action_status.py --done "a phrase".Money (2)
| Library funding split between town and school | Roughly two-thirds town and one-third school, per Speaker 11. | — |
| School's librarian costs (cited by the trustees) | Per Speaker 11, as stated: the school spent $2,500 in librarian cost last year against an $11,000 budget; budgeted $11,000 again this year (with $2,700 referenced) and $17,000 next year - the exact mapping of figures is garbled in the transcript. | — |
Public comment (9)
| Speaker 4 (library trustee) | The superintendent emailed that the library will be closed for the next three weeks, 12 to 3 on Tuesday and Thursday, to be used as a student testing site; the trustees met in emergency session, replied with objections (~40% of hours cut; state allows a flexible three-week testing window; other spaces like the gym and classrooms are available), and he replied they were in fact going to close. He referenced the Reedsboro Library twice (verbally before, in writing now). The school filled out the library's use-request form (completed by the principal) but only after closing was announced, and sent it to the superintendent rather than to the librarian; no permission was granted. |
| Speaker 8 (former school board member) | History of the bathroom door lock being changed (after a town violence incident); since the double lock was installed, students and staff have clearly been using the library on non-library days (trash, items left behind, knocks at the door); per the Department of Libraries, Stamford is a municipal library notwithstanding its location in the school building; the principal filled out the use-request form but it came from the superintendent. |
| Speaker 17 | Recalls the 2019-2020 (early-COVID) dispute in which the school made the entire school property, 'between the road and the river,' off limits during school hours and on weekends; says the current approach feels like that again and is 'alarming.' |
| Speaker 16 | Found disturbing the superintendent's assumption that the school property is 'his space personally'; there was no interest in a collaborative solution or any other space - 'this is what we're doing because I say this is what we're doing' - a power play. |
| Heidi (Speaker 23) | When her kids were in the school there were no fewer students and no space problem; the library had public hours while the school was open; 'We suddenly don't have enough space to do testing, is absurd to me.' Also suggested that whoever is at the library next day record it on a cell phone in case of inappropriate conduct. |
| Laurie (Speaker 28) | Asked whether it is not said that kids learn better in the morning, so that if the school wants the best outcomes it should test 9 to 12 rather than midday. |
| Speaker 31 | Concern about setting a precedent - if this goes, it is 'wide open' for other claims ('a line in the sand'); asked about the nuance of the municipal vs. community library distinction; noted ongoing programs scheduled in those hours that kids and adults expect. |
| Speaker 33 | Works at the library and runs a card game (Magic: the Gathering) every Tuesday (six people last Tuesday); noted kids going to the library after school; offered to be at the library at noon the next day and said keys could be made. |
| Speaker 18 | History of the library as a community library (joint board of library trustees, school board members, principal, librarian; librarian required to be a certified teacher) vs. a municipal library; suggested it might be worthwhile to compromise for this one time - the town would support paying the librarians for lost time and try to get it back from the school department - while making clear it would not be tolerated again. |
Follow-ups named in the minutes
- Monitor what happens at the library on 3/31 and over the three-week testing window; if the superintendent blocks access, the agreed posture is a follow-up letter of support stating 'this will not continue.'
- Select board has another meeting Thursday (2026-04-02); the superintendent was invited to attend and speak.
- If the dispute escalates: involve the school board, consider legal counsel, and possibly publicize (radio, etc.) - discussed but not decided.
- Look for historical documents (articles voted on, bylaws, minutes) supporting the town's ownership/jurisdiction over the library - suggested by Speaker 8 and (via Carol) the trustees; the state lists Stamford as a municipal library.
What the extraction was unsure about
- The transcript uses only generic 'Speaker N' diarization labels; individual identities (including which select board member is which) could not be reliably established from the record, so all speakers are attributed to the labels actually used.
- A few name-to-speaker linkages are suggested by the record but not used in structured fields except where the link is direct: Speaker 23 was addressed as 'Heidi' and Speaker 28 as 'Laurie' in callouts immediately preceding their turns; Speaker 17 is plausibly 'Pam' (Speaker 5's 'Yes. Pam.' before her turn); Speaker 5 is plausibly Kurt Gamari (Speaker 8 references 'Kurt's point that he doesn't have the authority,' echoing Speaker 5's earlier remark). These inferences rest on garbled callouts.
- The second on the email motion is not clearly attributed: the transcript reads 'Second. Second. Do I have a second? Yes, second.' - recorded as seconded_by null.
- The school librarian budget figures (Speaker 11) are garbled in the transcript; they are recorded as stated, without a clean mapping, and no amount was taken as authoritative.
- No 'part' field exists in the front matter; this file is treated as the complete 55-minute recording, which ends with the motion to adjourn (no minutes approval, invoices, or contracts were on this agenda).
- The spec's source_file '2026/2026-03-30_selectboard.md' is used as instructed; the file actually resides at transcripts/2026/2026-03-30_selectboard.md in the workspace.
- The meeting was framed at the opening as a discussion limited to 'library use' (not a standard agenda with public comment in the usual sense); the public_comment entries capture the remarks of non-board speakers present, per the transcript.
Transcript
Speaker 2 — the same voice as in 2 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 3 — the same voice as in 40 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 4 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 5 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 6 — heard only in this meeting
Speaker 7 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 8 — the same voice as in 2 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 9 — the same voice as in 30 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 10 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 11 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 12 — no voiceprint match
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Speaker 14 — the same voice as in 2 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 15 — the same voice as in 9 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 16 — the same voice as in 2 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 17 — no voiceprint match
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Speaker 29 — the same voice as in 2 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
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Speaker 1: I'm not really the voice, so I'm not comfortable in this situation. Okay. So if Tina doesn't mind. Sure.
Speaker 4: So that's one of my questions I'm going to ask you right away is,
Speaker 5: Separate system.
Speaker 7: And I think initially we were under the assumption
Speaker 10: That's where the money went?
Speaker 11: It's now located... Way down?
Speaker 12: It seems awful.
Speaker 13: 9 to 12,
Speaker 17: I don't.
Speaker 18: 12 to 6.
Speaker 1: So when I sent that second email to them about the policy that we have, they did send a completed form back to us that was filled out by the principal. But it came from him to us, and that's when we sort of got in touch with the folks because we weren't. So they did fill out the form, but they didn't do it first. OK. And they said, she said, I have read the policy, but they sent it to me, and the policy says send it to the librarian.
Speaker 19: OK.
Speaker 11: Are they testing on there?
Speaker 20: Yeah, I would say five, but yeah.
Speaker 21: Heidi, do you have a question? Heidi. I just wanted to say, when my kids were in this school, there weren't fewer, there weren't more students then, there weren't fewer students then. And the number of classrooms, the number of rooms in the school hadn't changed. This wasn't an issue. We didn't have to take over the library. In fact, there were public hours, I believe, at the time, because I was in the library a bunch of the time when the school was open.
Speaker 21: Absolutely.
Speaker 22: I mean, if this wasn't a conversation.
Speaker 21: We suddenly don't have enough space to do testing, is absurd to me.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 23: Yeah.
Speaker 24: I said, fine.
Speaker 25: It's later than this one little testing.
Speaker 26: Don't they say that kids learn better in the morning? That if you wanted the best outcome for your kids, you would want to test from 9 to 12?
Speaker 27: That is when they're scheduled.
Speaker 28: Caroline?
Speaker 21: Now, because the children, the school children never use that library, so it's completely the town. And therefore, the town should be paying.
Speaker 30: Let's pay for it twice.
Speaker 31: I'm running, that's, I'm working at the library, too. I'm Amy's mom. And I'm running a card game every Tuesday. And there were six of us there last Tuesday. What card game? Magic the Gathering, if you've ever heard of it. No.
Speaker 31: No, but if it was Texas, all the time. You might have heard of Pokemon. Yeah.
Speaker 31: Yeah.
Speaker 32: So, what do we want?
Speaker 1: Approach.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 33: I know that.
Speaker 34: Can we put another lock on the door?
Speaker 23: I'm very disappointed in the school board not saying, well, wait a minute.
Speaker 35: Yeah, it could be.
Speaker 36: Yes.
Speaker 37: Yeah.
Speaker 33: I was going to say, if they don't have the school warrant passed every year...
Speaker 24: We're supporting you, but I don't think we have any control over them.
Speaker 38: Your own trust needs.
Speaker 39: 12 o'clock.
Speaker 40: Yeah, not really because you're elected. Right.
Speaker 17: Yeah.
Speaker 41: Right.
Speaker 5: At...
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 33: Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 32: The library trustee's decision.
Speaker 42: Well, he disagreed with us.
Speaker 31: Tomorrow, Danielle walks in. What should she do? And would you rather one of us be there instead of you?
Speaker 31: It's as if someone else should be there.
Speaker 31: Do you want me to open the library tomorrow morning? I mean, I can be here at noon. Instead of for you.
Speaker 31: We only have one. It must be shared. I can make keys.
Speaker 31: We can discuss that later.
Speaker 31: That's what he wants. He mentions that in one of the.
Speaker 43: It seems like only the beginning.
Speaker 44: Yeah.
Speaker 45: Well, this is, you know, we're in a small town.
Speaker 32: Sure does.
Speaker 37: It's not a good situation.
Speaker 46: You have to figure out what it is that's going on.
Speaker 47: You know, when you come to town,
Speaker 21: Tomorrow, whoever's there, I wouldn't do this in a confrontational way, but I would have my cell phone recording in case that he's inappropriate. Because those things really matter in this era.
Speaker 22: Yeah.
Speaker 21: Yeah. So I'd have a video recording of him. And if he's perfectly fine and not disrespectful.
Speaker 48: And who will be not be going on that?
Speaker 26: Just for the next three weeks. The next three weeks.
Speaker 31: Yeah. The next three weeks.
Speaker 26: Right. To the public. Yes. Especially open to the public. For the regular. Fluff it up, Lori.
Speaker 32: That's up to them.
Speaker 26: You got to have your contact.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 10: We don't like it.
Speaker 48: And there was no cars here, either.
Speaker 31: Well, that's because my husband brought me. Okay. All right. And then I forgot to put the flag.
Speaker 49: Hold on.
Speaker 31: And one of the people stopped and said, I thought maybe you were closed. I was like, oh, we're trying to put the flag out.
Transcribed 2026-09-04 (faster-whisper large-v3, CUDA; names corrected per data/name_fixes.json). Names corrected against the minutes. Diarization is automated and over-splits one person into several labels. Raw model output with timestamps: SRT.