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Portsmouth School District board meeting, Aug 11, 2026

1 h 12 min · 0 public speakers

AI in schools ▶ 27:18Phones in school ▶ 49:38

This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 1 h 12 min.

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What happened

What happened at this meeting

Portsmouth School Board passes bullying policy update on a single reading 1:02:21

  • The board also took up an MOU with the Paraeducators Union, which a staff member said would be a 1-year agreement rather than a multi-year contract. 34:56
  • The Portsmouth School Board approved on first reading policies AC, ACA, EBCA, ECAF, EEBA, EHB, JFBA and ABD, which Lisa Rapaport said were due to changes in RSA that required updated language. 40:30
  • The board discussed a revised cell phone policy covering personal laptops and smartwatches and passed an updated bullying policy on a single reading, with the word deliberately added before false accusations. 49:56

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Item by item (13)
  1. Opening and announcements 12:41
    • A staff member said new staff would come in on Thursday the 20th and all staff would return on Monday the 24th. 14:51
    • The staff member said the 27th is the first day of school for grades 1 through 9, with 10th to 12th graders starting on the 28th and kindergarten and PEEP on the 31st. 15:44
    • Lisa Rapaport introduced a new student representative to the board and asked to suspend the rules to move up a scholarship item. 16:48
    • The motion to suspend the rules passed on a roll call vote. 18:22
  2. Trades scholarship trust agreement 18:30
    • A speaker said the fund would let the high school identify students with financial need entering the trades and help with costs such as tools and gas cards. 19:55
    • The speaker said the scholarship structure is perpetual, with interest funding the scholarship. 21:00
    • A motion was made to enter into the trust agreement and authorize the superintendent to execute it on behalf of the school department. 22:07
  3. Approval of minutes 23:36
    • Lisa Rapaport called for a roll call vote to approve three sets of minutes as a block. 23:36
    • The minutes were approved. ~24:20
  4. Public comment 24:26
    • No one was present or on Zoom for public comment. ~24:45
  5. Superintendent's report 25:08
    • A staff member summarized emails to the board, including one asking the district to be thoughtful about taking recess away from students. 25:08
    • The staff member said the district had multiple resignations, most of which had been replaced. 25:08
    • The staff member said a new teacher reception was set for Tuesday the 8th at 6:30 and asked people to RSVP by August 28th. 26:15
  6. Policies on second reading 27:17
    • Lisa Rapaport said revisions to EHAG, the district's first policy on AI, were intended to more accurately reflect how the technology works and allow review when models are updated. 27:17
    • Jennifer Shump asked whether a requirement to label AI-generated content applied to faculty or only to students. 29:23
    • A staff member said a working group of 8 to 12 people would complete 9 modules of learning on AI, with a target of a refined policy in the spring. 30:23
    • Policies EHAG, IMAH and KLGA passed on second reading. 27:17
  7. Custodial supervisors tentative agreement 32:48
    • A staff member said the revised agreement moves from a 4-year agreement to a 3-year agreement, with a 1% increase in the employee cost share on premiums in each of the 3 years. 33:26
    • A staff member said the agreement would go back to City Council for reconsideration once the board agreed. 34:24
    • The revised tentative agreement was approved. 34:55
  8. Paraeducators union agreement 34:56
    • A staff member said the MOU would be a 1-year agreement, with renegotiation to restart later this fall. 35:08
    • The MOU was approved. ~36:13
  9. Report on new hires 36:14
    • A staff member said the district had filled 8 new professional positions over the summer. 36:23
    • The staff member said the city's budget director had agreed to serve as interim director of finance for the upcoming year. 37:34
  10. Policies on first reading 40:30
    • Lisa Rapaport said all of the policies were updated due to changes in RSA. 40:30
    • A staff member said EEBA is a new policy addressing cell phone use while driving and that the students experiencing homelessness policy adds language under the McKinney-Vento Act. 44:42
    • Policies AC, ACA, EBCA, ECAF, EEBA, EHB, JFBA and ABD passed on first reading. 48:45
  11. Cell phone and personal device policy 49:38
    • Lisa Rapaport said the main change addressed students using personal laptops instead of school-issued Chromebooks and that the policy also addresses smartwatches. 50:22
    • One board member proposed adding a sentence at line 21 stating that procedures will be common across all elementary schools, and another board member asked whether the line applied only to smartwatches. 52:12
    • Jennifer Shump asked whether schools could ban smartwatches, and Lisa Rapaport said state law requires a bell-to-bell policy for cell phones while other devices are set by districts. 54:45
  12. Bullying prevention policy update 1:01:15
    • A staff member asked for a single reading, saying the law behind the changes went into effect on August 1st and staff must complete annual training on the policy. 44:42
    • One board member said ordinarily a single reading would not be preferred for substantial changes but that it would help staff have the training at the start of the school year. 1:01:15
    • One board member proposed adding the word deliberately before false accusations throughout the policy so people would not be deterred from reporting. 1:02:38
    • The policy update passed on a single reading. 1:07:59
  13. Committee updates and adjournment 1:08:14
    • Lisa Rapaport said a city council task force on food insecurity and school meals had been meeting over the summer and had not made clear decisions yet. 1:08:46
    • One board member said expanding free or reduced meals ultimately comes down to a budget question of where the money comes from. 1:09:19

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

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Video: posted by the district as “8.11.2026 School Board”