Franklin Matters: Election Prep: What does the School Committee do?

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Election Prep: What does the School Committee do?

While the Town Council approves the overall Franklin budget including the school district, the oversight of the school district is the sole responsibility of the School Committee. They hire the Superintendent, who in turn is ultimately responsible (1) for the hiring of all the other school personnel and (2) the day-to-day management of the district..

Under MA law, the school principals are granted responsibility for all that happens in their building.

All seven positions of the school committee are up for election on November 7, 2017. As of the last notification from the Franklin Town Clerk, there are not yet seven candidates for these positions.

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Note: there was a request to remove this. It is factual and a historical record from August of 2016.

From the Franklin Annual Report as published last year:

Vision Statement

The Franklin Public Schools will foster within its students the knowledge and skills to find and achieve satisfaction in life as productive global citizens.

Mission Statement

The Franklin Public Schools, in collaboration with the community, will cultivate each student's intellectual, social, emotional and physical potential through rigorous academic inquiry and informed problem solving skills within a safe, nurturing and respectful environment.

August 2016

Dear Members of the Franklin Community:

On behalf of the students, parents, faculty and community we are pleased to submit this report about the activities and accomplishments of the Franklin Public Schools for the 2015-2016 school year.

Our school infrastructure while aging remains solid. As out buildings age, however, issues continue to arise. Maintaining the school system at the level that our students deserve is a costly full time proposition. We are grateful to the many people who do this essential service for us. The technological structures in our schools are strong and have allowed us to maintain an enviable technological position in our classrooms and administration practices. Our new high school remains a place of pride for our entire community. School age population in our state has declined somewhat this year and this is the case with Franklin yet the population in the high school has increased again this year.

An issue of concern that cannot be ignored is the status of our operating budget. After completing a difficult fiscal year with a budget that was 18 percent below the state average our budget for the upcoming year is a full 20 per cent below the state budget. In the community that produced the great educator and Father of Public Education, Horace Mann the fundamental idea that all children are entitled to a free public education is an essential core value for the community. However, the continued decline in funding will impact the quality of the educational program over time. We need to engage this community at every level in the upcoming months to seek to seek a path forward in this area.

On a more positive note, we had a successful year academically. Our high school was rated a level one school, the highest rating the state awards. Our standardized testing was successful again this year. We implemented the PARCC assessments and will be working on transitioning to MCAS 2.0. Our college bound students were successful in fulfilling their aspirations attaining admittance to competitive schools such as Princeton, MIT, Brown and Cornell.

Athletically our teams performed well in all the sports. Our hockey team, in particular, won the state championship which was a remarkable achievement. Thanks to the help of parents and teachers, our students in all schools received the benefit of some wonderful school clubs and extracurricular activities.

This year we were able to successfully negotiate five employee contracts which will help us smoothly go forward into the future. We are blessed with a dedicated professional staff and a wonderful group of parents and students. We are a good school system on the path to being a great school system. With the support of this community we will get there which is a fitting destination for the community that gave America Horace Mann.

We must close on sad note. Dr. Maureen Sabolinski, our excellent school superintendent has announced her retirement at the end of this school year. In her 8 years as superintendent and over 30 years as an educator in our schools, Maureen has been the epitome of excellence as an educational professional. She leaves behind an outstanding record of accomplishments.

We are unanimous in our praise of this wonderful educator and all she has done for our children and we wish her the very best in her retirement.

As advocates for public education in our town, we extend our sincere appreciation to the parents, the employees and the residents of Franklin for providing support for the Franklin Public schools.

Respectfully Submitted,

Dr. Kevin O’Malley
Chair, Franklin School Committee