Thursday, January 12, 2023

School Committee previews possible student trip to Greece, hears updates on Special Ed, & approves Capital budget request (audio)

FM #914 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 914 in the series. 


This session shares the Franklin, MA School Committee meeting held on Tuesday, Jan 10, 2023. The meeting was conducted in the Council Chambers with six members present (M Whitmore absent). 


School Committee Chair Denise Spencer opens the meeting at 7:00 PM. 


Key items on the agenda

  • Possible Student Trip to Greece preview - presentation and Q&A as a preview of a possible trip being planned for spring of 2024. EF TOurs would be the tour company, used previously successfully. Concerns about cost and equitable access of the trip for students. Could come back in future for formal approval if it indeed will be planned for

  • Special Education Presentation - an increase of 36 students in the program year over year while the overall population of students continues to decline. Key stat revealed that it costs approx 32K /student for in district special ed vs. approx 80K for out of district special ed placement. Hence a savings overall of 48K per student kept in the district.

  • Capital Budget proposal - approval ultimately after much discussion about the ‘reduction’ in the allocation from the Town to allow for only $80K, $400K for capital and another $80K for school facility capital projects. It is a town issue and other departments are seeing their capital needs list grow due to lack of funding.


The show notes contain a link to the full agenda and to my notes & photos captured via Twitter during the meeting. 


The recording runs about 3 hours and 15 minutes, so let’s listen to the Franklin School Committee on Jan 10, 2023. Audio file -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-914-fps-school-committee-mtg-01-10-23



--------------


School Committee page -> https://www.franklinps.net/district/school-committee 


Video link ->  https://youtu.be/YUW5pojSym4

 

The agenda doc contains info on remote participation

https://www.franklinps.net/sites/g/files/vyhlif4431/f/uploads/scagenda_1-10-23.pdf

 

All the documents released for this meeting (some after the meeting) can be found in one folder -> https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/pages/january-10-2023-school-committee-meeting-packet

 

My Twitter notes are here in one PDF file -> 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_Gyl1CsepTlIidRXDbeVU7GOf4M_lzqz/view?usp=share_link


--------------

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial


This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

 

How can you help?

  • If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

  • If you don't like something here, please let me know


Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

 

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/


If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com


The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.


I hope you enjoy!

------------------


You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"


The Special Education portion of the meeting was lead by (L to R) Asst Supt Paula Marano, Jennifer Graveline, and Andrew Duquette
The Special Education portion of the meeting was lead by (L to R) Asst Supt Paula Marano, Jennifer Graveline, and Andrew Duquette

No comments:

Post a Comment