KCD Policy - Gifts (audio)

The School Committee gets to the final discussion and vote on the policy. Matt Kelly attempts to amend the form and when that fails he remains as the lone negative vote when the policy passes 6-1.

Deb Pellegri speaks on behalf of the Brick School Association.

Time: 23 minutes, 23 seconds



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FY 2007 2008 budget transfers (audio)

Three actions: (1) to close out FY07 with some transfers to balence the accounts for the closed fiscal year. (2) Acceptence of the total bottomline number for FY08 now that the audit findings have been reconciled. (3) The first of several periodic transfers amongst line items in the budget as per the recommendation by the Forensic Audit.


Time: 19 minutes, 11 seconds



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FY09 Budget Q&A Part 1 (audio)

Following the presentation on the FY09 budget, this is part 1 of the Q&A session. Participating in this section are Cafasso, Roy, Ogden, Sabolinski, and Mullen.

Time: 18 minutes, 48 seconds



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Rep Vallee Q&A (audio)

Rep James Vallee in a good question and answer period with members of the School Committee. Chairperson Jeff Roy, Cora Armenio and Ed Cafasso have questions during this discussion.

Time: 19 minutes, 30 seconds



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FHS Renovation - Q&A (audio)

Question & Answer section following the presentation by Kaestle Boos on the options for renovating Franklin High School. Questions from committee members in order of appearance: Roy, Mullen, Armenio, Trahan, Kelly and Cafasso.

Time: 15 minutes, 0 seconds



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My notes from the discussion:

Michael McKean (?) representing Kaestle Boos on the Franklin High School renovation options.

• approximately 30 months for total renovation
• approximately 24 months to build a new school keeping the existing field house
• students will adjust quickly during the construction, the teachers and parents generally have more of an issue adjusting
• in the renovation options, the traffic flow remains mostly the same other than attempting to separate the parent drop offs from the buses
• the auditorium would be about $7 million (as sized at 26000 sq foot)
• all the options would connect on the second level, for brevity of the presentation they were not shown here
• this is not simply building on the roof as the existing building was done before the current seismic codes were put into place
• the new building option would locate the building further away from the existing homes

Franklin Schools: At the Break; a letter from Ed Cafasso

Hello everyone!

I hope you are preparing to enjoy winter break week! I just wanted to drop you a short note with an update on a few important school issues.

First, a programming note… If you are in the mood for a date with your spouse that contributes to a great cause, the Horace Mann Middle School PCC is sponsoring a Spring Social on Saturday, March 1, at the Franklin Elks from 7:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. This is a fun event that always offers top shelf, silent auction bargains.

As an added bonus, this year’s social will feature live performances from School Committee Chairman Jeff Roy's band, “Keep Your Day Job.” Tickets are $25 person, which includes a nice hot dinner buffet. A cash bar also will be available. For more information, contact Maureen Roy or Barb Mershimer. I look forward to seeing you there!

Now on to business… If you are as concerned about the future of Franklin High School as I am, I urge you to tune-in to or attend the School Committee meeting at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 26. Representatives of KBA Associates, our architectural design consultants, will be on hand to talk about options for renovating the current facility or building a brand new one on the site. We are also moving closer toward the naming of a citizens committee for the project. That too is likely to be a topic of discussion at the meeting.

If you need to refresh yourself on the challenges with the current FHS building, you’ll find the old feasibility and conditions reports on the Superintendent’s web page

The Committee is also moving into a new budget season and, as usual, the scenarios are not pretty. It will cost us more than $4.1 million to maintain the current level of school services in the fiscal year that begins July 1. That’s the price of predictable price increases for contractual pay raises, health insurance, utilities, etc.

However, town officials are projecting that only $800,000 in new revenue will be available to the schools. That leaves a $3.3 million funding gap that will not be easy to close without what Supt. Ogden calls “seriously painful cuts,” particularly to teaching staff who comprise 90% of our annual budget.

I’ll send out a FY09 budget update email following the Committee meeting on the 26^th. You can find background on budget and fiscal issues on the School Committee web site

At this week’s School Committee meeting, Franklin Police provided an update on their efforts to put in place a lockdown emergency plan for each of our schools. These types of preparations are an unfortunate reality of life in the 21^st century, underscored by the tragic news out of University of Illinois this week. Police officials have approached the issue with professionalism and smart thinking. They stressed that are eager to come to any PCC meeting to outline their approach and answer parent questions.

I hope you have a pleasant week. I saw the first robin of the year the other day and heard a cardinal singing, confirming that spring will indeed get here eventually.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I am happy to add or remove any one from the mailing list for these updates.

Ed Cafasso

Recommendations: Q&A 6 (audio)

School Committee member Ed Cafasso makes his statement.

Time: 2 minutes, 51 seconds



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Mr Sullivan - Part 6 (audio)

Mr Sullivan answers questions from Councilors Bartlett, Whalen, Zollo and School Committee member Ed Cafasso.

Time: 7 minutes, 58 seconds



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