"agreed to preserve full-day kindergarten"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

Posted May 13, 2009 @ 12:24 AM

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FRANKLIN —

Hoping to preserve as many teaching jobs as possible, School Committee Chairman Jeffrey Roy last night announced the committee and teachers union are continuing to negotiate wage concessions into the 11th hour.

Representatives from both groups met Monday night and made "significant progress" toward a resolution in the best interest of students, Roy said.

Reading from a statement he and new union President Robert McLaughlin prepared, Roy said, "The School Committee and (union) are engaged in fruitful talks regarding a temporary wage concession for (next) year."

Roy said he is optimistic.

"I was encouraged by the respectful and collaborative tone of the discussions and I'm hopeful this will lead to a solution," he said.

Read the full article on the School Committee meeting in the Milford Daily News here

Read all the live reporting posts from the same School Committee meeting here

School Committee Mtg 05/12/09

The collection of live reporting from the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, May 12th can be found here

• Live reporting - end
• Live reporting - Superintendent's report
• Live reporting - Action items
• Live reporting - FY 2010 budget continued
• Live reporting - Joint Statement (full text)
• Live reporting - FY 2010 budget Q and A
• Live reporting - joint statement SchCom and FEA
• Live reporting - budget FY 2010
• Live reproting - FHS MSBA Draft report
• Live reporting - Moodle Facilitated Courses
• Live reporting - School Committee 5/12/09

• School Committee Meeting May 12, 2009 - Agenda

Live reporting - FY 2010 budget continued

Armenio
what does this do to the accreditation at the High School

Ogden
I talked with them last Friday
reviewed the options to keep class sizes reasonable
if we institute study halls, what would the consequence be?
She didn't know the answer to those questions, she was going to research that and get back to us
I got a sense that given the duress and financial circumstances, it might be okay

Armenio
be prepared when something leaves, it generally doesn't come back
When the Town budget is so heavily dependent upon the State generosity, it runs into these issues
I can't support going to half-day at this time
plan for the following year, you don't know what is going to happen
it is not a threat, it is a head's up for FY 2011

Cafasso
there is a lot going on, will need to communicate about the changes to all there next year as well as the incoming 8th graders

Light
I have a letter ready to go to the parents, etc.
to go out via ConnectEd and via the website

Live reporting - FY 2010 budget Q and A

Left to Right: Miriam Goodman, Wayne Ogden, Maureen Sabolinski, Peter Light

50% of the stimulus can be used to retain teachers, 50% for facilities
applications not available yet
will need to be approved by the State

School Choice funds were always put aside
budgeted at about 250,000 revenue has been about 350,000
recommending use of the 150,000 to save positions for FY 2010

Cafasso
let's bring this down to a user level
what does this do to class sizes, what happens to the libraries when they aren't staffed?

Ogden
some of that is already out there see the March presentations on this link

Cafasso
we are cobbling this together to do level service with a bunch of one time funds

Light
schedule would need to be done, haven't really started with the students yet
do need to get the schedule resolved before the school year ends

Ogden
need consensus to begin the planning, action would come next time to formally approve

Sabolinski
this is really a two year problem, this offers consistency and stability

Mullen
can't support going to half day kindergarten, telling folks in May that they need to find a place next year is not good

Rohrbach
there is no late bus in this budget
Is the Freshman collaborative intact with this?

Light
When teachers meet for the collaborative, this is done
Teachers did have a prep and a work session, prep is required
with the six periods, the work period is gone

Slight
what does that do to the actual schedule

Light
with the 7 day schedule, one class dropped
we are looking to see how this would maintain the 6 classes within the six periods

Trahan
Once you leave you can never return again
none of these changes are good
we want to move the system from good to great and none of this is good

we have looked at these items
some of the items are not workable

going to a half day at this late date but this is not something I can support
I don't know where we are going to get the money but I can't support it

Kelly
I can't support half-day

Ogden
if we went half day with a full day pay option, we could keep the grant

Sabolinski
the add backs could go into the kindergarten area due to the changes being being proposed by the high school

Roy
the gap is a million and a half
we've talked about 50,000 per position
that is 30 positions

we will be able to add positions back with the wage concessions

Ogden
if the stars align perfectly, being frugal, salary freezes, no other changes in unemployment
we could get to loosing 10 or fewer

Live reporting - budget FY 2010

3. Discussion Only Items

• User Fees
• Staff Reduction in Force (RIF)
• Adoption of FY10 Budget for public hearing (May 26, 2009)

83% or 37.8M of 50.2M cover salary and benefits

Per pupil allotments
Elem $210
Middle $225
High $355

Total dollars remained constant from FY 2009
District wide, potentially 42 positions to reduce (originally in Jan 09 was referenced as >60)

Classroom teachers
Specialists
Librarians
Asst Principal
Secretary
Central Office Data processing
Extracurricular Activities

Notices went out to more than 60 teachers due to the bumping rights, etc. the actual positions lost will only be around 42

The number can be reduced with additional revenue or additional savings
The salary freeze could account for 16 positions within this number of 42 if resolution is reached

FHS
4 teachers
Librarian
Asst Princpal
Office Secretary
6 periods (current schedule has 7 periods)
PE/Health becomes an elective (policy)
Class sizes remain manageable

Middle Schools
2 grade 6
4 grade 7
4 grade 8
2 music

Elementary
18.5 classroom teachers
Full day kindergarten reduced to half day kindergarten
2.5 librarians
1.2 specialists

Implementing a growth in fees over three years would bring the fees to a 50/50 position; the budget would support 50 of the program, the fees would support the remaining 50 percent of the program

Fees
Athletic fees
FY 10 - 200
FY 11 - 225
FY 12 - 250

Extracurricular
FY 10 - 50
FY 11 - 75
FY 12 - 100

Pay-to-ride
FY 10 - 350
FY 11 - 375
FY 12 - 400


Circuit breaker 110,00
State fiscal stabilization 448,381
Federal stimulus 375,000
Extraordinary relief 426,339
School choice 150,000
------------------------------------
Total revenue increase 1,504,720

Remaining differential between level service budget 53,807,773 to level funded 50,297,820
is $1,489,233

"will meet on Tuesday to make final decisions on what areas to cut"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

Posted May 06, 2009 @ 12:12 AM

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FRANKLIN —

The Finance Committee unanimously approved the School Department's $50.3 million, level-funded budget, as recommended by Town Administrator Jeffrey D. Nutting, though school officials are banking on getting up to another $3.5 million to help keep pace with rising costs.

The budget does not reflect the School Department's final budget, as the School Committee is expecting at least $1.5 million worth of revenue from state and federal funds, and possibly another $800,000 from wage concessions by the teachers union, said Chairman Jeffrey Roy.

The School Committee is aiming for a level-service budget, at just over $53.8 million, and is still optimistic about closing the budget gap between the two versions, Roy said. "We've been targeting a level-service budget since the beginning of this process," Roy said.

The budget has been a moving target, with so many unanswered questions about funding, such as how much Franklin schools will get from state aid and the federal stimulus package, he said.

Read the full article about the Finance Committee meeting in the Milford Daily News here

In addition to what the article references, the Finance Committee also approved the Information Technology budget. The coverage of the complete meeting can be found here.

Finance Comm 05/05/09

The budget hearings held by the Finance Committee covered IT, Tri-County and the School budget on Tuesday May 5th. The live reporting sessions are:

• Live reporting - School District
• Live reporting - Tri-County RVTHS
• Live reporting - Finance Committee - 5/5/09

Live reporting - School District

Maureen Sabolinski, Jeff Roy

Formal budget discussion scheduled for 5/26/09 School Committee meeting

School District has been targeting a "level funded" budget since the beginning

Differences between level service and level funded budget described

revised $53,291,773

Increases in revenue currently anticipated

• Increase in circuit breaker revenue
• State stabilization fund
• Federal stimulus package
• Extraordinary relief package
• School Choice revenue

Subtotal $1.5 million

If FEA wage concession comes in, the deficit will be approx. $700,000
Decisions coming in SchCom meeting on Tuesday (5/12/09) on ways to cut the gap
Public hearing on budget scheduled for 5/26/09

Roche - thanks for the information an numbers provided this year
offsets are visible here

Same dollars as last years budget
Town has legal authority over the one line item
School Committee has legal responsibility for all the details

Level funded number $50,297,820

There is no text book line item in the budget
There is a workbook for K-5 Everyday math that is a consumable and required yearly
One vendor, we are at their mercy. To adopt another text book series is a huge effort.

The transportation line item had been the subject of the forensic audit
We have been trying to increase the transportation line item to avoid that issue

We have a total bottom-line item for the overall budget
the fee schedule has not been set yet, stay tuned for Tuesday night (5/12/09)

Field house banners were sold and the money is going back into the athletic budget
Athletic Director Sidwell is using the funds to minimize operating osts

We have applied for several grants and we turned down for several
We are not as diverse a district as we could be to benefit from the grants

The grants have primarily been Federal, several of the State level grants have been cut
One grant for 90,000 this year is only 5,000 and next year goes away

Contractual services private?
Tuition to private schools and residential placements
We can not provide the services for those Special Ed students
We provide as much as we can

Every school district in the Commonwealth has some cost in that line item
Franklin has 71 students in the Special Education
Wellesley has double the number of student for a district half the size of ours

Is Professional Development a problem with the teachers?
The PD budget has been centralized and removed from each individual schools
The final budget will have that spelled out

Our final budget may look significantly different
We have not determined how to flow the stimulus funds across the budget

Using the revolving fund for School Choice was the equivalent of 2.5 teachers
We could not leave that just sitting there

We like to be about 14 percent, this budget could be about 1-2% above the minimum

Legal increase - had a residency case this year
hard to predict the utilization of these funds
generally a one time cost, end result did not pick up the tuition of a student who did not officialy reside in the town

Discussion on validity of voting for a budget tonight

Tuesday May 12th, school detail discussion on fees, and other cuts
Tuesday May 26th, formal vote on final budget

Motion to approve $50,297,820 - passed 11-0

Any old business - no
New business - recommended budget to be published and go to the Council for June 10/11

Next Finance meeting 6/2, may hold until 6/9, but that is still dependent upon the Commonwealth and where the numbers are at that time

Requesting an increase in Building Inspector's of $4400
to cover use of individual's personal vehicles

Inspection Acct 240
total of $369,006
Money to balance this comes from "Other Available Funds"

Technically still part of the budget hearing

Approved 11-0

Live reporting - Tri-County RVTHS

Tri-County Regional Voc Tech High School

Introductions around

Tri-County is well aware of the needs of the feeding towns
A required minimum amount was budgeted for
The required minimum amount was set by the State

Assessment is down by approx. 269,000 dollars
Enrollment down from 192 to 159 students

Roche - we appreciate your efforts in that regard

In order to get our budget down, we prioritized keeping teachers
We reduced administrative staff, by one curriculum coordinator
Due to retirement of one individual took the opportunity to change that position from full year to school year and reduce salary level

We rely heavily on instructional supplies, did cut supplies
any further cuts will come from teacher salaries

Reduced 181,000 in instructional equipement
eliminated renovation projects
eliminated virtual high school

Budget for next year is 2% less than the current operating budget

The minimum amount is done on a district level
For Tri-County it is determined by the eleven sending districts
Offset by Chapter 70 funds

Will reduce our currency for one year, will be fine for this year
Equipment does take a lot of use when used by the student

Franklin's legal commitment is the same as other communities

There is no debt at Tri-County so there is a benefit there
results in a zero for capital

Applications year-to-date don't indicate that the drop is a trend
A similar drop did occur several years ago and then picked up the following year

Changed their Special Ed approach, teachers assigned to grades and subjects
teachers will address the students as required to meet their needs
the classrooms are mainstreamed (all inclusive)

Most Special Education teachers are dual certified,
have 8 teachers to meet the 37% of the students have IEP's

Transportation for a regional school is different from local schools
the reimbursement rate is higher

They absorbed the difference between the actual transportation and the reimbursement rate rather than billing it out to the sending districts as they did prior

Motion to approve budget - Passed 11-0

Live reporting - Finance Committee - 5/5/09

Attending:
Brett S. Feldman
Juan Rivera
Patricia Goldsmith
Phyllis Messere
Rebecca Cameron
Jack Caufield
Mark Cataldo
James Roche
Tina Powderly
Craig Maire
Robert Teixeira


Almost final budget hearing

Information Technology
Tim Raposa

Similar to last year's budget, bare bones

"School Dude" work order management system, being set up this year to be used
should be set up over the next couple of months
doing cafeteria point of sale systems now

Efficiency based, current work order system is paper based

Virtual townhall - they do the website hosting, all done off-site
Folks call them directly, training is done on their site

Complete salary budget for technology department is in the School Budget

Motion to approve budget - Passed 11-0

"adopt the concept of 100-100"

Robert McLoughlin, President of the FEA, has posted the teacher's response to the School Committee's YouTube videos.

I was heartened to hear Mr. Roy use the word partner many times in his online presentation this weekend. In the context of partnership, some time ago I was introduced to the relational concept of 100/100. This idea being that a partnership should not be 50-50, but rather 100-100. Each partner in a relationship should not give 50 percent toward making the partnership successful, but 100% of their energy and effort toward achieving the shared goal(s) of the partnership. After just four days in office, I can proudly claim that the Franklin Education Association is putting the concept of 100-100 boldly into practice for the parents and children of Franklin.

Read the full posting here

In case you have not seen the YouTube videos, you can find them here
School Committee YouTube videos

"it is the library's slowest day"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

GHS

Posted Apr 30, 2009 @ 12:23 AM

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FRANKLIN —

This year's budget crunch will mean the public library will be closed on Fridays beginning the first week of July, but no staff members will lose their jobs, Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting told the Finance Committee last night.

Following the hearing, Library Director Felicia Oti left with a big smile - most likely, Nutting said, due to the fact that the library got a better deal than anyone had expected.

Initially, he and Oti feared the library would have to lay off staff and reduce hours even further - possibly leaving the library open only three or four days a week.

Friday was chosen because it is the library's slowest day, Oti said. Monday, then Saturday, are the busiest days, she said.

The library avoided layoffs because the union volunteered to defer salary increases, one employee asked to reduce her hours from 35 to 18 per week, the assistant director's hours were cut from 35 to 15, and because two people retired, Nutting said. Those positions will not be filled.

Read the full article on the Library budget in the Milford Daily News here

FY 2010 Budget schedule

The Town website has not been updated with agendas or meeting minutes for the current series of the Finance Committee FY 2010 budget hearings. During the meeting Wednesday 4/29/09, I was able to confirm that:

There was a budget hearing on Tuesday 4/28/09 that covered the Police, Fire, Planning and Recreation budgets.

The meeting currently scheduled for next Tuesday 5/5/09 will review the School Dept, Tri-County, and IT budgets to complete the FY 2010 hearings.

The committee has their regular meeting scheduled for the first Tuesday in June at which, depending upon the State revenue numbers, they may be able to vote on the final FY 2010 budget.

If that happens, the Town Council is scheduled to do their budget hearings on June 10th and 11th. Worse case, the Town Council may need to meet on June 24th to finalize a balanced budget before June 30th.

This schedule is subject to change. The State revenue numbers are still very fluid.

Live reporting - Enterprise Funds

Cantoreggi

157 miles of water pipe
the business is heavily regulated, EPA, etc.

Water rate had not increased in years. It did increase due to our conservation success, we are selling less but the infrastructure has not decreased and still needs to be maintained.

Chemical cost have been increasing, part of the treatment we do is pH.

$155,000 to 500,000 in the last year, due to the cost of the fluoride chemical

Roche - storm water regulations, how may that bite us?
Cantorregi - storm water monitoring for the whole system and what you can do with it. The Charles River basin catches the run off, into the Charles, then into the ocean. Ideally the water should go into the ground to replenish our aquifer. we have to do a lot more mapping, a lot more testing. Franklin, Bellingham, Milford are targeted for special planning for commercial buildings where they would be required for anything at two acres. The rest of the state is at five acres.

motion for solid waste - approved
motion for sewer - approved
motion for water - approved

Live reporting - DPW Street lights

DPW Street Lights - Acct 424

Nutting have made great savings to own and maintain our street lights, it used to be about 200,000 and this year we are only 140,000.

Roche - this is electricity?
Nutting - this is all, electricity, repair, and maintenance. We added the school parking lot and wall unit lights. We anticipate additional savings there.

Nutting - this budget should stay relatively stable. The only unknown is in some subdivisions, the street lights were not put in underground with the proper conduit, so a backhoe is sometimes needed.

Nutting - we have a committee that reviews street light criteria so we have a lot less than some other places. Not having to turn off the lights would require paying the electric company. If we wanted to shut them off, we can do so. We have about 1600 street lights.

Cantoreggi - We have a contract with the Police to survey the lights and report which ones are out. They are already out and about around the town.

Live reporting - DPW Highway

DPW Highway - Acct 440

Robert A. Cantoreggi

The DPW budget does reflect a personnel wage freeze for FY 2010.
We did not replace a person from last year.
We do supplement our force with part timers as needed
Storm water is big, we are working on that constantly.

We have been working on increasing the Snow and Ice budget to get it more realistic. This year is still low (600,000) and less than what we actually spent (1.2 million).

Road overlays come from Chapter 90 and not from the town
Stimulus money has not come down to us yet, we do have shovel ready projects.

Roche - what does it cost to pave a mile of road?
Cantoreggi - It is hard to say, it depends upon what we do with the road, to rebuild it up, or to just repave it.

Union St - mile estimated (fill in amount later)
Nutting - we have no drainage money, no sidewalk money, we want to put in 2 million and we would still be short. This is our highest need to maintain the roads. we don't have any money in the budget to maintain our roads.

Cantoreggi - There will be a huge bubble of roads over the next 15 years as they roads age and fall apart. We are doing band-aid patching and that is not going to help us.

Cantoreggi - Chapter 90 put some money in that, that is shovel ready, none of the money has come through.
Nutting - 2 Billion came to the State and there were 29 Billion requests for that money. The State has a huge list of projects and I don't know how they are going to decide.

Roche - Down $233,000 from last year
Nutting - we are going to centralize the inventory of the school furniture. Right now it is each building. A principal may be asking for something that is down the road at another school.

Motion to approve - passed

Live reporting - Facilities

Continuing the FY 2010 budget hearing

Public Facilities Acct 192

Mike D'Angelo

Jeff provides background on the Facilities arrangement since Mike started doing it on behalf of the schools.

6,300 students, all the public buildings, added hundreds of thousands of square feet to maintain, we are always looking for ways to do it better and cheaper.

Custodians did have 42 now have 32, but the buildings haven't shrunk, they have done a very good job.

You may hear people complain about the condition of the high school, the state came out and was impressed with the shape that it is in. Yes, it needs some fixing but it is working.

Mike
Consumables and parts, all prices went up, gas has come down but the prices have not
Hopefully some of the costs will maintain and not increase further
It has been a long time since I have been able to say that energy has gone down

Goldsmith -
D'Angelo - we clean FHS with 6 people, if someone is out we need to backfill

Goldsmith -
D'Angelo - I have been doing that with energy for 9 years. We bid that separately. We went to them in January and extended contracts at reduced rates. Next year electricity will be 10% less.

Cataldo - The building and rental lease is that the modulars?
D'Angelo - Yes, there is need for them in some of the buildings. These are really rental payments not lease. We should have these for a few more years.

Nutting - we are applying for a new grant to do an energy audit. If we get it, we'll do the analysis and see what we get.

Nutting - we are replacing fixtures with low water use facilities to cut down on water use. We'll relocate the facilities department to the DPW to free space for the schools and put the groups together for efficiencies. We are always looking to do things better, faster, cheaper.

Feldman - where is the grant from?
D'Angelo - From the state. NationalGrid has stepped up their programs.

Nutting - we are looking at the requirements in becoming a green community. There are zoning issues, building issues, it will be a team effort.
Feldman - there is also some Federal stimulus money there.

Roche - What was the increase at the high school?
Nutting - 30% water rate increase was part of it.
D'Angelo - in a lot of the water increase, we actually spend on irrigation of school and town fields, not on the use of the buildings itself.

Roche - HVAC contracts went up significantly
D'Angelo - we were significantly under budgeted going into this year. Remington/Jefferson is now 12 years old and that is driving my costs. The high school is driving cost due to the parts that are required.

Powderly - The HVAC increase at Horace Mann, Oak, ECDC
D'Angelo - when the budget came over from the Schools, it was broken out by school per DOE. It really is better to look at the complex rather than the schools individually. For example; Oak, Horace Mann, ECDC. I can look at 166 monitor points at the Horace Mann complex. That is good but it also means that you have 166 parts to potentially repare/replace as they go.

D'Angelo - a lot of our budget is routine maintenance. Right now we are going to make the jump into cooling, so a lot of the money is routine maintenance that pays off in the long run.

Nutting - we have purchased a work order system that will go online in JUly or thereabouts. We'll have better data to come back with an analysis on what is breaking where, and get to inventory control to keep track of what is being used

1,200,000 square feet of this one million is the schools

D'Angelo - cameras in all the new buildings, we do video recording. The town side didn't do much of that. We just implemented a buzz at the substation so if someone is not there, they get directly to the main station so a dispatcher there can view them and help them.

Roche - increases are significant, I need to take a hard look at. If we can't put food on the table, why paint the door?

D'Angelo - we take better care of our buildings by watching who goes into our buildings. we have a capital list to add a school that didn't have anything at the time it came on line. Some camera change outs have driven costs. The high school is heavily used, checking on locker access, etc. I don't see the costs sky rocketing, I do see replacements but generally what I replace cost less than what it was originally.

When I did my budget a year and a half ago, items cost far less than what they do now. We are just trying to keep up with the trash bags, toilet paper, etc.

Powderly - I am struggling with this being the only budget that was not level funded.
D'Angelo - it is actually much simpler. I pay for anything in all the buildings. No one else has that item in their budget. I don't get the choice to make a decision to tell the Library you are not getting air conditioning until July. We are doing what everbody else is doing, taking the car to the repair shops to keep it running.

Motion to approve budget (in excess of $6 million) passed

Live reporting - Finance Committee 04/29/09

Attending:
Brett S. Feldman
Juan Rivera
Patricia Goldsmith
Phyllis Messere
Rebecca Cameron
Mark Cataldo
James Roche
Tina Powderly

Missing:
Craig Maire
Robert Teixeira


Library Acct 610
Felicia Oti

Police budget request cut 200,000, Fire request cut 600,000

Library will be closed on Friday's, hours cut to 52
will apply for a waiver to maintain certification from Library Board
Jeff hopeful that the waiver won't be an issue given what is going on

Discussions with Medway still ongoing, Town Meeting required for approval

Rivera - commendation to the Library for all the work and services you provide. Question on cost of office supply increase? Just cost related?
Oti - yes,
Nutting - focus on keeping open as much as possible, keeping 52 hours (80% level) so cutting the book budget is one way to come and balance the budget
Oti - meet minimum in hours (50.5) will only need to apply for waiver for the overall budget dollars

Powderly - What was the change in subscriptions?
Oti - We drop the access to some databases but maintains the access to the Minutemen inter-library loan. There are other sources to access the info provided via the databases.

Roche - What was the total Library staffing in 1999?
Oti - 19

Roche - big budget, easy target, what kind of services do we really want?
Cameron - How is morale? Foot traffic is increasing.

Nutting - To say morale is good or bad, they have a job. You show up and do the best you can. In any place, I have ever worked, no one has ever said morale is great.
Oti - It is low.

Feldman - Is there any utilization of volunteers?
Oti - we do use the tax workout volunteers

Rivera - How is the inter-library

Cindy Dobrinski - Library Board Director, library use has increased considerably, especially over the last several months. Even in support of the school system. She references the library video (I have the link) where the student compares the librarian to the teacher and the librarian allows him to think. She urges consideration when they make their final deliberation.

five hours is worth more than $1 million

According to a copy of the proposal, the union demanded the following conditions: the permanent removal of five floating after-school meetings, permanent removal of the need to provide a reason for personal days, and the permanent requirement that no after-school meetings be scheduled two weeks prior to the issuing of report cards.

From the Milford Daily News article on the School Committee meeting 4/14/09.


The citizens of Franklin will find out, hopefully soon, what the cost of 5 hours of meetings are. Is it worth 1 million dollars? Or is it worth more?

The teachers union in a vote to accept the 2.5 percent wage freeze for the 2009-2010 school year attached three minor conditions to the proposal.

To remove from their contract, five floating after school meetings. There already are three mandatory meetings each month for the teachers at each school. Is there really a need for these five floating meetings? I hope not.

To remove the requirement for providing a reason for taking two "personal" days. There are only two, you use them or loose them. They are already defined "personal". Does the School Dept really need to know the personal reason? I think that is too much of a controlling issue.

To add a requirement not to schedule after-school meetings in the two weeks prior to report cards. This seems reasonable. The time before report cards should be focused on preparing the accurate information for students and parents/guardians on the progress made during the marking period.

Why this was not discussed during the meeting, I can understand given the nature of the conversation that did take place between Chandler Creedon and the School Committee. They were talking about the same topic, using different words, not really answering each others questions. For me, there is a communication issue there.


This was originally posted here on Wednesday April 15, 2009.

Letter from Ed Cafasso

Hello Everyone!

I hope you enjoyed school vacation week, this fabulous weekend weather and, of course, the Red Sox-Yankees series… Here’s an update on Franklin’s school issues.

Long-Range Financial Planning Committee: I hope all of you will do your best to attend Monday night’s town meeting regarding the findings of a year-long effort to perform an in-depth analysis of Franklin’s financial outlook for the next five years.

The findings of this group of volunteers offer you a comprehensive look at the challenges that will have a direct impact on your property value, your tax rate, the quality of your schools, and your access to municipal services.

The public forum scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Mercer Auditorium in the Horace Mann Middle School is a unique opportunity for you to gain better insight into the various forces driving the town’s finances and, more importantly, to ask questions of your elected officials about what the findings mean for you, your family and your fellow citizens.

I hope to see you there and encourage you to read a preview of the Committee’s draft report at: http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_News/01496EEB-000F8513. (The meeting also will be televised on live local government access channel 11 for Comcast subscribers only.)

FY 2010 Franklin School Budget: As you may have heard, the Franklin teachers union recently voted to accept a wage freeze for Fiscal Year 2010 but attached a series of conditions – essentially re-opening contract issues that the union had previously voted to abandon.

This saga began in December when the School Committee asked Chandler Creedon, president of the Franklin Education Association (FEA), to discuss a potential freeze with his membership. At various points during the winter, we were assured that the union was considering the idea. Finally, three months later, Mr. Creedon asked the Committee for a letter officially requesting that they consider a freeze. Our letter acknowledged the stellar work of our teaching staff, as reflected in our student’s college acceptances and academic performance. It also noted that, for most of this decade, the School Committee has worked hard to avoid reductions in teaching staff by steadily reduced spending on other services and imposing new and higher fees for busing, athletics, and student activities, to name a few. The savings generated from these decisions have been poured directly into the classroom, to recruit and retain top quality teachers, to support a strong curriculum and to maintain appropriate class sizes. Parents and community groups, like the Franklin Education Foundation, also have worked hard to contribute more to classrooms through personal generosity and the fundraising efforts of the PCCs.

On April 13, Mr. Creedon led a meeting of FEA members who were not allowed to vote on a wage freeze alone – only on a motion intentionally written to tie the freeze to new demands regarding personal days, meeting time and other issues. It is worth noting that all other major town unions have agreed to a wage a freeze. None have used Franklin’s budget problems to re-open contract negotiations.

The School Committee remains committed to work with FEA members to come up with a solution acceptable to both sides. We have repeatedly asked Mr. Creedon to make public his alleged plan for budget efficiencies. We also have asked to meet with directly with union members. To date, Mr. Creedon has refused to meet with our negotiating committee or to let us talk to his membership. The Committee will continue these good faith efforts at our meeting this Tuesday in the hopes of reaching an agreement that would avoid massive teacher lay-offs in the months ahead and help close the deficit projected for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

You can read the latest news coverage regarding this issue at: http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive/x1774896641/No-decision-on-Franklin-teachers-unions-conditions?view=print

2010-11 School Calendar: School administrators have presented two options for the academic year that begins late in the summer of next year. In one option, classes would begin Sept. 7, 2010 – the day after Labor Day – and reach the 180-day marked required by the state on June 22. In the second option, classes would begin Sept. 1 – five days before Labor Day – and reach the 180-day mark on June 17th.

As you recall, hundreds of parents surveyed last year overwhelmingly asked for the school year to begin after Labor Day, while teachers voted overwhelmingly in opposition. Parents are encouraged to examine both options and to express their views. The fact that Labor Day occurs exceptionally late in 2010 is a complicating factor. It’s also important to keep in mind that the last day of school could be pushed further into June by snow days.

You can view both options at http://www.franklin.ma.us/auto/schools/FPS/calendar/default.htm

As our community heads into the thick of important financial hearings and budget decisions, it is critically important for elected officials to hear citizen ideas and feedback. I hope you will attend Monday’s public forum and share your thoughts. I also urge everyone to stay close to the budget process this year by paying attention to School Committee, Town Council and Finance Committee meetings. It is also important for parents and guardians to pursue a frank discussion of budget issues with your principals and your school PCCs.

These e-mails are provided as a constituent service. I try to distribute at least one e-mail update each month during the school year, as issues warrant. As always, I welcome your thoughts and suggestions. If you are receiving duplicate e-mails or if you no longer wish to receive these e-mails, please let me know and I will remove you from the distribution list. If you know of someone you would like to add to the list, please send along their e-mail address.


Thank you!


Ed Cafasso, Member

Franklin School Committee

edcafasso @ comcast.net