Representative Roy Among Climate Leaders Honored at the State House for their Work in Energy Efficiency

State Representative Jeffrey N. Roy (D-Franklin) was among those honored at the 2024 Mass Save Climate Leaders ceremony held at the State House on Tuesday, January 21st.

The annual event, co-hosted by the Sponsors of Mass Save (National Grid, Eversource, Until, Berkshire Gas, Liberty, and the Cape Light Compact), celebrated 19 “Climate Leaders” across a range of industries for partnering with Mass Save to make substantial and innovative energy efficiency investments.  Representative Roy also received an award honoring him for his unwavering commitment to advancing energy efficiency in Massachusetts.

(L-R) Katherine Peters, Director of Residential Energy
Efficiency at Eversource, Rep Roy
and Chris Porter from National Grid, Director
 of Customer Energy Management at National Grid

Collectively, the Mass Save Climate Leaders avoided 47,500 metric tons of CO2, which is equivalent to the amount of energy used by over 6,300 homes in one year.  The awardees represented industries across a wide array of sectors such as healthcare; municipalities; community organizations; cultural institutions; hospitality; industrial & agricultural energy efficiency; post-secondary education; developers; the food industry; and school districts.  

Among those honored was the Acton Boxborough Regional School District (ABRSD). ABRSD Superintendent Peter Light, formerly Principal at Franklin High School, was at the ceremony on behalf of the district to receive the award.

The ABRSD was honored for their work as one of the first-ever U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools awardees.  Their Boardwalk Campus is a newly constructed, fully electric project that relocated two separate elementary schools into one energy efficient building.  With the help of their Mass Save partner Eversource, the project exceeded an Energy Use Intensity goal and installed energy-efficient measures such as ground-source heat pumps, enhanced insulation, demand-control ventilation, energy recovery, as well as a commercial-scale electric kitchen.

Representative Roy spoke at the awards ceremony along with Elizabeth Mahony, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, as well as leaders from Eversource and National Grid, each a Mass Save sponsor.

Representative Roy speaking

“I applaud the 2024 Mass Save Climate Leaders for undertaking innovative, climate-driven solutions to reduce their energy use and carbon footprint,” said State Representative Jeffrey N. Roy (D-Franklin).  “I especially want to thank the Mass Save Sponsors for honoring me with an award and for their strong partnerships with entities across the Commonwealth to facilitate tangible, measurable, and impactful climate action that moves Massachusetts forward into its clean energy future.”

 “I’m happy to be here to celebrate the Mass Save Climate Leaders and their good work to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and lower energy use through efficiency measures,” said Elizabeth Mahony, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources. “The 2024 Climate Leaders are undertaking impressive projects including electrification, energy efficient upgrades, sustainable building projects, energy conservation, net zero buildings, and two all-electric geothermal schools.”

“It is our pleasure to recognize the 2024 Mass Save Climate Leaders, all of whom have distinguished themselves as true leaders in our collective missions to help Massachusetts achieve a net zero future,” said Tilak Subrahmanian, Vice President of Energy Efficiency at Eversource. “The impact each has had – individually and collectively – cannot be overstated.” 

“Thank you, honorees, for being leaders not just in your industries, but for the entire Commonwealth,” said Christopher Porter, Director of Customer Energy Management at National Grid. “Your commitment to innovation, sustainability, and climate action is a testament to what can be achieved when we all work together towards a common goal.”

In recent years, the Legislature has taken significant steps to help decarbonize the Commonwealth while maintaining affordability and energy reliability. 

In 2021, the Legislature set bold goals to reduce emissions with the Next Generation Roadmap Law, which required clean energy and climate “roadmap” plans every five years through 2050 to ensure the Bay State stayed on track.  

In 2022, they built on this work by creating clean energy policies and programs to help meet these limits. 

Recently, in 2024, the Legislature passed a climate bill which makes historic changes that streamline the state’s siting and permitting processes for clean energy infrastructure projects, and promotes clean energy, battery storage, and electric vehicle policies to build a robust charging network, among many other reforms. 

They also passed a climatetech bill which provides significant levels of funding and tax incentives to support the growth of the climatetech industry, making the Commonwealth a competitive hub for this innovative and critical sector. This bill was modeled after legislation that helped launch the successful life sciences industry in Massachusetts. 

Talent at Franklin High School (video)

Some of the teachers, faculty and staff at FHS know how to have a good time!



Enjoy!

FHS Update and Amendment to the Program of Studies

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

FHS Update and Amendment to the Program of Studies

via FHS Principal's Blog by lightp on 7/31/09

Please excuse the date on this letter, but as I prepare to leave for vacation, I wanted to post a copy of this letter which will be sent next week to the FHS Community. The letter is designed to highlight and explain changes that will or have occurred at FHS as we prepare for the coming year. Guidance Counselors will be in the Office on August 18th and 19th to answer questions or resolve scheduling conflicts.

View this document on Scribd

Click below for a version of the letter that can be downloaded and printed.

FHS Update

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Breaking the downward cycle

"In Franklin, you basically have a one-in-four chance of not making it through high school. That's a pretty scary statistic," said Light.

Read the remainder of this important point from FHS Principal Peter Light's presentation to the School Committee on Tuesday, July 21 in the Milford Daily News here

If you ever wondered why disciplinary action was taking school time away from the students who were in need of it, there is hope. Peter Light and the FHS faculty are looking closing at breaking the cycle where a student gets into trouble, is given detention, suspended, misses school, can't make up as they fall behind and eventually leaves school. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Now the cycle is about to get changed.

You can wait until several days after the School Committee meeting to read about what happened or subscribe to Franklin Matters and obtain the information as it is published during the meeting.

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This is a public service effort to share information about school and town issues to create informed voters. A voter that is well prepared with factual information will cast a better ballot when the time comes in Franklin.

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Live reporting - FHS School Improvement plan

Franklin High School Principal - Peter Light

Franklin, MA School Improvement Plan 2/10/09

View more presentations from Steve Sherlock. (tags: improvement school)

Literacy
AP Access

Have not come up with a formal process to analyze the MCAS scores across the high school. Each department has done great work within their areas and then shared with the school as a whole.

Communication

Notices to home have been coming via email rather than printed note.
Working on electronic report card distribution, he is not confident with the technology yet. He is trying with the third term reports.

Peter has started a blog

School Safety

Working on updating the fire drill procedures
Working with the Police to do a lock down during a "passing time" that is when the students are in motion changing classrooms. Prior lock downs were done with students in the classrooms which is easier.

Light - the system automatically recognizes when there is a valid email address. When there isn't, it automatically prints a hard copy which would be mailed to the home. We try to use technology as much as possible.

SchCom: Sabolinski, Light, Ogden

SchCom: Sabolinski, Light, Ogden, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Incoming Superintendent Maureen Sabolinski and Peter Light listen as current Superintendent Wayne Ogden explains the selection process that resulted in Peter being announced as the new Principal of Franklin High School.

Additional notes from the School Committee meeting can be found here

Live reporting - Peter Light - part 2

Peter introduces himself provides some background for the community

Worked here since 1997, began as substitute, two middle schools and eventually the high school

K-12 Director of Music

Bring to the table his sense of the community, especially as with his background in music. Worked with music boosters group, meet parents and other members of the community at concerts.

Looking to bridge the gap between the community and the school.

Partially responsible for the Freshman Collaborative
Starting to see benefits of the work preparing the students to come into the high school

Work on the blackboard program (as reported here from last summer)
looking to expand the program across the high school and middle schools

First and foremost, high school has to be about teaching and learning

1 - Scholarship
has to be first in mind about the quality of education, how well students will do beyond high school; ensure a level of confidence, raising expectations, how we work with administrators, teachers inside the building and across the district

conference scheduled at end of this year to work on creating a common language for teacher feedback, sense of continuous improvement

need for continual positive feedback to ensure continual development of teachers
essential values that teachers have to share

strategy - it is not just intelligence, it is how you can use it; how do we work with students who struggle, how do we take students where they are at and take them to the next level

2 - Community
Community needs to have a level of confidence in the high school, communication of high standards and expectation

3 - Leadership
transparency, openness, fosters a sense of open dialog
principal blog, to improve the immediacy of communications
looking for a podcast, particularly with the budget cycle coming
looking to reach out and engage constituent groups, particularly in the next 6 months

involve this Committee, Central Office, administration, students, parents, teachers, community, etc. gather data, evaluate, and develop a strategy

looking for expansion of the retired teacher volunteer opportunity

Pat Slight - thanks Ms Gould for her work; Mr Light was his vice principal as he came in as a freshman, this will be his third principal in his time at the high school, and he is fine with that.

Peter Light wants to keep a relationship with the students.

Jeff Roy - Mr Light was a finalist in the Needham search and he chose Franklin over Needham

Live reporting - Peter Light

Wayne Ogden - intro to Peter Light, in survey of students and facility, they heard: we want someone we know, we want stability, we want someone who knows what is going on. Peter's name was a consensus amongst those interviewed.

"We have in our midst is a gem of a young leader who can take us forward."

Peter will be the permanent principle beginning January 26th.