Voices of Franklin: One Franklin "Shared Values Lead to a Common Goal"

One Franklin (Ballot Question Committee) is proud to stand with educators and grateful for the support of the teachers who serve our community every day. 

We share the mission to advocate for quality public education in an environment in which lifelong learning can flourish. 

All campaign finance reporting requirements are being fully followed. Any materials paid for by outside organizations will be clearly disclosed, and we are in compliance with all state laws.

One Franklin and our town’s educators share a deep concern about what will happen to the Franklin Public Schools and our town services if the override does not pass.

We often hear the saying “It takes a village”. In Franklin’s case, the village that supports our students, and all of us, includes the town police officers who keep our town safe and who keep our students feeling secure, the town fire personnel who show up for us when we need emergency assistance, the town’s outstanding senior center and library that offer socialization and support for senior and young people alike, and the DPW that takes care of our buildings, roads, and open spaces. All of these departments and all of you, the people in our community, working together, make up Franklin's village.

This is a pivotal moment for Franklin, and by coming together to support our public safety, public services, and public schools, we can preserve this wonderful community that we all share.

Please consider voting Yes on June 3rd for our Town of Franklin!

With gratitude,

Jenna Cohen and One Franklin Team

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If you have something to say, you can find the guidelines here
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/introducing-voices-of-franklin.html

Voices of Franklin:  One Franklin "Shared Values Lead to a Common Goal"

Voices of Franklin: Five Days of Action for Child Abuse Prevention

As adults, perhaps our biggest responsibility in our lifetime is to protect our children, and the uncertainty of the world today has made that more important now than ever before. 

As part of our commitment to social responsibility to the communities we serve, the Hockomock Area YMCA, along with YMCAs throughout Massachusetts and across the nation will be sponsoring Five Days of Action for Child Abuse Prevention, a campaign committed to raise awareness and inspire adults to take an active role to protect children from sexual abuse.  Please visit one of our three branches to pledge to take action to protect kids all year long.

Five Days of Action for Child Abuse Prevention

While child protection is our Y’s number one priority every day, this critical campaign will run April 21st through April 25th as we approach summertime, and will shine a collective spotlight on how everyone can do something to prevent child sexual abuse. 

Our Y will share information and resources each day to our members and community partners about how adults can prevent, recognize and respond to child sexual abuse situations to keep children safe.

Statistics from Praesidium and the CDC indicate that 1 in 20 boys and 1 in 4 girls in the United States are sexually abused, typically by someone they know and trust. Child sexual abuse is happening regardless of age, gender, race, religion or socio-economic class.

But these are not just numbers. Behind every number is a child, a child who has been robbed of their innocence. A child whose life will forever have been changed by the heinous act of an adult. We owe it to our children, and we owe it to their future, to do better. 

Help us prevent child sexual abuse through Know, See, Respond.  When adults know how abuse happens, see the warning signs, and respond quickly to prevent abuse, they foster a culture of child abuse prevention. Together we can bring awareness to the issue of child sexual abuse in our communities and have important conversations on how we can all work together to prevent it from happening. Please join our YMCA to spread important awareness and resources with your social networks and family and friends around this devastating epidemic.

Our YMCA is proud to partner and collaborate with school systems, municipalities and other human service organizations throughout our service area to help bring awareness, education and training regarding this issue. We remain committed to this collaborative cause and our effort to be part of a community-based prevention movement.  

Our YMCA was awarded Praesidium Accreditation® in 2024 by Praesidium, the leader in abuse risk management.  To achieve accreditation, our Hockomock Area YMCA underwent a rigorous process to implement Praesidium’s Accreditation Standards focusing on eight primary operational areas within our business: policies, screening and selection, training, monitoring and supervision, consumer participation, internal feedback systems, responding, and administrative practices. 

 

Praesidium then verified our Y’s successful implementation of these standards. The Hockomock Y will be accredited for three years, and during this time will commit to uphold fundamental organizational values and stringent safety practices that demonstrate our commitment to protecting those in our care from abuse.  We are proud to be one of three YMCAs in Massachusetts to reach this status and look forward to helping mentor other YMCAs in their process of becoming accredited.

As responsible adults, we need to give children a happy, healthy and safe childhood. Our world needs them, and they need us. Let’s give them the childhood they deserve.    

Jim Downs
CEO, Hockomock Area YMCA

Voices of Franklin: Selena Cousin's statement at the Joint Budget Listening Session - Mar 12, 2025

My name is Selena Cousin and I have lived in Franklin for over two decades. Moving to Franklin to raise my family was definitely one of the best decisions I've ever made. I love our town and the wonderful people who live (and teach!) here. That said, lately I feel like Franklin has become A Tale of Two Cities. Just like in the classic work by Charles Dickens, "It was the best of times—it was the worst of times." It really just depends on our perspective and what we as a town value and support. 

Tonight I'd like to focus our attention on the stability and continuity of town leadership over the past two decades from two different angles.

First, let's look at things from the municipal side. Since moving here in 2002, Franklin has had only 2 town administrators—Jeff Nutting served here for 18 years, and before his retirement he and the town council had the foresight to hire and train his successor, and Jamie Hellen has led our town ever since. So for town administrators in the past couple decades we have had a total of 2. That's it. 2. 

This continuity and minimal turnover in town administration has afforded us the opportunity to benefit from having many experienced departmental directors who have also stayed here in Franklin for long periods of time. Recreation Director Ryan Jette has been in his position for over 25 years, Library Director Felicia Oti has served in Franklin for 20 years, and DPW Director Brutus Cantoreggi has been here for almost 20 years. 

Alternatively, let's switch perspectives and take a look at Franklin Public School district's lack of leadership continuity. Since my family moved here in 2002, we have had 6 superintendents leading our Franklin Public Schools—Richard Warren, Dr. David Crisafulli, Wayne Ogden, Dr. Maureen Sabolinski, Dr. Sara Ahern, and Lucas Giguere.

We have also had many, many assistant superintendents, many, many principals, and many, many assistant principals serve under these 6 superintendents. I will leave the exercise of counting those up for someone else, but just to give you an idea let's consider the 3 schools that my 2 boys have attended since kindergarten. 

In just 11 years at Kennedy, my boys had 4 principals and 6 assistant principals. That is a mind-boggling amount of turnover in a very short time. 

For middle school at Horace Mann, over the past 7 years my boys have had only 1 principal (thank you Beckie Mottie!) but no less than 6 assistant principals.

Perhaps most glaringly, at Franklin High School (FHS), so far my older son has had 3 different high school principals in 4 years and an ever changing assortment of assistant principals. 

If we look back over the full 2 decades, there have been another 4 FHS principals for a total of 7 FHS principals and even more assistant principals. 7 principals in 20 years—think about that for a minute—that means most of our FHS principals weren't even at FHS long enough to see a single cohort of freshmen graduate as seniors!!! 

Meanwhile, this is only a snapshot of 3 of our 11 schools in Franklin over the past 2 decades. If we extrapolate the amount of leadership instability and turnover district wide, the numbers are indeed alarming.

It comes as no surprise that with a revolving door of educational leadership at the superintendent, assistant superintendent, principal, and assistant principal levels, we are also plagued in Franklin by a revolving door of teachers, which is particularly noticeable at the middle and high school levels.

So how does continuity of staffing (or lack thereof!) affect us all here in Franklin?

Clearly, on the municipal side our town has benefitted greatly from having very little turnover in leadership positions. These leadership positions are extremely well funded, with extraordinarily generous pay and substantial annual raises resulting in long term staff, continuity, minimal turnover, and the ability to plan effectively and even envision new ideas.

Accordingly, we have seen phenomenal growth on the municipal side over the past 2 decades. For example, our vision of becoming a cultural district has been realized and we recently funded and hired our town's first arts and culture director. Our recreation department has built new playgrounds, updated bleachers, and added pickleball courts in town. Our renowned public library underwent a major addition and renovation and hired an amazing children's librarian who creates programs and leads activities I only wish we had when my kids were little. 

We built (and later expanded!) our beautiful new 2 story senior center that enjoys a full schedule of activities M-F including a professional chef and transportation. We have built a new state of the art municipal building, and have also already updated it with new technology, carpeting and window treatments. 

We have even hired a full time assistant town administrator to help Jamie meet the ever increasing needs in our community. Undeniably, having well paid municipal professional staff with minimal turnover has allowed for some pretty impressive progress over the past 2 decades. 

And yet, at the other extreme, our schools struggle with a glaring lack of funding which compromises our ability to retain staff and minimizes opportunities for continuity, innovation, and growth in our Franklin Public Schools. Thankfully, in large part to the generosity of the state, we do have a beautiful new high school. However, a school is just a building unless we can afford to hire and retain the teachers and staff needed to fill it. Unlike our town administrator's portfolio, our school leadership does not have the luxury of visioning new ways of improving and enhancing our schools. 

Wouldn't it be great, for example, if we could help make college more affordable for families by offering programs where students can receive college credit and start college with a semester or 2 under their belts? At UMass, for example, starting college as a sophomore would save a student $38,000—at private universities a year of college credits could save upwards of $80,000. 

Unfortunately, as Superintendent Giguere has previously mentioned at school committee meetings, programs like the Early College Program and Dual Enrollment Program require stability and resources and infrastructure —luxuries we just don't have right now at FHS. Instead, we are too busy making cuts, always trying to decide which cuts will be the least noticeable and/or detrimental to the community. 

In fact, some of you may remember way back in 2008, Superintendent Wayne Ogden left his position with 2 years remaining on his contract (and without another job!) because he "couldn't in good faith continue to lead our district." He said, "Restrictive budgets and massive layoffs in the district preclude me from moving the schools 'from good to great.' In the last two budget cycles, I have been forced to reduce school staff by more than 70 employees, the vast majority of them teachers, and to abandon plans to bring our schools to the next level academically. Our investment in the education of our students is now below average in every single category."

Well, here we all are 17 YEARS LATER and we have continued to make devastating, very noticeable cuts in our schools each and every year since. As a result of inadequate budget allocation, we are plagued by a revolving door of educators, and unfortunately, lose too many promising and dynamic teachers to other higher paying, more stable districts. 

We have cut our elementary and middle school foreign language programs despite all of the research that says the younger the better when it comes to learning foreign languages. We have eliminated options like Latin, electives, and AP courses at FHS. 

Our music programs have been hit too many times to count, but when we moved here there were 20 music teachers (and even band in our elementary schools!), and now there are only 7 left and less music opportunities at every level. We have cut our theater director and the entire theater department at FHS. 

We have cut art teachers, the dedicated full time art director position, and the unique and much loved Franklin Arts Academy. We have closed Davis Thayer Elementary School, and in just a few months, Kennedy and Parmenter will join Davis Thayer for a total of 3 buildings no longer used to house neighborhood-based elementary education here in Franklin. By now, it feels like our schools have been forced to cut just about everything unmandated that can legally be cut.

To be extremely blunt, the citizens of Franklin deserve at least the same kind of STABILITY, CONTINUITY, and WEALTH OF RESOURCES in our public schools that we enjoy in our municipal services.  

Franklin, we are now at a critical point and we have some important decisions to make that will affect our town for years to come. Somehow, despite the revolving door of educational leadership in Franklin, we are incredibly fortunate to have an amazing superintendent who started his career here in Franklin over 20 years ago. Lucas Giguere is knowledgeable, experienced, well-liked and respected, caring, visionary, and totally committed to the town of Franklin . He is all in—our superintendent lives in town, pays taxes in town, sends his own kids to Franklin Public Schools, knows the community inside and out, and is fully committed to helping Franklin Public Schools succeed. 

Let's do everything we can to keep this superintendent here as long as we can and let's FINALLY put an end to the revolving door of leadership that severely undermines the potential of our Franklin Public Schools. Let's give our amazing superintendent, his hardworking and talented leadership team, and our incredible teachers the budget needed to *FINALLY* bring our schools from good to great. 

In closing, our public schools deserve the same opportunities for leadership retention and continuity as our municipal government. How can we expect our school leadership to effect positive change and make meaningful connections with teachers, students, and families if they aren't even here long enough to make a difference?  

How can we vision and bring to fruition the newest and most innovative educational programs and activities, if we don't have the money to even fund a level service budget? How can we pay our town administrator one of the highest salaries of any town administrator in the entire state—even higher than mayor of Boston—while we begrudgingly give minimal raises, if any, to our educators. Right now, we are a "good enough" school district, but we have the potential to be great—even one of the very best districts in Massachusetts—if we as a town decide to properly fund our public schools. 

Our students and families and educators deserve better. Let's commit to a significant override and fully funding and supporting our educators and our education programs like we do for municipal town employees and services. Because really, who wants to be known as the town that has great municipal services but deteriorating public schools? 

It's been said that, "Education is our greatest opportunity to give an irrevocable gift to the next generation." (Ernie Fletcher) Let's finally commit to fully funding our Franklin Public Schools and see just how amazing our town, our *ENTIRE* town, can really be.  

Thank you. 

Selena Cousin 

Guidelines for your submission

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/introducing-voices-of-franklin.html

Voices of Franklin: Listening Session Comment

Voices of Franklin: O'Sullivan - Why I voted 'No' Wednesday night

As a result of the 9-1 vote to recommend the override amount, I was curious as to why the no vote was cast. My email query went to Ruthann and this is her response:

In response to your question about why I voted no at the meeting last night, I really appreciate you following up so that nobody misunderstands my intent. 

To be clear, I am absolutely going to support this $3.9M override should the Town Council move forward. I believe another failed override will devastate our school district beyond repair. 

If not for the tremendous work of Superintendent Giguere and his team redistricting the entire school system, closing down schools, and consolidating resources, our district would be in absolute disarray. 

The reason I voted no, is because I'm concerned about the ability to pass additional overrides in the near future. There is an agreement among the committees in town that small future overrides are going to be necessary. In fact, in the Town Administrator's fiscal forecast, the town could be looking at a deficit as early as 2027. There are some unknown variables, and we can hope this will not be the case. However, this potential creates much angst among not just parents, but the teachers in our district who have endured consistent layoffs for the last decade. 

I am also concerned that if we do need to patch a gap in the town's budget through another override, it will likely be the responsibility of the School Committee and district to request and campaign for this need alone. Historically, when an override election takes place solely for our school district, it has failed. Notably, this is because parents tend to be underrepresented in local elections. 

As stated at the JBSC meeting last night, we have the ability to draft a question for the election that would present more than one option to the residents to vote on. One being level service, and one being "levels service plus" which could include an additional amount that would provide increased stability to the district. Our Superintendent has five new schools to get up and running this fall. And although the basic infrastructure remains the same, each of these five schools have new principals, teaching staff, students, bus routes, schedules, and so on. 

This is a massive undertaking, and parents want to ensure our educators have the support to execute this without unnecessary obstacles. Providing a "stabilization account" so to speak, for the school department and/or the town, would allow our leadership team to stay focused on the tasks at hand, and eliminate concerns around potential disruptions, or unforeseen events that could interfere with a smooth transition. 

I also firmly disagree that our governing body must predict what a "passable" override should be. Instead, I feel that giving the voters a choice would be the more democratic way to propose this question to the town. This idea is not novel, and I do not agree that voters will be too confused, and that confusion could result in a failed override. 

In summary, I am one-hundred percent in support of solving this structural deficit.

I will campaign my heart out, side by side with the One Franklin Committee as they educate our residents around the importance of investing and preserving our amazing community and those that serve it. 

Thanks for reaching out, I'll see you on the campaign trail!

Best,

Ruthann O'Sullivan

Franklin School Committee

Member Joint Budget Sucommittee

Guidelines for your submission

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/introducing-voices-of-franklin.html

Voices of Franklin: Joint Budget Listening Session

Voices of Franklin: Time for Listening Sessions

A poetic expression on current events

  I

What does it matter? Nothing will change at the listening session.

You mean then that your mind is so set, you can't go to a listening session

The budget is what it is. But the structural deficit is very real, things can, and do change when folks ask questions, or make comments at a listening session

There is no “found money”, it does not grow magically on trees, it comes from taxes and local receipts, those sources and the cost drivers are outlined at the listening sessions

Did you know the library card is a magic tool to gain free access to newspapers, and other online resources, all available without a listening session

Did you know the DPW plows the snow, fills potholes, flows water to your faucet, cares for the fields, and lights on the common, all available without a listening session

Did you know Police and Fire depts finally reached staffing levels authorized years ago, this staffing is now in jeopardy unless folks understand the details of these listening sessions

  II

There is economic hardship among our neighbors, the Master Plan document lays out these details, those are available without a listening session

Did you know the national wealth gap lives here too, it should not be a surprise, all our neighbors need to understand the impact of these listening sessions

Did you know economic hardship is like a hidden disability, including stigma, it is not very visible at first glance, with or without a listening session

One point of view says we are “One Franklin.” I wish that were the case; if we have to say it, are we really? It is time for another listening session

Another point of view says “We need to save Franklin.” Actually, we do. However, this group goes on to disparage certain individuals, such attacks only divert us, from paying attention to the listening session

We are a commonwealth, we need to care of all our neighbors, some of them may be the most in need of the services that would be cut without understanding the listening session

So Sherlock, now what? We need to face that we are in this together. We need to make a decision.  There are more sessions scheduled, we all need to absorb what is said, and not said, in the listening sessions

Steve Sherlock

Community Information Director (volunteer) for Franklin Matters & Franklin Public Radio. 

Steve is a "quiet poet". Find more of his poetry at  https://www.quietpoet.com

Guidelines for your submission

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/introducing-voices-of-franklin.html

Voices of Franklin: Time for Listening Sessions

Voices of Franklin: Asks why we are telling students that "they are far less important than the bottom line?"

I’m Helen Hoffenberg and I have been an educator in Franklin for the last 18 years teaching English at FHS. 

I’ve worked under 6 different department heads, 5 different principals, 5 different superintendents and with dozens of amazing colleagues that have since left our community. Although the insane turnover rate of highly qualified teachers is an important discussion point, I’m going to use this moment to talk about the Franklin Arts Academy- an amazing program that is currently being phased out due to budget cuts. 

Fifteen years ago I helped create this program that aims to teach core subjects like English, History, and Science to brilliant and creative students. Actually, they are artists, and they have thrived in this program for 15 years. 

Unfortunately, this group of often marginalized students will no longer have a specific space that helps them foster and apply these important critical and creative skills to the content, further putting them at a disadvantage. 

Ironically, my current FAA class sizes fall within the 18-22 students recommended by the School Committee while my English 11 Honors classes have 25 or more students in each class.  The FAA program has been paramount in distinguishing FHS as a progressive school that cares about all students and all learning styles.

In fact, ten years ago we applauded the FAA during a NEASC visit yet here we are phasing out the program and, essentially, those students, telling them that they are far less important than the bottom line. 

Helen Hoffenberg 

FHS English Teacher

Guidelines for your submission

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/introducing-voices-of-franklin.html

Voices of Franklin:  Asks why we are telling students that "they are far less important than the bottom line?"

Voices of Franklin: Middle School teacher wants us to "recognize what we stand to lose in terms of educational quality"

My name is Emily Laliberte, and I am currently a 7th and 8th grade science teacher at Remington Middle School. I am proud to be entering my 20th year of teaching in Franklin, and each of those years has been a rewarding experience. I've often found myself boasting to fellow educators about the working conditions here and the high quality of education we've always been able to provide in spite of ongoing budgetary issues. One of my greatest joys has been witnessing the district’s long-standing commitment to inclusion.

However, my primary concern—and the reason I’m speaking to you today—is to ensure that the full impact of the proposed changes to our Middle School Model is understood. While the goal is to save $1.4 million, it’s crucial to recognize what we stand to lose in terms of educational quality, and most importantly, who will ultimately bear the brunt of this cost savings - our students.

My journey began at Oak Street Elementary School as a special educator, before transitioning to Remington in the same role. Over the years, I’ve worked with countless families who moved to Franklin specifically for our exceptional special education services. Eventually, I made the decision to transition into a general education classroom, believing I could continue to support inclusion by creating a science environment where all students feel welcomed, valued, and empowered to learn.

That being said, I recognize that our community is facing serious financial challenges and requires significant changes. Over the course of my two decades here, we’ve discussed the budget every year, and each year we've been faced with the threat of severe cuts—many of which have already occurred.

Franklin has been a place where outstanding educators are trained and mentored, only to be lost to neighboring districts year after year. It’s clear that consolidation is necessary to address our district’s financial shortfall. While the proposed consolidation plans are intended to benefit the community financially, I’m concerned that the impact on our students has not been fully considered.

We’ve been assured that “class sizes will remain within the limits,” which is technically true. However, it hasn’t been made clear that many middle school teachers will see their rosters increase by nearly 50%, from about 80 students to 110-120 students. This increased workload will significantly affect the quality of education we can provide.

For me, this means less time to build meaningful connections with my students, understand their personal interests, sports activities, family dynamics, and cultural backgrounds. It also means less time to collaborate with families, respond to emails, and create individualized lesson plans and behavioral interventions that meet the needs of each student. The students who will be most affected by these changes are those with the greatest needs—whether academic, social-emotional, or otherwise.

You may wonder how we can maintain class sizes while increasing the number of students. The answer lies in major restructuring of grades 6 through 8- changing to more of a mini-Franklin High model instead of staying true to the more developmentally appropriate middle school model. 

Content teachers will now be expected to teach five sections per day of each subject. While the content of each class will remain similar, this shift means more students requiring accommodations, more parents to communicate with, and more grading - while being provided with less time during the day to do these tasks. 

Additionally, students will have fewer opportunities for unified arts, dropping from three classes per term to two, which reduces prep time for content teachers. Students who choose to participate in our robust music programs will do so at the expense of opportunities to participate in Computer science, Art, or other unified arts classes. 

Currently, our Unified Arts model allows core content teachers to have 80 minutes of prep per day on average (with some days being shorter or longer). This time allows us to work regularly with special educators, related service providers, administrators, students, and families. With only one 45-minute prep per day, most of our time will be spent preparing lessons and materials, leaving less time for these essential collaborations. Personally, I don't believe I'll be able to provide the inclusive experience for students that I have always taken pride in.

These changes could also mean that special education meetings might need to occur during instructional time instead of during extra prep periods that already exist in the schedule. This could result in students missing out on valuable instruction if their teacher is attending an IEP or 504 meeting. 20% of a roster would mean that potentially 22-24 class periods each school year could be without a certified educator leading them or access to necessary support staff.

I am aware that we are “getting” many things in this consolidation, like more consistent and clear departmental support, additional content-based UA offerings within that one period, and a more streamlined and consistent experience across the town. I’m looking forward to working with new people and getting to meet with my content-area counterparts more regularly. I continue to be worried that these positives will not outweigh the challenges and will result in more teacher turnover at a time when finding new educators is challenging.

I understand that many of the details about how these changes will unfold are still being worked out, and some of these concerns may be addressed between now and September. I deeply appreciate the extensive work of our administrative team, Craig Williams especially (seriously when does he sleep?), and look forward to continuing to work together to the benefit of our student population. Thank you for your time.

Emily Laliberte

Remington Middle School Science teacher

Guidelines for your submission

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/introducing-voices-of-franklin.html

Voices of Franklin: Middle School teacher wants us to "recognize what we stand to lose in terms of educational quality"

Voices of Franklin: The impact of school budget cuts

My name is Katherine Kellett, and I am an English Teacher at Franklin High School.

Thank you, Superintendent Giguere and School Committee Chair Callaghan for giving educators the opportunity to share our thoughts and perspectives tonight. We especially appreciate the opportunity to speak early in the evening so that we don’t have to stay up too much past our bedtimes.

We are here tonight to talk to you and to the Franklin community about the impact of the budget cuts on educators and students over the past year. As educators, we come to this profession with a passion for helping students become the best versions of themselves. We want them to reach their potential and become thoughtful, productive, caring citizens of this world. We celebrate their successes with them, and we pick them up when they are in crisis.

However, the strain on resources in this community has affected our ability to educate in the fullest way we can. Over the last two years, we have lost over 50 educators, 20 of whom were given pink slips last week due to the reorganization. Let me give you an example from my experience.

In the English department at the high school, we have lost three teachers over the last two years. Their students have been distributed to the remaining English teachers, creating larger class sizes. I have four AP English Language sections this year, each with 25-26 students. This class size is up from 18-21 students last year. I have had to reduce the number of timed essays I assign because of the physical limitation on how much I can grade (and I am a fast grader!). 

Moreover, we have been told that without a significant reduction of paper usage, teachers may face a white paper freeze in the coming months. I teach a diverse group of students, many of whom struggle with impulse control, so to rely solely on screens and technology to deliver my instruction would mean that I am not meeting the needs of all students, a charge from the state that I take very seriously. 

Educating students is the most important–I would dare say sacred–responsibility that a community has. To do that, educators and students need adequate resources. The Town of Franklin must choose to fund schools adequately in order to maintain the standard of excellence that I and my colleagues hold dear. Franklin must prioritize student-facing positions above all else–that means teachers, counselors, speech and occupational therapists, psychologists, and nurses–as well as the physical resources–yes, including paper–that they need to succeed and reach their full potential.

I stand here tonight with many colleagues, who are eager to share their personal stories. Thank you again for your willingness to hear our voices as the town works to construct a budget for next year

Katherine Kellett

Franklin High School English Teacher

Guidelines for your submission

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/introducing-voices-of-franklin.html

Voices of Franklin:  The impact of school budget cuts

Voices of Franklin: Call to protect your financial data

Citizens of Franklin:  We are facing a crisis, and we need all Members of Congress to fight back. Join your friends and neighbors in telling Senators Warren & Markey as well as our Representative in Congress, Jake Auchincloss, that we demand they use every tool at their disposal to fight back against the takeover of our government and the federal funding freeze. They must act now to halt the process on the nomination of Russell Vought for OMB Director and use all levers at their disposal to fight the assault on our communities.  

Elon Musk and his associates now have access to all U.S. citizens private and financial information, Social Security info, Tax Info, Addresses, Banking Info, etc.  He is dangerous and was not elected by any voter in this country.  

Please protect yourself and your families.  

Karen Landers

Franklin MA 

Guidelines for your submission

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/introducing-voices-of-franklin.html

Voices of Franklin:  Call to protect your financial data

Voices of Franklin: Registry Disaster Recovery office in Dedham to be "permanently closed"

Dear Norfolk County resident,

I am thankful for the privilege and opportunity to serve the residents of Norfolk County as their Register of Deeds.

It disappoints me to have to write this letter to Registry users and to those that rely on the land records at the Registry for title to their home. I was informed that the longtime Registry Disaster Recovery office in Dedham since it was established will be permanently closed by the County Chief Information Technology Officer (CIO) under the direct control and supervision of County Director John J. Cronin.

This Disaster Recovery Office was opened a decade ago as part of a business continuity plan should the Registry of Deeds building in Dedham become incapacitated. This Registry Disaster Recovery office was used during the COVID-19 pandemic and was part of the reason the Norfolk Registry of Deeds remained open and operational every work day during the pandemic. This story will sound familiar to those that followed the saga of the Norfolk County Commissioner and County Director John J. Cronin eliminating the direct report to the Register of Deeds Information Technology Department and staff.

This unfortunately is the sequel. The County CIO wrote that this decision had been looked at over the last 18 months. Yet in those 18 months neither I nor Registry staff were informed of any of this or even consulted by the County Information Technology Department or County Director. There has been no discussion about this matter with me nor my staff. Possibly the Disaster Recovery office could be kept in Dedham where the Registry has been located and doing land recordings since 1793 in addition to whatever planned new Disaster Recovery Office that hopefully gets opened.

This lack of discussion and transparency is a hall mark of Norfolk County Government operations. It is troubling especially when there was a recent "information technology incident" or breach of the Norfolk County Commissioners Administration office that was so bad employees are getting notifications at home from the County's insurance company to watch their personal accounts. It is all so troubling and compels me to let those who depend on Registry services to know about this development.

Sincerely yours,

Bill O'Donnell, 

Norfolk County Register of Deeds

Voices of Franklin: Registry Disaster Recovery office in Dedham to be "permanently closed"

If you have something to say, you can find the guidelines here
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/introducing-voices-of-franklin.html

Voices of Franklin: 350 Mass Greater Franklin Node says thanks to State Rep Jeff Roy

November 21, 2024

Dear Representative Jeff Roy,

We understand Governor Healey signed the climate bill today! We want to profoundly thank you and the climate conference committee for working so carefully and thoughtfully to create the robust, cutting-edge climate bill this legislative session! We appreciate that it was a challenge to write into law the necessary gradual transition from methane gas to clean electricity, making sure the balance is flexible, well thought out, and smooth. 

We also want to acknowledge that the process was longer and more difficult than anyone wanted, and was at times contentious. Trail-blazing legislation does take time and significant effort. We thank you and the whole conference committee for sticking with it to get to YES!

This bill represents another groundbreaking step toward a just, clean energy future for Massachusetts. We look forward to continued collaboration with you in the future as we fight together for climate action and climate justice!

With gratitude,

Carolyn Barthel and Steve Derdiarian, Coordinators

Mark Minnechelli

350 Mass Greater Franklin Node

David Rittenhouse

Marissa Bovie

Rand Barthel

Ted McIntyre

Megan McCarthy

Ray Milici

Kate Warsing

Rachel Plukas

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If you have something to say, you can find the guidelines here
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/introducing-voices-of-franklin.html

Voices of Franklin: 350 Mass Greater Franklin Node says thanks to State Rep Jeff Roy