the opportunity is now

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana 

Why am I on this kick about the School Committee/Administration and the District Improvement Plan?

And if by chance, you missed that, I talked about it here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/school-committee-say-it-isnt-so.html

and here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/well-take-money-thank-you.html


I worked with wonderful folks on the Steering Committee to develop the Strategic Plan for the Franklin Public Schools. That overall strategy plan is now being further detailed with specific actions and follow up items to bring us toward the vision of what the schools should be.

The history of Franklin voters funding education is terrible. One operational override has passed of the seven offered. The one that passed was clearly a town-wide effort to save operations across the board (fire, police, Library and schools). Each one that failed was essentially for the schools. Although there were other departmental effects, the bulk of the funding for the six failures was for the schools.

Hence, one could argue that Franklin doesn't fund the schools.

Hence, given the opportunity to put together the details for the strategic plan, one would expect a considerable focus on communications, outreach, etc.

As I have outlined already, the bulk of the work on the District Improvement Plan is there. The issue is relatively minor in that the parents, the PCC organizations were left out of the District Improvement Plan in the key section to increase awareness of the school funding priorities. The community is included in the high school renovation project. It had better be. The community is excluded from the budget process and that is where I raise the issue.

Given the history of Franklin funding education, given the methods the School Committee and Administration have used to communicate, something needs to be changed.

Hence the George Santayana quote.

The time for change is now.


Franklin, MA

Woodrow L. Abbott Field House

Let's reach out and draw from your memory banks on this one:


Apparently, the high school field house was once named the "Woodrow L. Abbott Field House" and then about 10 years ago (or so) the sign was removed and hence referred to as the Franklin High School Field House.


Who was Woodrow L Abbott?


Why was the change made?


You can send me an email or respond in the comments.


Thanks!



Franklin, MA

What small change can be made

What small change be made such that is has a great impact?

(Aside from getting folks to deal with accurate information rather than hearsay and misinformation.)

Interesting perspective posed here in this TED Talk from London:



I have advertised myself as Community Information Director, maybe I should consider shifting to Chief Detail Officer? This is a volunteer position in either case, unfortunately Franklin's budget problems couldn't support the role.

What do you propose?

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the video

Franklin, MA

Sir Ken Robinson on education

For something inspiring, view the following video clip:



If you missed the original TED Talk from Ken Robinson, you can find it here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/01/creativity-should-be-priority.html

Franklin, MA

"It is very difficult to think straight about well being"

The difference between our experience and our memory is fascinating. The colonoscopy patient example is a wonderful story. Not so much about the colonoscopy itself but for what the ending is and how it determines the memory. A story is a combination of changes, significant moments and endings. The ending determines the remembering self not the experience self.

Daniel Kahneman shares his insights on this in this TED Talk.

"Below an income of $60,000 per year, American people are unhappy."




Now moving from happiness to optical illusions. If the visible error can be seen, how can we deal with those other logic errors that don't appear so visible?

Dan Ariely asks "Are we in control of our decisions?"



Why explore these studies on irrational behavior, experience and memory? We are in the budget season. There are a number of discussions underway around priorities. We also have a significant discussion underway on the Town Charter. The charter changes should be done with a good deal of thought for the future. Those who seem to be stuck with people in roles, or people making proposals, are falling into the traps outlined in these talks. Their thoughts are being colored, even coerced in ways that if they were to reconsider, there might be a different result.

Will taking the time to think about this change the way we do things?

There is always hope.


Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the two videos here.


Franklin, MA

End the R-word

Spread the word, to end the word!

What word?
You know, the R-word.



More about the international event taking place on March 3!

Thanks to Susan Senator for the link

Four Changes to Law

Phillip K Howard spoke recently at the TED Conference and it was captured in this TED Talk.

The land of the free has become a legal minefield, says Philip K. Howard -- especially for teachers and doctors, whose work has been paralyzed by fear of suits. What's the answer? A lawyer himself, Howard has four propositions for simplifying US law.

What are the four propositions?

1 - Judge law mainly by its effect on society, not individual situations.
2 - Trust in law is an essential condition of freedom. Distrust skews behavior towards failure.
3 - Law must set boundaries protecting an open field of freedom, not intercede in all disputes.
4 - To rebuild boundaries of freedom, two changes are essential:

• simplify the law
• restore authority to judges and officials to apply law

I do encourage you to view the video (approx. 20 minutes) as the arguments Phillip makes are quite compelling. 



What do you think? Do we stand a chance of getting somewhere with these proposals?

Year end activities

As 2009 winds down and we get ready for 2010, I'll spend sometime making adjustments to the site. For example, the meeting summaries for 2009 will move from the center column to the far right column. There will be a new box for the 2010 meeting summaries in the center column.

I will continue to feature items from the 2009 Annual Report while I work on my review of 2009. Each month will appear as it is ready.

I have some other changes I want to make to the web site to help make it easy to use. I'll announce those as they appear. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to drop me a line and let me know.

In the meantime, I anticipate overall activities will be light here. I will be sending time enjoying the holidays with family and friends. I trust you will take advantage of the time to do so with your circles.

Enjoy!