Showing posts with label district. Show all posts
Showing posts with label district. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Live reporting: Cultural Council presentation
H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS
– Allan Mercer – Cultural District
Last fall during the visit with Anita Walker, Executive Director of MA Cultural Council had mentioned this would be a good opportunity to become a cultural district.
Attract business and tourists...
steering committee formed in March
continuing to work on application
identified 40 organizations to be stakeholders, likely more to be added
will look to form a 501(c)3
will be looking to fund raise
there is no connection between this group and the campaign around the Emmons St building
instead of a single organization like FSPA, there is power with the greater numbers
2015 envisioned a week long celebration of the arts to be held downtown
there is a lot of work left to do
here tonight to inform you and to ask of your assistance as we go forward
Bissanti - I appluad you for taking this forward
Jones - I think this is a great idea, a no-brainer. Are there additional benefits offered by the State?
Mercer - initially no, but once we are operating and running programs, there are additional funding available for programs.
Kelly - I'd love to see this happen. I would also like to see the district expand, there are lots of old houses that might be able to take advantage of this
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Cultural District being proposed for Franklin
On the Town Council agenda Wednesday for discussion before getting to the Library and the dedicated override for the road repairs, Alan Mercer is scheduled for a presentation on the Cultural District proposal being put together for Franklin.
From the Mass Cultural Council homepage:
The evidence is clear: A thriving creative sector is one of our Commonwealth's most powerful economic development assets. In support of this, the MCC’s Cultural Districts Initiative was authorized by an act of the Massachusetts state legislature in 2010, and launched in April 2011.
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| Mass Cultural Council |
The legislation referenced:
SECTION 3. Said chapter 10 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 58 the following section:
M.G.L. Chapter 10, Section 58A. (a) The council shall establish criteria and guidelines for state-designated cultural districts. A cultural district shall be a geographical area of a city or town with a concentration of cultural facilities located within it. Cultural districts shall attract artists and cultural enterprises to a community, encourage business and job development, establish tourist destinations, preserve and reuse historic buildings, enhance property values and foster local cultural development. The council shall assist a city or town if the city or town wishes to develop or foster a cultural district. The council shall develop an application process, with specific guidelines and criteria, for a city or town that wishes to develop or foster a cultural district.
Executive branch agencies, constitutional offices and quasi-governmental agencies shall identify programs and services that support and enhance the development of cultural districts and ensure that those programs and services are accessible to such districts. The council shall consult with the Massachusetts historical commission in developing and establishing criteria and guidelines regarding preservation and reuse of historic buildings.
(b) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, executive branch agencies, constitutional offices and quasi-governmental agencies including, but not limited to, the council and historic preservation programs, shall review and revise regulations and other economic development tools, including the evaluative criteria of such historic preservation programs, in order to support and encourage the development and success of state-designated cultural districts.
Acts of 2010 Chapter 188, Section 70. The Massachusetts cultural council, in cooperation with the executive branch, constitutional offices, quasi-governmental agencies and the joint committee on tourism, arts and cultural development, shall identify state incentives and resources to enhance cultural districts pursuant to section 52A of chapter 10 of the General Laws and shall report its findings and recommendations, if any, together with drafts of legislation necessary to carry those recommendations into effect by filing the same with the clerk of the senate and house of representatives not later than January 1, 2011.
You can find more about the proposal in the agenda document beginning on page 20
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_CouncilAgendas/2014/050714.pdf
You can find more about the Mass Cultural Council on their page http://www.massculturalcouncil.org/
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Franklin Public Schools: Alleged Threats and Rumors
A message from FRANKLIN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT
October 23, 2013
Hello
As you may have heard in the community or read in the local paper there have been rumors amongst our eighth- grade students about an alleged plan of a violent act against the Horace Mann Middle School community. These rumors began to circulate on Monday and increased in volume on Tuesday. The rumored threat was non-specific and the alleged threats were changing as the rumors were circulated in school, on buses and in the community. Please be advised that no alleged threat has been substantiated.
The Franklin Police were notified and are collaborating with school officials. Consistent with the district's crisis/emergency response plan the police were consulted and are continuing to investigate all rumors. Every measure has been taken to ensure we have a safe learning environment for our children.
The situation in Nevada and now the sad event in Danvers, MA have served to reinforce anxiety about school safety. If your child is experiencing stress or anxiety over these situations our school counseling personnel are skilled to support our children. If you have concerns please contact your child's school to access our counseling supports.
Thank You and Respectfully,
Maureen Sabolinski
Superintendent of Schools
This e-mail has been sent to you by FRANKLIN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT. To maximize their communication with you, you may be receiving this e-mail in addition to a phone call with the same message. If you wish to discontinue this service, please inform FRANKLIN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT either IN PERSON, by US MAIL, or by TELEPHONE at 508-613-1777.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
FPS: District Improvement Plan - checklist
The District Improvement Plan checklist is scheduled for discussion at the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, Feb 12, 2013.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Live reporting - district improvement plan, life long learning
2. Guests/Presentations
a. District Improvement Plan
Sabolinski, Edwards, Winslow,
over arching goals for the district, each of the school improvement plans derive from this
only 20% of the teachers are involved with MCAS educational programs and yet that is what the reporting is focused on; don't want to ignore the other 80% of what is done in the schools
next week is the current release for the most recent MCAS data
Literacy a broad-based goal
Math program added, guiding the new frameworks to what is happening in the classroom
new frameworks speak to the 'common core'
new goals reflect focus on math instruction
community engagement part of the focus, relationships to be developed with parents and to the greater Franklin community
looking for programs to foster student learning and extend the partnership outside the school walls
community collaboration required to support the educational requirements
this was achieved with the passage of the debt exclusion for the new high school
this goes beyond the building itself, to the ongoing needs for education
the plan (copied published earlier) includes check lists to mark and report on progress
includes an observation checklist for teachers and parents for use in reporting on what is observed in the classroom and school environment
previous plans were focused on MCAS, this is more broad-based as it goes to address the other 80% as mentioned earlier
Trahan - that was extremely succinct
Rohrbach - when I started this process was not so well formatted and clearly trickle down. Is it available beyond online?
Edwards - it is trickle down but it is also bottom up from the schools individual needs, there is a connectivity that was worked hard to achieve
Rohrbach - I guess it is better to say there is a common thread
Sabolinski - this drives what we do, it just doesn't go into a drawer and sit. It is an ongoing process
Jewell - some organizations will do things better than others,how do you share the goodness? If you have a checklist, how does that feedback come into the process?
Edwards - any parent question goes first to the teacher and then to the principal. Remember that the checklist is a guideline, not everything on the listing will be seen in every classroom. At all the schools there are grade level meetings, curriculum people, math specialists meet regularly to help spread the word. Sometimes there is more information than can be used
Sabolinksi - if something works, that will spread very quickly. Each school will be holding an open house for curriculum night. The teachers will be setting parent expectations at that setting, a nice opportunity for parents to engage with teachers. I am setting my goals with each of the principals.
Mullen - prior plans were multi year, this is a single year
Edwards - there is too much change coming, with changes in standards and curriculum, to keep up with them and be flexible we needed to be focused on the one year plan. It still allows for continuation of ideas but re-focuses them slightly to allow for flexibility and delivery
Sabolinski - we have spent four years training teachers on ELL, we have to go and re-train the teachers
The emergency response plan was dropped in our lap and we are one of the first to have submitted our response so we are in good shape
b. Lifelong Learning Summer Update
Pandora Carlucci
(a copy of the presentation will be added later)
The following document is more Pandora's notes that she used to make her update than a full presentation document.
approx 2500-3000 students for the summer program
"ready, set, kindergarten" - one of the fun programs to observe
held at Oak St, classrooms are set up similarly
Star program - about 1000 students, art teachers doing different programs
Star Plus - the middle school option, a more significant involvement
8 week summer, full day program, theme for each week, activities and field trips, water activities
Legos club is hughly popular
Math Academy - 2nd year
K-6, next summer expanding to 7, and the year after to 8
all the learning is math based, no 'real' names tags, the names were math concepts
each learning approached through math
Summer music program
111 students, participating
music mentors have grown with the program,
music literature compatible with the normal school year programs
a leadership goal set each day, encourage to perform as ensembles during the lunch time
demonstrating different music techniques, etc.
Summer Art Institute
2 weeks, intense focus on the arts
fine arts academy also participated in this
Academic support at the high school
remediation occurs throughout the year rather than wait until the summer time
college essay
3 day workshop first time, this year was 3 x three day workshops
so popular we ended up turning folks away even with three session
looking to address additional needs during the school year
high school experience
approx 2/3 of the incoming class participated
photos and video were captured this year to better show other students what happens during the sessions
Could the advisors be available during the sessions?
The advisors were posted so the students were able to meet them at the beginning
class motto - 1980 last yearbook that had one, seemed to have disappeared since then
what are our guiding principles?
difference between motto and slogan
on the final day, cohorts came up with four finalists
itslearning will be used to vote on the finalists, closed voting to class of 2016 only
inclusive of students who did not have a chance to participate
over 300 students fed via Whitson's help
Mandarin - online learning, 90 distinct lessons
Cisco networking academy, 2 target populations; student not going on to higher ed but interested in technology; also good for folks who are retraining;
mass open online courses (MOOC) - a meet up for anyone in the Franklin area to share what the experience is like; share what they have learned and what the issues are
Adult ed - grown child care provider courses, folks coming from 10 different towns
indoor walking expanded
hula hoop dance cardio workout
Downtown Abbey tea to be hosted, (flyer available here)
McIntyre - I was trying to find the word for you, you are creative and visionary, we are very appreciative of that
Sabolinski - beside visionary, she makes it happen! Pandora is the queen of schlepping things around, she is phenomenal at that!
Carlucci - it is a team, I try to say all the names of those involved, they are the ones who come up with the ideas. We all schlep!
Rohrbach - life long learning is the entrepreneurial arm of the district, it is self sustaining so we need to disclose that.
Carlucci - we'll be posting in Oct for next summer, so we'll be starting soon; I think this is my 15th year
Mullen - "respect, value, and include" really speaks to what you do
a. District Improvement Plan
Sabolinski, Edwards, Winslow,
over arching goals for the district, each of the school improvement plans derive from this
only 20% of the teachers are involved with MCAS educational programs and yet that is what the reporting is focused on; don't want to ignore the other 80% of what is done in the schools
next week is the current release for the most recent MCAS data
Literacy a broad-based goal
Math program added, guiding the new frameworks to what is happening in the classroom
new frameworks speak to the 'common core'
new goals reflect focus on math instruction
community engagement part of the focus, relationships to be developed with parents and to the greater Franklin community
looking for programs to foster student learning and extend the partnership outside the school walls
community collaboration required to support the educational requirements
this was achieved with the passage of the debt exclusion for the new high school
this goes beyond the building itself, to the ongoing needs for education
the plan (copied published earlier) includes check lists to mark and report on progress
includes an observation checklist for teachers and parents for use in reporting on what is observed in the classroom and school environment
previous plans were focused on MCAS, this is more broad-based as it goes to address the other 80% as mentioned earlier
Trahan - that was extremely succinct
Rohrbach - when I started this process was not so well formatted and clearly trickle down. Is it available beyond online?
Edwards - it is trickle down but it is also bottom up from the schools individual needs, there is a connectivity that was worked hard to achieve
Rohrbach - I guess it is better to say there is a common thread
Sabolinski - this drives what we do, it just doesn't go into a drawer and sit. It is an ongoing process
Jewell - some organizations will do things better than others,how do you share the goodness? If you have a checklist, how does that feedback come into the process?
Edwards - any parent question goes first to the teacher and then to the principal. Remember that the checklist is a guideline, not everything on the listing will be seen in every classroom. At all the schools there are grade level meetings, curriculum people, math specialists meet regularly to help spread the word. Sometimes there is more information than can be used
Sabolinksi - if something works, that will spread very quickly. Each school will be holding an open house for curriculum night. The teachers will be setting parent expectations at that setting, a nice opportunity for parents to engage with teachers. I am setting my goals with each of the principals.
Mullen - prior plans were multi year, this is a single year
Edwards - there is too much change coming, with changes in standards and curriculum, to keep up with them and be flexible we needed to be focused on the one year plan. It still allows for continuation of ideas but re-focuses them slightly to allow for flexibility and delivery
Sabolinski - we have spent four years training teachers on ELL, we have to go and re-train the teachers
The emergency response plan was dropped in our lap and we are one of the first to have submitted our response so we are in good shape
b. Lifelong Learning Summer Update
Pandora Carlucci
The following document is more Pandora's notes that she used to make her update than a full presentation document.
approx 2500-3000 students for the summer program
"ready, set, kindergarten" - one of the fun programs to observe
held at Oak St, classrooms are set up similarly
Star program - about 1000 students, art teachers doing different programs
Star Plus - the middle school option, a more significant involvement
8 week summer, full day program, theme for each week, activities and field trips, water activities
Legos club is hughly popular
Math Academy - 2nd year
K-6, next summer expanding to 7, and the year after to 8
all the learning is math based, no 'real' names tags, the names were math concepts
each learning approached through math
Summer music program
111 students, participating
music mentors have grown with the program,
music literature compatible with the normal school year programs
a leadership goal set each day, encourage to perform as ensembles during the lunch time
demonstrating different music techniques, etc.
Summer Art Institute
2 weeks, intense focus on the arts
fine arts academy also participated in this
Academic support at the high school
remediation occurs throughout the year rather than wait until the summer time
college essay
3 day workshop first time, this year was 3 x three day workshops
so popular we ended up turning folks away even with three session
looking to address additional needs during the school year
high school experience
approx 2/3 of the incoming class participated
photos and video were captured this year to better show other students what happens during the sessions
Could the advisors be available during the sessions?
The advisors were posted so the students were able to meet them at the beginning
class motto - 1980 last yearbook that had one, seemed to have disappeared since then
what are our guiding principles?
difference between motto and slogan
on the final day, cohorts came up with four finalists
itslearning will be used to vote on the finalists, closed voting to class of 2016 only
inclusive of students who did not have a chance to participate
over 300 students fed via Whitson's help
Mandarin - online learning, 90 distinct lessons
Cisco networking academy, 2 target populations; student not going on to higher ed but interested in technology; also good for folks who are retraining;
mass open online courses (MOOC) - a meet up for anyone in the Franklin area to share what the experience is like; share what they have learned and what the issues are
Adult ed - grown child care provider courses, folks coming from 10 different towns
indoor walking expanded
hula hoop dance cardio workout
Downtown Abbey tea to be hosted, (flyer available here)
McIntyre - I was trying to find the word for you, you are creative and visionary, we are very appreciative of that
Sabolinski - beside visionary, she makes it happen! Pandora is the queen of schlepping things around, she is phenomenal at that!
Carlucci - it is a team, I try to say all the names of those involved, they are the ones who come up with the ideas. We all schlep!
Rohrbach - life long learning is the entrepreneurial arm of the district, it is self sustaining so we need to disclose that.
Carlucci - we'll be posting in Oct for next summer, so we'll be starting soon; I think this is my 15th year
Mullen - "respect, value, and include" really speaks to what you do
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Franklin Public Schools: District Improvement Plan
The District Improvement Plan for the Franklin Public Schools for school year 2012-2013. This is scheduled for discussion at the School Committee meeting 9/11/12.
The full agenda for the School Committee can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/09/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda-sep.html
The full agenda for the School Committee can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/09/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda-sep.html
Friday, May 11, 2012
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
In the News - redistricting, Goguen letter
Local towns see big shift with new congressional districts
US Representative Jim McGovern currently has Franklin, under this proposal we would get Barney Frank.
Goguen: Town Council thwarting teacher, parent efforts
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Franklin, MA: School District Improvement Plan
The District Improvement Plan for review and discussion at the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, Sep 13, 11.
FPS: District Improvement Plan August 2011
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the document
The full agenda for the School Committee meeting can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/09/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda.html
FPS: District Improvement Plan August 2011
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the document
The full agenda for the School Committee meeting can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/09/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda.html
Friday, June 17, 2011
ALERT: Public Redistricting Hearing - This Saturday!
The following is an email from Senator Karen Spilka about the redistricting being done in MA.
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This message was sent to shersteve@gmail.com from: Office of Karen Spilka | Office of State Senator Karen E. Spilka, Room 511-C, State House | Boston, MA 02133 | Email Marketing by |
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Monday, August 23, 2010
School Committee - say it isn't so!
The School Committee reviewed the District Improvement Plan at their last meeting on August 10. As one of the contributors to the Steering Committee that developed the Strategic Plan, it was good to see the mission, vision, and values fleshed out with detailed action steps and follow up status points.
There is one significant omission. It was also noticed by one of the eagle eye readers here as well so I wasn't the only one to catch it.
The District Improvement Plan: The last goal statement was built on the core value that the community provides resources for learning. Resources in this case is not just funding and the Strategic Value was worded carefully:
For this goal statement, the plan lists two learning objectives:
Where are the parents? Where is the Parent Communication Council (PCC)?
Don't you think that the parents should be involved in the process? Shouldn't the parents (especially in their role as voters) be involved in the planning and communications around the educational priorities?
Shouldn't there be an objective to reach out to the parents (and other groups in the community) to improve the information and awareness of the school budget and priorities?
Is it just me or is the School Committee/Administration missing the boat?
Why is this an issue?
The School Committee agenda for Tuesday, August 24 has an action item:
Say it isn't so!
The action item and District Improvement Plan can be found here:
SchCom_20010824_ActionB
The 'final' Strategic Plan
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/08/live-reporting-strategic-plan.html
Strategic Plan Steering Committee
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/01/live-reporting-steering-committee-for.html
Strategic Plan presentation to Town Council
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/04/slidecast-strategic-plan-overview-audio.html
Franklin, MA
There is one significant omission. It was also noticed by one of the eagle eye readers here as well so I wasn't the only one to catch it.
The District Improvement Plan: The last goal statement was built on the core value that the community provides resources for learning. Resources in this case is not just funding and the Strategic Value was worded carefully:
We partner with all members of the community to exchange ideas, solve problems and build a comprehensive educational experience.From this value, the goal statement is worded as:
GOAL STATEMENT: The community will collaborate to provide the financial resources to support the educational program.This gets to the heart of the matter. For whatever reason (economic times, lack of trust, or just 'no more', etc.) the Franklin voters have spoken to deny the schools the funding the School Committee/Administration claims is required for the education of our children. One would expect that this issue, how to better engage the community, would receive a high priority and fortunately it does with the Value and Goal Statement as shown.
For this goal statement, the plan lists two learning objectives:
- Administrators will collaborate with School Committee to develop and implement a budget
- The FPS Administration will collaborate with town and community to address FHS facility needs
Where are the parents? Where is the Parent Communication Council (PCC)?
Don't you think that the parents should be involved in the process? Shouldn't the parents (especially in their role as voters) be involved in the planning and communications around the educational priorities?
Shouldn't there be an objective to reach out to the parents (and other groups in the community) to improve the information and awareness of the school budget and priorities?
Is it just me or is the School Committee/Administration missing the boat?
Why is this an issue?
The School Committee agenda for Tuesday, August 24 has an action item:
- I recommend acceptance of the District Improvement Plan as presented at the last meeting.
Say it isn't so!
The action item and District Improvement Plan can be found here:
SchCom_20010824_ActionB
The 'final' Strategic Plan
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/08/live-reporting-strategic-plan.html
Strategic Plan Steering Committee
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/01/live-reporting-steering-committee-for.html
Strategic Plan presentation to Town Council
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/04/slidecast-strategic-plan-overview-audio.html
Franklin, MA
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Live reporting - District Improvement Plan
c. District Improvement Plan
Left to Right in the photo are Maureen Sabolinski, Michele Kingsland-Smith and Sally Winslow.
The current plan as reviewed during the meeting is attached:
The plan this year was developed with the Strategic Plan in mind. Next year, there will be a formal team effort reflecting input from across the district to develop the update for this plan.
The Annual Yearly Performance (AYP) is increasing.
Student learning objectives are outlined to monitor the achievement.
Reading specialists worked to identify data points for students at specific levels across the district.
Looking at a Colorado growth model that will provide some data on the cohort growth rather than just data points from the test scores.
Based upon a look at the predictive data piloted with the State, the data helped to drive some staffing decisions.
- Maureen Sabolinski
- Sally Winslow
- Michele Kingsland-Smith
Left to Right in the photo are Maureen Sabolinski, Michele Kingsland-Smith and Sally Winslow.
The current plan as reviewed during the meeting is attached:
Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io
The plan this year was developed with the Strategic Plan in mind. Next year, there will be a formal team effort reflecting input from across the district to develop the update for this plan.
The Annual Yearly Performance (AYP) is increasing.
Student learning objectives are outlined to monitor the achievement.
Reading specialists worked to identify data points for students at specific levels across the district.
Looking at a Colorado growth model that will provide some data on the cohort growth rather than just data points from the test scores.
Based upon a look at the predictive data piloted with the State, the data helped to drive some staffing decisions.
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