Franklin Public Schools: MICCA Music Awards

A message from FRANKLIN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT

Hello

1 
- Happy Spring vacation - please see the announcement below

Our music students in grades 6-12 all won medals at the State MICCA festival. Congratulations to all.

2 
- Please note the FHS Main Office will be closed next week. 

All FHS administrative offices will be closed during vacation week due to water damage repairs. Work permits may be completed when we return from vacation on April 25th.

------------

The Franklin Music ensembles had a wonderful outcome at the MICCA Music Festival. All eleven of the Franklin ensembles that performed received a medal. Below are the ensembles that performed along with the medals that they received.

• FHS Chorus - Silver
• FHS Select Chorus - Silver
• FHS Concert Band - Bronze
• FHS Orchestra - Silver
• FHS Wind Ensemble - Silver
• Annie Sullivan Middle School Band - Bronze
• Combined Middle School Orchestra - Gold
• Middle School Honors Choir - Silver
• Horace Mann Middle School Band - Silver
• Remington Symphony Band - Silver
• Franklin Repertory Orchestra - Gold

Congratulations to our musicians

Thank you parents, music boosters and faculty for your support for all of our young musicians!

MICCA

The Town of Franklin is now on YouTube!

The Town of Franklin is now on YouTube! Please visit the following icon below to the Town's Official YouTube page to check in for exclusive content, interviews with town staff, videos and pictures of the work town government is doing. 

We plan to add many clips of Franklin TV's "Our Franklin" program with town officials and projects going on around town. 

Please contact the Deputy Administrator, Jamie Hellen at 508-553-4887 or jhellen@franklin.ma.us with any feedback, ideas or stuff you'd like to see.

Franklin YouTube

"We want our website to be much more friendly"

"The town is looking at ways to improve its website, including making services available to those using mobile phones and tablets. 

Deputy Town Administrator Jamie Hellen, who started in his position earlier this year, said the town has been in the midst of evaluating its communication with local residents. 

"Since I've been here, I've been talking a lot with town departments, folks in the community and the Town Council, and there's at least some interest in a recharged effort to expand some services we offer online," he said. The exact nature of the expanded services has yet to be determined."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20160307/franklin-may-improve-website

I applaud the efforts Franklin is taking in this arena. Jamie 'gets it' and in a short time has made good progress with more underway.

online bill pay

Finally, a Top 50 that has Franklin Schools

Via the Westwood Patch, the radar reveals:

"Niche.com, a national research group started by Carnegie Mellon University, recently released its 2015 list of school districts with the best teachers throughout the nation, as well as the commonwealth of Massachusetts."

The Top 50 listing for teachers has Franklin in the 14th position for MA.

"Here is a look at the commonwealth’s 50 school districts as ranked by Niche.com

1. Westwood Public Schools
2. Newton Public Schools
3. Lexington Public Schools
4. Northboro-Southboro Regional School District
5. Westford Public Schools
6. Acton-Boxborough Regional School District
7. Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School District
8. Masconomet Public Schools
9. Brookline Public Schools
10. Needham Public Schools
11. Braintree Public Schools
12. Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District
13. Shrewsbury Public Schools
14. Franklin Public Schools
15. Cambridge Public Schools"

http://patch.com/massachusetts/westwood/50-school-districts-best-teachers-ma-0

Click through to https://k12.niche.com/ to explore the other listings

Franklin Liquors: Happy 237th Birthday Franklin MA! One Day Wine Sale 3/1/15

From Mark Lenzi at Franklin Liquors

Back in February 1978 after a “small” snow storm our dad purchased Jimmies Package store. For those of you not familiar with it or its location it was historic in town. One half was a liquor store the other a tobacco/penny candy/soda fountain AND both sides connected. Located in the center of town looking there now you would never know it existed. There is an empty lot before the railroad bridge left of HR Block and across from The Rome Restaurant.

Jimmies Liquor Store - downtown Franklin

parade passing by Jimmies Liquor Store - downtown Franklin

When it came time to change the name there was none better than FRANKLIN Liquors. Our whole family has deep roots in Franklin, gradates of the schools and all still living in the town today. As a child I can remember walking from Davis Thayer School To CCD at St Mary’s BUT having to stop for candy first.

In 1986 we relocated the store, one of many changes in the town over the years due to growth. We are proud to be family owned and Franklin residents!

Check out the wine specials and the remainder of the Happy Birthday Franklin posting here:
https://franklinliquors.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/happy-237th-birthday-franklin-ma-one-day-wine-sale-3115/

Reminder: Franklin's 237th Birthday is a good reason for a party!

The Franklin Historical Commission will celebrate our town's birthday with a party at the Museum on Sunday March 1st.

The public is invited and encouraged to join the Commission for cake and refreshments as we commemorate the Town of Franklin's 237th Birthday.

Originally to be named Exeter when the charter was filed on March 2, 1778, our town took the name Franklin after the famous diplomat and revolutionary, Benjamin Franklin
.
Local residents who were born on March 2nd have received an invitation from Historical Commission Chairperson, Debbie Pellegri, inviting them to the museum to celebrate their shared birthday with the town. 

From young children to seniors, as many as 88 town residents have a March 2nd birthday. All invitees in attendance born on March 2nd, will be entered in a free raffle for a $100 prize!

Sunday March 1st, 1:00PM, Franklin Historical Museum, 80 West Central Street, Franklin.

The Franklin Historical Museum in warmer times

For additional information on the Museum and exhibts, visit their webpage
http://franklinhistoricalmuseum.org/

Party - Town of Franklin's 237th Birthday - March 1

The Franklin Historical Commission will celebrate our town's birthday with a party at the Museum on Sunday March 1st.

The public is invited and encouraged to join the Commission for cake and refreshments as we commemorate the Town of Franklin's 237th Birthday.

Originally to be named Exeter when the charter was filed on March 2, 1778, our town took the name Franklin after the famous diplomat and revolutionary, Benjamin Franklin
.
Local residents who were born on March 2nd have received an invitation from Historical Commission Chairperson, Debbie Pellegri, inviting them to the museum to celebrate their shared birthday with the town. 

From young children to seniors, as many as 88 town residents have a March 2nd birthday. All invitees in attendance born on March 2nd, will be entered in a free raffle for a $100 prize!

Sunday March 1st, 1:00PM, Franklin Historical Museum, 80 West Central Street, Franklin.

The Franklin Historical Museum in warmer times

For additional information on the Museum and exhibts, visit their webpage
http://franklinhistoricalmuseum.org/

STUDENT Holidays SPECIALS from Team Fitness and CrossFit Franklin!

STUDENT HOLIDAY SPECIAL Welcome home students.  The holidays are an important time to reconnect with family and friends and enjoy lots of good food and drink. Below are the specials we are running for college students for keeping you fit and strong while at home. We look forward to welcoming you back to the club and helping you to reconnect with the friends you haven't seen in a while.  Team Fitness/CrossFit Franklin Student Thanksgiving/Holiday/Winter/Spring/Summer Specials                         TFF Regular     Special Price        CFF Regular    Special Thanksgiving**     $10                 Included                  $29.95            Included Holiday/Winter**   $29.95           Included                  $59                  Included Spring                    $10                 Included                  $29.95            Included Summer                $104               Included                  $297               Included Total                     $153.95        $119.95*             $415.90        $299* *Special price available ONLY 11/17/14-12/31/14. **Must be paid in full during time period indicated.      If you join either at Thanksgiving or at winter holiday break, AND pay in full at sign up, you can receive the special pricing that will include membership through next summer.        $119 for Team Fitness membership and  $299 for CrossFit Franklin membership.   We look forward to seeing you soon.  The Team at Team Fitness and CrossFit Franklin

Forward this email Team Fitness Franklin | 100 Franklin Village Drive | Franklin | MA | 02038

Franklin uncovered

Those commuting via the MBTA from the downtown station saw the stones reappear this week. A couple of folks cleared out the brush and growth to reveal the rocks before applying a fresh coat of paint.

"old time" Franklin has reappeared!

view from the stairway to the downtown station

from the platform on a sunny Saturday

framed from the Berry Ins - Depot Building parking lot

Updated: The gentlemen who did the work were Tony Marzullo and Steven Pellegri with paint provided by Judith Pond Pfeffer

Curious: Does anyone know when this first appeared?

Mark your Calendars for Hockomock Area YMCA Spooky Games!

The Hockomock Area YMCA invites area residents to enjoy a spooktacular evening as Spooky Games returns on Friday, October 24th from 6:30PM-8:00PM at its Bernon Family Branch (45 Forge Hill Road, Franklin), Invensys Foxboro Branch (67 Mechanic Street, Foxboro), and North Attleboro Branch (300 Elmwood Street, North Attleboro). 

This FREE event is open to members and non-members alike. Participants are encouraged to dress in costume. 

• The theme for the Bernon Family Branch is ‘Night at the Movies”. The Bernon Family Branch staff invites participants to visit Olaf’s Ice Adventure, Maneuver through our Lego Movie Obstacle Course, Journey the Road to Oz, and meet the Sanderson Sisters, and more. 
• The theme for the Invensys Foxboro Branch is ‘Haunted School House’. The Invensys Foxboro staff invites participants to play ghoulish games in math class, experiment in the horror lab, dare to try lunch lady snacks, and to beware of the Principal’s office. 
• The theme for the North Attleboro Branch is ‘Never Never Land, the dwelling place of Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, and the lost boys.’ The North Attleboro staff invites participants to visit Mermaid Lagoon and seek out the Treasure of the Tides, venture to Pixie Hollow to find fairies and fun, and to hike the Indian Camp to check on Chief and Princess Tiger Lily. 

Hockomock YMCA

At dusk, anyone seven years of age or older will want to head outdoors to check out Franklin branch’s ‘Batman’s Arcam City’ Haunted Woods or North Attleboro branch’s “Never Never Never Land’ Haunted Woods” both proudly presented by the Y’s Teen departments and volunteers. 

Admission to the outdoor activity will be $4.00 per person. For more information, call Michael Mahoney at 508-643-5265 or visit our website at www.hockymca.org.

Walking around Franklin

Out walking this weekend, I find the stone walls and site preparations are still underway at the entrance to Chestnut Ridge.

stone wall at entrance to Chestnut Ridge

If you missed what is going in at this location, it is a "congregate assisted living facility".
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/whats-going-in-at-rockpile.html



The signs are in place for the new location of the Franklin Art Center

Franklin Art Center

They moved effective Sep 1 from the Berry Building downtown to this location next to the Municipal Building (near the Alumni Restaurant, across from the Big Y).
http://franklinartcenter.com/

Franklin featured in AAA

A photo you saw here first was selected for the small article about Franklin in the monthly AAA Horizons publication.

photo of the Horizon's issue with my photo

Thanks to Cindy Cornwall for prompting AAA to include this article which in turn sent them scouring for pictures of the Town Common where the opportunity fell to me to provide some photos. I sent them several and they chose this one.

screen view of Franklin article on the Southern New England AAA site

If you are not a AAA member you should still be able to view the Franklin article online here
http://www.aaahorizons.com/content.cfm?a=2573

For more info about AAA you can visit their website here:   AAA.com

And the original full photo of the World War I Memorial on the Town Common

World War I memorial 'doughboy'

Did you see Franklin's new website?

With little fanfare, Franklin has introduced a re-design of the town website.  http://town.franklin.ma.us/

re-designed Franklin website

The new layout is clean and better than before. Most of the common items are more visible and easier to get to. However, there is still room for improvement. The 'Town News' section is shorter and revealing less info than before.

The 'Contacts Directory' and the 'Hours of Operation' go to the same page. Considering that the 'Departments' tab on the top navigation bar also takes you to the same page, that is effectively a waste of prime real estate.

Contact Directory and Hours of Operation links go to the same place

The biggest drawback for me is that there still is no RSS feed. Yes, that maybe a little techie for some but it is a feature of most websites and enables an easy notification if something changes. Without such notification, if you want to find out when the agenda for a committee meeting is posted, you need to go to the site, click through to the page and view if there is an update or not. The website software could tell you via the RSS notification automatically.

Franklin just implemented Twitter to help with their notifications. Do you think the webpage has the info on how to follow Franklin on Twitter? It should but I couldn't find it. The page could also display the Twitter feed in a widget (tech term for a small window) to help showcase what is being sent out via Twitter.

BTW - if you do want to follow Franklin on Twitter you can find their profile page here  https://twitter.com/TOFranklinMA

Check out the new Franklin website here  http://town.franklin.ma.us/  or here http://franklin.ma.us/

What else would you like to see on the page?

Alternate path to Franklin website

If you tried to get to the official Franklin webpage
http://franklin.ma.us/    as I did most of Monday, you were likely unsuccessful.

webpage is unavailable message

I was able to reach the site Monday night via this link:
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/

Town of Franklin, MA webpage

FHS Boys lose, Girls win in playoffs

Baseball
#8 Franklin, 3 @ #1 Wellesley, 6 - Final

- Senior Drew Inglesi went 3-3 with a double, a walk and a stolen base and classmate Pat O'Reilly went 1-3 with a run scored, walk, stolen base and an RBI.

Softball
#18 Franklin, 4 @ #10 Weymouth, 3 - Final

- Maddie Connelly (1-2, RBI, stolen base) knocked in Sammy Rondeau (1-3, run) in the top of the seventh for the go-ahead run. Erin Hanley went 1-3 with a stolen base and a run scored and Sabrina LoMonaco scored a run and had a sacrifice fly RBI. Lilly Criscione picked up the win, tossing a complete game, striking out four.

FHS Softball

Franklin advances to the D1 South Semifinals to play #6 North Attleboro on a date and time to be announced. The game will be at Taunton High School.

For all the Hockomock League results from the Spring playoffs, you can visit this page
http://www.hockomocksports.com/blog/hockomock-schedule-scoreboard-060214

Easy Walks in Franklin: Collection

This is the collection of "Easy Walks in Franklin"

Franklin Town Common

From Marjorie Turner Hollman's book - "Easy Walks in Massachusetts"


Dacey Fields
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/easy-walks-in-franklin-dacey-fields.html

Chilson Beach - Beaver Pond
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/easy-walks-in-franklin-beaver-pond.html

Committee openings

The following Committees have openings

Library Board of Directors - Felicia Oti 508-520-4940 

Franklin Housing Trust Fund - Maxine Kinhart 508-553-4886

If you are interested in serving on the committee, please complete the form
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_News/01B2AF2D-000F8513.0/TOWN%20OF%20FRANKLIN%20VOLUNTEER%20FORM.pdf

and return to the Town Administrator's Office

Pay your Franklin water/sewer/trash bills online

Did you know you could pay your Franklin bills online?
You can also get notification of the bill via email. This saves paper and can be more efficient for Franklin and you.

This one page handout was on the table in the entrance area at the Municipal Building.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0wjbnXDBhczM09Kd2NuRTlBakE/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-ip_bGQiAFQEBqKAjmeD_-A



You can pay your Franklin bills online here
https://unipaygold.unibank.com/customerinfo.aspx

Note the link is available from the official Franklin home page. You can find the link in the lower left corner of the menu.  http://town.franklin.ma.us/

Free holiday parking downtown Franklin (video)

The practice instituted last year with free parking for the holiday season in downtown Franklin has returned this year.

Last year, the parking meter covers were not quite as festive as this years.

This year, the meter covers fit the season nicely!

parking meter cover

And if you haven't seen the sign with the scrolling message, you can view it here:

Saturday in and around Franklin

My bike ride around Franklin on Saturday found lots of good things happening.

The colorful flowers on sale at Agway caught my eye

autumn colors at Agway

There will be a craft show at the Elks Lodge today, Oct 20th

Elks - craft show

At the corner of West Central and Union the red trees framed the green light

red trees, green light

The Ladybug 5K brought families with runners and walkers to the Kennedy School to register for the 5K or the kids fun runs.

registration line

The Music Boosters held their mattress sale at FHS in the field house

music booster mattress sale

Wednesday, Oct 23 will be the Panther Pride night where current 8th graders and parents get to see and here what to expect next year

Panther Pride night - Oct 23, 2013

Drive safely where ever you go around Franklin. On Main St just passed St Mary's before you get to the split with Maple St going left and Lincoln St continuing, the police have the mobile speed marker out to remind you of how fast you are and should be traveling.

Main St speed notice

The playground foundation is poured at the DelCarte Open Space

playground foundation at DelCarte

Franklin Federated Church held yard sale

yard sale at Franklin Federated Church

With the annual St Rocco's Festival cleared out of ground on the Hayward Manor, you can find

a basketball court

In case you did not know what the mascot of Dean College was, "Boomer" the Bulldog was out and around campus living large!

Dean College bulldog "Boomer"

What else did you do in and around Franklin on Saturday?