FM #161 - School Start Times Report - 3/26/19 (audio)

FM #161

This internet radio show or podcast is number 161 in the series for Franklin Matters.

This recording shares the School Start Times Advisory Committee report to the Franklin, MA School Committee on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 in the Council Chambers.

School Superintendent Sara Ahern leads with the intro and overview before handing off to Kit Brady and FHS Deputy Principal William Klements who cover most of the presentation before Sara comes back to close it out.

My notes from the session can be found here
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/03/live-reporting-school-start-times.html

Recall that the applications for the Start Times Advisory Committee were accepted early in 2018
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/01/friendly-reminder-school-start-times_15.html

The Committee was appointed at the Feb 27, 2018 meeting and began work shortly after that
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/02/live-reporting-discussion-action-items.html

The Start Times presentation is displayed here

School Start Time Recommendation from Franklin Matters

Or downloaded from here
https://www.slideshare.net/shersteve/school-start-time-recommendation

If the School Committee decides to make the start time change, it would be effective no earlier than the 2020-2021 school year. As the meeting closed Tuesday, there was no indication of when the Committee would take this up for a formal vote.

If you have questions, the School Committee has been making themselves available. The coffee hour schedule is posted. Their contact information is available. Each School Committee meeting has a portion for audience input for items not on the agenda. During the meeting, there are spots for input for those items on the agenda. Take advantage of these opportunities and raise your questions.

School Committee page https://www.franklinps.net/district/school-committee

The total meeting recording runs just about 1 and 45 minutes. Yes, this is a long one. Settle in comfortably, have my Franklin Matters live reported notes handy, and have the Start Times presentation at hand.

Without further ado, here is the audio recording.





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This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but I can't do it alone. I can always use your help.

How can you help?

In particular, if you have an interest in real estate, zoning or construction, I would like someone to help us by following the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, and or the Conservation Commission meetings. I’ll provide the guidance on note taking and sharing. You need to bring an inquisitive, open mind and willingness to learn and share.

Overall:

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors.
• If you don't like this, please let me know.

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements.
Thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes = search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters on iTunes

Library of Congress: Letters About Literature Contest Opens

Writing Contest for Young Readers Across the Country Announced Letters About Literature, the Library of Congress reading-and-writing contest now in its 26th year, is accepting applications beginning Nov. 1 for the 2018-19 cycle. For the first time, letters will be submitted electronically.  Letters About Literature asks students in grades 4-12 to read a book, poem, speech or essay by an author, living or dead, to think about how that work affected them and to write to the author on the work's impact. Click here for more information https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-18-139?loclr=ealn

BFCCPS is hosting a High School Fair on September 17

BFCCPS is hosting a High School Fair on September 17.  The event is free and open to local Grade 8 students and their parents to meet with representatives and students from a variety of private and independent high schools in the Metrowest area, Boston, Worcester, and northern Rhode Island.  We hope you can join us!

High School Fair September 17 at 7 PM Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School in Franklin, Massachusetts

Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School
 is hosting a High School Fair on September 17

Attention high school seniors: Rotary Club Grant Application due May 31, 2018

As your high school experience is coming to a close, it is time to contemplate, plan and make decisions that will affect your future. Part of that process is determining how to pay for education. The cost of furthering your education is high but the failure to obtain additional knowledge will cost you even more. Our members understand this and recognize the significant expense and sacrifice that often accompanies its pursuit. With this in mind, the Rotary Club of Franklin, as it has for many years, continues to offer graduating high school seniors from Bellingham, Franklin, King Phillip, Medway and Tri-County High Schools an opportunity to receive a grant towards the expense of higher education.

The Rotary Club is an international service organization that is dedicated to world peace through service to others and an increased awareness of people’s needs though education. Based on this premise, each application for the Franklin Rotary Club Grant is evaluated on their community involvement, financial need, and academic achievement. This is a grant that is being offered to help defray college expenses in your second semester of your freshman year. The committee will let you know if you have been selected for a scholarship before you leave for college, but to actually receive your check, you will need to send in your first semester’s transcript.

Find the Rotary Club application here
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0wjbnXDBhczSThVZ3JEYVBSb25ZNWg2OWZMT1dPaWtIS3gw/view?usp=sharing

Attention high school seniors: Rotary Club Grant Application due May 31, 2018

Encore Music Education Foundation has a Senior Scholarship available

The Encore Music Education Foundation, Inc. has a Senior Scholarship available now! If you are a senior studying music and planning to attend a college program related to performance, music education, sound recording/ engineering, musical theatre, or music business administration, apply now! 

Our application deadline is fast approaching, you can find the application at www.wesupportmusic.org/scholarship-opportunities.

For more information please contact us at 508-533-7700, encoremusicacademy1@gmail.com, or encoremusicacademy.net.

Encore Music Education Foundation has a Senior Scholarship available

Little Shop of Horrors at The Orpheum Theatre Foxboro - Mar 16/17

The Theatre Institute presents:

Little Shop of Horrors
Friday, March 16 @ 7:00 PM 
Saturday, March 17 @ 3:00 PM  and 7:00 PM 
at The Orpheum Theatre Foxboro

"Here is the link to the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/976490015851098


The Theatre Institute is an intensive pre-professional theatrical training program for high school aged students, operated by the Hockomock Area YMCA:
https://www.facebook.com/theatreinstitute
https://www.hockymca.org/mansfield/programs/theatre-programs/


The Little Shop of Horrors cast is almost all Franklin High School students! This is going to be a great show - these kids are seasoned performers, some of the seniors will be moving on to college as performing arts/musical theatre majors."

 Little Shop of Horrors at The Orpheum Theatre Foxboro - Mar 16/17

Pantherbook: "A Moment of Silence for Parkland" - Mar 14

Alyssa Carolan, Editor of Pantherbook, writes about "A Moment of Silence for Parkland" being scheduled for March 14.

"On the afternoon of February 14th, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. 17 were killed and 14 more were injured, being taken to hospitals, causing this to replace the 1999 events at Columbine High School as the deadliest high school shooting in America. Nikolas Cruz, a 19 year old who had been expelled from the Parkland high school, was the one to open fire. 

This is not the first school shooting that occurred in 2018, making this incident harrowing, in terms of circumstance and statistic. Schools should be a place of safety, which makes instances like these so terrifying. 

In order to practice safety and preparation, Franklin High School will have a lockdown drill next week. The drills FHS practice are a blend of lockdown in place drills and active live shooter drills. In a lockdown drill, measures taken include: turning the lights off, locking the door, sitting in a corner away from the windows, and seeing an exit, and taking it immediately. In an active live shooter drill, measures taken include: barricading the door, seeing an exit and taking it immediately, and fighting back, throwing, trying to be as much of a disruption as possible. 

“We are always examining our drills and our safety,” Mr. Peri stated."

Continue reading the article at Pantherbook
https://franklinpanthers.us/news/2018/02/28/a-moment-of-silence-for-parkland/

Pantherbook: "A Moment of Silence for Parkland" - Mar 14

More about the Women's March Youth Empower can be found online
https://www.womensmarch.com/enough-toolkit

FHS hosting DramaFest Preliminaries on Saturday, Mar 3

The MA Educational Theater Guild (METG) DramaFest Preliminary sites are online and complete with performance titles and schedules. 

The preliminary performances are scheduled for Saturday, March 3 with the detailed schedule for the day as follows:

Host: Franklin High School
218 Oak Street, Franklin
(508) 613-1400

9:00 a.m.	Burncoat High School	Peter/Wendy
10:00 a.m.	Eagle Hill School	The Waiting Room
11:15 a.m.	Northampton High School	The Hedda Variations
12:15 p.m.	Acton Boxborough Regional High School	Son of Liberty
2:00 p.m.	Franklin High School	Fahrenheit 451
3:00 p.m.	Mansfield High School	Candid
4:30 p.m.	Marian High School	Scenes from Journey to the West
5:30 p.m.	Brockton High School	Suite Surrender

For the full listing of schools to see what they’re performing, follow this link

http://metg.org/festival/h-s-festival/high-school-festival-preliminaries-2018/

FHS hosting DramaFest on Saturday, Mar 3

For more info about the MA Education Theater Guild, visit them on the web http://metg.org/

Franklin Rotary: Calling all current high school sophomores

It's that time of year again and The Rotary Club of Franklin is interested in community leadership, not only for today but for tomorrow as well. The students in your school will, in a very few years, be assuming some of our community's leadership roles. We know you are training them for the task. Rotary would like to help.

For this reason, Rotary District 7910 will conduct the annual Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) Conference at Fitchburg State University on June 22-24, 2018. The program will be staffed by carefully selected counselors and Rotary leaders.

Our objective is to offer outstanding high school sophomores an opportunity to live, work and interact together in an atmosphere of friendly competition. Also, we provide them with a program designed to challenge them to utilize and improve their skills and accept the responsibilities of leadership. Much of the students' time will be structured with programs including interactive Leadership Labs, exciting guest speakers, and challenging mental and physical activities that will provide them with a chance to excel among and with their peers. The greatest benefit may come from sharing this experience with the more than 150 other outstanding young men and women selected from schools and organizations through Rotary District 7910 in Central Massachusetts.

Our Rotary Club is asking you to spread the word to your young men and women who will benefit most from this experience. They will be selected by the Franklin Rotary first for leadership potential, second for good citizenship, third for their desire to attend the Conference and fourth for scholarship. These characteristics are listed in that order so that latent leaders are not overlooked because of grades. They are extremely important to keep in mind to ensure the success of the student's experience and the entire program.

The only requirement is that in order to be nominated, the individual must be a student who is currently a Sophomore in high school.

Applications should be made e-mailed to Julie Rougeau at jrougeau@comcast.net no later than March 2, 2018. Our club's RYLA Selection Committee will then conduct interviews and select the students we will sponsor for RYLA. The student application has been attached to this e-mail as is a flyer that describes RYLA. Would you please help us again to get this information out to your Sophomores?

For more information about RYLA or Rotary, visit online at http://www.ryla7910.org/ or contact me at 508-541-4424.

Thank you for your assistance in this project for the advancement of youth.

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards

Flyer:

Application:

YMCA: Get Ahead With Our New Technology Lab And Technology Club

Thanks to a generous donation from a good friend, a technology lab has been created at our Franklin Y.

The goal of this space is to teach middle school and high school students about careers in technology.

Join us for our next Technology Club Meeting on Tuesday, January 9 from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM at our Franklin Y.

This is a free member opportunity.

Guest speakers will be Jeff Boudreau, President of Dell EMC Storage Division as well as Gartner Research executives.

This club introduces students to the benefits of a career in the technology field and provides a safe place to learn and prepare for a job in technology.

Upcoming meeting dates are February 6, March 6, April 3, May 1, June 5 and July 10.

For more information about the Technology Club or Technology Lab, contact Kim Jennings at kjennings@hockymca.org.

The link to the website article is: https://www.hockymca.org/new-technology-club
Facebook Event is https://www.facebook.com/events/2008087732791525/

Support Pisini Field - Franklin, MA

The High School Field Concession Stand has a GoFundMe page:

"Our Town is fortunate to have a state of the art athletic track and field (Pisini Field) to complement our new Franklin High School. Most afternoons, evenings, and weekends throughout the year the facility is utilized by either FHS or town sports teams. Pisini Field host many youth and high school programs such as, girl’s youth lacrosse, youth soccer, Franklin Chargers football, and spring track. Currently, there are no bathroom or sanitary facilities for this athletic facility which sees more use than any other athletic facility in our Town. 

Throughout the year, a number of portable toilets are situated adjacent to the new Franklin High School to accommodate the families and children participating in the sports at Pisini Field. With the high frequency of events at this facility, maintaining the cleanliness of these temporary bathroom facilities is virtually impossible and often creates unsanitary and embarrassing conditions. During large high school events such as football games, the Horace Mann School is opened and the bathrooms closest to the field can be used by the spectators at the game. However, this provides a minimal number of facilities and is still supplemented by the temporary bathroom facilities adjacent to our new high school. 

Our proposal will provide a bathroom facility as well as areas for storage and concessions. The number of actual toilets proposed far outnumbers the amount that has typically been made available (combining temporary and Horace Mann bathrooms) during the largest events at the field, and would also provide a small sanitary area to be used as a concession stand. This new facility would eliminate the need for the current temporary concession trailer, which is in severe dis-repair, poor sanitary condition, and an eye sore to the entire facility. 

Additionally, this new bathroom facility would be handicap accessible for both the concession area and sanitary facilities, which is not the case for the existing facility or temporary bathrooms. 

We expect the cost of the facility to be in the range of $250,000. In order to cover these costs of construction, we are hoping to raise donations of materials, labor and $. We’ve included a list of materials and labor items required to complete the construction (You can check out the drawings included here as well). Please pass this along to anyone who may be able to donate materials or time towards the project. For those unable to assist with material or time donations, we certainly appreciate any monetary contributions. Thank you for taking the time to read and with your support we can improve such a significant part of the Franklin community!

*Should you have any questions, please contact Michael Socci at msocci@masbuildingandbridge.com"

For additional information on the materials required, or to contribute to the fund raising, visit the GoFundMe page https://www.gofundme.com/z35a8n-support-pisini-field-franklin-ma

Support Pisini Field - Franklin, MA

The proposal document as discussed at the Town Council meeting, Wednesday, Dec 20
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2017/12/high-school-concession-stand-proposal.html

Community Forum on Sexting - Twitter Summary

A collection via Storify of the Twitter posts during the Community Forum on Sexting held at Franklin High School, Franklin, MA on Oct 16, 2017.

Be sure to scroll within the Storify widget to view all the posts.

Community Forum on Sexting - Twitter Summary

Franklin Public Schools: Parent Forums scheduled with the Superintendent

As your new Superintendent of Schools, I am seeking to gain the perspectives of various stakeholders across the Franklin Public Schools. I am thrilled to invite parents of children at the following developmental levels to attend parent forums where I will engage in listening to your thoughts on the strengths of the district and opportunities for growth. Additionally, the forums will afford me the opportunity to share more about myself and my thoughts on education. 

-- Sara E. Ahern, Ed.D.


Elementary School Parents
October 23, 2017 6:30-8:00 P.M. Horace Mann/Oak St. Cafeteria
October 24, 2017 9:30-11:00 A.M. Horace Mann Health Classroom

Middle School Parents
November 8, 2017 6:30-8:00 P.M. Horace Mann/Oak St. Cafeteria
November 9, 2017 9:30-11:00 A.M. Horace Mann Health Classroom

High School Parents
October 30, 2017 6:30-8:00 P.M. FHS Media Center
October 31, 2017 9:30-11:00 A.M. FHS Lecture Hall

Franklin High School

School Committee Recap: Middle Schools and High School Improvement Plans Approved

To recap the School Committee meeting held on Tuesday, Sep 12, I have the following:

Presentations from the middle schools and high school on their individual improvement plans were reviewed and discussed. Recall that the District Improvement plan was previewed, revised and approved during the August School Committee meetings. This takes the district plan down to the individual school level. The elementary schools will likely bring their plans forward at the next school committee meeting.

middle school principals presenting the school improvement
plans to the School Committee (not shown in photo)

a. 2017-2018 School Improvement Plans 

Horace Mann Middle School – Rebecca Motte 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0wjbnXDBhczTU5NdHpNNXN5bzF4a1FNZW15dlpVaVFaZGlZ

Remington Middle School – Brian Wildeman 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0wjbnXDBhczU3hqbVhNdlR0c1hRZEExNDl3WkZ0aHEzaThB

Annie Sullivan Middle School – Beth Wittcoff 
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0wjbnXDBhczT3I5YjdnaFpkUTJfNlczT1Z2X2JRRHhGT2tF

Franklin High School – Paul Peri, Principal and William Klements, Deputy Principal
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0wjbnXDBhczZHZEcVpEamNMbzlTczJ1VE85YVZiY01jMjg4

In the Discussion Only section, the proposed policy for the Superintendent's evaluation was discussed. A copy can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0wjbnXDBhczXzQ5THZCdHBHVkZvZG9EWnlCRVlaQ2h0VFgw

The policy governing the order of business for the School Committee meetings was up for second reading and a copy can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0wjbnXDBhczNkY3TkIwc3J3VE9lSUMxX0puSXFGWHUxYXhv

The action items were approved in bulk format like a consent type agenda. They were all read and with no questions, one motion to approve them all. This saves meeting time.

The School Committee went into an Executive Session and returned about 15 minutes later to approve two memorandum of understandings with the Teachers Union. Not a lot of details were shared but they were the result of negotiations around the teacher evaluation process.

For additional information you can review the notes taken live during the meeting:

• Live reporting: Action items to closing
• Live reporting: Discussion only items
• Live reporting: School Committee - Sep 12, 2017

BFCCPS: High School Fair - Sep 14

The Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School is holding our annual High School Fair on September 14th from 7 - 8:30 pm. This event is open to all Grade 8 students and their parents in the area.

Guests will meet with representatives and students from a variety of private, independent and vocational high schools in the Metrowest area, Boston, Worcester, and northern Rhode Island.

The list of schools that will be in attendance is included here on our website:

http://bfccps.org/join-us-for-the-2017-high-school-fair/

If you have any questions about the event, please contact our School Counselor, Mrs. Julie McCoy at jmccoy@bfccps.org.

Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School

Schools may be ready but Beaver St turf field and high school track not complete

While the schools are ready to open, two key fields are not yet ready.

"Getting ready to kick off the 2017-2018 school year!! Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Ice Cream Social (9/8) and Curriculum Night (9/12)!"

Facebook image from Davis Thayer PCC

The new turf has been laid down at the high school field but the track is not yet complete so access is restricted until it is completed. When remains TBD?

sign clearly forbidding access until the work is complete

turf field in but track not yet laid out

The turf field at Beaver St is also not ready. A retention wall and drainage was still be worked when I was by a week or so ago.

retaining wall being added along the Beaver St side of the field

no new turf yet

End of School Year status update provided on School Improvement Plans

Catching up to share the summary for the School Committee (SC) held on Tuesday, August 8.

The School Committee heard updates from all the schools and the Central Office on the progress made on the Improvement Plans during the 2016-2017 school year. The updates were provided by the school principals. The presentation docs are shown below. You can follow the links to my notes recorded during the meeting for other details of the conversation. The full video of the meeting is available for replay by Franklin TV and that link is also found below.

After the schools provided their update, the Central Office, Superintendent Sara Ahern and Assistant Superintendents Peter Light and Joyce Edwards provided a preview of the District Improvement Plan for the coming school year. An offsite planning session was planned for Aug 16-18 during which the plan would be discussed, reviewed and refined to bring back to the SC for the Aug 22 meeting.

Note: the presentation docs include the status updates also provided at midyear. If you have seen those, you can skip to the end of year details listed for each school.

Middle Schools and High School

Middle and High School - End of Year - School Improvement Plan Updates from Franklin Matters

Elementary Schools

Elementary- End of Year - 2016-17 School Improvement Plan Updates from Franklin Matters

District Improvement Plan preview

the ball fields at FHS were getting water earlier this week

Meeting video available for replay on demand by Franklin TV
http://view.earthchannel.com/PlayerController.aspx?PGD=franknma&eID=482

• Live reporting: Action items to closing
• Live reporting: District Improvement Plan - previe...
• Live reporting: Elementary Improvement Plans - End...
• Live reporting: School Committee - August 8, 2017
• Franklin, MA: School Committee - Agenda - Aug 8, 2...

Live reporting: School Committee - August 8, 2017

Present:  Scofield, Douglas, Bergen, O'Malley, Schultz, Jewell

Absent:  Bilello

1. Routine Business
Citizen’s Comments
none

Review of Agenda
no changes

Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the July 18, 2017 School Committee Meeting.
recommend to approve, seconded, passed 6-0

Payment of Bills - Dr. O’Malley
Payroll - Mrs. Douglas
Correspondence: none

O'Malley makes statement on the presence of "signs" that may or may not have resulted from an incident at a school. The School Committee did not act to place the signs. They do want to create and conduct an inclusive environment.


2. Guests/Presentations

a. Middle/High Schools Improvement Plan Update 16-17

Annie Sullivan update by Peter Light, Beth Witcoff could not attend tonight

• 6th teachers incorporated the responsive classroom into their curriculum
• recommitted to process of incorporating core values into the program with whole school efforts; revised mission statement; will next work on vision and core value updates
• 7th grade teachers working this summer on a program for their students this year
• SEL and mindfulness approaches had effects on the teachers as well as the students
• approx. 300 Tweets from the school Twitter account between Oct and end of school year

Middle and High School - End of Year - School Improvement Plan Updates from Franklin Matters

Rebecca Motte, principal of Horace Mann Middle School

• 6th grade teacher training
• school wide mental health awareness day held
• established school based committees on 
• explore science program
• teacher cluster based website for parents to get info

Brian Wildeman, principal of Remington

• brought back advisory program
• School Wellness Advisory Council (SWAC), piloted the full day mental health awareness in May; one parent taught Zumba for 6 hours as the day incorporated all aspects
• science standards, implemented units across all three grades
• all 3 middle school will participate in the Anti-Defamation lead course this year

Q - what are the measures to show success of the approach?
When you go and observe the classrooms, you can see the common language and approach in the rooms as the students participate

Paul Peri, principal of Franklin High School

• 10 year process came to an end with the NEASC visit
• week of mental health awareness held with multiple
• completed all observations of new staff, being in the classrooms and seeing what is going on 
• biweekly newsletter to parents successful
• the response of the Central Office and the community to the school family when loss was realized
• recognized as an AP Honor Roll school, while FHS received it, it really reflects on the school district as a whole
• regular meetings with the School Council were beneficial for the new administration
• Club fair showcased the 70+ opportunities, student generated and run
• did make Boston Magazines Top 50 listing
• learned quite a bit on underage drinking/substance abuse and look forward to continue to work the issue, did not have any issues during Senior Week
• focus on building relationships between students and adults (whether faculty or otherwise)
• the 1% tardies while a small group drives the numbers and more work to address this needs to be done
• looking at the grading practices to provide professional development and research to enable a good discussion among the staff

Comment - thanks for addressing the grading consistency as that was something we had heard from the community as a need of focus

Tri-County High School Student Featured on This Old House TV

Sometimes dreams do come true. Tri-County RVTHS Senior, Michael “Mike” Barrett of Walpole, MA, has been selected to appear on This Old House (TOH) TV, a real life dream come true for the senior. Mike will be working alongside the pros on the show’s project house this summer in Newton, MA. After launching a nationwide search for apprentices and local trainees, Mike was chosen to work with the TOH TV crew on the project house, where construction is already under way.

In a nationwide effort to increase the pipeline of skilled workers in America, the need to inspire young people to go into the building trades is a must. TOH has partnered with the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity that rewards people with a passion to get trained for skilled jobs that actually exist. TOH is so deeply committed to this program that they’re joining all of their media resources to elevate the building trades as a rewarding career path and to help raise money for the mikeroweWORKS Foundation’s Work Ethic, which supports training for the trades.

Tri-County RVTHS Senior, Michael “Mike” Barrett of Walpole, MA

Mike is part of the carpentry program at Tri-County RVTHS which trains students in the tools and techniques needed for house construction and remodeling. “We learn basic framing, cabinetry, how to use power tools, but we also have to pick up every day and keep our work area clean. That has helped me on the job site,” says Mike, whose interest in the building trades was formed early on as he says he has been watching This Old House since he was 5. He also knows about the work through a cousin who is a high-end carpenter. Mike hopes to refine his skills in finish carpentry, framing, flooring, and roofing on the job site. “I like that you are doing something different every day, and often working outside,” he says. Framing interests him because progress is rapid and visible. “But demolition is fun, too, because you can go pretty fast and work out lots of energy.”

The Co-op Program at Tri-County allows qualified seniors and exemplary juniors the opportunity to learn and earn while being employed by a trade specific business. Students receive their traditional academic course load, then spend their practical (shop) week experiencing the real time world of business and industry.

Michael first began working for Charlie Silva from Silva Brothers Construction this past year as a junior. He applied for a co-op position with the firm, and received the offer to come to work for them. Michael then emailed his boss about TOH and the GenerationNext opportunity he found on the Internet. Mr. Silva emailed back asking him to report to the Newton house for his co-op job. Once there, Michael met the hosts of the TOH Show and was told he was going to be a part of the team.

“Being enamored with This Old House as a little boy, Mike went ahead and solicited Silva Bros. on his own,” said Mary Ellen MacLeod, Director of Cooperative Education. “We had no idea that he initiated contact with Charlie Silva, got the interview and landed the job! All of us at Tri-County are exceedingly proud of Mike, his initiative and passion for the trade. We greatly look forward to following his endeavors on the show this season.”

Tri-County RVTHS, located at 147 Pond Street in Franklin, is a recipient of the High Schools That Work Gold Achievement Award and serves the communities of Franklin, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Norfolk, North Attleborough, Plainville, Seekonk, Sherborn, Walpole, and Wrentham.