Live Reporting: School Committee - Meeting - November 13, 2018

Present: Linden, Douglas, Scofield, Bergen, Schultz, Zub
Absent: Feeley, 


School Committee Organization 
meeting called to order by Superintendent Ahern

a) Election of Chair 
nomination of Dr Bergen, seconded
6-0 vote (Feeley absent)

b) Election of Vice Chair 
nomination of  Schultz
6-0 vote (Feeley absent)


1. Routine Business 
a. Review of Agenda 
b. Citizen’s Comments 

i. In the spirit of open communication, “the School Committee will hear public comment not related to an agenda item at the beginning of each regular School Committee Meeting. The Committee will listen to, but not respond to any comment made. A Committee member may add an agenda item to a future meeting as a result of a citizen comment” – from Policy BEDH

c. FHS Student Representative Comments 
d. Superintendent’s Report 
event in Medway, parent night for K-8 parents
partnered with THRIVE group, substance abuse task force
film at Medway High School
dinner (free) 5:00, movie to follow, link with RSVP sent out earlier

high school parent night coming Jan 8 to be hosted at FHS
also part of the collaboration

Team FPS vs. Harlem Wizards at Tri-County
in support of FEF grant program

Dr Ahern participated in conference last week on leadership
four sessions over 2-days
Jen Chapin (daughter of Harry) demonstrated power of music
Jay Norica (?) ocular surgeon 
Caroline Woolard, sculptor
Erin Charles, music conductor
arts role in leadership
networking with other district collegues

Thanksgiving holiday
and abbreviated schedule for schools next week

School Committee Recap - Nov 14, 2017

This was the first meeting of the new School Committee. The first order of business was to be sworn in by Town Clerk Teresa Burr. Six members were present. Monica Linden, participating for part of the meeting remotely, had been sworn in previously.

The next order of business was to formally organize. Ann Bergen was nominated for Chair and with no other nominations, voted in unanimously. Denise Schultz was nominated for Vice-Chair and with no other nominations, voted in unanimously.  

There was a recess for '5' minutes that ran long as Teresa Burr gathered several forms and documents from each of the Committee members.

Superintendent Ahern announced that she has completed the series of school parent forums (elementary, middle and high school). Attendance was light. She has scheduled a community forum for Thursday, Nov 30 at the Municipal Bldg, 2nd floor Council Chambers to begin at 6:30 PM.

Two additional coaching positions were recommended and approved.

"1. Girls’ Varsity Ice Hockey Coach Assistant 2 -- This position is recommended based on the anticipated size of the team (40-45 students). Currently there are 2 paid coaches for the team, whereas the boys’ team has 3 paid coaches for the same number of athletes, practices, and games. This would address equity concerns and provide for better supervision/coaching of the team. This position would be in Tier 2 of the Coaches Stipend of the Collective Bargaining Contract with a salary of $2,657 for a candidate with no experience. 

2. Gymnastics Assistant Coach -- The team is anticipating 14-18 athletes after surpassing last year’s expectations of 6-10 athletes with a total of 11 competitors in 2016-2017 school year. The recommended ratio of coach to gymnasts is 1:8 and other Hockomock League gymnastics teams have two coaches. If we were to forgo this assistant coach, we would have to pay a spotter for all of our meets (at a cost of $120/meet). An assistant coach will do more than spot at meets, including spotting at practices and developing a relationship with the athletes. This position is proposed to be in Tier 4 of the Coaches Stipend section of the Collective Bargaining Contract with a salary of $1,057 for a candidate with no experience"

The proposal doc can be found here:
http://franklinschool.vt-s.net/pages/FranklinCom_Packets/y11-14-2017%20SC%20Packet/Proposed%20Coaching%20Positions%20--%20Winter%20Sports.pdf

For the benefit of the new members, there was a brief overview of each of the sub-committee's focus point and in some cases accomplishments. Creating awareness of the work being done 'behind the scenes' to help move the overall work of the committee and district forward. 

if the new committee members have interest in these arenas, they should let the chair know so that (1) the work can continue and (2) those most interested can help to drive that forward.

The next meeting (Nov 28) will begin an hour earlier to hold a workshop to review the agenda format and other school committee meeting business.

The documents released for the meeting were posted to the School Committee web page (hooray!)
http://franklinschool.vt-s.net/pages/FranklinCom_Packets/y11-14-2017%20SC%20Packet/


My notes reported live from the meeting can be found here

• Live Reporting: Information Matters
• Live Reporting: Discussion - Action Items
• Live reporting: Picking up after 5 min recess
• Live Reporting: School Committee - Nov 14, 2017

Franklin School Committee (L to R) (back row) Feeley, Douglas, Scofield, Zub;
(front) Schultz, Bergen) Linden not present for photo

Town Council Recap - Nov 15, 2017

After getting sworn in, the Town Council set about to organize themselves for the new term of office.

• Nomination for Chair,- Kelly, seconded, unanimous
• Nomination for Vice Chair - Mercer, seconded, 8-0-1 (8 for, 0 against, 1 abstain (Padula) )
• Nomination for Clerk - Jones, seconded, 8-0-1 (8 for, 0 against, 1 abstain (Padula) )

The appointment of Christopher M Sandini Sr as Finance Director/Comptroller was approved unanimously. Christopher replaces Susan Gagner who has retired.

A good portion of the meeting was devoted to an update and overview of the open meeting, public records law, and the ethics requirements now in effect for the Town Council. Attorney Mark Cerel led the presentation and answered the questions from the Councilors. You can view the document used here
http://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/mai/files/presentations_and_discussions.pdf

In legislation for action, the Council approved the current Procedures Manual. They have the option to revise it if there are changes they would like to see.

The Council approved the Veterans Walkway formally proposed for this meeting after being previewed at the prior session.

The Council approved the allocation of $325,000 in new revenue for the Budget Stabilization Account. The new revenue is over and above the estimate used for the FY 2018 budget. The move was required before the tax hearing set for the next Council meeting.

The official Action Taken document was published by the Town of Franklin and can be found here
http://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/news/town_council_actions_taken_for_november_15_2017.pdf


My notes recorded live during the meeting Wednesday can be found here

• Live reporting: Legislation to Closing
• Live reporting: Open meeting law overview
• Live reporting: Town Council - Nov 15, 2017

the newly elected Franklin Town Council was sworn in on Nov 15, 2017

Franklin Library: Get Organized with Marilyn Cruickshank - Oct 18

Declutter, Simplify, Get Organized with Marilyn Cruickshank, Tuesday, October 18, 6:30 p.m.

"Marilyn brings her passion for organizing, strong listening skills, easygoing manner, and love of orderly surroundings to Creative Simplicity. Her background in education and museum work sharpened her already strong organizational skills by honing her attention to detail, design sense, creativity, and ability to break projects down into simple, doable steps."

Declutter, Simplify, Get Organized with Marilyn Cruickshank, Tuesday, October 18

This was shared from the Franklin Public Library page
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2016/10/declutter-simplify-get-organized-with.html

For more about Marilyn and her 'creative simplicity' approach visit her webpage
http://csimplicity.com/

Franklin Library: Manage Your Stuff! - Feb 1 - 2:00 PM

Do you dream of getting organized in 2015? What about your other 2015 New Year’s Resolutions? Even if getting organized in 2015 is not on your resolution list, getting organized can be the first steps to help you with all of your New Year’s resolutions! Getting organized will free up the time and energy you need to tackle the other things on your list. Getting organized means more time to spend with your family, more energy to exercise, maybe even more money to do all the things you’ve dreamed of! 

Manage your stuff will be held at 2:00 PM at the Franklin Library on Sunday, Feb 1

More from the OrganizingBoston webpage:

So, whatever your 2015 New Year’s resolution; the first step is getting organized. And getting organized is easy with our no-fail, 5 step process to organize anything – Manage Your STUFF™! When it comes to organizing, it can be hard to know where to start and easy to get overwhelmed. But with the five steps to guide you, you’ll always know what to do next. This will help you feel in control of your organizing projects and goals. So, if you’re ready to take control of your STUFF, read on… 

What is STUFF? STUFF is the easy-to-remember acronym for our 5 step process to organize anything! Let’s summarize the 5 steps.

• Sort – Sort your stuff into like categories
• Toss – Decide what to do with each item: Keep, Sell, Donate, Toss
• Unify – Assign the keepers to their new homes by zone
• Fill – Find and fill containers for each group of items or activity
• Follow Up – Commit to a regular maintenance schedule

So remember: Sort, Toss, Unify, Fill and Follow Up – these are the steps that will get you from where you are to where you want to be!

screen grab of Kate's info on the Organizing Boston webpage

Mnaage your stuff - Feb 1 - 2:00 PM

This was shared from the Library webpage here
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2015/01/manage-your-stuff.html

More info on OrganizingBoston can be found on their webpage
http://www.organizingboston.com/

"community that comes together with the fundamental objective of agreeing with itself"

.. As you may know, there is a conductor of staggering talent who has been hailed as the next Leonard Bernstein. His name is Gustavo Dudamel and he has toured the United States and Europe with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra to ecstatic reviews. He joins the Los Angeles Philharmonic as their Music Director in the fall. Here’s what matters to us today: this young conductor has a passion for music education because he knows its true power to alter the course of young lives. He was brought up in Venezuela in the extraordinary music education system that I mentioned earlier called El Sistema.

Imagine what can be accomplished if we support the arts, engage ‘at risk’ youth and help them succeed in school and in their lives. For ‘underserved’ families, indeed for all families, participation in music and the arts can help people reclaim and achieve the American Dream.

From the TED Blog

And the performance:

Enjoy!

In the News - salt prices, students organize, late bus may return

"It was worse than I expected," said Brutus Cantoreggi, Franklin's director of public works. "That's a lot, especially with everything else going up. Fuel is killing me."

Franklin is part of a 24-town consortium that locks in contract prices for road salt. Other area communities in the consortium include Medfield, Medway, Millis, Walpole, Sharon, Wrentham and Norwood. The low bid this year was from Eastern Mineral at $70.20 a ton. Eastern Mineral's bid last year was $52.68.

read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

"Carrying big bulky binders was not the answer I was looking for, and with the demands for tracking student portfolios along with the pressure from impending cuts that would increase class ratios and teaching burdens, I was intent on finding the right tools for this challenge," Bergen said. "Kids who are disorganized are disorganized as adults."

Meanwhile Productive Education LLC of Framingham was reaching out to superintendents across Massachusetts to tell them about its new Organize360 system using Document Organizing Assistant binders, or DocOA, pronounced "Doc Away." It is a three-ring binder-organizing tool for handling school papers.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

Following Superintendent Wayne Ogden's announcement that the district this year does not have the money to fund the late bus, parents, administrators and Holmes Bus Service "stepped up to the plate" and found a way to continue offering the service, Roy said.

"We had a bus company (Holmes) willing to negotiate a better deal for the district, which brought the total down to a reasonable $10,000," Roy reported.

Parent Communication Councils from Franklin High School, Annie Sullivan, Remington and Horace Mann middle schools all committed to donating up to $3,300 to completely cover the cost of the late bus, Roy said.

However, the councils will be able to keep their money, he said.

"The Town Council chairman (Christopher Feeley) is very receptive to the notion of the town picking up the cost of the late bus ... There is clearly an overwhelming need for it," said Roy, adding that Feeley and Vice Chairwoman Deborah Bartlett will bring the topic to the council.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here