SEPAC Event - "The Typical and Atypical Reading Brain" - Jan 19 - 7:00 PM

SEPAC WORKSHOP - PLEASE JOIN US

What: The Typical and Atypical Reading Brain: Early Identification of Developmental Dyslexia Using Evidence from Behavioral and Brain Studies

Presenter: Dr. Nadine Gaab, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School

When: Thursday, January 19, 2017
Time: 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Where: Municipal Building, 3rd Floor Training Room, 355 East Central Street, Franklin

Happy New Year! Concerned about your child's reading?

Bring your questions and concerns to this workshop. Dr. Gaab conducts research at the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, where her work focuses on auditory and language processing in the human brain and its applications for the development of typical and atypical language and literacy skills. 

In addition, Dr. Gaab is working on detecting possible pre-markers of developmental dyslexia in preschoolers and infants, and on creating remediation programs for reading and language impaired children.

As always, this workshop is free and open to the public. For more information about this workshop and other upcoming SEPAC events, check out our website, www.franklinsepac.org or "like" us on Facebook at Franklin Sepac. Hope to see you there!

SEPAC Event - "The Typical and Atypical Reading Brain"

Live reporting: Davis Thayer - update on math program

2. Guests/Presentations

• Davis Thayer Update – Principal Evemarie McNeil and Asst Principal Stefani Wasik

Jennifer Violet, math specialist

the document used for the presentation

....


fall collection of food for the Franklin Food Pantry tied to the curriculum at each grade level
for example:

• Grade 4 used grocery ads as part of the exercise
• Grade 5 used the shopping list to calculate the cost of the food per person

the three students who did the pledge of allegiance also took part in the math presentation

phone app with a nightly math tip and explanation encouraged

some family board games use math so it is a good way to make math fun

Grade 2 math morning this Friday, public invited

"problem of the week' challenges students who are willing
example of a problem, a mouse climbing out of a well, climbed a bit each day but slipped back each night, how long did it take to get out of the well? About a week.

CPT - common planning time
PLC - ??
PD - professional development

teachers are getting challenged by the math specialist to do homework

projects outside of math class can be fun, combined with other topics is a challenge
for example, how much money do authors make when they sell a book

thank you for the support of the full time math specialists this year, it is money well spent

Bilello - great presentation, with so much focus on new math, with the incorporation of the math specialist role into the curriculum. how do you support the 'new' math?

Violet - show people that it doesn't have to be scary, math can be done in a nonthreatening manner. works with the teachers on a regular basis. how do we supplement these real world issues.

O'Malley - love how you tie math to a community project like the collection for the Food Pantry

Violet - specialists meet every week to coordinate the programs and artifacts for the curriculum

Douglas - I have attended the math programs and it is a wonderful time

Violet - Since it was so close to the Food Pantry, it was powerful to make the walk to deliver the food

Jewel - I get a lot of complaints about the lack of memorization, my grand daughter went shopping and had to spend just a specific amount, she had to layout what she could and how much she could get for the amount

Bergen - is there still a place for memorization?
Violet - yes, there are still places for that, they need to understand the full concept and not just the memorization

O'Malley - this time of year we are doing budgets and it is crucial to be able to see this in practice

Jewel - it will be easier for them later to solve for x in algebra, although they aren't doing it know they really are solving for x

Creating a Haven: Capturing the Spirit of Nature to Enhance your Home Design

Creating a Haven
Capturing the Spirit of Nature to Enhance your Home Design

A Presentation by Elizabeth Randall, Elizabeth Randall Interior Designs

Nature is all around us, but too often we don’t invite it in to our homes. Learn how to incorporate natural elements in your home to create a more soothing and pleasant space. Really looking at nature up close makes you stop and see a little more clearly, and provides times of rest and meditation. 

This presentation will present many images showing easy and inexpensive ways to create oases. Whether incorporating plants, sunlight, colors, water features or food displays, there are wonderful opportunities to welcome nature in. Please join us for an hour of creative ideas, guaranteed to have you stopping to smell the roses (and lilacs) just a little bit more!

Weds, Dec 2  -   7:00 PM

Live reporting: ECDC update

2. Guests/Presentations

b. ECDC Update – Kelty Kelley

ECDC Strengthening Community Improving Quality 2015 from Franklin Matters

historically had two start times but needed to change to one start time

now really one school

pilot program last summer expanded this summer

families looking for longer school days, school has been meeting the needs by expanding

worked on curriculum last summer to synchronize the themes across the program, working on a common vocabulary to help all involved talk with the same words

"Big Idea" - posted at the beginning of each unit to help center the idea and activities

Open House to showcase the learning and engage the parents

created a passport to get checked off for each activity in each classroom, a change from the prior open house where the parents would go to the one classroom, visit and leave for the night

literacy tied in to the lessons

problem solving, how to fit ten apples on top, an engineering challenge

art theme, inspired by Eric Carle

increasing communications and connections, via email, also started a blog

You can find the Principal's Page here http://ecdcprincipalpage.blogspot.com/

(It is also found on the right column of the Franklin Matters home page where the Franklin Area blogs are located)

parent workshop to help them engage their children with STEM learning (a good way is by cooking)

a networking group for parents of children with special needs that don't already have an IEP

looking to make a long term partnership with the Franklin Public Schools, working with a collaborative advocate

working to include the children from sub-separate classrooms to spend time with regular classrooms, part of the long term transition

worked to streamline the registration process, eliminate one step in the process (already registered with the district for proof of residence)

special transition program with each of the receiving schools, enabling connections and meetings

the children makes the connections easily, facilitated the parent connections

Rohrbach

nice work, did well unifying the school

Mullen

some were fairly simple things and I don't mean to minimize it, do the foundational things and it helps

enrollment is currently above 160 children

ECDC and HMMS Presentation Documents for School Committee meeting June 9

Both the ECDC and HMMS have presentations scheduled for the School Committee meeting Tuesday evening at 7:00 PM.

The documents scheduled for the meeting can be viewed here:


ECDC

ECDC Strengthening Community Improving Quality 2015 from Franklin Matters

ECDC entrance

HMMS

HMMS STEM Presentation 6/09/15 from Franklin Matters

The full agenda for the meeting can be found here:
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/06/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda.html

"for the collaboration working in and connecting within the community, I give you an A+"

The School Committee meeting on Tuesday, May 26 is a good one to review in the On Demand video archives.

There was an update on Creative Arts Fridays at the Kennedy School. How technology and poetry are integrated with the other subjects to provide a rich and exciting learning epxerience. The presentation included a couple of brief videos but it is only available in the On Demand link as provided ablve.

Oak St provided a year in review showing multiple pictures taken during the year. The photos although static do help to show the depth and richness of the learning experience and earned kudos from Committee member Kevin O'Malley who gave them an "A+" as paraphrased in the title of this summary.

You can view the photo presentation here:

Oak Street Elementary School 2014-2015 slideshow from Franklin Matters

The third presentation was an update on the work of the School Wellness Advisory Committee. While it sounds like a dry and unexciting title, the work being done coincidently was highlighted in a few cases by the prior two presentations. The SWAC effectively is putting together the curriculum on health and wellness which is then delivered via the teachers and staff to the students across the district.

You can view the presentation copy here:

SWAC Presentation to the School Committee May 26, 2015 from Franklin Matters


The set of my notes taken live during the meeting can be found here

• Live reporting: Closing

• Live reporting: Action Items

• Live reporting: School Wellness Advisory Council

• Live reporting: Oak St Update

• Live reporting: School Committee - May 26, 2015

I would encourage you to spend the almost two hours to view the meeting video. It does provide some real good insights into what happens in the elementary school classrooms and how some of the curriculum is built to be delivered.

You can view the meeting video here
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?ecm=635683896305427500&indexSessionSKU=og8cahm8VNrZ2CTSyUPlUg%3D%3D&siteSKU=L7qhQ46xin/r3Z0jcDVCNw%3D%3D

Live reporting: Presentations

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS

• FY 16 Budget

Jeff Nutting, apparently the charter school enrollment is incorrect which should help the budget forecasted as the proper numbers roll through

Awaiting the fire fighters arbitration award

Once the last numbers come in, will go through the process, beginning with the Finance Committee

• Gus Brown - Building Commissioner

3 years as building commissioner

review and process residential and commercial permit applications

interpret and enforce zoning

totals of permits on one slide (hopefully will be posted later)

140 unit at Chestnut Ridge under construction

Starbucks and 3 other businesses in the one building

picture of a fire inspection: due to the sheet rock in the garage, the fire stayed in the garage and did not enter the building

there are no unregistered cars allowed unless you are a registered dealer

State offering a program to help manage abandoned homes

the property can be repaired through a court ordered receiver process

136 Chestut St - part of the Affordable Housing Trust

15 Beaver Court - being constructed by students at Tri-County

the framing was done at the school, moved to the site and now the working to complete the house is being done inplace on site

housing zoning starts with Building Commissioner and gets routed through to the Zoning Board of Appeals

Q - on solar panels

A - recent surge, checking for the ability of the roof to support the solar panels especially with snow

Q - what is the outlook on permits

A - it has evened out, several projects on Grove St are coming along

a tenate will potentially use the section of the building wil use the rail connection

Q - Pfeffer - kudos to Gus for working with the Housing Trust

Q - Padula - are the students taking it through to the finish?

A - yes, Glenn Jones is working on the electrical and is doing a great job. If you get a chance to see the kids operating, it is a joy to watch

Q - Bissanti - as far as the vacant homes, are you getting this money?

A - yes, we are. You are not dealing with the home owner, you are dealing with the other entity and they sometimes think that you are trying to buy the home. we don't want to. We want to kept up to keep up the neighborhood.

Q - are you collecting the fees?

A - yes, we are. With out this being in place, they could fly under the radar, now that can't hide.

Q - Dellorco - are we going to have other projects for Tri-County?

A - yes, but we are inline, other towns are seeing what is being done by the students and they want some of that too!

Nutting - I get so many comments about the professional courtesy of he and his staff

Gus - you can't put a price tag on having Mark here to answer questions

Franklin School Committee - Presentation Documents for March 10, 2015

These are the documents released for the agenda of the Franklin School Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, 2015. 

The meeting will be held in the Lecture Hall at Franklin High School instead of the Council Chambers at the Municipal Building. You may recall this was scheduled for January but was wiped out by the blizzard. No snow in the forecast this time around!

FHS School Committee Update - Mar 10, 2015 from Franklin Matters

FPS School Committee Presentation - Mar 10, 2015 from Franklin Matters

FPS STEM School Committee - 2015 - updated Mar 10, 2015 from Franklin Matters

FHS in the snow

You can find the full agenda for the School Committee meeting here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/03/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda-mar.html

Documents scheduled for presentation to the School Committee meeting

The presentation documents scheduled for discussion at the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, Jan 27, 2105.

Franklin High School Update

Franklin High School - School Committee Update from Franklin Matters

FHS Health and Physical Education Update

Frank;in Public Schools: Health Program from Franklin Matters

Blended Learning in the Middle Schools

Franklin Public Schools: Blended Learning at the Middle Schools from Franklin Matters

community entrance to FHS

The full agenda for the School Committee meeting scheduled for Jan 27, 2015 can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/01/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda-jan_25.html

School Committee: Davis Thayer Update, School Climate Survey

Davis Thayer Elementary School will provide an update on their fitness initiatives at the School Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday at 7:00 PM.

spotlight on Davis Thayer Elementary School

Superintendent Maureen Sabolinski is scheduled to talk about the results of the survey conducted earlier this year. The survey was sent to school staff and to school parents.




The full agenda for the school committee meeting can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/10/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda-oct_21.html

Live reporting - Facility Update

2. Guests/Presentations

d. Facilities Update – Maureen Sabolinski
we got our building permit on Aug 20th, paving of the new parking lot is progressing
maybe able to resolve our parking issue in about 2-3 weeks
still working on the security system
just not at times working together, police answering calls at all hours of the day
still working on training, the training was built into the cost of the high school
much of this needs to happen during the day so we are relying on subs

signs are not quite right
Braille for example incorrectly told that the men's room was actually the women's room
flags for the gym haven't arrived yet
bell system doesn't work yet, using music to playing of the changing of classes
A/C is working in all areas of the building
the building committee has been very responsive in getting the issues addressed

once the parking lot is done, that will also open Panther Way and alleviate the traffic on Oak St

fields would be seeded for the spring and then used a year later
need to get the field established

problems with one spots and parking lights, should go away when the new parking lot is open

Live reporting - STAR Team

2. Guests/Presentations

b. Star Team Plaque Presentation

"What do you expect we are computer geeks?"

"It was fun working with the teachers, older teachers and new teachers"
"it was also interesting when we had to say, I told you yesterday what to do"

"Plugging in the wires and working the computers, was better than pushing the carts"

"printing the IDs, printing and hoping that it would print" (almost 2,000)
"the first and frequent question on the Chromebooks was how to print" "Use the print button"

*** five minute recess to allow for some to leave the meeting ***

don't call between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM

If you need to call for an emergency, don't call between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM Monday to Friday.

The frequency of simultaneous calls is raising a concern. The Fire Dept is barely staffed to serve two calls at one time. When the third one comes in, assistance from one of our neighboring communities is needed. It is not that they are not responsive, they are. The response time (travel time) from their departure point to the site in Franklin will be longer than if Franklin served the call.

Chief Gary McCarragher's presentation to the Town Council on Wednesday.




One other document provided to share is the marketing plan for the two RFPs currently out on the street. The Dept of Community Development and Planning is leading the efforts outlined here.




For the complete set of notes from Wednesday's Town Council meeting, check this link
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/10/jones-resignation-will-bring-special.html

Franklin - Fire Station #1 - West Central St

Franklin, MA: School Committee - Agenda and documents for Sep 23 meeting

Due to a technical issue, the following info did not arrive until after the meeting that I already reported on last Tuesday. To complete the reporting, here is the full agenda and the associated documents.

Vision Statement

The Franklin Public Schools will foster within its students the knowledge and skills to find and achieve satisfaction in life as productive global citizens.

AGENDA

"The listing of matters are those reasonably anticipated by the Chair which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law."

Franklin Public Schools - 'the key to learning'

1. Routine Business

Citizen’s Comments
Review of Agenda
Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the September 9, 2014 School Committee Meeting.
Payment of Bills Mr. Clement
Payroll Mrs. Douglas
FHS Student Representatives
Correspondence: none

2. Guests/Presentations

a. Student Trip to China - Mike Walsh, FHS Students (Gabriela Blood and Haley Frank) (Note - the file size for this document is 26MB - quite large so it will take time to open - please be patient! It is worth opening and viewing.)

b. China Trip – Joyce Edwards, Jane Hogan

3. Discussion Only Items

Policy – First Readings:
1. GBGB – Staff Health and Safety
2. IJOC – School Volunteers
Collaborative Agreements – Maureen Sabolinski

Accept Collaborative


BICO Collaborative

Evaluation of Superintendent

4. Action Items

a. I recommend moving the following policies discussed to a second reading:
1. GBGB – Staff Health and Safety
2. IJOC – School Volunteers
b. I recommend approval of the Bi-County Collaborative Agreement.
c. I recommend approval of the Accept Collaborative Agreement.
d. I recommend adoption of the Superintendent Evaluation.
e. I recommend acceptance of a check for $847.61 from Target’s Take Charge of Education Program for FHS.
f. I recommend acceptance of a check for $500.00 from Reebok Foundation for in-house enrichment at Keller Elementary.

5. Information Matters

Superintendent’s Report
School Committee Sub-Committee Reports
School Committee Liaison Reports

6. New Business

To discuss future business that may be brought before the School Committee.

7. Adjourn

My recap of the live reporting for this meeting can be found here

http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/09/school-committee-hears-about-trip-to.html

Note: Email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the documents attached.  

Live Reporting: Presentations

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS 

Ron Roux – Design Build, LLC

regarding work being done at Cook's Farm to use Franklin resources
some have been used so far, more to be used where possible
meeting and presentation scheduled to outline the proposal and scope of work to assess interest
will need to be competitive
at the same time we have a business and not every task/or trade will be available
how do you get the word out to do this?
I am here tonight
I don't know if the Milford paper is here tonight or if the Franklin paper is


H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS 

David McKearney, Board of Health

An overview of the Health Dept.
109 restaurants, 30 retail establishments, inspected 2x a year
regular inspection schedule doesn't include complaint inspections or re-inspections as requried

an education for new proprietors coming to town to operate

summer food events (4th of July, St Rocco's, Farmers Market)
all require inspections

perc testing for septic systems
may take time to witness the perc test, in some cases 80-90 mins per inch
do have some of the best turn around for approved plans

MA DEP relinquished some of the responsibilities but it does require additional time for us to accomplish this

Franklin has quite a few apartments, the local Health Dept is required to enforce housing codes
very time consuming, not infrequent that it ends up in court
some can be resolved with a quick order letter, some take many months
we get hording calls, these are difficult to resolve
they are successful if the individual has a support system, otherwise they are difficult to resolve

we get complaints about 'public nuisance'
if involving grass clippings, it is really a private issue
if it is a unkept pool breeding insects, that is a public nuisance

inspect swimming pools and spa, not personal ones but those in health clubs and hotels

summer months bring a lot of activity, kids camps operate here
camp needs to follow state code, CORI checks, etc.

inspections for personal services (manicure, pedicure, tanning salons, etc.)

also issue beaver permits; trap bans issued several years ago
the DPW is one of the biggest applicants, can damage the water supply
the number is increasing each year

all inspections require infield component and paperwork to complete the inspection

lots of foot traffic at the office, designated office hours during the day to meet, answer questions and register complaints

been here 10 years, lots of challenges but lots of success as well

H1N1 virus response was one of the most successful flu clinics in the state
good collaboration on something not done before

none smoking area established 30 feet from an entrance to a public facility
there is a learning curve with this but we have had good compliance

staffing is one of the most challenging issues we have faced
recently hired a part-time inspector and now feel we are adequately equipped to support the requirements

may come for secretarial coverage for full time
when we are not in the office, the window needs to be closed
that is not a good service

Kelly - thanks for all your hard work
the process in other towns is not as easy

Bissanti - I don;t think I have heard anything derogatory about your dept
would the Blackstone situation have been covered by the Dept of Health

McKearney - yes, we would be covering
we need authority to enter the house
the police and fire can go in due to the medical incident
but if the responsible party is taken away, we can't get permission to go in

Feldman - are we going to do anything about Ebola?

McKearney - we have the health infrastructure in place to prevent the spreading here
if a case did occur, it would be taken care of rapidly
the new respiratory virus occurring in the Midwest, they expect it to reach MA and to spread through the schools; not much different from a normal virus

Solar Challenge: presentation copies

The introductory slides for the Solar Challenge meeting held in Franklin on Aug 20, 2014

Solar in Franklin

You can also view/download the document via Google Docs:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0wjbnXDBhczRzBFeXZRYXFLVlh0Z2I5NnZpTUtHSWZRVk1J/edit?usp=sharing

The 'solar 101' presentation copy

You can also view/download the document via Google Docs:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0wjbnXDBhczeW1vYnZUQ3p0ZjhxVndaRHM1YUJSNHR5dy0w/edit?usp=sharing

the solar farm at Mt Saint Mary's

Franklin Senior Center - presentation updated

The demographics on Page 3 were updated to include the latest numbers from the Franklin Census for 2013.

• There are 5,461 residents 60 years of age and over in Franklin per the town’s 2013 census
• The UMass Gerontology Institute projects an increase to 6,667 elderly residents in Franklin by 2020 and 9,217 by 2030 (27% of the population)
• The average number of visitors to the Senior Center per day is 130
• There are 1,200 active participants at the Center

Franklin (MA) Senior Center - May 2014 (updated) from Franklin Matters

Eye on Sight - Mobile vision clinic - June 6th

Additional information can be found on the Franklin Senior Center webpage
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Senior/index


Note: email subscribers will need to click through to the webpage to view the presentation

Live reporting - Housing

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS

• Municipal Affordable Housing Trust, Christopher Vericker
info on new project starting to buy and sell housing for affordable buyers

mini team together, something formal being prepared
alert the realtors of this option
the Town would be a cash buyer to help sellers

Nutting - funding source for affordable housing Trust, from two developers who didn't want to develop affordable housing as part of their plan
payments from one of them still coming
formula set by Government based upon members of the household and income
it should be cheaper than otherwise

Bissanti - revitalization?
Nutting - we would prefer not to get into that aspect because then it becomes a construction project

Padula - deed restrictions forever?
Cerel - yes, as long as you apply with the process when it is set up

Live reporting - Residential Key Box

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS – 


Residential Key Box Program
Fire Chief McCarragher

residential version to access keys to the house especially in cases where there are elderly
saves family members from traveling across town or from out of town to provide access for fire personnel
voluntary program, applications and information available at the Fire Station or on the Fire Dept web page

no cost to the town, the vendor cost is $119.00 plus $14.00 for shipping/handling

already in this edition of the Municipal Services guide


Franklin, MA

SlideShare presentations

Many of the presentations from either the Town Council or School Committee meetings, I post to SlideShare.net in order to help share them with you here on Franklin Matters. I received an email from SlideShare looking back on the account activity I had during 2009.

It is always exciting to bring in a new year. Taking a look back, here's a quick summary of your year on SlideShare, in 2009.

In 2009, you uploaded 29 presentations and got:

• 9197 views
• 317.14 average views per presentation
• 1 favorite
• 1 follower 

Your most popular presentation was:

Life Long Learning - made by Pandora Carlucci at the School Committee meeting on January 27, 2009. You can view that presentation on SlideShare here:
http://www.slideshare.net/shersteve/franklin-ma-life-long-learning-program-presentation

Other presentations on SlideShare in the order of popularity can be found here
http://www.slideshare.net/shersteve/presentations?order=popular

Thanks to all the presenter for creating and sharing these presentations. I can only take a little bit of credit for posting them here to increase the sharing.