Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
Friday, December 16, 2022
Franklin Town Council closes out last meeting of 2022 with approval of an open space purchase to reach 200 acres in about 18 months (video)
Saturday, July 23, 2022
Teachers Are Among Most Educated, Yet Their Pay Lags
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Sunday, June 5, 2022
Franklin, MA: Town Council - agenda - June 8, 2022 at 7 PM
a. This meeting is being recorded by Franklin TV and shown on Comcast channel 11 and Verizon Channel 29. This meeting may be recorded by others.b. Chair to identify members participating remotely.
a. Citizens are welcome to express their views for up to three minutes on a matter that is not on the agenda. The Council will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during Citizen Comments. The Town Council will give remarks appropriate consideration and may ask the Town Administrator to review the matter.
a. Proclamation - Franklin Flyers Youth Hockey Teamb. Proclamation - Franklin High School Theatre Company
a. License Modification: Change of Hours - PH Franklin, Inc. d/b/a Raillery Public House, Located at 280 Franklin Village Drive, Franklin, MA 02038 https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/uploads/7a._raillery_change_of_hours.pdfb. New Farmer Winery-Farmers Market License - Crave Mead, LLC d/b/a Crave Mead, Located at 7 Main St., Unit 1, Blackstone, MA 01504 https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/uploads/7b._farmers_market_license_-_crave.pdf
a. Exemption #6: To consider the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property, because an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body and the chair so declares. i. Schmidt’s Farm, Prospect Street
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Franklin, MA: Town Council - agenda - June 8, 2022 at 7 PM |
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Mapped | The U.S. States with the Top Tech Salaries in 2021 💵 MA is #5
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Sunday, August 4, 2019
"Teachers eventually get to a living wage, but it takes 20 years to get there"
"Paul O’Donoghue, 24, was sporting sunglasses and a Franklin Recreation Camp T-shirt on a humid July afternoon at King Street Memorial Park.
“I can’t complain – I get to play dodgeball and kickball with little kids,” he said.
O’Donoghue has been a camp director for the last four years, earning about $17 an hour. But during the school year, he goes by “Mr. O’Donoghue,” a math teacher at Franklin High School, earning about twice as much.
“I’m in the career that I think I’m meant for,” said O’Donoghue, a second-year teacher and Worcester resident who started at Franklin Recreation as a camper, then as a counselor in 2011. Teachers had a “really big impact” on his life, and he wanted to do the same for his students, he said."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20190803/area-teachers-supplement-modest-salaries-with-second-jobs
Details on the Pew Research Center can be found
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/01/about-one-in-six-u-s-teachers-work-second-jobs-and-not-just-in-the-summer/
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During the school year, roughly a quarter (26%) of male teachers had a second job, compared with 15% of female teachers. |
Sunday, March 10, 2019
"Of the 62 public requests filed, only about half were successful"
"Sunshine Week: These are the highest-paid employees in the Milford area"
"How much do municipal workers make?
Across the globe, governments are publishing more of their records online, putting information in the hands of citizens who could help improve the public sector.
But in the era of big data, when any piece of information seems a Google search away, try finding the salary of your local police chief.
With more limited resources, cities and towns often lag behind in making their records available to the public. To help narrow the gap, the Daily News will launch an effort today to provide readers more insight into spending in their own backyards."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20190310/sunshine-week-these-are-highest-paid-employees-in-milford-area
Editor note: I hesitated to post this as more information is needed for a worthwhile comparison. While the article and payroll tool provides salary and compensation data, it does not provide the context on the size of the community and budget or work load to help make the comparison fair. Simply using the data provided is comparing apples to oranges. As a result of multiple discussions over the years on making the case to position Franklin appropriately with communities of its size and operational scope, this is not an easy task. So while the real picture is not available, be aware, that at least some data is.
I would rather have had the focus on the fact that 55% of the information requests were actually fulfilled. For a Sunshine week impact, there is not a lot of sun shining.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
In the News: minimum age for tobacco products becomes 21; MA cabinet level get pay raise
Minimum age for tobacco now 21
"Nearly 14 years after Needham became the first town in the country to ban tobacco sales to people under 21, the higher purchase age for cigarettes and other tobacco products will kick in across the state on Monday.
Gov. Charlie Baker in July signed a bill imposing new restrictions on tobacco products in Massachusetts, with an effective date of Dec. 31, 2018.
Along with raising the minimum age for buying tobacco products from its current 18, the law prohibits the sale of tobacco products by pharmacies and bans the use of e-cigarettes in places where state law already prohibits smoking.
The use of tobacco products including e-cigarettes will also be prohibited on the grounds of any public or private primary, secondary, or vocational school."Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20181229/minimum-age-for-buy-tobacco-jumps-to-21-on-monday
For additional information on the minimum age for tobacco products
https://www.mass.gov/massachusetts-tobacco-cessation-and-prevention-program-mtcp
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https://twitter.com/MakeSmkngHistry |
Governor's cabinet get pay raise
"Chief Human Resources Officer Ronald Arigo outlined the raises, which are effective Jan. 1, in a memo to the secretaries and their chiefs of staff and human resources directors Friday, a day after salary increases for lawmakers and constitutional officers were announced.
The 5.5 percent raise will bring the salary for cabinet secretaries up to $170,405.71 from the current $161,522.
Agency heads and commissioners will not be eligible for the pay hike if they entered their role on or after Jan. 2, 2018. Acting or interim appointees and 120-day appointees are ineligible, Arigo wrote.
Most members of Baker’s office will also receive the same 5.5 percent increase effective next Tuesday, with recent hires ineligible. According to the governor’s office, staff there have not received the merit pay increases other executive branch managers received over the past four years."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20181229/bakers-cabinet-secretaries-others-to-see-55-percent-raises
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Shhh, I Make More than My Husband
A puzzling thing can happen when wives earn more than their husbands do. |
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Thursday, May 10, 2018
MassBudget: Wages, incomes, and overcoming obstacles to economic opportunity
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Friday, July 22, 2016
In the News: workshop to address college stress, salary data research request struggles
"Citing a desire to lower stress among soon-to-be college students, several local organizations are collaborating on new college transition workshops.
The sessions - set to take place Aug. 9 and Aug. 16 - will be free to the public, and are the product of a partnership between the Hockomock Area YMCA, Dean College, Franklin public schools, the SAFE Coalition, Community Impact, New Hope and state Rep. Jeffrey Roy, D-Franklin, among others. Both workshops will take place in the Franklin High School lecture hall, and will run from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
School Committee member Anne Bergen, who also sits on the YMCA's Board of Managers, said the workshops were designed to meet a perceived need in the about-to-go-to-college group."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20160721/franklin-groups-hope-to-ease-stress-for-new-college-students
"Only two school districts in the area have complied with a researcher's statewide records request for the salaries of teachers and administrators broken down by gender.
The request, filed by Brigham Young University researcher Joseph Price, is the subject of a recent statewide order from Shawn Williams, supervisor of records. Every district that did not respond, according to the July 13 order, must do so and undergo training in Public Record Law.
Most area districts didn't respond. Some which did respond requested anywhere from $100 to almost $3,000 to provide the data.
Price's request was for salary data from 1995 to 2016, divided by gender, job title, education and experience. The data was intended to bolster a national study of the gender pay gap among educators."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20160721/local-school-districts-struggle-to-produce-salary-data
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
MassBudget: Job Growth Unrelated to States' Tipped Minimum Wage
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