"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana
Why am I on this kick about the School Committee/Administration and the District Improvement Plan?
And if by chance, you missed that, I talked about it here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/school-committee-say-it-isnt-so.html
and here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/well-take-money-thank-you.html
I worked with wonderful folks on the Steering Committee to develop the Strategic Plan for the Franklin Public Schools. That overall strategy plan is now being further detailed with specific actions and follow up items to bring us toward the vision of what the schools should be.
The history of Franklin voters funding education is terrible. One operational override has passed of the seven offered. The one that passed was clearly a town-wide effort to save operations across the board (fire, police, Library and schools). Each one that failed was essentially for the schools. Although there were other departmental effects, the bulk of the funding for the six failures was for the schools.
Hence, one could argue that Franklin doesn't fund the schools.
Hence, given the opportunity to put together the details for the strategic plan, one would expect a considerable focus on communications, outreach, etc.
As I have outlined already, the bulk of the work on the District Improvement Plan is there. The issue is relatively minor in that the parents, the PCC organizations were left out of the District Improvement Plan in the key section to increase awareness of the school funding priorities. The community is included in the high school renovation project. It had better be. The community is excluded from the budget process and that is where I raise the issue.
Given the history of Franklin funding education, given the methods the School Committee and Administration have used to communicate, something needs to be changed.
Hence the George Santayana quote.
The time for change is now.
Franklin, MA