"No matter what they were going to do to me, I was going to survive”

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"When colonists in Framingham awoke to riders on horseback yelling to ready the militia in the early hours of April 19, 1775, many thought it was a call to quell another slave revolt somewhere in Natick. 

Once the men realized it was a call to start marching toward Lexington to fight the Redcoats, many went back home and bolted the doors in horror of the coming war. At least that is story told by Josiah Temple, author of the 1887 book “The history of Framingham.” 

The Framingham men who did march the 17 miles to battle would later be acclaimed for their prowess at Lexington and Concord. That includes a former slave Peter Salem, who would later become famous for his bravery during the battle at Bunker Hill. 

Nevertheless, enslaved Africans in a place like Natick is a foreign thought to many native New Englanders. And it’s not generally part of the history passed down through generations. In truth, however, Massachusetts was the first colony to legalize slavery. 

In November, the Daily News published a Veterans Day story about Charles Paine, a former slave and forgotten Revolutionary War veteran from Franklin, who was publicly recognized for his service for the first time. Paine’s name was omitted from the Revolutionary War Memorial at the town common. His story begged the question about the history of slavery locally and across the state and New England. It seems it is a history overshadowed by the more flattering - but equally important - local-roots abolitionist movement."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20180304/look-into-massachusetts-participation-in-slave-trade

The article on Charles Paine can be found online
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2017/11/stumbled-across-bill-of-sale-for.html

INTERACTIVE: A timeline of slavery in Massachusetts

Additional research by Susan Eliot referenced in this article
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20180304/profiles-of-two-massachusetts-slaves-one-murder-one-soldier

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

Franklin Senior Center "Connections" - March 2018

The March issue of the Franklin Senior Center "Connections" newsletter is now available.

You can also view/download from the Town of Franklin webpage
http://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/uploads/mar18connection2.pdf

Franklin Senior Center "Connections" - March 2018

FHS girls hockey team ends playoff run vs. Methuen/Tewksbury 4-1

Via HockomockSports and Twitter we share the news of the FHS girls hockey playoff game on Saturday, March 3, 2018. 



Girls Hockey = Division 1
#13 Franklin, 1 @ #4 Methuen/Tewksbury, 4 – Final


For other results around the Hockomock League on Saturday
https://hockomocksports.com/saturdays-schedule-scoreboard-03-03-18/

G V Ice Hockey Playoff Game: after 1 period - Franklin 0 Methuen/Tewks 0.

— FranklinAthletics (@FHSSports) March 4, 2018

G V Ice Hockey Playoff Game: after 2 periods - Franklin 1 Methuen/Tewks 3. Panther goal was short-handed by Patterson.

— FranklinAthletics (@FHSSports) March 4, 2018

G V Ice Hockey Playoff Game: Final - Franklin 1 Methuen/Tewks 4. Tremendous season ladies! Heads high! We are very proud of how you represented our school and community! Thank you seniors! #PantherPride

— FranklinAthletics (@FHSSports) March 4, 2018

Final game vs Tewksbury; final 4-1 lose, goal by Paterson, outstanding performance in net by Stott‼️ thanks to everyone for an amazing season, we will miss you seniors❤️

— FHS Girls Hockey (@fhsvgockey) March 4, 2018

Via the Twitterverse

https://twitter.com/FranklinMatters/lists/fhs-sports

FHS Panthers

Franklin Library: Celebrating Ireland in Story and Song - Mar 4 - 3:00 PM

Celebrating Ireland in Story and Song is an all Irish program which embraces Irish history and culture in story and song. Phil Edmonds, Kevin Fallon, and Mary King are scheduled to perform at the Franklin Library, Sunday, Mar 4 at 3:00 PM

Franklin Library: Celebrating Ireland in Story and Song - Mar 4 - 3:00 PM

For more about the group and to listen to samples of their music, visit
http://www.celticharpri.com/celebrating-ireland.htm

Tri-County Robotics team (Tri-Bots 3236)

The Tri-County Robotics team (Tri-Bots 3236) competed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) today (Thursday, March 2) in the FIRST Robotics Competition. 

This clip is from the second run the team competed in. Go Tri-Bots! 

#tricountyrvths #wpirobotics #tribots #firstroboticscompetitionne

Did you know Tri-County has a Robotics team? Our students are amazing! Here's some photos from today's US First Robotics Competition at WPI. Go Tri-Force! Team 3236! #tricountyrvths #wpirobotics #tribots3236 pic.twitter.com/dvrueZEoWZ

— Tri-County Regional (@TriCountyRVTSD) March 2, 2018

Town of Franklin: [Residents] March 3rd 2018 Storm

Good morning:

This is Brutus Cantoreggi with the Town of Franklin to provide you with an update on the loss of electricity within the Town after yesterday's historic Nor'eater storm.

There are presently 3,140 customers in Franklin without power.  As of this morning, National Grid has begun power recovery efforts in the community and will restore power as quickly as possible.  They presently warn that full power restoration may take up to 72 hours.  If you do not have power make sure you contact National Grid at 800-465-1212.  They can't restore your power if they don't know it's out.

The high winds of yesterday caused many power and other overhead transmission lines to come down.  Please stay away from any downed wire and treat all downed wires as energized electrical lines. Only a few road remain impassable due to trees and wires down; they are marked with barricades and signs - please do not drive past barricades.

Citizens without power can go to the Hockomock YMCA located at 45 Forge Hill Road for a warm shower and charge your electronic devices.  

We will keep you updated with information as the situation dictates.  As always please call 911 in the event of an emergency.

Town of Franklin: [Residents] March 3rd 2018 Storm

Urgent: Power Outage Update

Power Outage Update

Due to the power outages the Franklin YMCA is allowing residents with no power to use their facility to take hot showers and charge your phones and laptops etc.

For information about power outages please visit National Grid at:
https://m.nationalgrid.com  or call 1-800-465-1212

Read more

This is an automatic message from Town of Franklin MA. Please do not reply to this message.

Urgent: Power Outage Update

Supporting documentation for the FY 2019 School Budget Proposal

On Friday, March 2, a check of the document folder for the Feb 27, 2018 meeting reveals the "supporting documentation" referenced by the Superintendent's memo are now available. 

The meeting packet folder can be found here:http://franklinschool.vt-s.net/Pages/FranklinCom_Packets/t2-27-2018%20SC%20Packet/

The budget supporting documents of note:

• Budget breakout school by school (generally determined as a per student allocation)

http://franklinschool.vt-s.net/Pages/FranklinCom_Packets/t2-27-2018%20SC%20Packet/FY19%20supt%20recommended%20budget%20cover%20sc%20(1).pdf

• Budget line item details for FY 16 through the proposal for FY 19

http://franklinschool.vt-s.net/Pages/FranklinCom_Packets/t2-27-2018%20SC%20Packet/FY19%20supt%20recommended%20budget%20overview%20sc.pdf

• What's in the revolving accounts? How are they able to provide funding to offset the budget?

http://franklinschool.vt-s.net/Pages/FranklinCom_Packets/t2-27-2018%20SC%20Packet/Revolving%20Detail%20sc.pdf

• What are Special Funds? State and Federal grant details can be found here

http://franklinschool.vt-s.net/Pages/FranklinCom_Packets/t2-27-2018%20SC%20Packet/Special%20Revenue%20FY19%20sc.pdf

• The Superintendent's memo and the presentation document

http://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/03/superintendent-to-school-committee-fy.html

Superintendent to School Committee - FY 2019 School Budget Memo and Presentation

The supporting documents can also be found on the School District page here

http://franklindistrict.vt-s.net/Pages/FranklinDistrict_News/025E803B-000F8513

Pantherbook: "Hitting Snooze on the Morning Bell"

Madeleine Lussier, Editor of Pantherbook, has a piece on school start times called "Hitting Snooze on the Morning Bell"

"The idea of later school start times has spread to the town of Franklin. 

As it stands right now, Franklin High School has one of the earliest start times in the area with Medway beginning school at 8:04, Milford students getting to class at 7:50, and the bell ringing in Bellingham at 7:30, but as early as January 2019, students at Franklin High could be the ones sleeping in the latest. 

Beginning school at a later time would allow students to develop longer natural sleep cycle which in turn allows for more cognitive function, or increased availability to learn according to the U.S National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health."

Continue reading the article at Pantherbook
https://franklinpanthers.us/top-stories/2018/02/27/hitting-snooze-on-the-morning-bell/

Pantherbook: "Hitting Snooze on the Morning Bell"

FHS wrestlers Bakalars and Remillard perform at New Englands

Via Twitter, we share the FHS wrestling results from the New England meet being held in Providence.

Currently in Providence, RI for New England’s. After the preliminary round, Bakalars drops to Consolation and Remillard moves on in the Championship bracket to the round of 16.

— Franklin Wrestling (@FHSWrestle) March 2, 2018

Remillard drops to Consolation

— Franklin Wrestling (@FHSWrestle) March 3, 2018

Bakalars and Remillard drop. Good season boys.

— Franklin Wrestling (@FHSWrestle) March 3, 2018

Team trip to the buffet’s on Monday the 12th and the banquets April 8th.

— Franklin Wrestling (@FHSWrestle) March 3, 2018

Help Neal in his marathon fund raising

"I NEED YOUR HELP!

Please share and help me get Under Armour to support Silver Lining Mentoring!

500+ miles run, 70 lbs lost, and 9 months of training have been successful because I've used the right gear. The clothing that Under Armour makes is excellent and what I've used exclusively to come this far.

Now, I'm challenging Under Armour to help make this effort meaningful by donating to the cause. On Monday, April 16 I am running the Boston Marathon to make a difference for youth in foster care.

You can help! Please share this post and consider a donation. Every click and dollar matters!

Donations can be made here: https://www.crowdrise.com/…/silverliningmentoring…/nealglatt"

Silver Lining Mentoring

"Transportation projects are a major part of local economy"

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"When a harsh winter crippled MBTA service in 2015, Gov. Charlie Baker had realized that it was time to bring the entire system into the 21st century. 

Baker vowed Friday morning to focus on upgrading signals, switches, tracks, power systems and electronics. 

“I am just going to be a bear about this,” Baker said in front of business leaders as one of the keynote speakers at the annual 495/MetroWest Partnership annual conference at the Courtyard Marriott. “Until we make the investments we are supposed to make so the core system runs in such a way that somebody might recommend to someone to ride it.” 

He said a lot of the infrastructure is 50, 60 or 70 years old."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20180302/gov-charlie-baker-vows-to-upgrade-core-mbta-infrastructure

boarding the train at Franklin/Dean for the commute to Boston

MassBudget: Educated and Encumbered

Support for higher ed down since FY 2001, tuition and debt up

MassBudget    Information.    Participation.  Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center    Democracy. March 1, 2018 Educated and Encumbered: Support for higher ed down since FY 2001, tuition and debt up While the economic strength of Massachusetts is built largely on having the best-educated workforce in the nation, funding for public higher education has declined substantially since 2001. This has led to large increases in tuition, fees, and student debt. Those financial obstacles can limit opportunity for high school graduates, potentially weakening our state economy. In the past dozen years debt for graduates of four-year public colleges and universities has grown more rapidly in Massachusetts than in 48 of the 50 states. Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center's report, Educated and Encumbered: Student Debt Rising with Higher Education Funding Falling in Massachusetts, finds that per-pupil funding for public higher education has declined by 32 percent since 2001 in Massachusetts, funding for scholarships has declined at a similar rate, and per-pupil debt has increased 122 percent since the 2003-2004 school year. The average debt among public university graduates now almost equals that of students graduating from the state's private colleges and universities. The report finds that, by 2016, more graduates of public higher education had debt than graduates of private institutions - 73 percent compared with 54 percent. Since Fiscal Year 2001, the state's public higher education funding has decreased by about $3,000 per student in today's dollars while tuition and fees rose by about $4,600 per student in that same time. Read the full report here. The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget) produces policy research, analysis, and data-driven recommendations focused on improving the lives of low- and middle-income children and adults, strengthening our state's economy, and enhancing the quality of life in Massachusetts. MASSACHUSETTS BUDGET AND POLICY CENTER 15 COURT SQUARE, SUITE 700 BOSTON, MA 02108

Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, 15 Court Square, Suite 700, Boston, MA 02108 Sent by nberger@massbudget.org in collaboration with Try it free today

Upcoming Events in Franklin, MA: FRI 3/2/18 - THU 3/8/18

FRIDAY 3/2/18
10am-12pm   Knitting Group @ Franklin Public Library
1:30pm   Mighty Girls Story Time @ Franklin Public Library
5:30pm   Heart with Hope Restorative Yoga (for parents and loved ones of those suffering from addiction) @ Sacred Tree Yoga, Norfolk
6-10pm   Party for a Cure - Kim Luccini Fundraiser for DF Marathon @ Elks Lodge
7pm   Yoga for Recovery @ Sacred Tree Yoga, Norfolk
7pm   ‘A Pirate’s Life for Me’ - BFCCPS Musical @ Horace Mann MS
8pm   The Black Box Local Artist Series: The Gershwin-Porter Songbook featuring Cindy Jones @ The Black Box

SATURDAY 3/3/18
9-10am   School Committee Coffee Session @ Franklin Public Library
10am-1pm   Franklin Historical Museum Open
10:30am   Town of Franklin's 240th Birthday Celebration @ Franklin Historical Museum
12pm   FSPA Musical Theatre Showcase @ The Black Box
2pm   METG DramaFest Preliminaries, Franklin HS performing ‘Fahrenheit 451’ @ FHS
2pm   FSPA Musical Theatre Showcase @ The Black Box
2pm   ‘A Pirate’s Life for Me’ - BFCCPS Musical @ Horace Mann MS
8pm   Circle of Friends Coffeehouse: Patty Larkin @ FUSF

SUNDAY 3/4/18
7:30-10:30am   Sunday Breakfast @ Franklin Rod and Gun Club
1-4pm   Franklin Historical Museum Open
3pm   Celebrating Ireland in Story and Song @ Franklin Public Library

MONDAY 3/5/18
10am   Storytime (all ages, free) @ Fairmount Fruit Farm
10:30am   Move Along @ Franklin Public Library
11am   Book Discussion Group @ Franklin Senior Center
11am   Toddler Playgroup @ Franklin Public Library
3pm  Monday Crafternoons @ Franklin Public Library

TUESDAY 3/6/18
10:30am   Get Ready For Kindergarten @ Franklin Public Library
11:15am   Toddler Playgroup @ Franklin Public Library
6pm   Lenten Soup Supper and Book Study (weekly until March 21) @ St. John’s Episcopal Church
6:30pm   Canvas Paint Night @ Fairmount Fruit Farm
7pm   Franklin Garden Club Monthly Meeting - House Plant Success @ Franklin Senior Center
7pm   Friends Book Group @ Franklin Public Library

WEDNESDAY 3/7/18
10am   Animal Tales (for ages 2.5-5) @ Fairmount Fruit Farm
10am   Roulette Fun @ Franklin Senior Center
10:30am   Terrific Toddlers @ Franklin Public Library
11am   Toddler Playgroup @ Franklin Public Library
4pm   Construction Junction @ Franklin Public Library
6:30pm   Franklin Art Association Meeting - demo by Kim Morin Weinick (meetings are free and open to public) @ Franklin Senior Center
6:30pm   Christian Zen Weekly Meditation @ McMahon Guest House (1061 Upper Union Street)
6:30pm   YA Dystopian Book Club @ Franklin Public Library
7pm   Friends of Franklin Public Library Meeting @ Franklin Public Library

THURSDAY 3/8/18
9:30am   Baby Tummy Time @ Franklin Public Library
10:30am   Story and Craft @ Franklin Public Library
11:15am   Toddler Playgroup @ Franklin Public Library
12pm   Urban Sketching (no experience necessary) @ Franklin Public Library
1-6pm   American Red Cross Blood Drive @ Elks Lodge
1pm   Minds in Motion @ Franklin Senior Center
3:30pm   Discovery Workshop @ Franklin Public Library
7pm   Healing Hearts Community Support Group @ Franklin YMCA

For the Town of Franklin Public Calendar click HERE

For all other events and Franklin happenings click HERE

*To submit an event for the Community Calendar, please use this FORM