Franklin, MA: School Committee - Agenda - 4/27/10

1. Routine Business
Citizen’s Comments
Review of Agenda
Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the April 13, 2010 School Committee Meeting.
Payment of Bills - Mr. Glynn
Payroll - Mrs. Douglas
FHS Student Representatives
Correspondence: none

2. Guests/Presentations

a. Latin Awards
1. HMMS – Outstanding Achievement

1. Patrick Milne
2. Mark Mooney
3. Adam Lynch
4. Haven Butler

2. HMMS - Achievement

1. Nithya Sridhar
2. Lipee Vora
3. Kristen Brandenburg
4. Liam Devine
5. Ben Mednack
6. Justin Collins
7. Julia Birely
8. Katherine Donahue
9. Niharkia Singh

3. RMS – Outstanding Achievement

1. Chris Cannon
2. Collin Chen
3. Nicholas Chieng
4. James Lavoie

4. RMS – Achievement

1. Troy Donahue
2. Bridget Gallo
3. Dylan Martin
4. Andrew Petit
5. Carolyn Hoye
6. Allison Klowan

5. ASMS – Outstanding Achievement

1. Lauren Irvine
2. Aaron Kaplan
3. Michael Labine
4. Joshua Hall
5. Margaret Streeter
6. Lauren Altobelli

6. ASMS – Achievement

1. Kaitlin Dinmore
2. Emily Hood
3. Edward Sullivan
4. Joseph Tobin
5. Alexandra Wolfe
6. Vincent Nazaretian
7. Kelly Morgan
8. Alexandra Quinn
9. Rebecca Vickery
10. Benjamin Zogby
11. Christopher Hu
12. Danielle Dupont
13. Carly Burgess

b. ASMS Comuniteen Fundraiser – Pennies for Patients – Raised $5,020.22 for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society:
1. Emily Bellavance, Cheyenne Esposito, Ashley Gatchell, Anya Sternadore and Celia Sternadore.

c. HMMS Math Team: Placed 1st in our Division

1. Akshat Agrawal - Top Score in the 8th Grade in our division
2. Sanjay Batchu
3. Abhilasha Boruah
4. Chrisopher Danksewicz
5. Filip DaSilva
6. Alex Fischer
7. Brendan Lewis
8. Panat Gaurab
9. Ajey Panday – Top Score in the 7th Grade in our Division
10. Nikki Singh
11. Nithya Sridhar
12. Lipee Vorah
13. Emily Waite

3. Discussion Only Items

Budget to Actual
School Committee proposed 2010-2011 Schedule
FY2011 Budget

4. Action Items

a. I recommend approval of the request of Nancy Schoen for a field trip for the Music Students to Canobie Lake Park in Salem, NH on Friday, June 11, 2010 as detailed.
b. I recommend acceptance of a check for $125.00 from the JFK PCC for RN fees for a field trip.
c. I recommend acceptance of a check for $218.75 from the JFK PCC for RN fees for two field trips.
d. I recommend acceptance of a check for $4,000.00 from the Jefferson PCC for two field trips.
e. I recommend acceptance of a check for $639.03 from Follett for Supplemental Curriculum Materials for Jefferson Elementary – check from surplus books.
f. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1969.60 from the Parmenter PCC for field trips.
g. I recommend acceptance of the donation of supplies from staples for the Solutions Program.
h. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1748.00 from the Keller PCC for two tables as detailed.
i. I recommend adoption of the proposed 2010-2011 Meeting Schedule for the Franklin School Committee.
j. I recommend declaring microfiche machines at the FHS surplus to be donated to the Franklin Historical Commission as detailed.

5. Information Matters

Superintendent’s Report
a. FHS End of Year Activities
b. Principal’s Search Process – Sally Winslow

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. Executive Session
Non-Union Salary Discussion

8. Adjourn

In the News - Rainwater, softball

Students get look at project to clean up rainwater pollutants

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Ashley Studley/Daily News staff

Tip of the cap to retiring softball president in Franklin

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Krista Perry/Daily News staff

There be tires!

It starts with one person. Dave Dobrzynski, local coordinator for the Charles River Watershed Cleanup activities. Dave is at the Whole Foods Market in Bellingham, handing out t-shirts, coordinating assignments for the 300 plus volunteers working to clean the junk along the Charles.

He gets off the phone and says, I have a story for you. The BSA Venture Crew 22 has just pulled 125 tires from along Mine Brook to fill a dumpster at the VFW Post on Pond St. Dave had talked with Brutus Cantoreggi earlier to get a dumpster positioned there and to have a Bobcat clear out some of the prickly underbrush to enable volunteers to get in close to the brook. All that was successful! Dave adds: "A special thanks also to Ken Gormley in the Highway Division of the Franklin DPW for handling all the logistics of getting me the dumpster and clearing out the brush for us."

I headed to the VFW Post 3402 on Pond St.

As I approach, the parking lot has a bunch of cars, a full dumpster, and there is a group of folks with the Charles River clean up blue t-shirts.

Linda Rafuse, leads the Venture Crew. This group was founded about four years ago, has had up to 28 members and currently has 12, half of whom should up to do the volunteer work today.

The work wasn't easy. The tires and other junk has accumulated over the years. Some of the tires actually has small trees growing around or in them.

The photo on the left is deceptive but there is a slope down from the area on the parking lot to the wet lands long Mine Brook.

The work was dirty as evidenced by this close up of Laura Rafuse's jeans.

They used to be a nice clean blue. Not now, after moving the tires and junk up they are filthy!

Yes, there be tires. 125 of them by their count.


I'll validate that the dumpster is indeed full.


Great work folks!



Here is the happy group: (from left to right, front row: David Johnson, Linda Rafuse, Larry Bederian - VPW Post Comander; from left to right, back row: Laura Rafuse, Eric Harden, Robert Marini, Erica Pollock, Nadia Johnson, and Chris Johnson)

Great work folks, Mine Brook thanks you!


If you are between 14 and 20 and would like to join the BSA Venture Crew, you can find additional information on their activities on Facebook here
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15419337901

and here
http://www.americantowns.com/ma/franklin/organization/bsa-venture-crew-22

DPW News: new trash/recycling carts

The new Trash/Recycling carts have been placed around the town for residents to see, feel and try  during the regular business hours at the following locations:

Town Hall

Senior Center

Recreation Center

Police Station

This is a great opportunity for people to see and feel the new carts. One of the reasons these carts were picked is they are easy to handle.


This was originally posted on the Franklin, MA web page here
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_News/01562E42-000F8513

"A key challenge is the fundamental structure of the K-12 education establishment."

Continuing to entice you to dive in and read the 2010 Horizon Report: K12 Edition:

• A key challenge is the fundamental structure of the K-12 education establishment. As long as maintaining the basic elements of the existing system remains the focus of efforts to support education, there will be resistance to any profound change in practice. Learners have increasing opportunities to take their education into their own hands, and options like informal education, online education, and home-based learning are attracting students away from traditional educational settings. If the system is to remain relevant it must adapt, but major change comes hard in education.

Many activities related to learning and education take place outside the walls of the classroom — but these experiences are often undervalued or unacknowledged. Beyond the classroom walls, students can take advantage of online resources, explore ideas and practice skills using games and other programs they may have on systems at home, and interact with their extensive — and constantly available — social networks. Within the classroom, learning that incorporates real life experiences like these is not occurring enough and is too often undervalued when it does take place. This challenge is an important one in K-12 schools, because it results in a lack of engagement in learning on the part of students who are seeking some connection between their world, their own lives, and their experience in school.

These trends and challenges are having a profound effect on the way we experiment with, adopt, and use emerging technologies. These aspects of the world that surround and permeate education serve as a frame for considering the probable impacts of the emerging technologies listed in the sections that follow.

Franklin, MA

"we try that and we see if that works"

GIST: I think that for far too long we have just tinkered around the edges of our schools that have struggled. Central Falls High School is an example of a school like that. For over eight years, [it] has been on various lists of needing to improve. There are wonderful people in that school, there are excellent teachers in the school. They’ve had strong leadership. They’ve tried different models for reform. But we tend to do one thing, and then we wait and see if that works. And when it doesn’t or maybe it’s incremental, we say, OK, let’s try some new professional development for the teachers. And then we try that and we see if that works, and a few more years go by, and then we say, obviously we need a new principal because that one’s not doing the job. So we bring in new leadership, and we try that. We bring in new materials. We try that.

We just try one thing after another instead of recognizing that it’s not just one thing, it’s actually the combination of all of those things and the way they fit together. When you look at high-performing schools, it isn’t just one thing that they’re doing. It’s a combination of many things, and at the center of all that are high expectations for students. And so part of the work is to change the culture in the school to one where everyone expects that students will achieve and raises the bar for performance.

Read the full article including an interview with Deborah Gist, the RI Commissioner of Education, who has been the subject of much headlines on the Central Falls High School situation. Very interesting reading:
http://www.commonwealthmagazine.org/Voices/Conversation/2010/Spring/Putting-teachers-on-notice.aspx

Curbside Yard Waste Collection

Franklin’s Curbside Yard Waste Collection will be held on Saturday May 1^st and May 15^th. 

Be sure to have all material in paper bags, trash barrels or cardboard boxes.  

Brush must be bundled and shall not be more than 4 feet in length and 6–inches in diameter.  

DO NOT USE PLASTIC BAGS THEY WILL BE REJECTED



Franklin, MA