Franklin, MA: Kindergarten registration

For students entering Kindergarten in September 2010, registration will occur on 

• February 2
• February 4
• February 8
  

For more information, please visit the Franklin Public School kindergarten registration page here:
http://www.franklin.ma.us/auto/schools/FPS/KInfo/default.htm

In the News - financial discussion

A brief write-up for the budget workshop held on Monday for Town Council, Finance and School Committee members appears in the Milford Daily News

Franklin finances look grim

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

Additional info from the workshop can be found here and here


The workshop provided extensive details on the finances and budget process. The information gathered will be shared overtime to help us all prepare for Fiscal Year 2011. We are currently operating within Fiscal Year 2010 which ends June 30th.

Live reporting - budget workshop continued

Part 1 for this meeting can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/live-reporting-special-meeting-budget.html


Jim Dacey covered the debt and interest explanations. Susan and Jeff combined to discuss the stabilization fund, the calculation of "free cash" and its use for capital expenses (one time, not recurring).

The group took a break and then resumed to pick up with the School budget.

Maureen Sabolinski and Miriam Goodman presented the initial overview on the budget and Federal/State mandates.

Sally Winslow and Beth Fitzmaurice are now covering Special Education and its requirements.
I am taking good notes but will spend some time to write them up before sharing them here.

Franklin belongs to two collaboratives to provide enhanced purchasing options to provide special education requirements at a reasonable expense.

Live reporting: Special Meeting - budget workshop

Town Council:
Scott Mason, Tina Powderly, Glenn Jones

School Committee:
Bill Glynn, Cindy Douglas, Sue Rohrbach

Finance Committee:
Jim Roche, Linda Huempfner, Pat Goldsmith, Phyllis Meserve, Jaun Rivera, Mark Cataldo, Rebecca Cameron, Craig Maire, Robert Texiera


Town administration
Jeff Nutting, Susan Gagner, Jim Dacey

School Administration
Maureen Sabolinski, Miriam Goodman, Sally Winslow, Beth Fitzmaurice


There is good information in this session. We are hearing from Susan Gagner, Town Comptroller. She is covering the town financial history from 2005 through FY 2010.

• revenue components
• property tax
• state aid
• local estimated receipts
• other available funds

Shifting to Jim Dacey, Treasurer/Collector to explain our debt and interest.

Part 2 for this meeting continues here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/live-reporting-budget-workshop.html

FM #55 - Week ending 1/24/10

This is #55 in the series on what matters in Frankin, MA. In this session, I cover the Town Council meeting of 1/20/10 and take a look ahead at the FY 2011 budget preparations.

Time: 8 minutes, 20 seconds


MP3 File

Session notes:

This internet radio show or podcast is number 55 in the series for Franklin Matters.

Take about ten minutes to keep current with what matters in Franklin, MA as the week ends January 24, 2010

In this session I’ll cover the Town Council meeting of Wednesday, January 20, 2010

1. proposed Charter revision
2. Downtown improvement project
3. New trash/recycle bins to lower cost of solid waste by $24

1 – The proposed charter revisions were brought back before this Council by Councilors Whalen and Zollo, no additional changes were made to the discussions held last Sep.
There will be open forum and public hearings to solicit input from the citizens before the final package is assembled for Legislative review. Assuming the changes proposed are accepted, then they would still come back to be voted on by the Franklin voters before being effective.

2 – The latest update on the Downtown Improvement project was presented to the Town Council on Weds and to the Downtown Partnership on Thursday morning. Additional sessions will be scheduled to allow for input from Franklin residents.

A copy of the presentation is available on Franklin MAtters

3 – The DPW presented a proposed rate change, actually a reduction from 244 per year to 220 per year. The change is dependent upon approval of a new contract to implement a “single stream” collection system. Single stream is still a misnomer in that there would be separate trash and recycle bins. The recycled items can all be mingled in the one barrel. We'd no longer need to separate the cardboard from the cans, bottles, etc.

A picture of the new bins is available on Franklin MAtters

Looking ahead to this week, there are two meetings of note:

1 - This Monday evening is a special meeting of the Town Council. The purpose of the meeting will be a  budget workshop to review terminology and process steps for the 2011 budget. The workshop is intended to bring the new members of  the Town Council, Finance Committee, and School Committee up to speed.  It is also open to the public and this will be a great time to get in on the ground floor of the budget discussion.

Note the actual 2011 budget is not scheduled for discussion. Gov Patrick is scheduled to release his budget later this week. The House and Senate will release theirs some time and then all three will be reconciled or negotiated to produce one budget sometime before June 30th. That budget is key to what Franklin does. Currently 30% of our revenue comes from State Aid. Separately the Franklin departments will be coming up with their budget, review it with Jeff Nutting who makes his recommendation and brings both to the Finance Committee for review and approval be for the Town Council gets their final review and approval.

2 - The School committee starts their budget process on Tuesday the 26th. We'll get the first look at what a level service and level funded budget for 2011 could look like with options on what programs would be on the table for discussion. The teacher contract is up for renewal this year (as are all the other Franklin municipal employee contracts) what those will look like when an agreement is reached is open for speculation at this time.

In summary, the next several months can be very interactive. Franklin citizens can provide their input to the charter, the downtown project, and ultimately the Franklin budget. If you were waiting for a good time to get involved, the time is now.

As I close this session this week, let me remind you that

• If you like what I am doing, please tell your neighbors
• If you don’t like something, please tell me

Thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit FranklinMAtters.blogspot.com/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to the website to listen to the audio version.

School Committee - Agenda - 1/26/10

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.

Mission Statement
The Franklin Public Schools, in collaboration with the community, will cultivate each student's intellectual, social, emotional and physical potential through rigorous academic inquiry and informed problem solving skills within a safe, nurturing and respectful environment.

1. Routine Business
• Citizen’s Comments
• Review of Agenda
• Minutes: I recommend approval of the Open Session and Executive Session minutes from the January 12, 2010 School Committee Meeting.
• Payment of Bills - Mr. Glynn
• Payroll - Mrs. Douglas
• FHS Student Representatives
• Correspondence:  none

2. Guests/Presentations
a. Snow Removal / Sidewalks – Brutus Cantoreggi / Jeff Nutting
b. Preliminary Budget Discussion

3. Discussion Only Items
• Budget to Actual
• Second Reading:

Policy ADA – School District Goals & Objectives
Policy ACE – Non-Discrimination on the basis of Disability

4. Action Items
a. I recommend acceptance of the donation of 5 digital cameras and one camcorder from Mr. Robert Salzberg of Resh, Inc. for the Davis Thayer Elementary School.
b. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1148.00 from the Oak St. PCC for a Gr. 2 field trip to Stony Brook in May as detailed.
c. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1000.00 from the Panther Lacrosse Association to be used towards the fitness center at FHS.
d. I recommend acceptance of a check for $500.00 from the Singleton Family Foundation for the FHS Special Education Department.
e. I recommend acceptance of a check for $3000.00 from the Davis Thayer PCC for field trips as detailed.
f. I recommend acceptance of the donation of a Visual Presenter from Mr. Robert Salzberg of Resh, Inc. for the Davis Thayer Elementary School.
g. I recommend approval of the request of Ms. Leardi & Mrs. Waters of the FHS for a trip to London, England on June 25, 2010 as detailed.
h. I recommend adoption of Policy ADA – School District Goals & Objectives.
i. I recommend approval of the request of Peter Light for an additional Assistant Track coach at a cost of $1,467.00 to be funded from the Athletic Revolving Account to assist with increased student participation.
j. I recommend adoption of Policy ACE – Non-Discrimination on the basis of Disability.

5. Information Matters
Superintendent’s Report

a. Finance Workshop Training
b. MSBA/FHS Project
c. Kindergarten Registration
d. MASBO Compensation Study
e. Data Team

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
• Contractual Negotiations

8. Adjourn

Franklin, MA: At a glance

In advance of the special budget workshop Monday evening, here is a report from the MA Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services:

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

You can view the same report on the MA DOR website here.

The workshop this evening is open to the public and intended to bring the new members of the Town Council, Finance and School Committees up to speed on the budget terminology and process.

The fiscal policies that previous Town Councils have used for guidance, this Council also accepted and it posted on the Town Council section of their webpage:
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Council/fiscal.pdf

Note: The 2011 budget is NOT scheduled for discussion. The Governor is scheduled to announce his view of the budget this week. Both bodies of the State legislature will announce their own versions of the State budget and then all three will be negotiated to produce one budget sometime before June 30th.

Last year was an exception in that Franklin did not find out their final numbers until July. The Town Council voted on the final 2010 budget on Sep 16th with some adjustments to the one passed in June.

Franklin, MA: budget workshop

Whalen said the budget workshop will delve into the town's state and local revenue sources and unfunded mandates like special education funding.

School Committee Chairman Jeffrey Roy urges the public to attend.

"People are typically surprised when they learn about the scope and number of state and federal mandates applicable to school budgets," he said.

 Read the full article in the Milford Daily News by clicking on the link below:

Franklin officials to strategize on town budgets

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

Pulaski Blvd project update

Yes, Pulaski Blvd is in Bellingham but it changes name to Washington and then to King St for those traveling north to come to the i495 intersection. The i495 intersection is under construction to improve, widen and add traffic lights.

Pulaski Blvd starts construction this spring. For folks in Franklin heading south to Bellingham, Woonsocket and points beyond, you might want to consider exploring an alternate route.

This article in the Milford Daily News provides an update on the bids just received to begin work this spring.

Pulaski project on target in Bellingham

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Melanie Graham/Daily News staff

In the News - downtown project

"We want to continue to get public input and allow that input to direct the design," he said.

A major proposed improvement is to create two-way traffic on Emmons, Main and West Central streets.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

View the presentation on this project that was made to the Town Council on Wednesday Jan 20th

Diversity in the state legislature?

Despite an executive branch headed by the state's first black governor, no one keeps track of the racial makeup of the Legislature's work force - not the state Human Resources Division nor any central office in the House or Senate.

Lawmakers can hire whomever they want, however they want, and since they exempted themselves from the public record law years ago, they don't have to tell anyone.

Only 18 of 200 elected officials agreed to provide information on their staffers' race, age and gender to The Patriot Ledger.

Reached last week, no MetroWest legislator, with the exception of state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, responded to the Daily News' request for information regarding staff demographics. Some offices did not return calls. Other offices referred the News directly to the House Speaker's office. Other offices referred the News to the Legislature's human resources department, which then referred a reporter to the House Speaker's office.

------

Affirmative action - a hiring policy that encourages minorities to apply for jobs where they are underrepresented - was a phrase first used by President John F. Kennedy nearly 50 years ago. In the years that followed, it was the basis for federal equal opportunity hiring regulations that states, cities and towns had to follow, or risk losing federal aid.

But the same rules affecting all 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts and more than 50,000 state employees don't apply to lawmakers, their employees or committee staffs.

Read the full and rather interesting report on this disconnect created by the legislature in the Milford Daily News here

Express Line

The new Express Line was just sent out via email.

If you are not receiving you own copy, you can sign up on the Franklin website here: http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/subscriber-news

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Save File: converted-FranklinMA_ExpressLine_100122-converted.pdf

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to read the document.

More from Gov Patrick of interest to Franklin Matters

Friday, Governor Patrick attended the Massachusetts Municipal Association Annual Meeting and outlined proposals including municipal pension relief, a limited early retirement incentive program and a new Green Communities grant program to encourage development of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects to relieve local budgets “The Lieutenant Governor and I value the partnership we have built with local officials across the Commonwealth,” said Governor Patrick. “This relationship has allowed us to work collaboratively to bring real change to the way local government provides for the residents of the Commonwealth. The tools we introduce today, coupled with the changes we have already made, will allow us to provide key services in communities today, while reducing local pressure on the property tax.” Learn more here.

• Read more in the Boston Globe. Watch more on NECN.
  

 The full recap of the Governor's activities on Friday, Jan 22 can be found here

What matters for Franklin

Having listened to the Governor's State of the Commonwealth, these sections I think are what matters most for Franklin.

In a time of dwindling state revenue, we funded public schools at the highest level in history.  In the budget I file next week, I will propose to do it again by fully funding the education budget through Chapter 70 next year, so that no school will see a cut in state support.  But because schools need innovation as well as money in order to be great, we made law and history this week by signing an education reform bill that will put a great school within reach of every child in every corner of this Commonwealth.  We made it personal.  Thank you.

....

We, all of us, have worked together to give local communities new tools to cut costs and raise revenues, to regionalize more municipal services.  But I will not be satisfied until we find a way to bring property taxes down.

....

... these young people did not sit around wondering and worrying what to do and who was going to do it.  They didn’t accept that they were powerless.  They saw a need and met it, and found power in service itself.  And through that not only have they inspired me and many others, but they have built a better, stronger Commonwealth.

Brick by brick. Block by block. Neighborhood by neighborhood. Town by town.  That is what each of us must do.  That is who each of us must be.  That is the opportunity this crisis presents.  If we seize it, I am certain our best days lie ahead.

The full text of the speech is available here and here

Downtown Improvement Project

This is the Downtown Improvement Project presentation that was made to the Town Council on Wednesday, Jan 20th and Thursday, Jan 21st to the Downtown Partnership.

There will be other times scheduled for review and discussion of the plan details. As soon as I am aware of them, they will be posted here.

Downtown Improvement Project 1/20/2010

View more presentations from Steve Sherlock.

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the presentation.