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| Franklin Education Foundation - Autumn Wine & Music Social - Sep 30 |
"Although economists are predicting a gradual recovery of the U.S. economy beginning sometime in the third quarter of 2020, forecasts show that the labor market will not return to pre-pandemic levels until the end of 2022.1
In Massachusetts, where unemployment is significantly higher than the national rate, it could take even longer to recover all of the jobs lost during the COVID-19 recession due to the initial severity of the pandemic and the exposure of key industries like education and health care.
Against this backdrop, residents face reduced unemployment insurance benefits that will constrain their ability to continue making their housing payments in full. Coupled with the eventual expiration of state and national eviction moratoriums, the cumulative impact of deferred rental and mortgage payments has the potential to lead to large increases in housing displacement in 2021."
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| Boston Foundation Housing Report Card |
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Summary:
As with most meetings in this pandemic period, I took my notes via Twitter during the meeting reporting in real-time via the virtual session.
The Twitter hashtag can be found online #SchCom0922
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23schcom0922&src=typeahead_click
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| Superintendent Sara Ahern making a point during meeting 9/22/20 |
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| THE BLACK BOX Sings... WICKED - Sep 26-27 |
Friends,
In honor of National Suicide Prevention Month, please join me and representatives from Massachusetts Samaritans for a Facebook Live conversation this Thursday, September 24 from 4-5 PM about mental health, suicide prevention, and the ways in which we can best help ourselves and our loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic. Come join the conversation! The Samaritans team and I will answer audience questions about mental health and supporting those around us.
For over 40 years, Samaritans have provided life-saving suicide prevention services and nonjudgmental support throughout Massachusetts. Samaritans evolved from one small Helpline to having answered over 2.6 million calls, chats and text messages.
As always, if you or any of your loved ones in my district have fallen on hard times during this public health crisis, please do not hesitate to reach out to my office. My office line is 617-722-1555 and my email is becca.rausch@masenate.gov. We are here to help. You can also find robust resources to help you navigate through COVID-19 on my website.
Wishing you and your families strength, health, and resilience.
Yours in service,
Senator Becca Rausch
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| THIS THURSDAY: Mental Health During COVID-19 Event |
Facilities Analysis Sub Committee Meeting
Wednesday, Sep 30 - 5:00 PM
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| Facilities Analysis Sub Committee Meeting - Sep 30 |
"In spring 2019, Andrew Cooper and some other Pac-12 athletes arrived at a high-end resort in Phoenix. Ten pools and a golf course surrounded them on the scenic property. Cooper, a cross-country runner from Washington State, attended this event during which administrators were supposed to listen to athletes.Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
During one session, Kate Fagan, the author of a book about a college runner who died by suicide, addressed mental health and how colleges could better serve athletes. The year prior, Cooper watched how quarterback Tyler Hilinski’s death by suicide rocked his campus community. Cooper called Fagan’s discussion “one of the most powerful mental health talks I’ve ever witnessed.” But he remembers the stark juxtaposition in the room. Athletes cried while some administrators continued working on their laptops.
“It just made me realize they don't care,” Cooper said. “They don't actually care about us. This is only going to change from the outside.”
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| Andrew Cooper, who ran cross-country for Washington State and California Berkeley, has become an advocate for college athlete rights. (Mitch Hechsel) |
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| Boston Globe video: Mail-in voting explained |
Dd you get the election information booklet in the mail from the Secretary of the Commonwealth? https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleidx.htm
You can get your copy at the ma.gov page https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/IFV_2020.pdf
or with this Google doc copy:
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| MA.gov: Information For Voters for 2020 |
From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:
"In June, 104 employees – many of them teachers – at Franklin Public Schools received pink slips. This fall, 87 of them are returning, according to a recent comprehensive personnel update released by the district.
Only 15 positions of the 104 threatened with the chopping block back in June wound up being cut, according to a letter from the district signed by Superintendent Sara Ahern and Director of Human Resources Lisa O’Keefe-Trainor on Friday. "
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required) https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20200922/layoffs-in-franklin-schools-fewer-than-expected?rssfeed=true
Editor's note: Other than the quote from Superintendent Ahern, there is no new information in this article and the numbers still don't add up. This is elementary math and if turned in as a school report by a fourth or fifth grade student, it would be really interesting to see what the rubric would provide as a score. Lots of numbers, lots of info but it doesn't add up. They can start with either people or positions, there is a difference between them, I get that. But 104 (or 103) got notified, what happened to them? It should be as easy as 87 came back and 17 (or 16) didn't. There can be a variety of other categories, that really doesn't matter. Tallying to the total (either 104 or 103) does.
In the News: "The letter states that the numbers printed do not equal 104"
"Call Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket home? US News & World Report just ranked these two island communities the healthiest in the state.
In its third annual “500 Healthiest Communities” rankings, US News listed three Massachusetts counties in the top 100, taking into account economic, educational, and environmental factors, as well as other social determinants of health.
Dukes County, which represents six towns on Martha’s Vineyard and one on the Elizabeth Islands, was ranked 39th, followed by Nantucket County, which placed 62d. A little further down the list was Norfolk County, ranked 75th. The five communities that topped the list were Los Alamos County in New Mexico, Douglas County in Colorado, Falls Church city in Virginia, and Broomfield and Routt counties in Colorado.
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Norfolk County, with a much bigger population of 670,850, received an overall score of 75, with population health, education, and economy scoring the highest, and equity scoring the lowest."
All outbound Franklin Line trains may experience delays up to 20 minutes between Windsor Gardens and Forge Park/495 due to a signal issue. Individual alerts will be sent as needed.
Up to date alerts can be found on the MBTA page https://www.mbta.com/schedules/CR-Franklin/alerts
MBTA Franklin Line: Through Wednesday - Franklin Line delay due to signal problem
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"August besieged California with a heat unseen in generations. A surge in air-conditioning broke the state’s electrical grid, leaving a population already ravaged by the coronavirus to work remotely by the dim light of their cellphones. By midmonth, the state had recorded possibly the hottest temperature ever measured on earth — 130 degrees in Death Valley — and an otherworldly storm of lightning had cracked open the sky. From Santa Cruz to Lake Tahoe, thousands of bolts of electricity exploded down onto withered grasslands and forests, some of them already hollowed out by climate-driven infestations of beetles and kiln-dried by the worst five-year drought on record. Soon, California was on fire.
Over the next two weeks, 900 blazes incinerated six times as much land as all the state’s 2019 wildfires combined, forcing 100,000 people from their homes. Three of the largest fires in history burned simultaneously in a ring around the San Francisco Bay Area. Another fire burned just 12 miles from my home in Marin County. I watched as towering plumes of smoke billowed from distant hills in all directions and air tankers crisscrossed the skies. Like many Californians, I spent those weeks worrying about what might happen next, wondering how long it would be before an inferno of 60-foot flames swept up the steep, grassy hillside on its way toward my own house, rehearsing in my mind what my family would do to escape.
But I also had a longer-term question, about what would happen once this unprecedented fire season ended. Was it finally time to leave for good?"
