Grand Opening - Cafe Dolce

The Grand Opening of Cafe Dolce today generated more pictures to add to the photo slide shows previously published.




Enjoy!

Town Council - Agenda - 4/15/09

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – March 18, 2009 Regular & Executive Session

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS

E. APPOINTMENTS

F. HEARINGS

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS –

• School Strategic Planning Committee
• Long Range Financial Planning Committee
• Update – Mike D’Angelo

I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION

1. Resolution 09-06: Appropriation – 2009 Capital Plan
2. Resolution 09-21: Request for Legislation –Simple Procedure to Accept Roads
3. Resolution 09-22: Establishment of Forge Park Priority Development Site
4. Resolution 09-23: Establishment of Franklin Industrial Park Priority Development Site
5. Resolution 09-24: Establishment of Pond Street Economic Opportunity Area
6. Resolution 09-25: Binding Offer to Provide Tax Increment Financing to “Certified Projects”
7. Bylaw Amendment 09-631: Chapter 82 Fees, Appendix A, List of Service Fee Rates – 2nd Reading

K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

L. OLD BUSINESS

M. NEW BUSINESS

N. COUNCIL COMMENTS

O. EXECUTIVE SESSION – Negotiations, Litigation, Real Property, as May Be Required

P. ADJOURN

"It will leave the school community neglected"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

Posted Apr 12, 2009 @ 10:51 PM

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FRANKLIN —

All Franklin schools could be without a librarian this September, a move principals suggested as a way to fill the district's approximate $2.5 million budget gap.

"None of the cuts are palatable in any way," said Assistant Superintendent Maureen Sabolinski, who becomes superintendent July 1.

Administrators had to weigh their options, and librarians have the least impact on instruction on a day-to-day basis, she said.

Keeping class sizes to a manageable level is a top priority, School Committee members and principals have said.

"Principals at each level made the recommendation for that cut independently; each had librarians on the table," Sabolinski said.

Read the full article on the loss of the librarians in the Milford Daily News here

View the presentation outlining all the potential budget cuts here

Participate in the School Committee meeting Tuesday April 14th, 7:00 PM Town Hall.

"we need to find champions"

... what we do in education has little or nothing to do with what we know is good pedagogy for children. For example, we could significantly improve education at all levels and in all parts of the country with one change in policy—reducing class size to 18 or less at all grade levels. It is a basic truism of education that the more one-on-one time a child has with a teacher, the better the learning and educational outcome. Yet in practice educational policy is determined by political, economic, cultural, and personal ego concerns. This happens because children and adolescents do not vote, and have little or no say in their own governance. And we, who speak for children and youth, have not been able to muster the political muscle to make the educational needs of children either heard or responded to.

The data and arguments offered in this report are both powerful and compelling. But if they are to have any impact, we need to find champions in the media, in the arts, and in politics who will make the case for us. After all, what do we know? We are just the teachers of young children—who just happen to be the future of our nation.

Read the full report that David Elkind references here.

As Franklin enters into serious budget discussions which could include the change from full-day to half-day kindergarten, while increasing class size across the district, this report will be a timely read.


My thanks to Bernie DeKoven for sharing the link to this report.

School Committee - Agenda - 4/14/09

1. Routine Business

• Citizen’s Comments
• Review of Agenda
• Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the March 24, 2009 School Committee Meeting.
• Payment of Bills Mr. Kelly
• Payroll Ms. Armenio
• FHS Student Representatives
• Correspondence:

1. Budget to Actual
2. Budget Transfers
3. Letter from Mark Tiede and Melissa McCann
4. Letters from the Doggett family

2. Guests/Presentations

Sue Streeter – Best Buddies Grant Awards

Emily Constantine – HMMS
Marilee Gleason – ASMS
Erin Miller - FHS

FHS Experience – Info for Summer 2009

Pandora Carlucci
Kristy Yankee
Kristin Letendre Cerce

ASMS “To Kill A Mockingbird” Presentation

Kevin Philipps
Emma Campbell
Ricky Hildebrand
Matt Golding
Zoher Ghadyali
Andrew Ayotte
Matthew Peterson
Michaela Lonati

3. Discussion Only Items

FY10 Budget

4. Action Items

1. I recommend acceptance of the donation of $3127.00 from the DT PCC for the following field trips:

Grade 5 - Boston “Lessons on Liberty” & “Bostonian Society”
Grade 2 - Stony Brook
Grade K - Southwick Zoo
Grade 5 - Bus fee for visit to ASMS

1. I recommend acceptance of the donation of 20 Bose 3-2-1 GS Home Entertainment Systems (valued at $999.00 each) for the Franklin Public Schools.
2. I recommend acceptance of the donation of office supplies from the 3M Company as listed for the Franklin Public Schools.
3. I recommend acceptance of a check for $412.80 from Lifetouch for the ECDC future enrichment programs.I recommend acceptance of a check for $4,900.00 from the Keller PCC for the following field trips:

Grade K - Southwick Zoo plus buses
Grade 2 - Stony Brook plus buses
Grade 4 - Museum of Science plus buses
Grade 5 - Roger Williams Zoo plus buses

1. I recommend acceptance of a check for $75.00 from the Keller PCC for an additional bus for the K field trip to Southwick Zoo.
2. I recommend acceptance of the donation of 12 cases of copy paper for the Oak Street Elementary School from Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Johnson.
3. I recommend acceptance of the donation of several gently used trade books from Kristen Ramel, a 5th grade student, for the Oak Street teachers.
4. I recommend acceptance of a check for $250.00 from Parmenter PCC for a bus for a field trip to the Mass Hospital School in Canton, MA.
5. I recommend the request of Peter Light to declare the attached list of books as surplus.
6. I recommend approval of the FHS request for Judi O’Neil to take 8 students to Los Angeles, CA to compete in the DECA 2009 International Conference as detailed.
7. I recommend acceptance of the check for $200.00 from C.A.N.E. (Classical Association of New England – grant) for expenses related to HMMS field trip to the Worcester Art Museum.
8. I recommend acceptance of the check for $1,488.56 from the Oak St. PCC for reading materials for all students/classrooms to access.
9. I recommend acceptance of the donation of space at the Hampton Inn for Open Circle training in 2008-09 valued at $1200.00 (4 days @ $300/per day).
10. I recommend that you declare the modular classrooms at Davis Thayer Elementary School as surplus and return them to the Town.

5. Information Matters

Superintendent’s Report

• Enrollment Comparison
• Draft of 2009-2010 FHS Administrative Structure
• FY11 School Calendar Options
• 09-10 School Committee Schedule - Draft
• Blue Ribbon: Financial Planning Committee
• Special Facilities Review - Confidential

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

"Football, hockey and basketball are the most expensive sports"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

Posted Apr 10, 2009 @ 12:58 AM

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FRANKLIN —

Athletic fees will almost certainly go up again this year at Franklin High School, thanks to the tanking economy, said Franklin High School Athletic Director Brad Sidwell.

"I would expect an increase in the fees, for sure, but I don't know the amount yet," Sidwell said.

Assistant Superintendent Maureen Sabolinski, who becomes superintendent July 1, also said a fee increase is likely, but she hopes to avert it.

"Everyone's trying to get their heads around the stimulus money and how we can use it. We'd like to minimize fees if we can - fees are just another tax on parents," Sabolinski said.

The School Committee tried to generate more revenue by allowing paid advertisements in the high school field house, but that has only brought a few thousand dollars, Sidwell said.

I almost missed this one on the possible increase in sports fees, read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!, originally uploaded by shersteve.

"keeping everything on the table"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

Posted Apr 11, 2009 @ 10:23 PM

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FRANKLIN —

Once again, Franklin schools are facing the prospect of losing the popular late bus.

Superintendent Wayne Ogden and Assistant Superintendent Maureen Sabolinski have not included the late bus in next year's budget, which still has about a $2.5 million deficit, Sabolinski said. That budget seeks to maintain level services from this year.

The first priority is keeping teachers, School Committee members and administrators have said.

"When you look at it, $40,000, $50,000 - that's a teaching position. We tried to save every teaching position we could. Every $50,000 is a teacher, and a series of baby steps gets you where you need to be," Sabolinski said.

Read the full article about the late bus and the current budget in the Milford Daily News here

The School Committee meeting on Tuesday, April 14th at 7:00 PM

The Town Council will hear the Financial Planning Committee report on Wednesday, April 15th. at 7:00 PM.

"Nobody called a meeting"

From Scott MacLeod writing at Dangerously Irrelevant:

Here’s what I think is the money quote from the article:

The first time chlorine was used in an improvised explosive device in Iraq, someone created a wiki page asking what intelligence officers and others in the field should do to collect evidence of the usage. "Twenty-three people at 18 or 19 locations around the world chimed in on this thing, and we got a perfectly serviceable set of instructions in two days," says Tom Fingar, who headed the National Intelligence Council from 2005 to 2008. "Nobody called a meeting, there was no elaborate 'Gotta go back and check with Mom to see if this is the view of my organization.' "

Read the full post which includes a link to the TIME article from which he found this quote.

Davis Thayer bottle and can drive

Davis Thayer bottle can drive, originally uploaded by shersteve.

This is happening the whole month of April, collect for them!

Unfunded Mandates: Another for the listing

Earlier this week, the Massachusetts Public Health Council, a creature of the state which lacks any “administrative or executive functions” announced a new set of unfunded mandates for local school districts. Beginning with the next school year, school districts will be “required” to calculate student heights and weights into a Body Mass Index measuring their overall proportions. The results must be sent home to parents for students in first, fourth, seventh and 10th grades in a package explaining what they mean and how parents can best combat obesity. The new regulations will be phased into schools over the next 18 months. The full text of these regulations can be viewed by clicking here.

Read the full posting on the Franklin School Committee blog here

This will be another unfunded mandate to add to the listing previously published in the series of 11 posts here.

Sending the message home to the parents/guardians is going to work, right? Aren't those the same folks letting their kids sit and watch TV or play computer games instead of being outside to get exercise?

How does this happen?
A well meaning group of people get together to address a problem and find a solution without completely thinking it through.

Thinking it through needs to include paying for it. The school systems are not sitting around with free time on their hands.

Kings Firecrackers

For some fun on a Friday, here is quite an athletic performance by the Kings Firecrackers, a group of 4th through 8th grade girls that do some amazing things with jump ropes. They are from the Kings Local School District in Ohio. This group is a lot of fun!




Who knew jumping rope could be so exciting?

Thanks to Doug B for sharing this video!

"bold moves to change the public perception"

To the Editor:
As part of my transition into the role of Majority Leader this session, I will focus my energy on several key issues — many of them substantive and some symbolic.

Amidst a dire economic climate and talk of increasing taxes, it is imperative that we as public servants do more to regain the trust of our constituents that has been so badly eroded. The cloud of controversy under which three Speakers of the House have left their posts is an example of a few spoiling the view of the many. How do we — the countless other public servants who work honestly on behalf of the citizens of this state — begin to alter the public perception?

The answer is an ethics overhaul. We need thoughtful, meaningful, and sweeping reform that will effectively — albeit slowly — rebuild the integrity of elected officials and restore trust to those who elected us.

Read the full article written by Rep Jim Vallee in the Franklin Gazette here

World Wide Web in Plain English

As part of our continuing series on Web 2.0 technologies, the folks at Common Craft have come up with a new video to explain the world wide web in plain English.



Enjoy!

Neighborhood sign today

Neighborhood sign today; Happy Birthday Betsy!, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Happy Birthday Betsy!

"It saves taxpayers money, it saves children"

By Stephanie Ganias/Daily News correspondent

Milford Daily News

Posted Apr 09, 2009 @ 01:17 AM

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BOSTON —

House Majority Leader James Vallee was one of two state legislators honored at the State House yesterday by the Children's Trust Fund of Massachusetts. Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray joined with the organization to proclaim April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.

The event, called "Step up for Prevention," featured a display of 700 children's shoes to represent the average number of children abused in Massachusetts each week. Suzin Bartley, executive director of the fund, said Massachusetts has the second highest rate of substantiated child abuse neglect in the country.

"This display reminds us of the sad presence of child abuse in Massachusetts," Murray said. "It impacts all of us - not just the children that are abused, but their families, their friends, and their classmates."

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

FM #37 - Focus group recap

This is #37 in the series of podcasts on what matters in Franklin, MA. In this session I recap the feedback from the two Focus groups that the Financial Planning Committee held on 4/2/09.

Time: 14 minutes, 14 seconds



MP3 File

Session Notes

I spent some time going back through the Focus Group notes that were published here and here to try and come up with a summary. The multiple pages of the two sets of notes can be overwhelming. Of course, the report the Financial Planning Committee is putting together is at the root of this. As much as there is in the report, it needs to be as simple as possible and answer as many questions as possible. That is the challenge!

Why were there two sessions?
To simplify the feedback, one group was given the Executive Summary and the other group was given the detailed report. Each session handled one section of the report.

Initial reactions

• There was fear in reading this, we moved here because the school system was good, now that it appears to be going down hill, what will it be like when my kids get there (into school)?
• This is information never really seen together, the facts are good, also left (me) with a lot of questions.
• It's scary that this hasn't been done before.
• I am shocked to see how much disproportionately we are dependent upon the state compared to other towns. This raises some concerns that we can do what we think is right but that the state can change and we don't have control.
• Gee, we are getting an extraordinary value for what we are getting.

What does this tell me?
Across both sessions, the initial reactions were similar. The responses were similar whether they saw the Executive Summary or the detailed report. The numbers are staggering but they are what they are.

Interesting to find out that this (five year plan) has been done before. One indicated at least three times but each time the information was not maintained and hence obsolete quickly.

Action - Franklin does need to maintain this plan, period!

Other key comments

• Call to action, unified communications will be key
• Perception is that the town is always finding money.
• One of the first things that struck me was one of the last things you say on Page 9; “our forecasts excludes certain future costs” I understand why you need to say that but will anyone of those blow up and destroy what we have done in this report?
• I think our town needs to look at this at the community as a whole, I think there are parts of the town that look at one department or the other, there is a perception of that, starting from the top,
• With all the issues that Franklin has, it does come down to school, it is a big part of town,we are talking of the future of this town, it drives the property values, if we don't come together now and fix it, we are talking of the future of the town.

What does this tell me?
While Jeff Nutting is fond of saying "There are no secrets here", there are quite a few folks who don't believe that. Transparency is not just a good thing. Transparency is a requirement.

A unified front will help dispel the inaccurate perceptions. If the Town Council, School Committee and Finance Committee join together in saying with one voice, this is what needs to be done, then there will be some credibility. If there are disconnects, there will be problems.

Choice: United, we will stand. Divided, we will be conquered.

Additional Explanations Needed

• Charts need to be fully labeled
• How do we explain the State Aid formula?
• Tri-County funding, what do we pay per student compared to Franklin?
• Need a better explanation of the DOE numbers where the line was added to ensure a total.
• Can we compare the % of the Franklin school, fire, police budget to the other communities?
• Explain tax levy (what it includes, excludes).
• What about the consolidation efforts on the Town side, not very visible.
• Explanation of capital versus operational dollars
• Review pages (eg. Page 4, 5, 17) to see if graphs or pie charts would make the information easier to read.
• Page 21, it says “what can we do about it?” but there is not enough detail here to make a decision. "Improving process efficiency" What does that mean?
• Split tax rate, needs an explanation of why or why not.
• Explain debt service as a part of operational dollars

What does this say to me?
As much as there were comments about "there is too much information", what ever is published needs to be accurate and simple. One page needs to tie to another. Some basic information and terms need to be explained. We (deliberately, the "collective we") need to set the table for the discussion with the proper definitions and explanations so that the discussion can proceed around the same set of facts.

Action: Some minor tweaks remain to tighten up the numbers and explanations.

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This podcast has been a public service provided to my fellow citizens of Franklin, MA

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 musical intro and closing is from the Podsafe Music Network
Jon Schmidt - Powerful Exhilarating Piano Music

"Recycling is the right thing to do"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

Posted Apr 07, 2009 @ 11:50 PM

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FRANKLIN —

Call him a recycling evangelist.

Every morning, Chris White hits the streets, checking the trash and recycling habits of his fellow residents.

He begins at 8 a.m., aligning his schedule with trash collection, to see how well people are recycling.

If they are doing a good job, White hangs a thank-you tag on their doorknob, and suggests a few additional things they can do to keep trash out of landfills, said White, the part-time recycling coordinator for the Department of Public Works.

Non-recyclers get another tag on their doors, urging them to change their wasteful ways, and he adds a little sticker explaining what steps they can take to get started, such as picking up free bins at the DPW.

"The great thing about Franklin is, you can put out as much recycling as you want. So if you have 40 bins of papers, we'll take that, but you can only take out three barrels of trash," White said.

Read the full article on recycling in the Milford Daily News here