Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Live reporting - subcommittee update
Rohrbach - providing an update on the Strategic Planning Steering Committee; two meetings held so far; one organizational, one working session. PR statement in draft, we will be reaching out to the various stakeholders with a couple of surveys and back here to provide an update on the planning process.
Live reporting - Superintendent update
The conversation has been underway all through the night with weather and condition updates. The judgment is based upon the readiness of the town DPW and facilities to get the streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and schools ready.
Decision needs to be made before 5:30 AM to enable proper communications take place in time.
Governor had weighted in on the discussion for the Friday before Christmas. They were fearful of a repeat of the situation of the year ago. The best information at the time for the 12/19 decision was to close rather than open and have an early dismissal. The forecast had been for snow to begin in Franklin at between 11:00 and 1:00 PM.
Sabolinski - We need to get the message out early enough for our staff who are traveling some distance to hear about it before leaving their residence.
Armenio - what about hockey practice that starts at 5:00 AM?
Ogden - I say this lovingly because I was one. Hockey parents, don't stop going somewhere because of snow and ice.
Cafasso - what are you hearing about the conditions for the walkers?
Ogden - one sidewalk at Oak/Mann complex was not done until later in the day. One of the sidewalk plows is out of business. There is a priority listing for what sidewalks should be done in order. The Oak/Mann/High School covers approx. 50% of our students. Those sidewalks need to be done.
Decision needs to be made before 5:30 AM to enable proper communications take place in time.
Governor had weighted in on the discussion for the Friday before Christmas. They were fearful of a repeat of the situation of the year ago. The best information at the time for the 12/19 decision was to close rather than open and have an early dismissal. The forecast had been for snow to begin in Franklin at between 11:00 and 1:00 PM.
Sabolinski - We need to get the message out early enough for our staff who are traveling some distance to hear about it before leaving their residence.
Armenio - what about hockey practice that starts at 5:00 AM?
Ogden - I say this lovingly because I was one. Hockey parents, don't stop going somewhere because of snow and ice.
Cafasso - what are you hearing about the conditions for the walkers?
Ogden - one sidewalk at Oak/Mann complex was not done until later in the day. One of the sidewalk plows is out of business. There is a priority listing for what sidewalks should be done in order. The Oak/Mann/High School covers approx. 50% of our students. Those sidewalks need to be done.
Live reporting - action items
Action Items
- I recommend acceptance of a check for $3,625.00 from the Annie Sullivan PCC for the 7th Grade field trip to the Krista McAuliffe Space Center. Approved 7-0
- I recommend acceptance of a check for $800.00 from the Horace Mann PCC to support in-house enrichment activities. Approved 7-0
- I recommend approval of the job posting for School Nurse at the Annie Sullivan Middle School. Approved 7-0 (this is the least expensive obligation to take, it is required)
- I recommend acceptance of the school improvement plan for Oak Street Approved 7-0
Live reporting - building committee update
Ed Cafasso discusses the agenda item for the next building committee meeting
aside from the process around the High School, doing a facility plan for the remaining buildings
Armenio - defer the actual building capital budget to Mike D'Angelo; would otherwise like to see the wireless at the high school and then the text books as the classroom needs for capital.
Trahan - agrees with Armenio in deferring to D'Angelo; otherwise the text books and wireless seem to be the needs
Rohrbach - high school is our most pressing issue
Roy - (1) Not sure just what the mission of the building committee is, the high school is a priority, 90-100 million is too sizable a project for the community to digest. I thought we were looking for the building committee to try and parce out the high school project into smaller digestable bites. When will we hear what the MSBA say about the needs at the high school? Will the committee be able to develop a proposal to fund at a specific level?
(2) With regards to these projects, and they add up to about $5 million dollars. Is the building committee looking to fund just these facility projects? I assume they are not looking to take care of the other text books, wireless, etc. needs.
Cafasso -we are far enough along to have the Chairman and some members of the committee here to have that discussion. The committee was set up so that we would be in a position to respond quickly to the MBSA requirements.
Roy - the number one item is not on this list, that is the high school. I would be concerned with moving forward with some other projects (i.e. the elevator at Davis Thayer), I think the community would be less inclined to support us. We need to be clear on our priorities.
Cafasso - 1st priority is the renovation or building new the high school. The second objective is to do what is necessary for Thayer, Kennedy and Parmenter as they have been identified as other schools with needs.
Ogden - Mike D'Angelo is onboard with the high school as the number one priority. There are two things on this listing that are of critical need (#10 - replace gym and cafeteria heating units) and (#25 - Upgrade phone switches and voicemail). Our Plan B, if the MSBA comes back with something negative, then I think we would still need to go forward with something for the science labs. That has been an accrediation issue and we won't have a long time to fix it.
Mullen - if lesser money is all we get, then the science labs and other space reconfiguration items would come to the front.
Trahan - seems like none of this could take place until we hear.
Cafasso - this discussion is around A, B and C options depending upon what State funding we will get. If we had to do a series of projects at the high school what would they be? High school is top priority, safety issues top, then the #10 and #25 have priority. That is good priority for us to take forward to the meeting tomorrow.
aside from the process around the High School, doing a facility plan for the remaining buildings
Armenio - defer the actual building capital budget to Mike D'Angelo; would otherwise like to see the wireless at the high school and then the text books as the classroom needs for capital.
Trahan - agrees with Armenio in deferring to D'Angelo; otherwise the text books and wireless seem to be the needs
Rohrbach - high school is our most pressing issue
Roy - (1) Not sure just what the mission of the building committee is, the high school is a priority, 90-100 million is too sizable a project for the community to digest. I thought we were looking for the building committee to try and parce out the high school project into smaller digestable bites. When will we hear what the MSBA say about the needs at the high school? Will the committee be able to develop a proposal to fund at a specific level?
(2) With regards to these projects, and they add up to about $5 million dollars. Is the building committee looking to fund just these facility projects? I assume they are not looking to take care of the other text books, wireless, etc. needs.
Cafasso -we are far enough along to have the Chairman and some members of the committee here to have that discussion. The committee was set up so that we would be in a position to respond quickly to the MBSA requirements.
Roy - the number one item is not on this list, that is the high school. I would be concerned with moving forward with some other projects (i.e. the elevator at Davis Thayer), I think the community would be less inclined to support us. We need to be clear on our priorities.
Cafasso - 1st priority is the renovation or building new the high school. The second objective is to do what is necessary for Thayer, Kennedy and Parmenter as they have been identified as other schools with needs.
Ogden - Mike D'Angelo is onboard with the high school as the number one priority. There are two things on this listing that are of critical need (#10 - replace gym and cafeteria heating units) and (#25 - Upgrade phone switches and voicemail). Our Plan B, if the MSBA comes back with something negative, then I think we would still need to go forward with something for the science labs. That has been an accrediation issue and we won't have a long time to fix it.
Mullen - if lesser money is all we get, then the science labs and other space reconfiguration items would come to the front.
Trahan - seems like none of this could take place until we hear.
Cafasso - this discussion is around A, B and C options depending upon what State funding we will get. If we had to do a series of projects at the high school what would they be? High school is top priority, safety issues top, then the #10 and #25 have priority. That is good priority for us to take forward to the meeting tomorrow.
Live reporting - Peter Light - part 2
Peter introduces himself provides some background for the community
Worked here since 1997, began as substitute, two middle schools and eventually the high school
K-12 Director of Music
Bring to the table his sense of the community, especially as with his background in music. Worked with music boosters group, meet parents and other members of the community at concerts.
Looking to bridge the gap between the community and the school.
Partially responsible for the Freshman Collaborative
Starting to see benefits of the work preparing the students to come into the high school
Work on the blackboard program (as reported here from last summer)
looking to expand the program across the high school and middle schools
First and foremost, high school has to be about teaching and learning
1 - Scholarship
has to be first in mind about the quality of education, how well students will do beyond high school; ensure a level of confidence, raising expectations, how we work with administrators, teachers inside the building and across the district
conference scheduled at end of this year to work on creating a common language for teacher feedback, sense of continuous improvement
need for continual positive feedback to ensure continual development of teachers
essential values that teachers have to share
strategy - it is not just intelligence, it is how you can use it; how do we work with students who struggle, how do we take students where they are at and take them to the next level
2 - Community
Community needs to have a level of confidence in the high school, communication of high standards and expectation
3 - Leadership
transparency, openness, fosters a sense of open dialog
principal blog, to improve the immediacy of communications
looking for a podcast, particularly with the budget cycle coming
looking to reach out and engage constituent groups, particularly in the next 6 months
involve this Committee, Central Office, administration, students, parents, teachers, community, etc. gather data, evaluate, and develop a strategy
looking for expansion of the retired teacher volunteer opportunity
Pat Slight - thanks Ms Gould for her work; Mr Light was his vice principal as he came in as a freshman, this will be his third principal in his time at the high school, and he is fine with that.
Peter Light wants to keep a relationship with the students.
Jeff Roy - Mr Light was a finalist in the Needham search and he chose Franklin over Needham
Worked here since 1997, began as substitute, two middle schools and eventually the high school
K-12 Director of Music
Bring to the table his sense of the community, especially as with his background in music. Worked with music boosters group, meet parents and other members of the community at concerts.
Looking to bridge the gap between the community and the school.
Partially responsible for the Freshman Collaborative
Starting to see benefits of the work preparing the students to come into the high school
Work on the blackboard program (as reported here from last summer)
looking to expand the program across the high school and middle schools
First and foremost, high school has to be about teaching and learning
1 - Scholarship
has to be first in mind about the quality of education, how well students will do beyond high school; ensure a level of confidence, raising expectations, how we work with administrators, teachers inside the building and across the district
conference scheduled at end of this year to work on creating a common language for teacher feedback, sense of continuous improvement
need for continual positive feedback to ensure continual development of teachers
essential values that teachers have to share
strategy - it is not just intelligence, it is how you can use it; how do we work with students who struggle, how do we take students where they are at and take them to the next level
2 - Community
Community needs to have a level of confidence in the high school, communication of high standards and expectation
3 - Leadership
transparency, openness, fosters a sense of open dialog
principal blog, to improve the immediacy of communications
looking for a podcast, particularly with the budget cycle coming
looking to reach out and engage constituent groups, particularly in the next 6 months
involve this Committee, Central Office, administration, students, parents, teachers, community, etc. gather data, evaluate, and develop a strategy
looking for expansion of the retired teacher volunteer opportunity
Pat Slight - thanks Ms Gould for her work; Mr Light was his vice principal as he came in as a freshman, this will be his third principal in his time at the high school, and he is fine with that.
Peter Light wants to keep a relationship with the students.
Jeff Roy - Mr Light was a finalist in the Needham search and he chose Franklin over Needham
Live reporting - Peter Light
Wayne Ogden - intro to Peter Light, in survey of students and facility, they heard: we want someone we know, we want stability, we want someone who knows what is going on. Peter's name was a consensus amongst those interviewed.
"We have in our midst is a gem of a young leader who can take us forward."
Peter will be the permanent principle beginning January 26th.
"We have in our midst is a gem of a young leader who can take us forward."
Peter will be the permanent principle beginning January 26th.
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