Sap running on Town Common

Out for a walk on Friday, it was a good day for pictures.

Thank you!

thank you for taking the time to return my running wallet containing my ID and e, originally uploaded by shersteve.

To whomever picked this up downtown and took the time to return it to me. This is much appreciated.

I had dropped it when running last Thursday morning. I know I had it in my pocket at the corner of Summer and East Central. When I checked again on Wachusett it was gone. I completed my run, got into the car and retraced my route. As I went along Union, I was dismayed to find that the DPW crews were out street sweeping. Good for them and cleaning up the town but that also meant that if I had dropped it on Union, I had no chance of getting it back. It would have been gobbled up in the sweeper.

With it returned, it must have fallen out somewhere along East Central before I turned on Union.

Anyway, my thanks to the person who picked it up and was kind enough to return it. Franklin does have fine people living here. Don't let anyone say otherwise!

"its report would be totally transparent, objective and accurate"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

GHS

Posted Mar 13, 2009 @ 12:22 AM

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FRANKLIN —

The longterm fiscal planning committee is nearly ready to present its multi-year financial projections, and is aiming for an audience of hundreds at an April 27 presentation at Horace Mann Middle School.

"I feel a hugely important objective is education, to inform the public as to why we're under (financial) pressure on a yearly basis," said Councilor Stephen Whalen.

As part of its efforts to dispel some misconceptions, the group last night emphasized the importance of making the town's finances understandable.

For instance, while reviewing Franklin's relatively low per-pupil spending, which is $2,700 below the state average, members commented that many residents don't realize the value they get for their educational dollar.

"There are so many people in town who think this town wastes money and is poorly run, but there is no evidence" to support that, Whalen said.

Read the full article from the Financial Planning Committee meeting in the Milford Daily News here

"merit pay that is based on student performance"

By Aaron Wasserman/Daily News staff

GHS

Posted Mar 12, 2009 @ 10:21 PM

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Following President Obama's support of linking teacher pay to student performance and his promotion of charter schools, area educators say they are willing to listen. But, they say, they want to hear more specifics from him first.

"He's got a lot of good ideas for education," said Massachusetts Teachers Association President Anne Wass, though she noted that the state association disagrees with Obama on teacher pay and charter schools.

Teachers unions, a key force in Democratic party politics, have in the past vehemently opposed both of those ideas. Obama acknowledged that conflict.

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Chandler Creedon, president of the Franklin Education Association, said school districts vary widely on per-student funding, and any talk of merit pay also needs a discussion of how districts would fund it.

Franklin's expense per student is roughly $9,500, about $3,000 less than the state average, he said, and the schools might lay off 60 teachers and raise class sizes.

"We certainly don't have a level playing field to make these comparisons," said Creedon.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

Fun Friday - How much is one trillion?

Let's have a little fun as the week closes this Friday the 13th.

How much is one trillion?

What does one trillion look like?

The slideshow put together using Google Docs starts with a familiar object, the size of a dollar bill and puts together what one trillion looks like.

Quite impressive!



Enjoy!


Thanks to Ms Meyer, an English teacher from Conroe, TX for putting this together to share.

Financial Plng Comm 03/12/09

The live reporting for the Financial Planning Committee meeting on March 12, 2009 can be found here:

• Live reporting - Financial Plng Comm - cont'd
• Live reporting - Financial Planning Committee

Panel on Government and its role in the Economy (Summary)

The panel discussion on Monday morning, Mar 9, 2009 at Franklin High school was an instructional moment in politics and civics. The discussion was recorded and is available for listening in three parts.

Part One

Vice Principal Joe DiLorenzo provided the welcoming remarks and the introduction of the panel.
The panel included:

• Congressman James McGovern
• State Senator Scott Brown
• State Senator Karen Spilka
• Majority Leader of the House, Representative Jim Vallee
• Town Administrator Jeff Nutting
• Town Council Chairperson Chris Feeley

The moderator for the discussion was Franklin High School Senior April Crehan.

The first question that everyone on the panel got to answer was summarized as: "What is the proper role of government in our economy?" They spoke in the following order so you can make out who's voice belong to who. McGovern, Spilka, Brown, Vallee, Nutting, and Feeley.

Listen to Part One here

Part Two

Question - Senator Brown, you spoke of reform in your response, indicating that Governor Patrick has been in office for 2.5 years and has not done any meaningful reform, if you were in charge what reform would you make?

Answered by Brown, Spilka

Question - How do you think that market panic has contributed to the economic downturn?

Answered by Feeley, Nutting, Vallee

Question - How do we help people with mortgage foreclosures and business on Wall Street with bailouts?

Answered by McGovern, Brown, Spilka

Listen to Part Two here

Part Three

Question - When you are creating bills to help people in the foreclosure crisis, do you plan on differentiating between predator lenders, those who made poor choices and those with unfortunate circumstances? or do you plan on doing so?

Answered by Brown

Question - Have you agreed to a salary freeze for next year?

Answered by Nutting, McGovern, Vallee, Brown, Spilka, Feeley

Question - What's your opinion on the stimulus package that was recently passed?

Answered by McGovern, Brown, Spilka

Interesting side note: Brown challenged McGovern on the number of earmarks supposedly in the package. McGovern came right back with "There are none." Brown insisted there are and that they would take it offline to resolve. This occurs about 9:50 into the recording.

Senator Spilka gets cut short as the bell rings.

Listen to Part Three here

Pictures from this event can be found here