3rd Thursday - October 15th

Franklin Downtown Patnership

3rd Thursday in Downtown Franklin

Theme:  It's All About Style
Thursday, October 15th
5:00PM-8:00PM

Host for October: Pretty is Pink, 9 Summer St,
 
A night of fashion and fun at "Pretty Is Pink", an upscale boutique for woman and teens with style.
Featuring new styles for fall/winter 2009 including name brand jeans and designers mostly found in Nordstroms and Urban Outfitters.
Enter drawing for a $100 Pretty Is Pink gift certificate.
Take an additional 40% off any one markdown item for this night only.
Our new fall and winter styles including designer clothing will be modeled live.  Come join the fun!

Artbeat, the Creativity Store, 9 Summer St. Kids are invited to ARTBEAT Your Creativity Store for a free adventure with spooky sand art. You'll also find face paints, costume helpers and fun, unusual Halloween crafts.
 
Berry Insurance, 9 Main Street, will collect new Halloween costumes and accessories for kids of all age groups as part of the 3rd Annual Halloween Costume Drive benefiting Children's Hospital Boston.  Anyone who wants to donate costumes (nothing scary or violent) can drop off items at the downtown office before October 19, or call Kaitlyn Pintarich at (508) 440-2290 to schedule a pickup.
 
Café Dolce, 17 E. Central St will host an artist opening for pastel artist Catherine Haynes.  Everyone is invited to view her work and meet the artist.
 
Facial Rejuvenation, 11 Main St, all Jane Iredale mineral makeup is 15% off for 3rd Thursday!
(Jane Iredale is "THE" mineral make up.  Recommended by Plastic Surgeons, Dermatologists and skincare professionals around the world)

Hair at Nail It, 20 Main St. Free wash & blow dry & new customer coupon

Jane's Frames, 11 E. Central Street, a special night to help you  create and define your personal style through artwork and framing and more.

"Whether it's traditional, contemporary, shabby chic, provincial, eclectic or undefined, we are all on different paths regarding our style," says owner Jane Curran.  "We invite customers to come look at some expressions of different styles and how colors work in creating their style. We can help them define and refine their look, all while listening to some wonderful guitar music and enjoying the company of friends old and new."

The Franklin School for Performing Arts' Spotlight Shop, 34 Main Street,  Box office is open for Third Thursday patrons to purchase tickets for its October 16 and 17 dinner theater presentation of the Kander & Ebbs musical Cabaret,  performed at the Franklin Country Club. Anyone buying tickets that night will receive a free FPAC sweatshirt while supplies last. Tickets for dinner and the show are $55 each and reservations are required.

H & R Block, at 9 East Central Street,  a Tax Talk: Making Work Pay Credit. Other specials include free "Forward Looks" tax checkup and "Second Looks" for prior years, a $29 value.  Third Thursday customers can enter to win a free tax return, and the winner will be drawn at the Holiday Stroll event in December.

Rick's Restaurant , 28 W. Central St. SHAKE IT UP at Rick's by wearing something to Spook Rick!   If you are successful, Rick will treat you to a piece of  Mudd Pie: Coffee ice cream in a chocolate cookie crumb crust, with hot fudge and real whipped cream. It's scary how spectacular this is!  (One per table, but big enough for all.)

Sarapaan Beads &Jewelry 19 East Central Street offers "Buy one pair of earrings get the second pair of equal or lesser value 50 % off" deal for Third Thursday patrons.

Salon Sorella, 9 Summer Street, hosting Tarot card readings (three cards for $5, six cards for $10), as well as $10 Halloween nails with complimentary nail art, and all children will receive complimentary Halloween hair.
 
Get more details at each participating business

So much is happening Downtown/Uptown Franklin
Come join the Fun!

Live reporting - closing items

FEF Casino night November 20th

Motion to go into Executive Session not to return to open meeting
Passed 6-0

Live reproting - Superintendent's report

5. Information Matters

Superintendent’s Report
 
a. DESE Update - regionalization at the State level underway, recent approval for Districts to receive assistance, accountability number currently at #1, the top ranking. In the Greater Boston region, better for us demographically.


b. H1N1 - sent out survey, received positive feedback from families. Administrative helpers for clinics being looked for. Training tomorrow evening at Horace Mann.
 
c. MASBO
d. Transportation
e. Administrative Professional Development
f. Enrollment Comparison 9-26-08 – 9-25-09

Live reporting - Action Items

4. Action Items
a. I recommend acceptance of a check for $5,000 from the Keller PCC for the 1st grade field trip to Jane & Paul’s Farm Stand and the 3rd grade field trip to Plimouth Plantation.  Motion to approve - passed 6-0

b. I recommend acceptance of a check for $5,000 from the Jefferson PCC for field trips for grades 1 to 5.  Motion to approve - passed 6-0

c. I recommend acceptance of a check for $10,000 from the Davis Thayer PCC for field trips for grades K-5 as detailed for the school year.  Motion to approve - passed 6-0

d. I recommend acceptance of a check for $107.14 from the Remington PCC for a nurse for the 6th grade field trip to the YMCA.  Motion to approve - passed 6-0

e. I recommend approval of adding a 0.5 position ELL Teacher.  Motion to approve - passed 6-0

f. I recommend approval of the Horace Mann Middle School field trip to the Space Academy in Huntsville, Alabama from July 11-16, 2010 as detailed.  Motion to approve - passed 6-0

g. I recommend approval of the FHS Art Department’s request for a field trip to New York City on Saturday November 14, 2009 to the Museum of Modern Art as detailed.  Motion to approve - passed 6-0

Live reporting - ASMS Book Recycling Program

3. Discussion Only Items

ASMS Book Bins

Memo with proposal:

REQUEST OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE

AUTHORIZATION FOR APPROVAL FOR KEEPING BOOKS RECYCLING DONATION BOX ON ASMS SCHOOL GROUNDS.

We, the Parent Communication Council (PCC) of Annie Sullivan Middle School, are seeking approval to retain the “Big Hearted Books”- (BHB) (http://bigheartedbooks.com ) bookdrop which is currently located at the edge of the lower parking lot. “Big Hearted Books” was formerly known as Community Book Drop until their merger this past summer. ASMS PCC has been selective in our choice of fundraisers, in our effort to balance the need for funds to enrich each student’s experience at ASMS, with the demands that each fundraiser would place on individuals and families. We have also tried to seek fundraising opportunities that would encourage students to “think GREEN” as a way to be accountable to their community in which they live. The ASMS PCC would hope that the School Committee will consider the benefits of keeping this book donation box at ASMS, and that if there are specific concerns about its location, that we will be able to find a way to resolve them while still keeping this great resource available for ASMS families.

WHY A BOOKDROP?

In the past we have collected print cartridges and cell phones, which had required a lot of time from parent volunteers to return mail items, and profited the PCC anywhere from $150-400 a year. The book drop requires no effort on behalf of a parent volunteer and pays an average of $100 or more per month, which will add up to over $1200 per year. Profit to the PCC is only one of the benefits however, as BHB is also willing to take requests for book titles and authors that would help to enlarge the private in-classroom libraries of the teachers. If any of those items are found at their main sorting center, BHB is willing to donate them to ASMS, free of charge. This is a particular benefit to our younger teachers, as well as to the students. Lastly, having a book recycling drop onsite has had a positive influence in the community at ASMS as the students and families are grateful for the opportunity to recycle their books and to focus on the benefits of reading.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

BHB collects unwanted media (books, records, audio cassettes, VHS tapes, CD’s and DVDs) and redistributes them to people who can use them to prevent them from ending up in landfills. The bin is emptied by BHB at different times during the month as they are collecting books from other bins in the area. Collections are donated and weighed and a profit is determined base on 7 ½ cents per pound. The average monthly profit check is just over $100.00. Of all collections made to BHB 85% is given to charities and organizations that are in need, 5% are recycled, and 10% are sold to cover operational expenses. Nothing gets thrown away.

POSSIBLE AREAS OF CONCERN:

The ASMS PCC understands that the DPW may have concerns about the current location of the box as it is located on the asphalt corner of the lower ASMS parking lot. Big Hearted Books is willing to either relocate the box to a level spot on the grass area, or to shovel out any remaining snow around the box after each storm. Shoveling out boxes is a regular maintenance item that BHB have already had the practice of doing at all of their bins.

Submitted by ASMS PCC: Jennifer Maire, Chair and Erin Long, Treasurer

This can be a good fund raiser. Estimated to be about $1600 revenue for the full year.
It is a win-win situation.

It was a purple box, now it is a white box. "Big Hearted Books"

We are willing to work with any objections that there may be. The company is looking to expand this to other schools.

Q - How long has the company been in business?
A - A couple of months before they started with us and then merged with Big Hearted Books over the summer. The company picks up after hours.

Q - If they go under, what would happen to the bin?
A - It is contractually their bin.

Q - If there is an overage?
A - We can call the company for an immediate pickup.

C - I think it is a great idea.

C - I don't think it is a School Committee issue. It is an operational issue.

C _ I hate to see books tossed. I like the fund raising initiative. The Committee is supportive. We will make an effort to find the policy in question.

It is very hard to go to the right source.

Live reporting - MCAS Growth Model

d. MCAS Growth Model
      1. Michele Kingsland-Smith
      2. Bob Lima
      3. Maureen Sabolinski

The presentation used:

Growth Analysis

View more presentations from Steve Sherlock.

Franklin was part of the pilot at the State level to participate in this program. The State is gearing for some federal funds and this data pilot was a good step to gain that.

The comparisons amongst the students at a data level to compare apples to apples has not been available previously. This look at the data should help to answer this question.

The test is different year to year, the standards are different. Comparison year to year becomes difficult. How much grown really occurred in the learning? This could not be answered previously.

SGP - Student Growth Profile
CPI - Current Performance Index

One couldn't predict future performance from MCAS results. The value of the new growth model is that this growth can now be forecasted.

The MCAS scores enabled a comparison amongst the Franklin students. Now with the SGP, the comparison can be made statewide. This comparison can truly be made on a cohort statewide level.

Each year, the growth would be re-calculated to produce a new cohort based upon similar performance over three years of testing.

The score for the SGP would be calculated for every subject area in the MCAS environment.

20% rule of thumb, this breaks out the range of growth over 100% into five groupings: 1-19, 20-39, 40-59, 60-79, 80-99.

Data previously was descriptive, now the data can be predictive.

The data shown in the slides is from the pilot and not Franklin District student data.

What this allows us to do is ask questions. What we need to do is to ask the right questions?

This will be a learning year for the District. The Pilot was a great thing to benefit from.

Q - One challenge has been the bar has been raised year to year, does this also measure district growth?
A - You can do a district level report, by grade, by building, a variety of perspectives. At the moment we can only access Franklin data. The ability to do a district level analysis is possible but likely at the State level. What will be presented to the public is still open. We do not know yet. There is no definitive answer yet.

A - Anyone can take data and show issues with it. The strength of the data will be to allow us to show student growth and target assistence to specific groups of students.

Live reporting - Literacy update

c. Literacy Update – Michele Kingsland-Smith

The presentation used:

Literacy Update Oct-13-09

View more presentations from Steve Sherlock.

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

The amount of time kids are spending reading has increased 100%. I have no doubt about it.

There is always a connection between the reading and what they learned. The consultants are working on building a collegial learning environment so that the entire building feels comfortable.

Last year all teachers reached the "launch" training.
This year 4 and 5th will be working on learning how to do the "Group Reading Assessment and Evaluation (GRADE)" process.

"Key Three" strategies are being implemented throughout the middle school classrooms.

Grade 6 teachers will also pilot GRADE (as outlined above).

The "managing complex change" slide is most interesting. It can be used to understand other changes.

Some technical difficulty in trying to present a movie from a DVD. Choice Literacy, a national program, made a DVD using the Franklin program and personnel.