School Committee - Agenda - 1/26/10

Vision Statement
The Franklin Public Schools will foster within its students the knowledge and skills to find and achieve satisfaction in life as productive global citizens.

Mission Statement
The Franklin Public Schools, in collaboration with the community, will cultivate each student's intellectual, social, emotional and physical potential through rigorous academic inquiry and informed problem solving skills within a safe, nurturing and respectful environment.

1. Routine Business
• Citizen’s Comments
• Review of Agenda
• Minutes: I recommend approval of the Open Session and Executive Session minutes from the January 12, 2010 School Committee Meeting.
• Payment of Bills - Mr. Glynn
• Payroll - Mrs. Douglas
• FHS Student Representatives
• Correspondence:  none

2. Guests/Presentations
a. Snow Removal / Sidewalks – Brutus Cantoreggi / Jeff Nutting
b. Preliminary Budget Discussion

3. Discussion Only Items
• Budget to Actual
• Second Reading:

Policy ADA – School District Goals & Objectives
Policy ACE – Non-Discrimination on the basis of Disability

4. Action Items
a. I recommend acceptance of the donation of 5 digital cameras and one camcorder from Mr. Robert Salzberg of Resh, Inc. for the Davis Thayer Elementary School.
b. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1148.00 from the Oak St. PCC for a Gr. 2 field trip to Stony Brook in May as detailed.
c. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1000.00 from the Panther Lacrosse Association to be used towards the fitness center at FHS.
d. I recommend acceptance of a check for $500.00 from the Singleton Family Foundation for the FHS Special Education Department.
e. I recommend acceptance of a check for $3000.00 from the Davis Thayer PCC for field trips as detailed.
f. I recommend acceptance of the donation of a Visual Presenter from Mr. Robert Salzberg of Resh, Inc. for the Davis Thayer Elementary School.
g. I recommend approval of the request of Ms. Leardi & Mrs. Waters of the FHS for a trip to London, England on June 25, 2010 as detailed.
h. I recommend adoption of Policy ADA – School District Goals & Objectives.
i. I recommend approval of the request of Peter Light for an additional Assistant Track coach at a cost of $1,467.00 to be funded from the Athletic Revolving Account to assist with increased student participation.
j. I recommend adoption of Policy ACE – Non-Discrimination on the basis of Disability.

5. Information Matters
Superintendent’s Report

a. Finance Workshop Training
b. MSBA/FHS Project
c. Kindergarten Registration
d. MASBO Compensation Study
e. Data Team

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

Franklin, MA: At a glance

In advance of the special budget workshop Monday evening, here is a report from the MA Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services:

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You can view the same report on the MA DOR website here.

The workshop this evening is open to the public and intended to bring the new members of the Town Council, Finance and School Committees up to speed on the budget terminology and process.

The fiscal policies that previous Town Councils have used for guidance, this Council also accepted and it posted on the Town Council section of their webpage:
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Council/fiscal.pdf

Note: The 2011 budget is NOT scheduled for discussion. The Governor is scheduled to announce his view of the budget this week. Both bodies of the State legislature will announce their own versions of the State budget and then all three will be negotiated to produce one budget sometime before June 30th.

Last year was an exception in that Franklin did not find out their final numbers until July. The Town Council voted on the final 2010 budget on Sep 16th with some adjustments to the one passed in June.

Franklin, MA: budget workshop

Whalen said the budget workshop will delve into the town's state and local revenue sources and unfunded mandates like special education funding.

School Committee Chairman Jeffrey Roy urges the public to attend.

"People are typically surprised when they learn about the scope and number of state and federal mandates applicable to school budgets," he said.

 Read the full article in the Milford Daily News by clicking on the link below:

Franklin officials to strategize on town budgets

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Ashley Studley/Daily News staff

Pulaski Blvd project update

Yes, Pulaski Blvd is in Bellingham but it changes name to Washington and then to King St for those traveling north to come to the i495 intersection. The i495 intersection is under construction to improve, widen and add traffic lights.

Pulaski Blvd starts construction this spring. For folks in Franklin heading south to Bellingham, Woonsocket and points beyond, you might want to consider exploring an alternate route.

This article in the Milford Daily News provides an update on the bids just received to begin work this spring.

Pulaski project on target in Bellingham

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Melanie Graham/Daily News staff

In the News - downtown project

"We want to continue to get public input and allow that input to direct the design," he said.

A major proposed improvement is to create two-way traffic on Emmons, Main and West Central streets.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

View the presentation on this project that was made to the Town Council on Wednesday Jan 20th

Diversity in the state legislature?

Despite an executive branch headed by the state's first black governor, no one keeps track of the racial makeup of the Legislature's work force - not the state Human Resources Division nor any central office in the House or Senate.

Lawmakers can hire whomever they want, however they want, and since they exempted themselves from the public record law years ago, they don't have to tell anyone.

Only 18 of 200 elected officials agreed to provide information on their staffers' race, age and gender to The Patriot Ledger.

Reached last week, no MetroWest legislator, with the exception of state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, responded to the Daily News' request for information regarding staff demographics. Some offices did not return calls. Other offices referred the News directly to the House Speaker's office. Other offices referred the News to the Legislature's human resources department, which then referred a reporter to the House Speaker's office.

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Affirmative action - a hiring policy that encourages minorities to apply for jobs where they are underrepresented - was a phrase first used by President John F. Kennedy nearly 50 years ago. In the years that followed, it was the basis for federal equal opportunity hiring regulations that states, cities and towns had to follow, or risk losing federal aid.

But the same rules affecting all 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts and more than 50,000 state employees don't apply to lawmakers, their employees or committee staffs.

Read the full and rather interesting report on this disconnect created by the legislature in the Milford Daily News here

Express Line

The new Express Line was just sent out via email.

If you are not receiving you own copy, you can sign up on the Franklin website here: http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/subscriber-news

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Save File: converted-FranklinMA_ExpressLine_100122-converted.pdf

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to read the document.